New to Oceania

[cbb]

We could also do a river cruise through Russia, although the reviews of some of the ships are not wonderful.

[Paulchili]

thanks Paul! There is also a Monograms Tour for independent travel that we could do for Munich and Berlin, 2 cities that we are interested in. We've done a thorough land tour of Scandinavia but not of Russia, only St P.

 

Do you remember the land tour companies you cited? thanks, c

 

c,

Try doing a search on affordabletours dot com - An excellent resource for land tours. They list all companies of various price and category levels and many tours, including escorted, independent, etc - just fill in the area/places you want to visit, etc.

BTW, if you do go to Berlin, do not miss Dresden - a true gem! A must see there (among many others) is the Green Vault.

Enjoy!

Paul

[cbb]

we too, are fans of the affordable people. Poor Dresden--is there much left to see? Allied bombing campaign pretty much took care of old Dresden.

 

My dad was an army photographer during WWII and went to Europe with the Pentagon-stationed generals in early May '45 so I have a few pix of bomb-damaged Berlin (Generals wanted pix of radii of bomb damage).

 

I would like to see Berlin now having seen Berlin only through his camera lens. (His group was also among the first into a concentration camp and he said "don't ever let anyone tell you they didn't know what was going on, because we could smell it 2 miles away.")

[Paulchili]

we too, are fans of the affordable people. Poor Dresden--is there much left to see? Allied bombing campaign pretty much took care of old Dresden.

 

My dad was an army photographer during WWII and went to Europe with the Pentagon-stationed generals in early May '45 so I have a few pix of bomb-damaged Berlin (Generals wanted pix of radii of bomb damage).

 

I would like to see Berlin now having seen Berlin only through his camera lens. (His group was also among the first into a concentration camp and he said "don't ever let anyone tell you they didn't know what was going on, because we could smell it 2 miles away.")

 

Yes, poor Dresden. It was totally destroyed despite not being a "military" target. It is completely restored to its previous glory (the historical center, anyway) - much like Gdansk and Catherine's Palace in SPB. Both were in ruins but visiting them now, you'd never know. Don't miss Dresden if you go to Berlin.

Frauenkirche, Zwinger Palace, Green Vault (new and old), the Opera and nearby Meissen porcelain factory are just a few of the highlights of this charming and manageable city.

[cbb]

Paul,

Thanks for your help; sounds wonderful! I've looked up some tours and many seem not to go to Dresden.

 

Also would love to do a little time in Remagen but the tours don't seem to stop there. Perhaps I need a WWII tour--StephenAmbrosetours might be the answer.

[Paulchili]

Paul,

Thanks for your help; sounds wonderful! I've looked up some tours and many seem not to go to Dresden.

 

Also would love to do a little time in Remagen but the tours don't seem to stop there. Perhaps I need a WWII tour--StephenAmbrosetours might be the answer.

 

If you find a tour that ends in Berlin, for example, you can just add Dresden on your own after and then still fly home from Berlin. Or start in Berlin and do Dresden before?

Just a thought.

[cbb]

Paul,

excellent suggestions re: adding Dresden. We're always up for adding trips at the beginning or end of a tour.

 

We wish we had added Toledo out of Madrid on our own. We did see it on a tour of Spain but regret not spending more time in Toledo and it would have been so easy to do.

[wripro]

In St Petersburg there is no security to taking a ships tour rather than a private one. If missing the ship is what one is worried about the ship doesn't leave for three days.

[CintiPam]

We debated whether to visit Berlin from Warnemunde on our wonderful Baltic cruise in June 2011. Several months after we booked with SPB-Tours with two others only for St. Petersburg, we decided (due to elderly parent health issues) that we did not know when we would return to this area, so we went for it. I proceeded to organize 16 others from our roll call for a day in Berlin with SPB-Tours, and I was amazed at how much we saw in seven hours in that wonderful city, including an hour at the Pergamon at the end of our visit for those interested. (The extra time became available because I asked if we could pre-order our casual lunch, and wonderful American guide Heather did so in the morning.)

 

We enjoyed our day so much that we returned on a land trip this past May and spent 5-1/2 days in Berlin, two days in Dresden, and five days in Prague. All three cities are easy to visit on your own, with excellent reasonably-priced hotels near the historic centers and great transportation options for easy sightseeing. In addition, these three amazing cities only are a direct 2-1/2 hour train ride away from each other. Husband Mr. Military History and I really enjoyed this trip, and I highly recommend it to all of you.

 

Pam

[wripro]

I did my first visit to Moscow on a one day excursion while on a Seabourn cruise. Yes, it was expensive but it was the highlight of the whole cruise. We were blessed with superb weather, a great guide and eight wonderful fellow passengers. It was a long but extraordinary day where we saw much more than expected and got a good feel for the city. Subsequently I went back for a few days and got to explore in more detail.