River Cruisers: How Are Things Where YOU Are?

[Babcia7]

I love that visiting your mother on Mother's Day was deemed essential! 💕

[notamermaid]

On 5/8/2020 at 2:08 AM, Host Jazzbeau said:

This is what I want.  It's the perfect car for the coronavirus lockdown:  it's beautiful to look at, and if you can't drive it you don't care whether it's reliable or not 

Vroomm...

 

That is a nice colour that sticks out from the crowd 😀 .

 

Boris Johnson announced yesterday that the earliest the government thinks of looking at reopening pubs is 4 July. Even more a reason not to go there if I cannot be assured that I can get a half pint! 😞

 

@jpalbny Thank you for the nice photos of Würzburg and Augsburg. My great grandfather hailed from near Würzburg so most likely a trip to Würzburg it will be this Summer!

 

notamermaid

 

[steamboats]

VIVA Cruises wants to start with in German routes in June - VIVA is a new company by Scylla which is usually building ships for other companies.

 

The VIVA Tiara (former Swiss Tiara) is supposed to start in June. The MS Treasures and MS Inspire are supposed to start in July with short trips out of Frankfurt (Treasures - Frankfurt - Wertheim - Würzburg - Miltenberg - Frankfurt) and Düsseldorf (Inspire - Düsseldorf - Andernach - Boppard - Mainz - Oestrich-Winkel - Koblenz - Düsseldorf). These are 4 night cruises.

 

steamboats

[Canal archive]

Your right, it’s ordering beer on line so texts and emails between friends recommending obscure breweries abound, it keeps our other halves happy. As you might have noticed I am involved with a museum or I should say an archive as we cannot at the moment access our database answering queries keeps the brain working. People still have questions about canals. We’ve been asked not to use the tow paths for walks. Although last Friday was interesting with everyone sat in their front gardens obviously keeping social distancing toasting with champagne. Evidently we can now travel to France and the French to us without having to do the 14 day quarantine. This could be interesting. CA

[notamermaid]

On 5/11/2020 at 5:18 PM, Canal archive said:

Evidently we can now travel to France and the French to us without having to do the 14 day quarantine.

Edmund Blackadder the butler would be appalled .

 

Got an e-mail from an acquaintance in Kent yesterday. She said she had not left her tiny village in nine weeks. No wonder people warn about the toll on mental health.

 

I expect Bath is really empty right now...

 

To Germany: today is our really big day (in most places) as restaurants and cafés are allowed to open again - from 6am to 10pm. That covers most establishments well. It is just that people cannot stand indoors or sit at a bar area. Seating is assigned. Not all places are expected to open quickly as they could struggle to meet the new requirements.

 

And the great announcement this afternoon is: we will open the borders! First Luxembourg, then Austria, France and Switzerland albeit with random border checks. Denmark is being considered as well. It is planned to have most borders to neighbouring countries fully open by 15 June. No news on non-EU countries. All with the reminder that we will be vigilant and the situation can be reversed if cases rise again. Hope I got this right, complicated details.

 

Here is some more info from the BBC on UK and European travel: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-52644816

 

I think one needs a spreadsheet to get one's head round all the regulations, especially Germany with her nine neighbours - or just ignore it and stay at home.

 

One young man pining for his loved one did not want to stay at home. Read his story here: https://www.dw.com/en/us-youth-tries-sneaking-into-germany-to-see-girlfriend/a-53418924

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

[Canal archive]

We live about 15 minutes from Bath ( on a good day) but cannot go in just yet, my colleague lives in Bath and he says it’s really weird with no tourists! We’ve got so used to the constrictions of lock down it’ll take some thinking about where to go when we can. Plus welcoming visitors again. CA

[djh1959]

Notamermaid, I have been reading in the Australian press that since Germany has relaxed its restrictions, Covid-19 cases are building up again.  Is this true?  How exciting about the borders opening.  I just heard on the news here that they expect it to be three years before we could fly into Europe or the US.  How depressing!

