Category: River Elbe
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River Elbe trip – Summary
Actually, only 5 days of this 17 day trip were cruising along the river. That bit was very nice indeed, right up to Viking’s usual high standards. We would have liked the cruise to have lasted longer – there was certainly no issue with water levels. Overall, we enjoyed the trip hugely. Full of fascinating…
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Day 17 – On the way home (11/5/23)
As always after these excursions, a rather sad and empty feeling on waking up, but at least it was at a reasonable hour. Made it down to breakfast. This hotel has many things going for it, but the breakfast buffet was confusing in the extreme. Where to find stuff? First-world problem, I know….. Staff service…
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Day 16 – Warsaw (10/5/23)
Bright, sunny and chilly start again. We started the morning with a tour of bits of Warsaw in the coach, with commentary from Adam, one of the tour guides that were with us today. All very comfortable, but, although it was being explained very clearly, there was once again far too much information to make…
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Day 15 – Cracow to Warsaw (9/5/23)
In my haste to finish yesterday’s blog, I forgot to mention that, in the evening, we were taken for a meal at a hotel in the Jewish Quarter, accompanied by some music from a Klezmer trio. The meal was indifferent, to be honest, and the music, although excellent technically for the most part, could be…
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Day 14 – Auschwitz (8/5/23)
Another memorable day. The vast majority of people know something of the Holocaust – the plan by the Nazis to exterminate European Jews which was hatched in 1942 – so I won’t go into details of that specifically. Far better people more qualified than me have told that story. Some of the following may sound…
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Day 13 – Cracow (7/5/23)
I had a truly lousy night’s sleep, because of this bloody cold and the room being too warm, despite the aircon being turned to its coldest setting. We’re not particularly impressed with the hotel – it’s a bit shabby and unloved, unlike the hotels in Berlin and Prague. I opted to stay in bed a…
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Day 12 – Prague to Cracow (6/5/23)
Most of the day was in the coach travelling the 500 km from Prague to Cracow. Perfectly comfortable journey in a coach with decent leg-room for a change. We are the only Brits in a party of 42! Not much to report. We had lunch in a smallish town called Olomouc, which was fine. We…
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Day 11 – Prague (5/5/23)
Everyone to whom I’ve spoken who has been to Prague has rated it highly. Yesterday’s marathon probably coloured it less favourably in our eyes – it is rather unkempt, scruffy and incredibly crowded – so today we set out to see for ourselves what the fuss was all about. Berlin holds a commanding lead in…
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Day 10 – Prague (4/5/23)
Long, long day. As we had to put our bags outside our rooms by 7 a.m., both of us were blearily awake by about 6.15 a.m. The coaches were due to depart Decin for Prague from about 7.45 a.m., but they were late as they’d encountered heavy traffic on their way over. Still, we were…
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Day 9 – Bad Shandau/Decin (3/5/23)
A nice, restful start to the day, as the ship was on the move to Bad Shandau, near the border with the Czech Republic. The weather was beautiful, although the wind was a bit chilly. We had some paperwork to complete before our arrival in Prague tomorrow, so we took some time up on the…