River Cruisers: How Are Things Where YOU Are?

[jpalbny]

1 hour ago, notamermaid said:

@jpalbny

I made it to Würzburg!

 

Thanks for posting! You remembered how much we like Würzburg. 😄

 

I enjoyed the pictures. Where did you have your meal? We liked Juliusspital very much. At that restaurant, I was able to try a Schwarzriesling. Very unique! 

 

Now I am a little sad, because I think it will be some time before I can visit again. I hope that is not the case.

[Coral]

1 hour ago, notamermaid said:

 

I made it to Würzburg! On a few hot days in August a trip took me to Würzburg, Markt Neubrunn, Randersacker, the Taubertal and Lohr on the Main.

 

My Mom went to high school in Wurzburg. She was an Army Brat. I haven't been yet...... 😞

[notamermaid]

1 hour ago, jpalbny said:

 

Thanks for posting! You remembered how much we like Würzburg. 😄

 

I enjoyed the pictures. Where did you have your meal? We liked Juliusspital very much. At that restaurant, I was able to try a Schwarzriesling. Very unique! 

 

Now I am a little sad, because I think it will be some time before I can visit again. I hope that is not the case.

In Würzburg my travel companion and I actually went to a café called "Köhlers Vollkornbäckerei" at the Alte Mainbrücke. We could not have managed a large meal in the heat. It was nice bistro stuff and the wholemeal cakes looked good as well (again, too hot to take out and eat later). The beer photo was taken in a village outside of Würzburg (I am sorry, I am a bit secretive here). In Randersacker we enjoyed the quiet stroll along the Main river bank and the historic village (the trees are on Kirchplatz, a triangular place behind the church) and a cooling iced coffee sundae (is that the expression?) in "Main Cottage", a cafè on the main street. I was surprised how narrow the Main looked there compared to the Rhine!

 

1 hour ago, Coral said:

My Mom went to high school in Wurzburg. She was an Army Brat. I haven't been yet...... 😞

 

All the more reason to put it on your list of places to see. It is really nice. Good train connections from other major cities, no excuse that there is no big airport.

 

Here is the Main at Randersacker looking towards Würzburg:

 

notamermaid

 

P.S. Will try and get some info on Würzburg and Lohr into the thread on the Main some time.

Edited September 16, 2020 by notamermaid
P.S. added

[Canal archive]

I love the fact that so many of us have contacts however tenuous with different areas in Europe, we happily traveled extensively with one of my husbands customers who was in the army after the war he was extremely knowledgeable as he was a driver for quite a few well known individuals. Although neither he or myself would go on the Ferris wheel in Vienna. The third man and all that. I went on a school trip to Austria and all any one could talk about was Elvis. I do remember we had to take tea for the hotels. CA 

[Second seating]

6 hours ago, Coral said:

My Mom went to high school in Wurzburg. She was an Army Brat. I haven't been yet...... 😞

Würzburg decked out for Christmas Market 2016.

[rcaruso]

And don't forget Karlstadt am Main, a mere 15 min drive or train from Wurzburg.  Lovely small walled town. Great people.  We stay in rooms above a Restaurant at Zum Fehmelbauer -- a farm house from the 1500's.  Lovely proprieters, the food at the restaurant is Franken, but oh so good.  Especially during Spargel season.  Wonderful Eis Cafe (ice cream shop), although they serve drinks too, the best Irish Coffee outside of Dublin, Cafe Venizia.

[steamboats]

4 hours ago, rcaruso said:

And don't forget Karlstadt am Main, a mere 15 min drive or train from Wurzburg.  Lovely small walled town. Great people.  We stay in rooms above a Restaurant at Zum Fehmelbauer -- a farm house from the 1500's.  Lovely proprieters, the food at the restaurant is Franken, but oh so good.  Especially during Spargel season.  Wonderful Eis Cafe (ice cream shop), although they serve drinks too, the best Irish Coffee outside of Dublin, Cafe Venizia.

