jpalbny

Enjoy your trip Robin! We really enjoyed this itinerary. If you have the chance to wander Viviers on your own in the dark, do it. Just not sure what the timing is on the reverse itinerary (We did Lyon to Avignon). We leave for Helsinki in 9 days! There is a way to fix the upside-down pictures. You have to make sure you're turning your phone to the left when taking landscape shots. Or, if a picture posts upside down, open it in your gallery, turn your phone left, take a screenshot of the photo, and now post the screenshot. Somehow, the picture orientation as posted on CC depends on which way you turn the phone when you take it.

We did all of these stops (so far) last November on Spirit, but did totally different things. Nice to see your perspective!

Guess some things are nearly universal. That kind of gift would help with most of the nurses I work with too! Glad to see your posts but sorry about all the tech troubles which caused them to be so delayed. Looking forward to catching up with your cruise report.

Still not working on Chrome on my phone... And I have to use Edge on my laptop. Interestingly, it's reverted to my ancient Google profile picture... That's me in Iceland, in about 2008!

You can do it! This was my first shot at it. I already have plans to tweak the next batch. 1 cup of flour, about 1/2 tsp salt, 2 eggs, and about 1/4 cup of milk. I substituted 2 Tbsp of whole wheat and the rest was all-purpose white flour. Mix flour and salt. Beat the eggs then pour them into the flour. Start mixing, and as you go, add enough milk to make a soft dough. It should be thicker than cake or muffin batter - you should not be able to pour it. Not quite as thick as bread dough, and more sticky. And definitely not as thick as regular pasta that you'd put through a press. It needs to be soft enough to go through the holes of a grater. Let it sit a bit while you choose an appropriate wine to go with dinner... The force it through a grater into the boiling water, and enjoy! I used a box grater which was a bit more challenging since I had to put the dough on the inside and force it out. Otherwise I would have grated pieces of my spatula into the boiling water, along with the dough. I tried a silicone spatula first but it was a bit wimpy, so a bamboo spatula worked better. It cooks quickly. Once it floats, it's done.

The Water Cooler has been pushed back to page 3! Time to ask a question here. @notamermaid (or anyone else who is familiar with different types of German food): I had a dish in Trier which was a Schnitzel, served with a creamy mushroom sauce. I have made something similar at home a few times now and it's one of my favorites. I know that Rahmschnitzel is a Schnitzel with a creamy sauce, and Jägerschnitzel is a Schnitzel with a mushroom sauce. What would you call it, if it was served with both? In any event, that's what I made for dinner, along with homemade Spätzle. It was great to get my fix of German food tonight.

Those ravioli look delish! And much healthier than my dinner. I wanted to cook something new today but couldn't find any inspiring cuts of meat at the grocery store. So it was going to be pork chops for dinner. Until I came up with the idea of making one of my favorite German dishes, pork schnitzel in a creamy mushroom sauce. I've seen it called either Rahmschnitzel or Jägerschnitzel. Not sure which is more correct. I suspect that the version that I make incorporates traditional elements of both. So I pounded the chops out a little thinner, coated them with salt, pepper, and paprika incorporated into a bit of mustard, then fried them and kept them warm in the oven while making the sauce. Onions and lots of mushrooms fried in butter, add flour, and then (homemade duck) broth to make a gravy. Put the chops back in and rest in the oven while I went to step two... A dish like this begs for Spätzle. But we didn't have any. So I made them from scratch. Flour, eggs, milk, and salt came together into a nice dough. After I got the water boiling, I squeezed the dough backwards through the coarse holes of a cheese grater (the side that you use to shred mozzarella) into the boiling water. They were cooked within a few minutes and ready to eat. Lastly, I stirred some sour cream into the mushroom gravy and dinner was served! The reason that I think this is a combination of the two recipes is because Rahm means cream, and Jäger means "hunter" (as in, hunting for mushrooms in the woods ) so this recipe incorporates both elements. I first tried it for lunch in Trier, as part of a combination schnitzel plate. Half was served with a creamy mushroom sauce and the other half with a spicy pepper and onion sauce called "Zigeuner" Schnitzel. I have been hooked ever since. The homemade Spätzle were great. Irregular and rustic but delicious, and they went well with the mushroom gravy. After this I'm not sure that I will want to buy the ready-made ones again.

Glad you're eating well on the journey home! We will wave to you in 2 weeks when we fly by on our way to Helsinki.

Great itinerary! We have driven ourselves around all of those places and are available for hire... 😉

Yay for Chef Pia! She taught me the easy way to make Kaiserschmarrn. She always feeds us too well.

The "scenic lookouts" are always easier to spot in that direction..

The Darien Jungle stop (October 2013, on Explorer) claimed our cameras, when we got caught in a somewhat unexpected rainstorm. Luckily our cell phones were more waterproof... Looking forward to your visit and pictures.

Les, on our Spirit cruise in November 2021, the black ties never appeared. Others have posted here that they appeared well in advance. Sounds like your guess is as good as mine (well, probably better).

Hope all goes well and the news is positive, DW.

Working for me too, DW. Must be someone messing with the Transatlantic cable...

That looks really interesting. A shame if it's not as well-prepared as it could be.

I've done 6 expeditions cruises on SS. Dress runs the gamut. Either option would be fine for dinner. I've done sweaters and blazers on different occasions. Or a more casual button-down worn over a t-shirt. Sweaters are more useful than a blazer, because a sweater can be an extra layer under your parka if needed. But a blazer would be festive over the Holidays for sure. Knowing me, I'd probably bring one of each. And a festive tie too. We're just trying to help ease your anxiety about the weight limits. And I've been on plenty of expedition cruises so I'm speaking from experience. So from the perspective of someone who's done a lot or expedition cruises: you don't need as much as you might think. Layers make up for almost anything. But that's hard to believe until you find out for yourself, usually after overpacking a few times. We used to be overpackers as well, so I get where you're coming from...I guess it's anxiety-provoking either way. Your choice seems to be whether to worry that you've not packed enough, or worry that you're too close to the weight limit (or over). I hope you all have a great cruise!

I thought we were talking about the Dawn? 😉

If you had stopped in Albany on your way up, I had some extra Loonies and Toonies that I could have given you!

Sorry to read of your loss but glad to know that you're back on Uniworld next year. We haven't been on a Uniworld ship since 2017 and we miss it. Hope it's a great trip! In Brussels, you could look at Hotel Amigo which is right next to Grand Place. It's a Rocco Forte property - we've stayed in a few of their hotels now and they have all been very nice. I think I booked it through my Amex Platinum card for some extra perks like free breakfast though I can't remember that part of it at all. The hotel was convenient to everything that we wanted to see in Brussels and it was an easy walk to/from the train station which had a direct connection to the airport.

Glad you're safely on board and looking forward to your updates!

The man's stuff is probably also good for the dog, so it's really 7-in-1.

We didn't notice much difference between our November 2021 cruise on Spirit, vs our memories of other pre-COVID cruises. That said, the ship wasn't full so that may have made a difference. We'll have to see what our expedition on Silver Wind is like in June. Definitely NOT a fan of the included excursions on the classic cruises, for a pumped-up fare. We can usually do twice what they offer for half the price, on our own. And the D2D doesn't hold much appeal for us either. So these changes may affect how many or few future bookings we make, especially if they become permanent.

Enjoy it! I'd say, "Stay dry!" but that could be taken the wrong way...

Wow. That was fast.