Europe
Oxford, England: from grotesques to the sublime
We traced the footsteps of Harry Potter, Alice in Wonderland, Presidents, Kings, and a Pope along the medieval lanes of this fascinating city.
read moreViva la Grischa! : Allegra im Val Müstair, Switzerland!
In more remote mountain villages and hamlets, the language left behind by Roman conquerers lives on. That language is called Romansh and each region has its own dialect.
read moreImperial London
In what is becoming an increasingly homogenized world, London reigns supreme with a pageantry known to most of us only in storybooks. It was our good fortune to be in London for three magnificent events.
read moreAn Untour of Switzerland
Train rides past snow-capped Alps, boat excursions on sparkling lakes, gondolas to mountain peaks…hikes and picnics in idyllic meadows of wildflowers, serenaded by cowbells, savoring local wine, freshly-baked bread, cheeses and chocolates….yes, this is Switzerland.
read moreViking River Cruise’s European Adventure
Our European Adventure, as it was then named, cruised the Danube, Main Canal, and Rhine from Vienna to Amsterdam on the Viking Europe.
read moreGreenland
We glided past floating sculptures shaped by wind and weather, frozen reminders of ages past, shimmering shapes in a sparkling sea, the sky a clear cerulean. On both sides, dramatic peaks soared nearly 5000 feet above, dwarfing us as we sailed past icebergs and waterfalls in a pristine wilderness. This was the rarest of days in Ikerasassuag, “The Long Channel”, Prince Christian Sound.
read moreVoyage of the Vikings aboard Holland America’s Amsterdam: Iceland
It is said that when the Vikings first saw Iceland–with volcanoes, black lava fields, sulfurous steam, and bubbling mud pools– they thought they had discovered the entrance to the Netherworld.
read moreCruise ports in Norway: Holland America’s Voyage of the Vikings
The oldest of the Scandinavian capitals, founded over a thousand years ago, Oslo was an important center of wood trade. In the 1600s, after yet another devastating fire, King Christian IV, ruler of Denmark and Norway, rebuilt the city in brick and stone closer to Akershus Fortress and named it Christiania after himself. The original name was not restored until 1925.
read moreTreasures of the Rhine
On our “Treasures of the Rhine” itinerary, we unpacked once and sailed past enchanting fairytale castles, romantic medieval villages, verdant vineyards, and pastoral landscapes–living history from Switzerland to the North Sea.
read moreFrom Normandy to Paris: a river cruise along the Seine
The longest inland waterway in France winds in serpentine loops between the coast in Normandy and one of the most fashionable and romantic cities in the world–Paris. Named Seine from the Latin sequana, meaning snake, the 110 mile distance by air between Paris and the coast meanders by river for 240 miles.
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