Castles, Cathedrals, and Cobblestones

**Captain Larry** · 08-22-2006, 09:29 PM

This is a trip report. The trip was a river cruise in Europe. It was a long tour, and this is a long report. I'll break it up into chapters, to make it a little more manageable. I'm trying to imbed pictures, but don't know if that will work. If it doesn't, I'll attach the pictures. Any feedback and/or hints will be appreciated. Here goes:

Castles, Cathedrals, and Cobblestones
Great Rivers of Europe
A River Cruise on the Rhine, Main, and Danube
June 25 – July 13, 2006

Lawrence D. Newlon

Introduction

A great author once started a book by saying, "It was the best of times. It was the worst of times." Our Great Rivers of Europe tour in June and July 2006 was neither the best nor the worst of times, but it had some elements that almost fit both categories. The short version is that we had a great time and thoroughly enjoyed the trip, once we got there. Airline delays, largely due to weather, made us 24 hours late arriving at the ship. The time on the ship cruising between ports was both entertaining and relaxing. The ports were a spectacular parade of castles, cathedrals, and cobblestones. We tried to do everything and see everything, so we nearly walked ourselves to death. We had practically no rain during the trip, but we encounter a heat wave of historical proportions. We got home with seriously mixed emotions. We are eager to take another tour, but not too soon.

The planning for the trip took over one year and was great fun. I’ll say just a little bit about the planning process and then give chronological details, one chapter per day. What we should have seen and done, according to the brochure and itinerary were not exactly what we did do and see, so I’ll tell you what we actually did and saw.

**Captain Larry** · 08-22-2006, 09:35 PM

Chronology of Planning

Planning for a trip like this involves much more than looking at the brochure and then calling the tour company. At least for me it does. And I find the planning to be as entertaining as it is time-consuming. For this particular trip, the planning took nearly two years, and some of it was "accidental." The reason for the quotation marks will develop later.

In the fall of 2004, right after we returned from a trip to Hawaii, we decided to go on a tour of Italy in May 2005. I mentioned that fact to Marty Gogol and asked if he and Shirley would be interested in going along. He replied that they were planning to take a river cruise in Europe in June 2005 so we agreed that we would not be going together for a 2005 vacation.

The tour the Gogols wanted to take was The Great Rivers of Europe tour offered by Grand Circle Travel. They wanted to take the tour in the direction from Amsterdam to Vienna, and then spend another three nights in Vienna as an extension.

We continued with our plans for Italy, and made final payment on December 1, 2004. On January 17, 2005, on the way home from Irwin Male Chorus rehearsal, I asked Marty about their vacation plans for 2005. He said they had decided to take a Western Canada train tour offered by GCT in the same time period in June that was their desired time frame. They decided to postpone travel to Europe until 2006, or maybe 2007, when they expect the exchange rate of dollars to Euro to be better. Then Marty asked if Mary and I would be interested in taking the Great Rivers cruise in 2006. I said that we probably would, but that I would run it by Mary. I showed Mary the brochure and she agreed that it would be a desirable trip. With that decided, I started doing some preliminary research.

March and April were not practical because of other commitments. October and November were not practical because of the uncertainty of the weather. So that left May through September. June was probably the most desirable month for us, and it seemed for everyone else as well. The cruises in June were the most expensive of the year.

About a month before our scheduled departure for Italy, I had a fall and injured my hip. The resultant hematoma, more specifically the surgery to drain it, caused some serious complications and we had to cancel our tour.

On or about June 1, 2005, we received an email from Grand Circle Travel saying that we could "pre-register" for 2006 tours by sending them a deposit, fully refundable, and they would then notify us at the time we needed to make the actual reservations. Marty called and put the deposits for them and for us on his credit card. I then gave him a check for our part, $1,000. The deposit would be refunded if we canceled before some appropriate time, but it held for us spots on the "Great Rivers of Europe" cruise in mid to late June 2006, and would be applied to the cost of the cruise.

Early in the afternoon of June 16, 2005, while I was away from home, Peter, of GCT, called and Mary took the message. He wanted us to call him at 1-800-321-2835, the GCT Customer Service number, to confirm our choice of date for the cruise and to pick our cabin. He gave a Pending Reservation Number.

Before I called GCT I talked with Marty. We agreed that we wanted a cruise between the 15th and 30th of June, 2006. Marty wanted the lowest, cheapest cabin, but I told him I wanted one higher in the ship with bigger windows. He said that was not a problem with them.

