Prague

Prague

Hank Schrader, USMA '71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

www.dreamdestinations.com

One of the most interesting cities to visit in Europe is Prague.

It is a great pre or post city visit after a river cruise.

We have led several clients on visits to this city and wanted to share a tour of this awesome city in the Czech city from our eyes.

So, let’s explore Prague in the Czech Republic together and learn about what to do and see here—you won’t be disappointed!

City Overview

A former member of the Warsaw Pact countries of the Iron Curtain, this vibrant city has thrived after the Velvet Revolution of 1989.  It has historic roots that are really interesting to learn about but it is also just a fun place to explore its mixture of historic sights, great shops and hearty food.

The town center has most of the interesting sites and the good news is it is relatively compact, and easily walkable except for the steep walk up to the Castle Quarter (not to worry we have done it several times!).

The key sights are divided into zones.  They are the Castle Quarter and the Little Quarter on the west side of the Vltava River.  On the east side of the river is the Old Town, Jewish Quarter and the New Town. 

They are linked by several bridges, but one the most important and interesting bridges in Prague and all of Europe, the Charles Bridge, is bustling with activity and serves as a monument to 30 Saint Statues on this pedestrian only crossway.

For centuries, this bridge was the only link between Lesser Town on the left bank of the Vltava River on the way up to Prague Castle and Old Town on the opposite side.

Here are some pictures of this famous bridge:

The Castle Quarter

Situated on the high ground above the west bank of the Vltava River, the Castle complex dominates all of Prague.

Here are the key sites:

St. Vitus Cathedral--The largest and most important church in the Czech Republic, the magnificent St. Vitus Cathedral stands within the confines of the Prague Castle and is one of Eastern Europe's finest examples of Gothic architecture.

Prague Castle--In spite of many wars and fires, the Prague Castle has grown into a unique architectural complex.  It contains the Gothic St. Vitus Cathedral, a convent, several towers and many palace wings.  It includes the only privately owned building, Lobkowicz Palace, with its highly acclaimed museum (art works, porcelain, firearms and musical instruments).  There is an admission charge to visit some of the sights.

Golden Lane--is a small picturesque street with colorful wooden houses.  The legend is that alchemists attempted to turn metal into gold here, but in fact the alchemists lived elsewhere at the castle.  It was actually goldsmiths living here in the 17th century who gave the street its captivating name.  There is also an admission fee here to visit this small lane.

The Little Quarter

This area below the castle complex is where merchants and the wealthy lived.  This neighborhood has a wonderful High Baroque church—the Church of St. Nicolas.

The other really interesting site is the Nerudova Street—the step, cobblestoned roadway, lined with interesting doorway signs, shops, and foreign embassies.

The Old Town

The commerce center of Prague in times past, is now one of the most visited sites in Europe.

Here are some of the most important sights in the old town:

Old Town Square--Famous for its historical monuments, Old Town Square is a Prague must-visit.  Climb to the top of the 660-year-old Old Town Hall Tower for spectacular views of the Baroque-style St. Nicholas Church (north corner of the square, it has a fine interior); Gothic-style Church of Our Lady Before Tyn (twin towers) and the Old Town itself.  

Church of St. Nicholas--There are plenty of impressive Baroque churches in Prague, but the St. Nicholas church at the Old Town Square is one of the most beautiful thanks to the colorful frescoes, intricate ironwork and stucco that decorate the interior.

Old Town Hall--Prague's old Town Hall was built in 1364. The astronomical clock in the town hall's tower is one of the city's most popular tourist attractions.  Originally the building served only as the city hall of the old town, but later became the city hall for all of Prague.  It is now only used for ceremonial functions.

The Astronomical Clock (Orloj)--on the side of the Town Hall--consists of an astronomical dial embellished with zodiac symbols, a calendar dial and colorful, moving sculptures.  As the clock chimes, biblical figurines come out, and spectators may watch the "Walk of the Apostles."  An hourly bell toll features a figurine representing death.  The clock comes to life from 0900 to 2100.

In the center of the square is the Jan Hus Monument, the first to rebel against the total authority of the Catholic Church. He was the first Protestant Priest, a college professor and ultimately burned at the stake.

From Old Town Square, a walk along the posh Parizska Street (Paris Street) with it’s over the top shops will lead to a somber sight—the Jewish Quarter.  Here are some pictures of this grand avenue:

In part of the Old town is the Jewish Quarter—the Jews were pushed into a small marshy area near the bend of the Vltava River—it is one of the best preserved areas of Jewish life in all of Europe.

Josefov, also known as the Jewish Quarter or the Prague Jewish Ghetto, dates back to the 13th century and presents visitors with the opportunity to see a little of what life was like for Jews of that era.  This small 3 block area was once walled in by order of the pope who declared that Christians and Jews should not live together with 6 exit gates.

But things changed in 1897 with the destruction of the walls and new buildings—now this area is primarily Art Nouveau buildings. 

With its much more pleasant look of today, it still is somber to remember the 120,000 or so Jews living in Prague in 1939 in the start of WW II were reduced to only 10,000 by the 1945 liberation of the city.

The New Town

Basically this area surrounds the old town area and follows the outer walls that used to protect the city.

