Sunday, Oct 21.  It’s been a long while since booked (and a long while since Paid!), but today we begin our third journey to Europe. Viking River Cruises calls it the Grand European Tour.  We’ve attached a four day stay in Amsterdam at the front and another four days in Prague at the end of a 15 day adventure through Netherlands, Germany, Austria and Hungary. The Tour finishes in Budapest.  

It’s unfortunately appropriate that the Tour’s title doesn’t contain the word “cruise”, because some of it won’t be.  Germany is experiencing their second 100-year drought in 15 years.  There are some spots on the Rhine that have recorded their lowest levels in history.  The Danube in Budapest is at the lowest level since 1947.  Consequently, we’re expecting three or more long bus rides to swap from one Viking “Longship” to another, skipping the low water sections.  Viking operates about 20 identical ships on this Tour, making swapping possible.  Other cruise lines are not so fortunate.  Some have converted most of their tours into bus/hotel adventures.  Though reports are that the crews are doing a great job, cruise lines’ corporate offices have earned a big goose egg rating for candidness. I’ve been closely monitoring the situation since July, so we’re apparently a step ahead of most passengers.

We’ve gotten the band together for the trip.  The same eight (elite?) who did the Med Cruise in 2015 will be on this Tour!

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