I called the GCT number and completed our reservation. We went with the cruise that started on June 25, 2006, in the direction of Amsterdam to Vienna. With the Vienna post-cruise extension added our return home would be on July 13, 2006. The ship was M/S River Symphony, and we would be on the Sonata Deck, in cabin 308. We agreed to pay $768 for the trip cancellation insurance, but if we paid with a check by June 30, 2005, we would get a discount of $781.

I called Marty to tell him the news, and he said he would call the next day and book the same cruise on the same ship on the same date. Marty and Shirley left for their trip to Canada on June 23, 2005.

On June 24, 2005, we received our refund checks from Trip Mate for the cancelled Italy trip. They were in the proper amount. The total loss for the canceled trip was about $600, and most of that was the insurance premium. The premiums for the trip cancellation insurance offered by GCT tend to be a little higher that that offered by others, but we had no hassle with the refund.

Just out of curiosity, on September 20, 2005, I looked at "My Account" on the GCT web site and found, to my surprise, that the preliminary flight itinerary was already posted. I did not expect that the final itinerary would be exactly like the preliminary, but it was a good indication and helpful for planning purposes.

**Captain Larry** · 08-22-2006, 09:39 PM

Chronology of Planning (Part 2)

On January 18, 2006, for no specific reason, I looked again at the "My Account" section of the GCT web site. As surprised as I was when the preliminary air itinerary appeared last September, ten months before the departure, I was just as surprised to find that the itinerary had been erased from the site. In its place was a statement that the preliminary air itinerary would be mailed to us on February 25, 2006. Well, the Preliminary Air Itinerary was back on February 25, 2006, just like the web site promised. The routing and times were the same as before, but the flight numbers of the flights between Pittsburgh and Dulles had been changed. The overseas flights were the same numbers, but departure time from Vienna was thirty minutes later.

On or about April 1, 2006, UPS brought a package from GCT. It was our travel gifts for this booking. We received two collapsible tote bags with the GCT logo. They are nice enough, but not terribly useful. A week or so later, Marty Gogol said they had received their gifts and they got hanging toiletry bags, probably more useful than what we got.

On April 22, 2006, I called GCT at 1-800-321-2835, and made reservations for the Heildelberg tour and charged the $170 to a MasterCard. None of the other optional tours could be prebooked.

On Tuesday, May 30, 2006, we received by USPS Priority Mail our airplane tickets and other documents. These were promised one week before departure, but arrived nearly one month ahead of time. Among the contents were the airline tickets, which matched the latest preliminary itinerary we had received, and the Grand Circle luggage tags we need to attach to our luggage so that it can be properly delivered to the ship. It also included our Grand Circle name badges, on lanyards, a name list of all of the passengers traveling with us, another copy of the day-to-day itinerary, with the same mistakes I had noted earlier, and the hotel contact sheet. It was all in a neat little neck pouch that will be useful while traveling by air.

The passenger list included 134 names (counting the Gogols and us). They represent 24 states of the United States. The biggest group is from Florida, 26 in all, but there is nothing to indicate that any of them are particularly travelling together. There are multiple couples from the same hometown, so they may be travelling buddies.

**Captain Larry** · 08-22-2006, 09:43 PM

Day 1 – Sunday, June 25, 2006 – Depart USA

The title of this chapter accurately describes what we intended to do on this date, but is not what really happened. Here’s what really happened. There are a lot of possibilities for something to go wrong when something as complex as this cruise trip is planned. One must be flexible and patient. We started this tour badly, but it turned out generally good.

Our flight was scheduled to leave Pittsburgh International Airport at 1454 (2:54 PM, Eastern Daylight Time), but rather than face the possibility that we would run out of time, we decided to leave home as soon as we were ready. That turned out to be 0845.

Just before 1000 we arrived at Charlie Brown’s Airport Parking, after driving about 57 miles. I checked in and told them we would be back on 13 July. That turned out to be a bad guess. I had forgotten to bring my AAA Membership Card, but the lady took my word for it and gave me the discount.

The shuttle dropped us at the United Airlines check-in in plenty of time for our scheduled flight. Since we had electronic tickets, we checked in at the kiosk and got our boarding passes. Then we found out that you cannot check bags more than four hours before your flight. We were about four hours and ten minutes early. But the agent intervened and checked our bags straight through to AMS, Amsterdam Schiphol Airport.