The most important sight here is Wenceslas Square--Wenceslas Square was originally conceived in the 14th century as a horse market.  The large square, measuring 750 by 60m (2500x200 ft), evolved into Prague's central boulevard.

Prague Cuisine

This a land of hearty food—pork, cabbage, great beers and potato dishes.  Among our favorites are the pork knuckle, beef tenderloin in cream sauce and almost any pork dish.

Here are some of our pictures of the food of Prague:

The food is even better if you get to share it with close friends, like our travel chums. Here we are in 2015 during the Christmas Markets

Don’t think there is only hearty food here—we escorted a close friend and client to a 3 star restaurant in Prague with food and a view beyond compare.  Here is some pictures:

My Final Thoughts

Prague is just a great visit—it just doesn’t get boring and we always look forward to returning!

What a great adventure—this town will give you views and experiences you will never forget.

We are travel experts, ocean and river cruise specialists, and Europe destination experts.  We have first-hand knowledge of almost anywhere you want to visit in Europe.  We know our products and the vendors who sell them to you.  We have designed special tours for dozens of clients, led several and will continue to find just the right vacation that will exceed your expectations.

When you are spending your hard-earned money for a vacation, you want an advisor who can match you with the right trip.  You want someone who will understand your expectations and fuel your anticipation (or excitement) to get you the best possible trip experience.  And, you want someone who can help you with the decision making process.  We think we have all these qualities.

Whatever your Dream Destinations are, we are here to help you get the best possible vacation based on what is important to you!  We will provide you high quality, expertly planned travel.  Please give me a call 713-397-0188 (Hank) or email me at hschrader@dreamdestinations.com.  We want to help you:  Savor life…make memories…Visit Dream Destinations!  Your journey begins here!

HANK is a certified Western European Destination Specialist (DS) who has been traveling to Europe for 48 years.  He is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC), conferred by the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA).  This recognized expert in cruise and leisure travel is a retired Army Officer, and taught World Geography for 8 years.  He is a `71 graduate of West Point and has earned 2 master’s degrees.   His other Certifications:

• AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist

• Viking River Cruise Specialist

• Scenic River Cruise Specialist

• Emerald Waterways Specialist

• Avalon Waterways Specialist

• Brit Agent

Rhine Christmas Market Cruises on AmaWaterways

Rhine Christmas Market River Cruises on AmaWaterways

Hank Schrader, USMA '71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

www.dreamdestinations.com

Last week I wrote about Danube Christmas Markets cruises.  As promised, today we are going to learn about Rhine Christmas Markets cruises.

One of the hottest trends in European River Cruises is the 2021 Christmas Markets cruises on AmaWaterways.

If you love Christmas and want to celebrate the magic of this special holiday season in Europe, there is no better place than on a river cruise. 

We have been on 6 river cruises during the Christmas market season and they are fabulous!  There are two main routes that offer the best experiences to celebrate the season where most of our Christmas traditions originated. 

The two rivers to visit the most Christmas Markets are the Rhine and the Upper Danube. 

So, let’s explore the Rhine routes together and learn about Christmas Markets.

A quick piece of advice—they are selling briskly—my guess is folks are tired of not traveling form the pandemic and November and December of 2021 seems likely to be a time that travel can resume safely.

What are Christmas Markets?

In Europe, many squares are used for various street markets.  At Christmas time, these squares are transformed into one unique blaze of color, goods and foods from small vendors.

It is a social gathering where hot mulled wine, beer and street food and all seem to get along as they browse the various vendors.

Christmas markets date back to 1300 or so and started in Germany, Austria and the eastern portion of France.  The season usually starts about November 25 and lasts until 23 or 24 December, roughly following the Advent 4 week season. 

Even for a person like me who does not really like shopping, this is so much fun that everyone should try this at least once.  Unlike American Malls, this is not combat shopping and crowds of hassled folks; this is a gathering of folks socializing with food and drink, music, and buying gifts at a much gentler pace. 

Seeing the decorations alone is worth the trip but many booths have handmade items that are unique and priceless.  Most sell only on cash, so make sure you have enough local currency to get your purchases. 

And, as we have learned though our own mistakes, if you see something you like, buy it or you will often miss out.  Most markets open around 10:00 AM and close around 9:00 PM but it varies a lot and it is not uncommon for booths to close down for short periods to take a break or get something to eat or an owner to take a day off and not open their booth.

As long as you dress warmly, these markets offer a cultural experience second to none—it is an adventure not to be missed!

The Rhine Route Overview

This route is the second most popular river cruise in all Europe. 

The 820 mile Rhine actually passes through 6 countries, but most folks consider it a German River, since so much of its banks are on German soil. The middle Rhine and especially the Rhine River Gorge, has the greatest concentration of scenic banks and castles in all Europe. It never gets old!

The main route usually starts in Amsterdam and continues to Basel Switzerland on the Rhine, (or from Basel to Amsterdam on the next 7 day cruise), using both the lower Rhine and the upper Rhine.  The upper Rhine is defined as from Koblenz, Germany to its source in Lake Constance, Switzerland--remember it flows north into the Baltic Sea.