 

My home town for 10 years when I was a child ;-)! I remember buying ice cream at Café Venezia as a child - 20 Pfennig per scoop (which is currently app. 10 cents/Euro).

 

steamboats

[Coral]

9 hours ago, Second seating said:

Würzburg decked out for Christmas Market 2016.

I want to go!

[rcaruso]

3 hours ago, steamboats said:

olf h

My home town for 10 years when I was a child ;-)! I remember buying ice cream at Café Venezia as a child - 20 Pfennig per scoop (which is currently app. 10 cents/Euro).

 

steamboats

And now Steamboats you are in Passau, another of our favorite German cities.  Several years ago a travelling companion got sick on the cruise and wouldn't see a doctor, then we arrive in Passau go to our hotel and then she wants the Rote Kruez to get her and go to the Hospital.  The Klinikum in Passau treated her very well.  She was there for 5 days, then well enough to fly home.  We thank the staff at the Passauer Wolf Hotel and the Hospital, they were caring and excellent in treatment.  And I might say it only cost $2400 for 5 nights in the hospital with infusion, xrays etc--all paid by travel insurance including our hotel rooms.

 

As to how things are in Texas, I finally got my hair done after a good 6 months.  Still not at Church maybe next week.  Numbers are down, but we are still very cautious about going out too much.  All face masks used.  Still have not been to a restaurant, but maybe next week too.  Hope things start improving everywhen and stay improved.  Certainly this is a  year we all can forget.

[steamboats]

1 hour ago, rcaruso said:

And now Steamboats you are in Passau, another of our favorite German cities. 

 

No, I haven´t moved 😉 , I´m still in Munich.

 

steamboats

[rcaruso]

1 hour ago, steamboats said:

 

No, I haven´t moved 😉 , I´m still in Munich.

 

steamboats

Entshuldige! We like Munich too! My husband loves the coffee shop at Dahlmyers.  He has the Kannchen of Kaffee.

 

 

[notamermaid]

Compared to other countries in Europe we are still doing okay but it is going downhill slowly as well. My state is sort of fine, worst at the moment are Bavaria and North Rhine Westphalia. In Munich alcohol is banned on Theresienwiese so that people do not stage "instead parties", partying instead of Oktoberfest.

 

Due to the high number of infections in Munich the game between Bayern Munich and Schalke 04 was played without spectators - at short notice. The reaction by teams and fans: "can't be helped, safer this way". No complaining. Bayern won 8-0. Much criticism has been uttered concerning the Supercup football game being held in Hungary. The Association is going ahead with it and now almost 2,100 fans of Bayern Munich can see them play Sevilla in Budapest provided they have a negative Covid-19 test. I am not too worried about the social distancing in the stadium but they have to travel there, eat and sleep, right? Better be safe than sorry and play a socially distanced game altogether. Yes, on the pitch. It does not matter if you loose, at least you have played is what a small team in Germany thought That's the spirit! This is what happened: https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2020/09/18/football/sg-ripdorf-molzen-germany-amateur-football-coronavirus-trnd-spt-intl/index.html

 

And that's it for German football news for today .

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

"Emotional need for normality"

 

Yup, I wholeheartedly agree. We all need that. Thuringia' state premier Bodo Ramelow said the above in an interview in connection with Christmas markets. The good news today is that politicians far and wide agree that the markets should take place where possible - scaled down and with clear instructions as regards set-up, social distancing and alcohol. That as we know will be the real challenge as Glühwein and social distancing do not work 😉.

 

Deutsche Welle's article: https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-will-germanys-christmas-markets-be-canceled/a-55003193

 

Personally, I am still feeling comfortable at work, being busy dealing with German tourists exploring their own country. And so did I on a planned two-day trip in the Saarland which turned into an overnight stay in Rhineland-Palatinate.

 

notamermaid

 

[gnome12]

Yesterday they announced the cancellation of this year's Toronto Christmas Market. It is held in a very old part of Toronto, and there is really no way to rearrange it to allow for physical distancing.

