ljandgb

I posted on the Avalon thread that according to our TA, our Sept 1 Danube cruise "is a go."  I'm still bracing for changes just in case.

I'd do MSC again if able to stay in the Yacht Club.  That was fabulous and fabulously priced.

Definitely look into booking not-cruiseline tours.  I google, look at TripAdvisor reviews, contact several companies, and then pick the one that seems to have the best communication.  Some totally private tours are only slightly more expensive than group tours, and you can join or arrange small group tours on the roll call forum here (at least pre-Covid - hopefully 2023 will be more "normal.")

I loved our Baltic cruise. Tallinn was a revelation.  It was our favorite port.

I was doing one of those surveys on the internet where you would say what you call different things - sofa vs couch, etc.  There was a picture of a roundabout and one of the answers was "I have no word for this." LOL  There are whole sections of the US without them.

Our TA contacted us today to say that our Sept 1 Danube trip "is a go!"  I'm not going to 100% believe it until we're in the air, but with vaccinated Americans allowed into Europe, it's more likely.

We did the Rhine in October and the weather was very nice.  A few mornings were chilly, but days and evenings were really pleasant.  

It reminds me of the stretch along the river where all the castles are, though I don't think there are any official/significant ports on that bit.

The Rhine?  No clue which city.

FYI, Tauck and Adventure by Disney also do family river cruises.  Disney uses AMA, who designed some rooms to hold 3 and have adjoining doors to another stateroom. Tauck uses their own ships and brands their family trips (land and water) under "Tauck Bridges."

We are booked on a September 1 Danube cruise.  Our PIF date was supposed to be the first week in June.  Just heard it's been pushed back to July 18.  We haven't sailed Avalon before, but I've been happy so far with how they've handled things. 

We have a September Danube cruise booked and I'm thinking it will be less and less likely it's happening.

I've posted this on other threads, but we just got back from Morocco.  It was a beautiful country, but 80% of shops and restaurants were closed, there was an 8:00pm curfew (so no people watching at cafes at night), and our Air France flight was changed so frequently and ultimately to such a bad itinerary thru Paris on the way home, that we canceled it mid trip and booked a different airline home with a direct flight to JFK.  That turned out to be a good decision as 2 days later, all flights into France were canceled anyways.

That's a lot of explanation to say that international travel is still not what it could be, and even if you get in country, there's still a lot of uncertainty.  Sigh.  One day we'll get back to normal.

We saw a few places in Amsterdam that were credit card only.  No cash accepted.

Well, that makes more sense than "dead treble!"

Well, a google search of both the restaurant or the intersection shown will give you the town, but I'd've never found it on my own.  The name of the town translates into "dead treble" which still leaves me scratching my head on the clues given.

Clue for someone else perhaps. I have no idea what you're getting at. 😉  Glad my impression of France was correct.

Looks French to me.

We did.  Our guide got some for us the day we were in Lisbon.  They were tasty!

It can't hurt to try.  I was enchanted by Portugal.  Madeira was a gem, also, though I can't manage to really get that to fit with the river cruise theme for this thread, darn it.  I've got some great pictures. 🙂

It's still a wild card...

Understood, but as mentioned, Lisbon has been used before as a pre/post Douro extension. 

Correct!  Also known as Jeronimos Monastery, and the location of my previously posted "Get thee behind me, pants!"  AKA, Joseph and his coat depiction.

Wild card!

Time for a hint?

The building includes the National Maritime Museum on the opposite end.

Good luck to mom and baby!!

And, yes, hand washing outside of the dining hall.

Yes, Portugal. It’s a fountain used for a specific purpose in this building. 

Sorry, this morning has been busier than I expected. 
 

Let’s try this one. River and building please. 

Based on the language, and the bamboo, I'm going to guess the Yangtze.

We lived in Japan for 2 years and I loved the Japanglish on billboards.  My favorite was for cigarettes, had a picture of a wind surfer and said "Break Wind!" LOL  While it isn't culturally correct, you can usually get the gist of it.  There was one in China, though, that was for a new apartment building and had "trophoblast" in the statement.  I've never been able to puzzle that reference completely out.  Brand new?  From the beginning? We make babies??

6 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

It's very hard to predict the political stance on vaccine passports.  New York, which I would have expected to be against them, has already developed a very good App with a QR code that links to the official State database.  DW and I were able to register exactly 14 days after our second shot [and now on day 13, so it really is programmed well]

 Wow, I'm jealous!  I mean, how hard was that, that Texas can't get it's act together?!