We got through security without incident and got to the "Airside" terminal with "lots" of time to spare. I was really getting hungry, so I got an Italian sub sandwich at the deli. Mary got a steak and cheese sandwich combo. We sat and ate and talked. We had plenty of time.

We went to the boarding gate because that was a more comfortable and quiet place to loaf than the food court. About 1400 we learned that the flight, scheduled for 1454, would now depart at 1530. The arrival at IAD (Washington Dulles Airport) would be 1630, and we could still make the connection with the flight on to Amsterdam. It would be very close, however. If we were to miss flight 946 from IAD to AMS, we would then have to reroute through London, Frankfort, or some other city, change planes, and get to Amsterdam at some time later than scheduled.

We boarded the plane and about 1550 it taxied to the end of the runway. The pilot announced that they would not let our plane depart PIT because of severe storms at IAD. We sat on the plane at the end of the runway for two hours. That was bad enough, but we were doubly annoyed by the fact that we were instructed to check our carry-on bags. The instruction was, "Nothing larger than a brief case may be carried aboard." So we obediently checked our carry-ons, but not too many of our fellow passengers did. There would have been plenty of room. The real problem was than we did not have anything with which to pass the time while we sat on the runway. Our puzzle books were in the carry-on bags.

The pilot said he would return us to the gate so that we could at least get off the plane, use the restrooms, get a drink, and stretch our legs. Just as we got back to the gate, after waiting for another airplane to vacate it, the heavy rain began. The small commuter airplanes are parked away from the building. You have to walk down the steps, across the tarmac, and up another set of steps to get into the terminal. Only those who decided to cancel the flight left. The rest of us stayed on the plane for another hour.

Then the pilot said he had clearance to take off, so he closed up the plane and we went once again to the end of the runway. At that point the clearance was lifted and we sat there another hour. We then heard that we were going back to the gate because the flight was cancelled. The crew hours were up and they could not fly the plane even if we got the clearance. It was now already well past the scheduled take-off time for the next leg of our journey.

We got in line at the boarding gate to get booked on some other flight. It was taking a long time to process each person, so the line moved very slowly. I called the United Airlines Reservations Center on my cell phone, but the person there was not very helpful. He said I should not have any trouble getting to the connecting flight because its departure had been delayed until 2000. That was great except that it was already 2000 and we were still in Pittsburgh.

When we got to see a clerk, there was much searching and we finally got confirmation on the flight from IAD to AMS on Monday, June 26, 2006. We were encouraged, and agreed, to fly from PIT to IAD this evening and then be ready to catch the next leg, even if it meant spending sixteen hours at Dulles Airport.

Since it now looked like we would be getting to Amsterdam on Tuesday morning, June 27, 2006, rather than the originally scheduled Monday morning, I called Grand Circle Travel for them to get word to the ship of our delay. I got the answering service and they said they would pass on the information as soon as anyone came to work on Monday morning. I had earlier called GCT when I thought we would not get to Europe until Wednesday, and had started arrangements to meet the ship in Cologne.

We got boarding passes for the flight scheduled to depart at 2130. We had some pizza from the only fast food joint still open in the food court. When we got back to the gate, the departure time had been changed to 2245. Some other passengers told us that our luggage had probably been sent to the baggage claim area, even though a clerk had assured us earlier that it had not. I asked a different clerk and she told us which carrousel it was on.

So we had to ride the train from the airside terminal back to the landside, leave the secure area, claim our bags, and then stand in line to have them rebooked on the correct flight, this time to IAD only. Then back through security, but this time our new boarding passes were marked SSSS, which meant the computer had picked us for "Selected Special Security Screening." So our carry-on bags were hand searched, we were wanded and then patted down, and finally got back to the gate about 2220.

There the clerk said, "You missed the flight. Where were you?" There was indeed a plane just pulling away from the gate, but it turned out to be the flight originally scheduled for a 1600 departure. Our flight was now scheduled for 0008 on Monday, June 26, 2006. The actual airplane was flying from IAD to PIT and then turning around. It had not yet left IAD.

About midnight the plane from IAD came in and our flight was immediately cancelled. By that time all of the flights from PIT to IAD for Monday and Tuesday were booked solid. The earliest flight we could get, on United, was on Wednesday. Because the cancellations were due to weather, United would not even consider cross-booking us on another airline. We decided to go home, drive to Washington on Monday, and then catch our flight to AMS.