This cruise begins with legendary canals and the colorful surroundings of Amsterdam, past the majestic Cologne Cathedral and on to the Black Forest region of Germany and the Alsace region of France.  The best stretch is the Rhine River Gorge with its’ 40 castle dominating the hillsides—unmatched anywhere in the world.

Port of call include Cologne, Rüdesheim, Ludwigshafen, Strasbourg, Breisach and Basel

Many folks start their trip with a stay in Amsterdam in a pre-cruise for a couple of nights, then enjoy the cruise and stay a couple of extra nights in Lucerne and Zurich, Switzerland. 

If you sail this route, you will usually get to visit 4 countries (the Netherlands, Germany, France and Switzerland), see awesome castles in the Rhine River Gorge, wine-sloped terraces and even quaint villages--it is a great voyage!

Amsterdam, Netherlands

This ringed city of canals is unique to say the least.  A land of bikes, canals and a free-wheeling culture, we have visited Amsterdam several times and escorted folks there. This is a city of 165 ringed canals, a population of 750.000 (it has as many bikes as people) and always full of tourists.

It is the capital of the Netherlands, with two world class art museums.  It is a major port, once the wealthiest city in the world and residents and visitors live with a tolerant atmosphere.

This is one place you will not find Christmas Markets.

Cologne, Germany

The huge Cologne Cathedral, with its twin pointed towers, is the best known landmark in Cologne.  Construction of the cathedral begin in 1248 and took the next 600 years to complete.

Next door to the Cathedral Romano-Germanic Museum which has artifacts from the old Roman town, including part of an old Roman villa.

Hohenzollern Bridge--This is one of the 7 bridges that cross the Rhine in Cologne.  About 1200 trains pass over this bridge daily in route to the main train station.

The old town square is also another good site to visit.

It is famous for its many Christmas markets—we have visited several times and love the hustle and bustle of the season.  Our favorite is area around the old town square.  Please enjoy these pictures:

Rüdesheim, Germany

The town of Rüdesheim is a charming wine village.

It is famous for the great white wines grown in the region, along with a special coffee drink, aptly named Rüdesheimer coffee (Flambé Asbach brandy, sugar cube, coffee garnished with whipped cream).

A lively lane, the Drosselgasse, is lined with taverns and wine-cellars.

The Christmas Markets are small here but a lot of fun.

Ludwigshafen, Germany

You won’t really visit anything in Ludwigshafen because it is the gateway to two great tours—Heidelberg and Speyer.

Heidelberg is a historic university town.  Top sights in Heidelberg, include a visit the red-walled Castle ruins, with its Great Vat, a 49,000-gallon 18th century wine cask.  There are beautiful views of the Neckar Valley and Heidelberg below.

The old town area is a great area to explore.  This especially true during the Christmas Markets.  Here are some great pictures of the wonderful Christmas Markets, which was even more fun when it snowed during one of our visits!

Speyer is a German town famous for its large Romanesque Cathedral.  It is the largest in Europe.  Speyer is part of the historic pilgrimage route of Santiago de Compostela.

This once walled city had 68 towers guarding it.  The most important tower still remains and at 188 feet, is one of the tallest defensive watch towers in all of Germany.

The Christmas Market area is near the Cathedral and we were especially impressed with the food booths.

Strasbourg, France

Strasbourg’s old town is a wonderful stop but especially so for Christmas.  After several visits to Strasbourg, it still beckons us back.  Our first visit was on Bastille Day (14 July) and the floodlights on the Cathedral were breathtaking.

There are several main attractions.  The Cathedral of Notre-Dame is massive and the Cathedral square always has lots of life.

Wander down to Petite France—the home of tanners, fishermen and other artisans—the half-timbered areas are just stunning.

Try some food here—the blend of German and French food results in dishes you won’t soon forget.

The Christmas decorations in Strasbourg are excellent in the old town area.  The narrow lanes just add to the ambiance.

Breisach, Germany

Breisach is another gateway city—there are another two great options here—Freiburg, Germany and Riquewihr, France.

Freiburg, Germany (the official name is Freiburg-im-Breisgau) is a blend of old and new. 

This city among other claims to fame is said to the sunniest city in all of Germany.  Located on the southern edge of the Black Forest, and near the Rhine River, it was a good trade location and rich burghers and the mercantile guilds were the original political force in the city.  

It is a university town (started in the 1400s), once was a walled city but its number one sight is the Freiburger Münster (Freiburg Cathedral) (started in the 1300s). The cathedral was completed in 1513. 

We have visited several times and especially like the 3 Christmas Markets area here.

Riquewihr is a constant splash of colors, half-timbered buildings and wine shops jumbled together that just is so charming you will not know where to look next.

This medieval walled city still has most of its walls.  There is a watch tower that today houses a museum about the defensive structures of the city, the people who manned the defensive structures and the weapons they used.

Don’t forget to shop, enjoy the food or a snack and sample the white wines this region is so famous for and brought wealth to this village.

This may be the most charming Christmas village you will ever see—maybe this picture will convince you we’re right!

