Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Wednesday, 14 June. We were up before 04:00, put our suitcases out, and had a light breakfast. At 05:15 the bus took us to the Vienna airport for our 07:40 flight. We felt lucky because friends whose flight was only ten minutes earlier than ours had to leave the ship at 04:30. We flew Lufthansa to Frankfurt where we had to change planes. We lucked out there, too, because our seats on the 10:55 United flight to Washington were in Economy Plus, with five extra inches of leg room. We got to Dulles at shortly after 14:00. The temperature was a pleasant 70 degrees. Julia met us and had us to Culpeper by 16:30. We were back home at Massanutten about 18:00. General Observations. Because we had done a lot of sightseeing during the four years we lived in Germany, and also had visited often in the ensuing years, I looked on this trip pretty much as a revisit of familiar territory. And that was largely true for the first few days. Even then, though, we saw many new things and enjoyed seeing again the things we hadn’t seen for decades. Much had changed, and seldom for the better. Tourism has increased many fold, and with it, the replacement of traditional facilities and activities by those aimed at the tourists. From the day we reached Wertheim (6th day of cruise) until we got to Melk (13th day), we were in unfamiliar territory, and it was far more interesting and enjoyable than we expected. In fact, Wertheim was our favorite stop on the tour. I also find it interesting that southeastern Germany (really much of southeastern Europe) is pretty much a backwater now when it once was more important and prosperous than the lands to the west and north. The fact that Germany went to the expense of completing the modern Main-Danube Canal so recently (1992) is also amazing. The volume of commercial shipping on the canal didn’t seem anywhere near enough to pay for what the canal must have cost. It certainly is a boon to river cruises by tour companies, but I seriously doubt they contribute enough to pay off the construction costs, either. Be that as it may, we certainly are glad they built it. River cruises are a wonderful way to travel. It’s so nice having to unpack only once on a two-week trip. Of course, you’re limited to seeing things near the river, but in Germany that’s a lot. The convenience of docking in the heart of a large city is great, too. Most of the shore tours are very superficial, but that’s true of a lot of all-land tours, too. All in all, this was a very nice trip. |