We picked up our bags, called for the shuttle, and went to pick up our car. The parking lot’s calendar changes at midnight, so we had to pay for two days. We arrived home about 0200 and went to bed. So we had driven about 120 miles, paid $1.50 in tolls, paid $8.27 for parking, spent about $30 on food, had many hours of aggravation, and were not a step closer to Amsterdam that we every were. And the earliest we could possibly get there was 24 hours after we were supposed to have been there.

FlRic · 08-25-2006, 09:37 AM

OMG! I try to avoid United anytime I have to fly-they are as bad as Northworst.... I'm glad you enjoyed the river boat trip-you did, didn't you???

**Captain Larry** · 08-25-2006, 10:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FlRic

OMG! I try to avoid United anytime I have to fly-they are as bad as Northworst.... I'm glad you enjoyed the river boat trip-you did, didn't you???

When I get back home, Rick, I'll add a few more chapters and you'll see that things improved greatly after the first day. It really was a great trip, and the problems of the first day were (almost) forgotten. When you buy a package like we did, you go with the flight arrangements that the tour company sets up. Booking your own flights is always an option, but usually costs more and voids the transfer plans the tour company has in place at the destination. Had the weather co-operated it was a very good itinerary.

FlRic · 08-25-2006, 04:43 PM

Larry, we've done 10 trips with GCT and usually the itinerary is great. At the end of our trip to Thailand we were stranded in Bangkok so GCT flew us to Singapore for a day and a night at their expense to get us home. I assume the airline (Northworst) participated in that expense. Usually the flight schedule is pretty good but then again we always sign up for the pre-trip so we arrive early.

On the Great Rivers trip we went to Brussels for three days first and we wer travelling with friends so no worrys'!
Enjoy the weekend with the kids......

judytata11 · 08-26-2006, 06:06 AM

What an ordeal!! I'm looking forward to reading about the good part of trip!

**Captain Larry** · 08-26-2006, 08:33 PM

OK. Here's the day we got there: (Well, actually, the day we finally got started.)

Day 2 Monday, June 26, 2006 Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Day 2 started much the same as day 1. We got out of bed at home and started to travel to Amsterdam. We should have been on the ship in Amsterdam before we left home this morning, but the events of the previous day had delayed us a minimum of 24 hours.

We got up a little before 0700 and were on the road by 0800. Mary called our daughter, Amy, who said we could park at her house and she would take us to the airport. Amy lives about ten miles from IAD, in Vienna, Virginia. We arrived at Amy’s house about 1230. We had driven about 215 miles and spent $5.25 in tolls.

About 1300 we rode with Amy to her son’s summer day camp to pick him up. Then we went on to Dulles Airport where Amy let us out and we walked into a madhouse. The bad weather of the previous day and the bad weather predicted for the next day had caused a lot of folks to be trying to fly on this particular day.

We had boarding passes for seats 20C and 20D on United Airlines flight 946, scheduled to depart IAD at 1730. We tried to explain that to the person directing traffic in the check-in area. We were pointed to a queue and eventually got to the front of the line. There we found out that we were in a domestic flights only line. However, the agent took pity on us and checked our bags anyway. We successfully passed security and rode the shuttle to Concourse C. Our plane was scheduled for Gate C8, and we went there, but we were much to early for any activity concerning our flight.

Considering the trauma of the preceding day and the uncertainty that raised, Mary wanted to check to affirm that we were indeed on United Airlines flight 946. I called UA Reservations and got that confirmation. The reservation agent confirmed the booking but could not confirm the seat assignments. She said we had been upgraded to First Class and the seats had not yet been assigned. I had a fleeting moment of euphoria and then became realistic again. We went to the gate and asked an agent working there to confirm for us. She was able to confirm seats 20C and 20 D. They are not First Class. They are, however, Economy Plus, so we would have an extra four inches of pitch, or legroom, and that would be very nice.

We boarded the plane about 1650 but did not leave the gate until about 1815. We were told that we were waiting for some late-arriving flights that had connecting passengers. We filed that information for later use. We were enjoying the added headroom and legroom of the upgraded seats.

We were airborne at 1856. Shortly after take-off we were served dinner. I had the pasta, and it seemed to be manicotti. Mary had chicken, which seemed to be stir-fried. The meals were not bad. The movies didn’t interest me at all, but Mary watched one called "8 Below", I think. I worked puzzles and tried to sleep some. One of the passengers in a window seat did not close the shade, so I could see outside for most of the flight. From our 38,000 feet altitude, the Sun set at 2130 Eastern Daylight Time. That was 0330 Tuesday in Europe, and 2330 where we actually were. It never did get totally dark.