Basel, Switzerland

Basel is the 3rd largest city in Switzerland.  The historic old town area, on the left bank of the Rhine, was once an old Roman citadel on the high ground.  The Munsterplaz (cathedral square) hosts the large church and some wonderful Christmas Markets.

A short walk from this square leads to the other good Christmas Markets of Markplaz (Market Square).

My Final Thoughts

Christmas on the Rhine—awesome!

What an experience—the Rhine River is awesome and deserves to be sailed by you—it is the best way to see this area of Europe.  This river will give you views and experiences you will never forget.

We are travel experts, ocean and river cruise specialists, and Europe destination experts.  We have first-hand knowledge of almost anywhere you want to visit in Europe.  We know our products and the vendors who sell them to you.  We have designed special tours for dozens of clients, led several and will continue to find just the right vacation that will exceed your expectations.

When you are spending your hard-earned money for a vacation, you want an advisor who can match you with the right trip.  You want someone who will understand your expectations and fuel your anticipation (or excitement) to get you the best possible trip experience.  And, you want someone who can help you with the decision making process.  We think we have all these qualities.

Whatever your Dream Destinations are, we are here to help you get the best possible vacation based on what is important to you!  We will provide you high quality, expertly planned travel.  Please give me a call 713-397-0188 (Hank) or email me at hschrader@dreamdestinations.com.  We want to help you:  Savor life…make memories…Visit Dream Destinations!  Your journey begins here!

HANK is a certified Western European Destination Specialist (DS) who has been traveling to Europe for 48 years.  He is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC), conferred by the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA).  This recognized expert in cruise and leisure travel is a retired Army Officer, and taught World Geography for 8 years.  He is a `71 graduate of West Point and has earned 2 master’s degrees.   His other Certifications:

• AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist

• Viking River Cruise Specialist

• Scenic River Cruise Specialist

• Emerald Waterways Specialist

• Avalon Waterways Specialist

• Brit Agent

Danube Christmas Markets on AmaWaterways

Danube Christmas Market River Cruises on AmaWaterways

Hank Schrader, USMA '71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

www.dreamdestinations.com

One of the hottest trends in European River Cruises is the 2021 Christmas Markets cruises on AmaWaterways.

If you love Christmas and want to celebrate the magic of this special holiday season in Europe, there is no better place than on a river cruise. 

We have been on 6 river cruises during the Christmas market season and they are fabulous!  There are two main routes that offer the best experiences to celebrate the season where most of our Christmas traditions originated. 

The two rivers to visit the most Christmas Markets are the Rhine and the Upper Danube.  So, let’s explore the Danube routes together and learn about Christmas Markets.

Next week I will write about the Rhine River route.

A quick piece of advice—they are selling briskly—my guess is folks are tired of not traveling from the pandemic and November and December of 2021 seems likely to be a time that travel can resume safely.

What are Christmas Markets?

In Europe, many squares are used for various street markets.  At Christmas time, these squares are transformed into one unique blaze of color, goods and foods from small vendors.

It is a social gathering where hot mulled wine, beer and street food and all seem to get along as they browse the various vendors.

Christmas markets date back to 1300 or so and started in Germany, Austria and the eastern portion of France.  The season usually starts about November 25 and lasts until 23 or 24 December, roughly following the Advent 4 week season. 

Even for a person like me who does not really like shopping, this is so much fun that everyone should try this at least once.  Unlike American Malls, this is not combat shopping and crowds of hassled folks; this is a gathering of folks socializing with food and drink, music, and buying gifts at a much gentler pace. 

Seeing the decorations alone is worth the trip but many booths have handmade items that are unique and priceless.  Most sell only on cash, so make sure you have enough local currency to get your purchases.  

And, as we have learned though our own mistakes, if you see something you like, buy it or you will often miss out.  Most markets open around 10:00 AM and close around 9:00 PM but it varies a lot and it is not uncommon for booths to close down for short periods to take a break or get something to eat or an owner to take a day off and not open their booth.

Some of the treasures Anne has found at the Christmas markets on our mantle

Anne’s Christmas mug collection

As long as you dress warmly, these markets offer a cultural experience second to none—it is an adventure not to be missed!

The Upper Danube Route Overview

This route is the most popular river cruise in all Europe.  It usually starts in Nuremberg or Vilshofen and ends in Budapest, Hungary.  Ports of call include Regensburg, Passau, Melk, and Vienna. 

Many folks start their trip with a stay in Prague in a pre-cruise for a couple of nights, then enjoy the cruise and stay a couple of extra nights in Budapest. 

If you sail this route, you will usually get to visit 4 countries (Germany, Austria, Slovakia and Hungry), 2 or 3 capital cities (Vienna, Bratislava and Budapest), castles, Abbeys, wine-sloped terraces and even quaint villages--it is a great voyage!

Sailing to the capital cities is wonderful, it is not the only good reason to sail this route.  The other highlights include sailing the Wachau Valley, perhaps a visit to Salzburg, Austria and the 900 year old Melk Abbey. 

Nuremberg, Germany

The old walled city of Nuremberg is one of my favorite places in all Germany.  It has an impressive castle, is crisscrossed by a river and has some cool old buildings.  The central market square, with its, beautiful fountain, is another great place to see and this square hosts one of the largest Christmas markets in Germany.