[notamermaid]

The answer is yes and no. There have been more cases, but it depends on the day of the week and processing the data. My state has seen no effect happen after the first restrictions were lifted. Others have seen more. Journalism like it often does gives a condensed picture of the situation. All in all it is not dramatic and the next week will show if the situation keeps stable. There is now a "cleaned-up" R-rate which in its calculation is a better indicator. The plain R-rate with having a low overall figure of new cases actually showed the few clusters in meat processing plants that made the headlines last week. None in our state have been affected so far.

 

Three years no travels to Europe? Sounds rather long, I try to be the "optimistic realist" and say next year will be okay with new health restrictions in place. Keep the faith, it will get better.

 

I like the idea of that "tourism bubble" you are planning with New Zealand. Here in Europe a country has mentioned a "tourism corridor" to another country, do not remember which. I think the idea is for the land-locked country to have access to the beaches for its population. Grin. Well, makes sense. TUI wants to do a corridor to Majorca for Germans... With the borders reopening that might not be so unique anymore.

 

I cannot believe yet that I will actually be able to travel abroad in July. I had settled on Franconia and the Main river.

 

notamermaid

 

[franski]

13 hours ago, notamermaid said:

 

Three years no travels to Europe? Sounds rather long, I try to be the "optimistic realist" and say next year will be okay with new health restrictions in place. Keep the faith, it will get better.

notamermaid

 

 I wonder if the cross country/border travel guidelines will depend on where you are from.   For example, the country you want to travel to may decide who they will accept (or not...) into their country. 

 

Fran

 

[gnome12]

2 hours ago, franski said:

 I wonder if the cross country/border travel guidelines will depend on where you are from.   For example, the country you want to travel to may decide who they will accept (or not...) into their country. 

 

Fran

 

I think that is very likely. If you are coming from a country that doesn't have the virus under control, you wouldn't be allowed in, while if you are coming from a country where the virus is under control you might be allowed.

 

Australia and New Zealand however, are in a slightly different position; they can be completely isolated, and if the disease has been controlled in their countries, they may not want to allow their residents to travel, or at least, not make it easy for them to return. There is talk of a bubble that includes the 2 countries, but they might want to remain isolated from the rest of the world for a while. And @djh1959, who talked about the 3 years, is from Australia.

[djh1959]

7 hours ago, gnome12 said:

I think that is very likely. If you are coming from a country that doesn't have the virus under control, you wouldn't be allowed in, while if you are coming from a country where the virus is under control you might be allowed.

 

Australia and New Zealand however, are in a slightly different position; they can be completely isolated, and if the disease has been controlled in their countries, they may not want to allow their residents to travel, or at least, not make it easy for them to return. There is talk of a bubble that includes the 2 countries, but they might want to remain isolated from the rest of the world for a while. And @djh1959, who talked about the 3 years, is from Australia.

Yes, I think that is probably the case.  Certainly anyone arriving here must do two weeks quarantine, and I cannot imagine them changing that for a very long time.

 

We could probably manage to travel and have quarantine when we got home, because I only work one day a week and my husband can usually work from home.  The problem would be if we had to quarantine going into Europe.  I am quite sure that we couldn't afford an extra two weeks accommodation, on top of what is probably going to be much more expensive travel in the future.

 

The US and the UK at this stage appear to be the two places that Australia isn't likely to want travellers from, in fact a lot of the cases that we actually did get here were from the US, because we didn't close the borders quickly enough.

[notamermaid]

13 hours ago, franski said:

 I wonder if the cross country/border travel guidelines will depend on where you are from.   For example, the country you want to travel to may decide who they will accept (or not...) into their country. 

