Observations

Observations

1.     If Hitler were alive today, he would drop dead because there is almost no sign of his blue-eyed blonde Aryan race in either Austria or Germany.  The people are all shapes, sizes, and colors.  The Italians, Spanish, Scandanavians, even the Lithuanians all have a “look,” but I didn’t see anything of the sort on this trip.  Of course, I’m excluding those who are “foreigners” in each country eg: Turks.

2.     If you live on the West Coast, snow is fun.  A highlight for us was the snowy day in Regensburg.  For the people from the Midwest and East Coast, it was a drag, reminding them of the winter to come.

3.     You can’t tell a book by its cover.  I mentioned this in other blogs.  The people on the ship looked like lower middle class hicks, but they were in reality highly educated, well-read, and intelligent with the means to travel a lot. 

4.     I think if you combined the travels of everyone on the ship, you would cover every possible destination in the world from the northernmost outpost at the top of the world to Antarctica and everything in between.  Some of the comments:  Gallapagos?  “Been there twice!”  Falklands “done that”, China “three times.” Angor Wat “of course.”  Tasmania? “you bet!”  Also a number of people we met were leaving for their next trip within a month of returning home.

5.      There is life after 85.  I know I commented on the advanced age of our fellow travelers.  Dan and I were in the younger 20%.  But it was encouraging to meet couples married for 60-65 years happily and healthfully (which is really the key) traveling.

6.     If I were single, heaven forbid (pooh, pooh, pooh), I would go on a riverboat cruise.  There were MANY single women and more surprisingly men.  There were also widows and widowers married to each other—some of whom met on cruises!

7.     If you are 60+, riverboat cruising is a great way to travel—no unpacking, no seasickness, wonderful excursions and food, comfortable room (at least on Vantage) and a good balance between activities and downtime.

8.     If I had to chose between traveling when it is hot or traveling when it is cold, sometimes wet, sometimes snowy, I’d choose the latter.