It is famous for its many Christmas markets—we have visited several times and love the hustle and bustle of the season.

The top of the many stalls in Nuremberg

Regensburg, Germany

The town of Regensburg is located on the northern most point of the Danube River.  It started out as a Roman town, has a medieval stone bridge the crusaders crossed on their way to the Holy Wars (which is guarded by an impressive watch tower), and has a good old town area.  Anne’s favorite hat maker is here, so we find this one of our favorite Bavarian towns.

The Christmas markets are awesome—there are at least 3 or 4 but our favorite is the Thurn and Taxis—it is an old fashion market, with blazing fire pits and has an entrance fee which AmaWaterways includes in your voyage.  It is romantic and has some very good quality goods for sale.

Anne and Hank with the owner of the Hat King with our new hats in 2019

Passau, Germany

Built on a tapering peninsula of land, the old town portion of Passau is located right at the German and Austrian borders.  Three rivers join here—the Danube, the Inn, and the Ilz.  On the high left bank of the Danube (sailing downstream), a fortress dating back to the 1400’s, overlooks the old city center.  There are several impressive churches worth a visit.

There is one really good Christmas market in the main square—Anne found some great gifts on a recent trip.

Melk and Dürnstein, Austria

Melk is famous for its impressive, huge abbey and collection of rare books and manuscripts.  The abbey was initially built in the 11th century and has been updated several times, and the last major improvements to this baroque structure were completed from 1702 to 1736.

There is a small market in Melk but we enjoyed it—we watched a blacksmith work on handmade gifts.

Later as you cruise through the one of the great scenic waterways of Europe, the Wachau Valley, you will arrive in the charming village of Dürnstein (about 600 population). The blue tower of the Abbey, the cute little shops and the castle ruins on the hillside (where Richard Lionhearted was held in prison for ransom), make this a favorite of many river cruisers. It is so small there are not any real booths for Christmas but the shops often have special Christmas items

The Wachau Valley

The Wachau Valley has to be the one of the best segments for just enjoying the upper Danube.  It is a UNESCO World Heritage site, so there are no bridges to interrupt the views.  Unlike the Rhine River Gorge, with castles dotting almost every hill, the region has only three or four great castles.  But the quaint villages, sometimes dominated by a fortified church complex, and the steep vineyards provide a relaxing and fun sailing experience—the castles are not missed.

Vienna

Vienna is the capital city of Austria (it once the capital city of the Austro-Hungarian Empire), is a city of impressive palaces, great museums and good food.  It is also known as home for the great composers of classical music and many go to concerts in Vienna while on their cruise.

There are several great markets here but the two best are at the Rathaus (town hall) and the famous summer palace of the Hapsburgs—Schönbrunn Palace.  There are lots of booths in each market—you won’t go away disappointed!

Rathaus in Vienna

The Palace decorated for Christmas

More decorations

Bratislava

The capital city of Slovakia is a fun place to visit.  Located at the border of Austria and Hungary, this is a newer country (it declared independence in 1993) in Europe.

For much of its history, it was in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and then a part of the Czechoslovakia.  The symbol of Bratislava is the fortress that overlooks the city.  It is also known for its whimsical bronze figures, which delight cruisers in the old town area.

The old town area has a great Christmas market and there are also a good one in the new town area.

The new town area

The old town area

Budapest

By far the most impressive city on the Danube, Budapest, the capital of Hungary, is a town we love to visit.  It is really two towns—the high town of Buda that overlooks the banks of the Danube and Pest on the flat land.  They are united by several bridges but the Chain Bridge is the most important and is a symbol of the city.  

Both sides have some awesome structures—among them Buda Castle and Fisherman’s Bastion (Buda side) and the Parliament building (Pest side).  Once you visit, you will want to come back.

The best Christmas markets are on the Pest side—a highlight is the food, especially the funnel cakes baked over a charcoal fire.

Funnel cakes—awesome!

Basket booth in Budapest

Two Great Side Trips

Along this route, there are two great cities that are optional trips on some lines or can be included. They are not actually on the Upper Danube but are easily accessible by coach (bus) during your Danube cruise. Both are awesome, so let’s see what it might be like to visit both Salzburg, Austria and Cesky Krumlov.

Here are two great photos, which may make you want to include these two medieval towns as an addition to your cruise.  Both have good Christmas markets but the Salzburg one is larger with more booths.

Salzburg fountain

Cesky Krumlov small market

My Final Thoughts

Christmas on the Danube—awesome!

What an experience—the Danube River is awesome and deserves to be sailed by you—it is the best way to see this area of Europe.  This river will give you views and experiences you will never forget.

We are travel experts, ocean and river cruise specialists, and Europe destination experts.  We have first-hand knowledge of almost anywhere you want to visit in Europe.  We know our products and the vendors who sell them to you.  We have designed special tours for dozens of clients, led several and will continue to find just the right vacation that will exceed your expectations.

When you are spending your hard-earned money for a vacation, you want an advisor who can match you with the right trip.  You want someone who will understand your expectations and fuel your anticipation (or excitement) to get you the best possible trip experience.  And, you want someone who can help you with the decision making process.  We think we have all these qualities.