[TheKingD]

4 hours ago, notamermaid said:

"Emotional need for normality"

Notamermaid, we are still following your posts, along with posts from Steamboats, even though we took refunds from our cancelled Danube River cruise, and we are interested in seeing how your parts of the world are dealing with everything.  We appreciate your wisdom and your insight.

 

One of the other posts I have been following often has cute cartoons, and the people are also very kind and wise.  This was a cartoon from a week or so ago (somehow I didn't get the cartoon to post - I'll try it a different way!)

 

Quote

 

 

 

Edited September 22, 2020 by TheKingD

[TheKingD]

This is what I tried to post - 

 

[notamermaid]

@TheKingD Thank you for your kind words and the cartoon sign. This morning I saw how often I have been the latest poster in several threads. It made me think: "If the situation continues as it is steamboats and I will be the '"last two women posting". Everything has gone so quiet on this board - even the unhappy posts about refunds are becoming less and less. It is very sad.

 

@gnome12 

I am so sorry to hear about the Christmas market. Old towns are sadly the ones with the most atmosphere and likely the least space. Essen is determined to do it (tons of space) and so is Frankfurt (trying to create space by moving it away from the "Römer" square I wonder?) but the newspaper Wiesbadener Kurier announced yesterday that Rüdesheim Christmas market has been cancelled. There just is not enough space to meet with safety measures the health authorities ask the organizers to implement.

 

notamermaid

 

[gnome12]

47 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

Everything has gone so quiet on this board - even the unhappy posts about refunds are becoming less and less. It is very sad.

My next trip is supposed to be a trip to East Africa in February. I notice that the trip has been removed from the Vantage website (the first date they show for this trip is now July 1) but in an online chat with them yesterday they tell me the trip is a go. I have no intention of travelling that early; I'm hoping that they will cancel before the final payment date which will mean at least credit for my deposit (I would prefer cash back but I'm certainly not going to expect it). However, I will not make final payment for sure.

 

The next trip after that is a bike and barge on the Moselle in September 2021 (which replaced the one that was cancelled in May). Since it is sort of river cruise-ish, I keep up on what is happening on this board. But with only 12 double cabins on board, and a few crew members, the numbers will be smaller and we will become mostly our own bubble. And most of the daily travel is outdoors on your bike, although there is some touring. Even for that, I have some doubts about whether it will doable, even though it is a year from now.

[Canal archive]

Just returned from Scotland only one day of rain but so many people I’ve never seen it so crowded. Usually hikers go to the Spittle of Glenshea a beautiful area where usually you could walk and not see another person with wild camping 🏕 people were tripping over each other.

Its a bit worrying when we returned from the USA at the beginning of March lockdown soon followed we’ve just returned from Scotland and it looks like we could be heading the same way, I must practice positive thinking! CA

[Bake apple]

For the past several weeks Viking has been sending me daily cruise offerings and sadly, for the first time today, I didn’t even bother to open it.  Hopefully this time next year everything will be different and better. I sincerely hope for that. Here in Canada’s capital city we are officially into the second wave of the virus so definitely no thoughts of travel at all, even within the province. We have had some restrictions on gathering sizes re-imposed and with justification. Today our medical folks are report a “surge” of active cases.  I’ve been watching reruns of Rick Steeve’s  Europe!! 😁That will have to be it for a while. Stay safe and healthy everyone.

 

 

 

[ural guy]

On 9/16/2020 at 1:42 PM, Coral said:

My Mom went to high school in Wurzburg. She was an Army Brat. I haven't been yet...... 😞

Ask her if she went to 'The Rock Palace', a 3 story bar in Wurzburg, VW Bug suspended from the ceiling...it was THE spot to go and dance on the weekends when I was stationed nearby in the mid 80's.  My buddy was married to a girl from Wertheim, so all her friends would come in, and oh what a time to be had.