 

Fran

 

Yes, that will likely be the case. The Baltic States have created a travel bubble, allowing travel between each other, but no entry from other countries. Germany has had to drop the quarantine with the Schengen states as a whole and now needs to figure out how to proceed. It will be "allowing entry according to the situation in an affected country" but details are not clear yet. You can read it in today's coverage from Deutsche Welle timestamps 7:30 and 10:30: https://m.dw.com/en/coronavirus-latest-germany-relaxes-quarantine-restrictions-on-eu-travelers/a-53444487 

 

notamermaid

 

[sharkster77]

Since the US is going to be in the thick of this longer than countries who did have a comprehensive national science-based approach to pandemic,  I can totally see Americans being excluded from entering countries that have things under control, while allowing others to enter.

[Canal archive]

Latest on the so called quarantine measures, I’m beginning to lose the will to live. Something about, couldn’t organise a —————- in a brewery comes to mind. 
 

Good luck all 

Government backtracks on French quarantine exemption https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52682411

[AF-1]

Hang in there;  let's hope things get even better by end of June

[notamermaid]

Just a short report. For the first time since 21 March the town was full of people. You could tell they were not all from a 10 kilometre radius. Number plates and accents indicate longer travelling distances. The border with Luxembourg opened at midnight and I have already seen the first Luxembourg number plate! That is a good indicator for tourism, so are the cyclists. Local restaurant had nice number of guests when I picked up a takeaway. Here is a report on the borders: https://m.dw.com/en/germany-confident-at-control-of-coronavirus-outbreak-as-it-relaxes-borders/a-53460178 

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

It is Sunday lunchtime in the largest economy and third most populous country in Europe (the latter only when you count in the two weirdly cross continent countries of Turkey and Russia). Bundesliga is back. The very eager sports commentator on BBC world news last night told us all about the big sports there was with a full round of the highlights of the great day in sporting which was - Bundesliga! A long report, in depths, great stuff, major sporting event, etc. I had a laughing fit on my sofa when he ended with the words: "And that is all the sport for today" 🤣 All eyes were on us Germans yesterday.

 

But it was nice to see a report on Denmark yesterday and how they have managed to reorganize their schools. Admirable.

 

So, overall, Germany is doing well compared to many other countries. But be vigilant is the order of the day. When earlier this week local authorities noticed an increase in suspected cases in Heinsberg - remember the original cluster due to Carnival? - the alarm was sounded. A DPD delivery depot was closed completely on Friday, all staff of 400 have been tested, 80 so far have turned out to be positive. Tracing contacts is already underway, of course. Unlike with the meat factories there are no cramped accommodation facilities and no wrong doing by the management is involved, initial investigation suggests.

 

Yesterday afternoon, a neighbour told me that they were planning to a have a trip out to Luxembourg today! And it is great to have the choice again how to spend Sunday afternoon: a zoo, a museum, the ice-cream parlour, an excursion boat or the lonely forest...

 

Be vigilant, stay calm, keep the faith. It will get better.

 

notamermaid

 

[Daisi]

So glad to hear you and your country are on the edge of returning to a more "normal" life.  Here in Ontario, they have opened up the golf courses...yeah, now we have to pay to go for a walk 🙂 as well as some parks.  It is looking like we may actually have one nice day out of our "long weekend" (Victoria Day, which ironically the Canadians celebrate, but the UK doesn't) and we are looking forward to some social distancing visiting with my parents in their back yard.  We are allowed to have groups up to 5 people (keeping distant of course), so no parties yet.  Our numbers are slowly going down, and various Provinces are dropping their restrictions, so hopefully we are on track and able to keep the new cases to a minimum.  Summer is on it's way, we need to get some enjoyment this year before the Murder Hornets catch up.

 

Take care all, looking more and more as if we shall be sailing again.

[djh1959]

19 hours ago, Daisi said:

So glad to hear you and your country are on the edge of returning to a more "normal" life.  Here in Ontario, they have opened up the golf courses...yeah, now we have to pay to go for a walk 🙂 as well as some parks.  It is looking like we may actually have one nice day out of our "long weekend" (Victoria Day, which ironically the Canadians celebrate, but the UK doesn't) and we are looking forward to some social distancing visiting with my parents in their back yard. 