Whatever your Dream Destinations are, we are here to help you get the best possible vacation based on what is important to you!  We will provide you high quality, expertly planned travel.  Please give me a call 713-397-0188 (Hank) or email me at hschrader@dreamdestinations.com.  We want to help you:  Savor life…make memories…Visit Dream Destinations!  Your journey begins here!

HANK is a certified Western European Destination Specialist (DS) who has been traveling to Europe for 48 years. He is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC), conferred by the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA). This recognized expert in cruise and leisure travel is a retired Army Officer, and taught World Geography for 8 years. He is a `71 graduate of West Point and has earned 2 master’s degrees. His other Certifications:

• AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist

• Viking River Cruise Specialist

• Scenic River Cruise Specialist

• Emerald Waterways Specialist

• Avalon Waterways Specialist

• Brit Agent

AmaWaterways Wins 5 Readers Choice Awards from TravelAge West Magazine

AmaWaterways Wins 5 Readers Choice WAVE Awards from TravelAge West Magazine

By Hank Schrader, USMA ’71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

www.dreamdestinations.com

I guess it is no surprise to me that AmaWaterways is in the winner’s circle again—we consider them the best river cruise company among a lot of good choices for European river cruises.

If you have read our 2020-2021 company comparisons, there are many factors that make AmaWaterways a special company and they deserve the recognition from these awards.

This is the real deal folks—there are many good options and 5 worthy contenders in each category, yet AmaWaterways is consistently voted the best by travel agents during the Wave (Western Agents’ Votes of Excellence) Awards.

We know a lot about how hard these awards are to win—we won a Trendsetters Runner-Up Wave Award for Best Targeted Marketing Idea in 2018. 

Here are the categories they won, based on voting by travel agents—the folks who are the most knowledgeable about the best river cruise companies:

 River Cruise Line with the Highest Client Satisfaction

Best New Ship (River Cruise) AmaMagna

Best Onboard Dining (River Cruise)

Best River Cruise Line for Families

River Cruise Line Providing the Best Travel Advisor Support

This slide was created by AmaWaterways and they kindly gave us permission to use it in this blog

Ready?—let’s go together and learn all about the awards.

River Cruise Line with the Highest Client Satisfaction

We all know how much satisfied customers means to any business and AmaWaterways excels consistently with guests.

Basically, this means that the products and services of AmaWaterways meets or exceeds customer expectation.

Our clients often feel the same way—it is one reason so many of our river cruise clients chose to sail with AmaWaterways.

Best New Ship (River Cruise)—the AmaMagna

There is only one true Giant on the Danube—the AmaMagna, the ultimate European river cruise ship.  She sails the upper and lower Danube River routes.

AmaMagna. Image from AmaWaterways

Built in 2019, the magnificent AmaMagna has 96 staterooms and carries 196 passengers.  She is a long ship (443 ft long or 110 meter) but double wide at 72 ft—most other river cruise ships are only 38 ft wide.  With the current COVID-19 pandemic, she will not carry a full 196 passengers.

It is the largest river cruise ship in Europe.

Here is a quick summary of the dining options: 

There are 4 dining options—the main dining room, Jimmy’s Wine Bar, the Al Fresco dining area and the chef’s table.

Al Fresco Dining Area. Photo from AmaWaterways

•Regionally inspired cuisine made with locally sourced ingredients

•The Chef’s Table specialty restaurant

•Welcome Cocktail, Welcome Dinner, Captain's Cocktail and Gala Dinner

•La Chaîne des Rôtisseurs exclusive dining experience

•Unlimited fine wine, beer and soft drinks with lunch and dinner

•Unlimited sparkling wine and fresh juice with breakfast

•Sip & Sail Cocktail Hour with complimentary wine, beer, spirits and soft drinks

•Tapas, sandwiches, snacks and refreshments served daily in the Main Lounge

There is a lot of personal space, as the suites range from 355 sq ft to 710 sq ft, most featuring full balconies.

Other onboard features include an upper and lower lounges (with intimate pockets to relax unhindered); a water sports platform (it has a Sundowner vessel for an excursion at no extra charge); a Zen wellness studio with fitness center offering exercise classes led by a professional wellness host, 2 massage rooms plus manicure and pedicure services; and an expansive sun deck with a large heated pool and a pop-up sky bar.

Trust me—there is nothing like this sailing on any European Rivers by any other river cruise company.

Best Onboard Dining (River Cruise)

After sailing on AmaWaterways 17 times, we agree wholeheartedly with this award.  There is no extra charge for all these options, so this makes it even a better deal.

The main dining room serves most of the meals you will eat on board this river ship.  Breakfast and lunch used to be buffet style with options to order off the menu, but now all items are served to guests. 

Most days I select the Eggs Benedict along with complimentary unlimited sparkling wine and fresh juices to start my day.  All breads are freshly baked every day and they even make homemade ice cream for dessert at lunch. 

Here is a sample lunch menu (quite an impressive selection, in my opinion):

Every evening on the dinner menu (a 4 course affair of an appetizer, a soup or salad course, a main course and dessert), there are 3 Entrée’s choices—usually a meat dish, a fish dish and a vegetarian option.—all are excellent! Here are some of our meals—they were awesome!