 

Myself and the female SGT O'K.... lived in Lindflur, a 400 person farm village 12 km's outside of Wurzburg, extended our tour twice.  No kids, a newish Suzuki 650 motorcycle that we could both fit on...those were the days.  Very lucky to have been able to live there, and to have been able to return twice.

 

Ditto the comments above:  Wurzburg is easy to get to, and well worth several days.  Several neat churches (google the story of Irish St Killian, his statue is on the bridge), The Residence and the Fortress; all are worth visiting.  There is also a nice International garden adjacent the Fortress which my daughter #1 and I really enjoyed...daughter #2 and spouse retreating to shade and a wine garden along the river, which they enjoyed.

 

 Up and down the Main are vineyards and beer gardens.  Great bike paths.  Rothenburg is an easy day trip away, although I recommend staying the night.  The tour buses leave, the walls become magical, and the Night Watchman tour is very entertaining.

[Coral]

1 hour ago, ural guy said:

Ask her if she went to 'The Rock Palace', a 3 story bar in Wurzburg, VW Bug suspended from the ceiling...it was THE spot to go and dance on the weekends when I was stationed nearby in the mid 80's.  My buddy was married to a girl from Wertheim, so all her friends would come in, and oh what a time to be had.

I no longer have her with me. I think she would have been there in the late 50's, early 60's. Several years ago - the high school was closing and a bunch of her brat friends were going to go back. She wanted to go so bad. She had become blind and had a Seeing Eye dog and I just didn't want to deal with taking the dog to Europe (leaving the dog behind was not an option). Dog was an excellent traveler but a dog can only be on a plane for so long.... I have to say her times in Wurzburg were probably some of her most favorite times.

 

I hope to go when I can travel again. I hit some of Germany on my river cruise and absolutely loved it. My previous trips to Europe were mostly Northern and Southern. Now I just want to go to Germany and Austria  on a land trip. Maybe get Switzerland in there.

 

I wish I went to high school in Europe! Or even college!

Edited September 22, 2020 by Coral

[Second seating]

This will be the first time in 4 years we have not been in Germany in December via river cruise or land trip, very SAD!

[franski]

13 minutes ago, Second seating said:

This will be the first time in 4 years we have not been in Germany in December via river cruise or land trip, very SAD!

 

A lot of "first times" this year...  My best friend lives in Louisville Ky...  This is the 1st time - in almost 40 years! - that I haven't been down to see her.

 

We were supposed to be flying to Bucharest next week for our Avalon cruise. Very sad when it was cancelled, but completely understandable.  I support the measures put in place to try and get this dreaded virus under control.  But, this is the 1st time in over 10 years that we haven't had a river cruise booked "next year".  Hard to plan for "next year" when we have no idea what it will look like.  I am hoping (but not confident) that we may be able to travel next fall - but wouldn't bet money on that. 

 

I keep in touch with my travel buddies - as we do talk about what we might do (from a travel perspective) when things improve.

 

Fran   

 

[jpalbny]

54 minutes ago, Coral said:

Now I just want to go to Germany and Austria  on a land trip. Maybe get Switzerland in there.

 

Very doable. Chris and I have done three land trips through these areas.

 

The first time was 2013 when our River Cruise was canceled due to the crazy flooding of the Danube in June of that year. We went anyway, since we had bought our own air tickets. But suddenly we had nothing planned for the better part of two weeks! So we spent the time using trains and rental cars, and made it up on the fly. It was one of the most fun trips we've done.

 

In 2014 and 2015, we went back with Audi, through their European Delivery program. We bought the cars in the US, then went to the factory in Ingolstadt to pick them up. We drove them around wherever we wanted for a week then dropped them off in Frankfurt and flew home.

 

I did blogs on all of these trips but the website went defunct and I haven't bothered to transfer them to my new blog site. I am gradually working on that...one way to cope with the lack of travel is to reminisce about old trips. We would go back for another trip like those in a heartbeat. So many great places to visit.

 

I hope you get to make such a trip and that you enjoy it as much as we have.