On Tuesday April 25 we will depart for our river cruise on the Rhone, through Southern France, aboard a Viking river ship. Fascinating time to be traveling to France, with the run up to the runoff election between Macron and LePen hitting full stride. Thoughts and photos will be posted daily, depending on the wifi…
Author: jmschaller
A Modern Plague Pillar
I recently did some traveling through Eastern Europe and Germany. In some of the cities I visited I was struck by the appearance of so-called “Plague Pillars.” These pillars were erected in various town squares, from Budapest to Vienna to Prague, during the Middle Ages. Their purpose was either to ward off the spread of the…
Moselle Barge Trip Photos
We spent eight days exploring the Moselle in Germany, Luxembourg and France aboard the Dutch barge Merlijn. We started in Koblenz, and sailed south through various picturesque German river towns, to Wasserbillig in Luxembourg, and then to Metz in Eastern France. You can scroll through the photo album using the right and left arrows on…
Danube Cruise Photos
Click on the image below to see the photos from our 2015 cruise on the Danube, from Budapest to Nuremburg, then on to Prague by bus. A memorable trip with some long time friends.
Regensburg
Wednesday morning found us docked in the historic medieval city of Regensburg, in the heart of Bavaria. This was perhaps my favorite of the Danube river towns, with its interesting mix of historic structures, its blending of many different cultures and architectural influences, and its modern shops and amenities. Of course it, too, has its…
Passau
Another river town, another cathedral to visit. Passau sports an ample supply of religious buildings, including another St. Stephen’s (Stephen was very popular guy in this part of the world!), home of what is purported to be the world’s largest pipe organ. The town itself sits at the confluence of three rivers (although it is…
Melk
Monday morning we arrived at Melk, the site of a 1,000 + year old monastery that is a UNESCO World Heritage site. This monastery was the inspiration for Umberto Eco’s novel The Name of the Rose, which was made into a film starring Sean Connery a few years ago. After docking, we boarded the buses…
Vienna
On Sunday morning the Danube delivered us to Vienna, the capital of Austria and the historic home of the Hapsburg empire. It was historic of sorts for Polly and i to be in Vienna, as well. as we had visited the city 29 years ago on a singing tour. We visited the…
Budapest
We arrived in Budapest on Friday afternoon, about twelve hours ahead of our luggage. Bad weather leaving Philadelphia delayed our flight, which meant that we had to sprint at DeGaulle airport in Paris to make our connecting flight. Our luggage couldn’t move as quickly. Saturday we toured the twin cities of Buda and Pest in…
Three Little Birds
Three little birds arrived on my doorstep (well, actually my feeder) and that got me humming Bob Marley tunes all afternoon. Then a bigger bird (female redwing blackbird? – now I am channeling Paul McCartney) came along and intimidated the little guys. Still, better than having the squirrel feast on my provisions, which he did…