Krakow was the favorite stop of our December 2022 trip. Following our Elbe River cruise with Viking that took us from Berlin to Prague, we continued on a land extension into Poland that started in Krakow. Upon arriving at our hotel there, our guide Ivan urged everyone on the extension to join him on a … Continue reading Krakow
It was tough leaving the comforts of the Viking Astrild that we had enjoyed for the past five nights. On our last morning, we were docked in Decin, which is just inside the Czech Republic. As our bus drove away, we were able to look back across the Elbe to take the photo above. We … Continue reading Prague & Olomouc
After departing Dresden during the night, the next morning we continued sailing upstream towards our next stop at Bad Schandau. Along the way, we caught sight of another Christmas cruise on the Elbe, though on a much smaller vessel! The excursion for this day of the cruise was a visit to the National Park of … Continue reading The Bastei
During our time in Dresden we embarked on a wide-ranging tour of the surrounding Elbe Valley with a wonderful guide, a driver, and just one other couple from our cruise, making for a cozy, personalized excursion. Our small bus first wound around central Dresden and some of the surrounding suburbs and then headed out to … Continue reading Dresden & the Elbe Valley
Our ship departed Torgau in the middle of the night, but we woke up to much clearer skies with this sunrise to help get us going: We spent the morning sailing through a scenic stretch of the Elbe where bridges were few and far between. Along the way we passed the dock for a pedestrian … Continue reading Elbe & Meißen
Our time in Wittenberg during our Elbe cruise with Viking was all about Martin Luther and the start of the Protestant Reformation,which was kicked off by the posting of his Ninety-five Theses on the door of All Saints’ Church. Our excursion to the town began at the Lutherhaus museum. Luther lived there as a monk … Continue reading Wittenberg, the Elbe & Torgau
After five days in Berlin, we headed through the leafier and more spread out western suburbs of the city on our way to Potsdam, a town perhaps best known for serving as the site of the 1945 Potsdam Conference where the U.S., Great Britain, and the Soviet Union met to plan the post-war peace. Just … Continue reading Sans Souci Palace & Potsdam
Last fall I took a course in night time photography that was offered by the Griffin Museum of Photography taught by Jurgen Lobert and was eager to try out my newly acquired skills on our trip to Berlin. To help me get the most out of my time by having someone who knew their way … Continue reading Night Shots of Berlin
In December 2022 we went on Viking River Cruise’s “Christmas Along the Elbe” cruise from Berlin to Prague, along with a post-cruise extension into Poland. This was our first river cruise since our trip to Spain and Portugal in December 2019. We extended our time in Berlin by arriving three days early to tour on … Continue reading Holiday Season in Berlin
The final new port on our Iceland’s Natural Beauty cruise was at Djúpivogur, a small fishing village of 400 on the southeast coast of Iceland. Even though the Viking Sky was carrying well short of its 930 passenger capacity, our presence was certainly evident in the village. We took a walking tour on a gorgeous … Continue reading Djúpivogur
Halfway There Travelers 