There is an Always Available Menu that features a steak, a grilled chicken breast, and a vegetarian or pasta option. 

The lunch and dinner meals feature a white and red wine from the region you are sailing thru and they change daily (not every river cruise lines changes wines every day or offers included wine and beer).  There is also beer and other beverages.

 One item of note—portions are slightly smaller in recent sailings and for the baby boomers of our generation, this is a smart move.  You can always have more food, but even for big eaters like me, the portions were properly sized.

I do have to point out that on the Always Available Menu, I usually get the steak once during the cruise.  It always is large, and very tasty.  Here is a photo—looks very good, doesn’t it!

The Chef’s Table.  In Europe, each AmaWaterways ship has the chef’s table specialty restaurant.  This small dining venue (usually no more than 28 guests) features a kitchen where your meal is prepared right in front of you.  This unique menu is paired with carefully selected fine wines.  It is truly a great experience.  At least each year the menu changes, so we will look forward to our next sailing to see what great new features will be added to this fun dining experience. Here are some pictures from our past Chef’s Table experiences:

AMA spends more than most other river cruise lines on the food and wines and it shows, especially in this unique dining venue.  We always go during our cruises and always arrange for the groups we led to dine together—it’s always a superb experience!

But that is not the only culinary achievement—they are the only river cruise line inducted into the La Confrérie de la Chaîne des Rôtisseurs, a prestigious international gastronomic society dedicated to fine cuisine. 

The entire European fleet and President Rudi Schreiner were honored.  According to the AmaWaterways website, the society was

“Founded in Paris in 1950 to honor the royal Guild of Goose Roasters (whose origins date back to the 13th century), it is the oldest and largest food and wine society in the world. Membership to La Chaîne des Rôtisseurs is by invitation only and is extended to those possessing world-class culinary acumen.”

If you want good food and wine on a river cruise, go on AmaWaterways—it seems a lot of other travel advisors share our opinion!  Pretty easy to see why the won the Best Onboard Dining Wave Award for River Cruising in 2020.

Best River Cruise Line for Families

We have seen first-hand how well AmaWaterways helps families have superior vacations.

Here is just a partial list:

Flexibility—multiple tour and activity options help make all ages enjoy the trip-it could be active with the bikes or hiking, seeing and touring castles, a wine tasting for adults, seeing sights you have only read about in in a safe, organized tour.  Multi-generational family members do their own thing yet get to share the overall experience.

Wellness--Almost all raters of Europe river cruising companies, cite AmaWaterways for their active and wellness program.  All European riverships have a wellness host—leading exercise classes, bike tours and hikes—we have seen this program in action and it is excellent.

Adjoining accommodations—since 2016 several staterooms have these adjoining staterooms—sure makes easy to travel with the family.

Hassle free—unpack once for 7 days and spend your time having fun—meals, tours are included.

Here are 4 great ideas from AmaWaterways for family friendly cruises (these 4 slides are from AmaWaterways and we were given permission to include them in this blog):

River Cruise Line Providing the Best Travel Advisor Support

Again, with our great partnership with AmaWaterways has helped our customers have the best possible vacations.

I just can’t say enough how all are always ready to go the extra mile for our clients—the can do friendly spirit is always there in all our dealings.

It starts with my group coordinator’s—Kristie, Jennifer (my two past group coordinators) and now Brandon and the highly responsive groups department—you folks rock!

Our Business Development Manager, Sheila, is a gem—fully of energy, great ideas and suggestions—makes our business better with every idea and actions on our behalf.

The responsive Marketing Department helps us tell the AmaWaterways story properly.

Upper level managers Janet, Alex and co-owners Gary and Kristin (one of the co-founders with Rudi) have created a company our clients want to sail on and a company all can be proud about.

In all our dealings with AmaWaterways, even if we only sold one or two river cruises at first, we were and continue to be treated like we are the most important partner in whole world.  Believe me, not all vendors treat us this way.

No wonder they are voted the best at providing support to the travel age community.

How these Awards help you decide on the Right Vendor for your next River Cruise Vacation

There are a lot of good options for a river cruise vacation but knowing who does it best helps you make good decisions and add value to your vacation purchase by spending your dollars wisely.

AmaWaterways business culture benefits you, our clients and potential clients—they have the right product for you in most cases and now, since you are the right person to take a river cruise, we just have to figure out when the time is right for your vacation.

And, here is a quick reminder—along with the right company, we are the right folks to help you—please just read our qualifications in the next paragraph.

Our Primary Specialty--Are We the Right Folks to Plan your Next European River Cruise?

Our knowledge of Europe river cruises is exceptional.  We are primarily partnered with AmaWaterways because they usually provide the best option for our customers.

We have been on 18 Europe river cruises, written over 60 blogs about all aspects of Europe river cruises, have 3 items on the first page of Google, we have 51 port guides (they are free) for you, and we have helped dozens enjoy river cruising in Europe. 

And if that we not enough, we have 50 free guides to most Europe Cities you might want to visit before or after your Europe river cruise.