I watched the flight progress and information throughout the flight. We were on a Northern Great Circle route, and we passed within a few hundred miles of Greenland. Being that far north and that near the Summer Solstice, it was logical that it did not get dark. With a stiff tail wind, our speed over the ground averaged about 625 mph.

As we were leaving Washington I had changed my watch to European Daylight Time. Somewhere over New England or Eastern Canada it became Tuesday by that watch. We should have been on the ship sleeping after our first day of touring Amsterdam, but instead we were on the airplane, still a few hours from landing in the Netherlands.

**Captain Larry** · 08-26-2006, 08:45 PM

We did get there!

Day 3 Tuesday, June 27, 2006 Amsterdam/Canal Boat Tour

Well, we did get to Amsterdam this day, but we did not get the Canal Boat Tour. Or any other touring except the taxi ride from the airport to the ship and the view from the ship as we departed Amsterdam that evening.

I’ll now go to European Daylight Time, since that is the time zone for all of our river cruise and our stay in Vienna. At the beginning of the day we were still on board the airplane over the Atlantic Ocean. About 0530 they served a snack, or maybe it was breakfast. Either way, it wasn’t very good. I was expecting some customs form to fill out, but none was forthcoming.

The scheduled arrival time at AMS had been 0655, but since we took off an hour and one-half late, we would expect to be late arriving. We actually made up some time and arrived about 0740. We then taxied for a full twenty minutes before arriving at the gate.

It was a long walk to baggage claim, and then a long wait for our bags. Finally, they both came. We went to immigration. Our passports were looked at and stamped, but no questions were asked. Customs was even easier – nothing! The doorway was labeled "Nothing to Declare" and it was not manned. Once through the doorway, we were in the open, public area of the terminal.

We had donned our GCT nametags so as to be noticed by anyone looking for us. There were hundreds of people waiting for deplaning passengers and dozens of them had signs indicating some organization or a person’s name. We saw nothing that indicated a person was looking for us. I finally went to Traveler Information and was told to go to the "Meeting Place." The lady further explained that the Meeting Place was a big box painted in red and white checks. We found it and then stood around some more.

Presently a man carrying a sign that read "VBT" came by and asked if I were Mr. Newlon. He had been asked by GCT to watch for us and to get us on a taxi to the ship. VBT, incidentally, is something like "Vacation Bicycle Tours." It is one of the tour companies under the GCT umbrella. The third company is OAT, Overseas Adventure Travel. VBT-man called the taxi company and said we were to wait at the Meeting Place for the driver to arrive, in about ten minutes. A little later, Ronnie, who was representing some other tour company, came by and said that GCT had asked him to watch for us also. About that time René Pater, the taxi driver, came by and helped us get our bags to his Mercedes cab.

We set out for the ship. I asked René how far, and he said about 20 kilometers from the airport to the ship. He also casually mentioned that GCT would not pay the fare, but that was our responsibility. I told him I had no Euro yet and he said no problem. He could take any credit card. I gave him a MasterCard for the €42.50, assuming that it would be reimbursed sometime and somewhere.

René helped us drag our bags to the ship, a couple of hundred feet over piers and up a few steps. Dragan, the Hotel Manager, and Csaba, his assistant, met us at the entrance to the ship. They checked us in, confiscated our passports, and led us to our cabin, 308 on the Sonata Deck. Csaba was the second person I have ever known with that name, so I knew to pronounce it "Chub-ba".

When I asked about the passports being held, Csaba said it was to facilitate the passage between countries. I didn’t argue, even though my understanding is that passports are needed only to enter the European Union, and not needed for passage between countries that are members of the EU. I suspect that the passports were being held as a kind of security deposit to insure that we would settle all accounts on the ship before departing. In any event, I did not expect that we would need the passports, so I was happy to let them keep them secure for us.

It was about 1030 when we got aboard, and almost all of the tourist and program directors were off touring Amsterdam. We unpacked and then looked over the ship. We discovered that our room was very conveniently placed. We were in a hallway where only the people who "lived" there would ever go, and we were almost exactly midships, so we had a relatively short walk to anywhere on the ship.