That is a little like here in Australia.  We celebrate the Queen's Birthday with a long weekend in June (which isn't her birthday anyway).  I don't believe that they do this in England.

 

Canada sounds a little like us here in Melbourne, golf courses have just opened, five visitors are allowed and now we have been told that cafes and restaurants will reopen from 1st June, with a maximum of twenty guests to start.

[notamermaid]

23 hours ago, Daisi said:

Summer is on it's way, we need to get some enjoyment this year before the Murder Hornets catch up.

Murder Hornets? Eek!!

 

Some borders of Germany with neighbouring countries are so non-existent these days that the closure of them hurt even more. 75 years after the end of WWII it was brutal to see what Europe has achieved to fall apart for a few weeks in the more than just symbolic Schengen bridge over the Moselle. Here is an article from Luxembourg with a nice photo of (near-)normality returned: https://delano.lu/d/detail/news/asselborn-meets-maas-borders-open/210477

 

When the two foreign ministers met at the border on said bridge, Asselborn said that "Coronavirus could not defeat Schengen", meaning of course the Schengen agreement. And at the border between Switzerland they celebrated even more: https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/grenzen-corona-101.html

includes information about the other borders

I could not find an English caption video, at 1:21 just see how happy people are.

 

And on that happy note, I leave it for today.

 

notamermaid

 

[steamboats]

3 hours ago, notamermaid said:

Murder Hornets? Eek!!

 

They have arrived in Germany too - last year already...

 

steamboats

[notamermaid]

2 minutes ago, steamboats said:

 

They have arrived in Germany too - last year already...

 

steamboats

Oh no! And the blue tits are falling from the skies... And in Africa there are locusts all over the place, I heard. Or was that just a dramatic headline?

 

It is true that blue tits are dying from a disease this year. Nature lovers have just published their annual counts. They say there are a third fewer than last year.

 

notamermaid

 

[DonnaMW]

Well The Treasure coast in Florida was busy Sunday boating, swimming, and out side restaurants. Pic of my friends we are at table by rail to sea wall thinking of being on ship

 

 

 

 

 

[Canal archive]

Loads of Blue Tits in the garden and our nest box full of Great Tits has just fledged I hope there not dying! We just. had one holiday well two in one May Bank Holiday and VE Day. Next Monday is another one late Spring Bak Holiday. 
We should be on a barge in France on the Canal du Nivernais at the moment sadly not possible hopefully next year. Fingers crossed all that things progress and we will be able to go to our place in Scotland in. September. We seem have a similar situation in the U.K. as you do in Europe with the shengan borders hopefully it will all be resolved amicably. CA

[notamermaid]

Canal archive,

I think the problem with the blue tits is only in Germany and perhaps neighbouring countries. Talking of nature: in Rhineland-Palatinate not only a wolf has been spotted, but now a pack of wolves, a mother with cubs. They were clearly seen in the Westerwald hills Northeast of Koblenz. It is the first time in decades.

 

To us humans in Germany. The government has been criticized, DW of today says at 5:24am: "World Medical Association Chairman Frank Ulrich Montgomery accused the German government of underestimating the risk to public health and acting solely on economic grounds in its move to ease coronavirus-related restrictions. ..." He was referring to the opening of inner-EU borders. People should stay "at home"? Easier said than done, in a country of nine borders and in Schengen, with cross-border working and living, cross-border relationships and countries relying on Germans spending their Summer holidays in tourist hotspots (the whining "I have a house in Majorca!" is getting louder, at least for now Spain will not budge). Rhineland-Palatinate is still doing well, sort of, 16 new cases in 24 hours and three deaths. There is a suspected outbreak in a school in Trier, but as testing has only just began after a teacher tested positive, we do not know more. Meat factories in other states are under much more scrutiny now, seems like an inherent problem of the mass-produced meat industry.

 

Personally, I have just been reassigned to a more cultural aspect of my work in a different building and tourism setting, starting first week of June. Sounds okay. Will return to my usual workplace in July hopefully.

 

notamermaid