Oh you are so right! We went to Europe for our first time middle of June to late June to cruise the Rhine and everywhere we went was a surprise festival they were having we didn't know about! It was so fun and back in the states I would normally not enjoy that type of thing much, super crowded streets, loud music, loud drinking people etc but over there it was a wonderful surprise and we hung out for hours at a few of them! Lucerne had a huge festival going on in old town, as did Lake Como, Milan had some huge outdoor concert right next to the Duomo, it was just amazing. Didn't plan to be at any of them but sure enjoyed it and now when we plan to go back I'm kinda looking to see if I can find any LOL. We ended up going back to Lucerne after our cruise to spend a couple nights and it was such a different experience because the festival was only 2 days so it was over and thousands of less people around the Chapel bridge area made it for a totally different (but still amazing) time, just different. One of the things I enjoyed the most that totally surprised me was how much I loved to walk around after a day of excursions in old town of some quaint village/town and just sit and soak up the culture all around me. I'd always read to try not to fit too many places into your vacation because you don't have time to truely FEEL the environment, culture of a place and that was some of the best advice I heard actually. Just going and seeing top attractions was wonderful but the best part for me was just wondering around with no destination, sitting at a cafe and just watching, listening to all the sights, sounds, smells, etc. Best vaca ever. Thanks for all your great info on rivers, we are going to cruise the Danube next Aug/Sept so will keep reading your blogs 🙂