About 1230 the tour groups returned to the ship. Shirley and Marty were very happy to see us, and somewhat surprised. They had been told that we would join the ship in Cologne, but did not get the update that we were coming a day earlier. The Senior Program Director, Judith Bierbaum (or maybe her name is Reitsma), was also happy to see us. The roughly 135 passengers had been divided into three groups and were color-coded. Marty had made sure that Mary and I were included in the yellow group with them. Alex (Alexander Berger) was the Program Director assigned to the yellow group. Judy had the red and Marleen Van Den Eijkel led the blue group. Judy is Austrian, from Vienna, Alex is German, from Frankfort, and Marleen is Dutch, from Amsterdam, I think.

The next evolution was lunch, about 1300. The four of us sat with Betty and Lou Brunner from Haynes City, Florida. The Gogols had met them on the airplane, or at the Philadelphia Airport. The Brunners were leaving from a son’s home in New Jersey.

The lunch, our first meal on the ship, was a buffet, but first we were served soup at our table. The soup was "Hollandse Erwtensoep", green split-pea soup with smoked Dutch sausages. It was very good. The buffet included many things, but my favorites were the Dutch "Slavinken", little sausages wrapped in bacon and grilled. I also liked the grilled tomatoes and the sandwich I made from the assorted cold cuts and cheeses. The dessert was vanilla ice cream, which was good, with rum-marinated raisins, which was tolerable. We were very hungry and enjoyed the meal very much.

After lunch, some of the tourists went to the diamond factory and some just walked around town some more. Marty and Shirley just walked. Mary and I took some jet-lag relief (aka naps). By 1630 everyone was back aboard and the ship got underway. We went to the Sun Deck to watch the departure.

About 1800 we got kind of dressed up and went to the lounge for a glass of champagne and introductions of the captain and the crew. Captain Manfred Mertens introduced the officers and crewmen and then the Hotel Manager, Dragan Vuckovic. Dragan then introduced the rest of the hotel staff. After the introductions, the crew went back to work and the Program Directors took over for the first of the daily series of Port Talks. The night before every port we would receive a briefing about the port. We were told what we would expect to see and how we would see it. Usually it was a walking tour. We were also told what the optional tours would be doing and what might be available to do if the optional tour were not being taken. Tonight the talk was about Cologne, or Köln, as the Germans say. There were no optional tours for Cologne.

Then about 1900 we went to the dining room (they always called it the restaurant on the ship) for the "Captain’s Welcome Dinner." This and every following dinner was a four, five, or sometimes six course meal. None of the meals were bad, but some were better than others. This first one was one of the best. The entrée was, and I quote from the menu:

WHOLE PINK GRILLED VEAL RIB EYE

served with green beans, chicoree and onion pie
accompanied by potato William, deep-fried salcify and Madeira glace

I have no idea what some of those things were, but I ate them all and enjoyed it.

This was my first chance to really observe the waiters, and I was impressed. They were all Eastern Europeans and they were well trained and quite personable. They took orders where there was an option, served all of the courses, bussed the tables, served the drinks, and still had time to converse with the passengers. At dinner we had our choice of red or white wine, and the glasses were bottomless. Mary doesn’t drink wine so she asked if she might have Diet Coke (Coke Light in Europe) instead. For that and every other dinner she received two or three glasses of Diet Coke. When Christina was serving us the Diet Coke was served without asking. The other waiters never quite caught on the way Christina did.

After dinner we went to the Sun Deck to observe more of the passage of the ship through the Amsterdam-Rhine Canal. We especially wanted to watch as we passed the first lock. There was a lot of traffic, so it took quite a while to pass that lock. When it was our turn, we were shoehorned in with five other ships or barges nearly as big as the Symphony. This lift was about 10 or 12 feet. On this lock, the Captain said, you never know for sure how much the lift is because of tidal variations.

This was just the first of 66 locks the ship would go through between Amsterdam and Vienna. Most of the locks are on the Main River and the Main-Danube Canal. We got a list of the locks including the lift distance of each lock. The last three approaching the summit, or the continental divide, had lifts of 82 feet each. To put that in perspective, the total lift of the Panama Canal, sea level to the level of Gatun Lake, is 83 feet.

We retired to our cabin for a good night’s sleep. The beds were large enough and fairly comfortable, but the only cover was a heavy duvet, and it was usually too much cover. However, we did need something covering us, so we spent most of the nights covering up for a while and then uncovering. There were extra blankets in the closets, but they were quite heavy as well.