My Final Thoughts

Wow!  What great travel partners—AmaWaterways and us—Visit Dream Destinations, LLC!

Why don’t you give us a call today—let’s start planning your river cruise in 2021 or 2022 now!

We are travel experts, ocean and river cruise experts, and Europe destination experts.  We have first-hand knowledge of almost anywhere you want to visit in Europe.  We know our products and the vendors who sell them to you.  We have designed special tours for dozens of clients, led several and will continue to find just the right vacation that will exceed your expectations.  As you can see, our full service agency can get you to almost anywhere you desire to travel and provide you a great experience and vacation.

When you are spending your hard earned money for a vacation, you want an advisor who can match you with the right trip.  You want someone who will understand your expectations and fuel your anticipation (or excitement) to get you the best possible trip experience.

Whatever your Dream Destinations are, we are here to help you get the best possible vacation based on what is important to you!  We will provide you high quality, expertly planned travel.  Please give me a call 713-397-0188 (Hank) or email me at hschrader@dreamdestinations.com.  We want to help you:  Savor life…make memories…Visit Dream Destinations!  Your journey begins here!

HANK is a certified Western European Destination Specialist (DS) who has been traveling to Europe for 48+ years.  He is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC), conferred by the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA).  This recognized expert in cruise and leisure travel is a retired Army Officer, and taught World Geography for 8 years.  He is a `71 graduate of West Point and has earned 2 master’s degrees.  His other Certifications:

• AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist

• Viking River Cruise Specialist

• Scenic River Cruise Specialist

• Emerald Waterways Specialist

• Avalon Waterways Specialist

• Brit Agent

Reflecting on 25 Years in Business

Reflecting on 25 Years in Business

By Hank Schrader, USMA ’71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

www.dreamdestinations.com

Today is the 25th Anniversary of us being in business—yes, our journey has been full of amazing events, highs and lows, and, most of all, helping some great people travel better. 

We have evolved in an environment of constant change in the travel industry.

Not only have we adapted, we believe we now thrive, but to say the least it has not been an easy journey.

So, this week, I’d like to write about our journey.

But, before we start, we never could have achieved one success without your help and trust—we never will forget you have made us what we are—THANK YOU!

Ready?—let’s go together and learn all about our 25 years!

How did the Idea for our Business Originate?

Martha Anne Schrader has a degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management.  I have an MBA. 

While in the Army, in my last assignment, I was the lead instructor of the US Army Fitness School and constantly on the road.  My travel plans were constantly changing and Anne would research and often purchase tickets for me to meet the Army’s needs.

 Later, while employed at Kalmbach, she handled their corporate travel. 

We felt this background, with specialized travel industry training, could help us start a profitable business.

Our Short History of 25 Years

We started off as a hosted agency affiliated with Summit Travel in 1995.  We have always been home based, but few were in the travel industry in 1995. Now, more than 60% of all travel agents are home based.

Our business first started in Wisconsin, and then move to the state of Washington, as I pursued my football coaching career. 

We had to start over with each move, as our ability to find new clients became quite a challenge.  Somehow, we managed to balance these challenges with the demands of a football coaching career.

We survived the elimination of airline commissions, the terrorist attack of 9/11, the 2009 recession, and now COVID-19 travel conditions, each obstacle making us a stronger and better business to serve you.

Now, we reside in Texas, but only about 11% of our clients reside in the greater Houston area.

We are a mom and pop business.  Both of us are certified, professional travel agents.  Over the years, we have grown a small but highly devoted groups of clients. 

Hank and Anne in Regensburg, Germany, with their newly purchased hats in 2019 during the Christmas Markets

We are now considered leading experts in European River Cruising and European Tours by our industry. 

At the Captain’s Table on an AmaWaterways river cruise

Our Qualifications

Martha Anne Schrader has earned a degree from the University of Houston in Hotel and Restaurant Management. 

She is a Certified Travel Counselor (CTC) by the Travel Institute, considered the gold standard in travel agent certification.  She is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC) by the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), as well Luxury Cruise Specialist also from CLIA.  

She is also a Destination Specialist in Western Europe.  She hold numerous other specialty designations from individual vendors.

My beautiful and talented wife, Anne—I sure am a lucky man!

Henry Carl Schrader, Jr. has earned 3 college degrees.  I graduated from West Point in 1971.  I also have earned a master’s degree from the University of Washington in Physical Education and a master’s degree in business administration (MBA) from Long Island University. 

I am also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC) by the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), and a Destination Specialist in Western Europe.  Prior to my entry as a full time travel advisor in 2011, I retired from my high school teaching career.  I am a former World Geography and Advanced Placement Human Geography teacher.  I have earned 6 vendor specialty certificates from river cruise vendors.

I was a guest speaker on a Webinar Wednessdays for AmaWaterways in July of 2020, to help other travel agents sell river cruises.

How do our Clients see us?

We have numerous client testimonials on our website and on Google. 

We have around 40% repeat clients, which is considered very high in our highly competitive industry.

Many cite our personal on site experiences, our knowledge of vendors, and, most of all, their trust we will do the right thing for their benefit.

Perhaps the best of all, our clients have learned we get them the best value trip for their money, and this is most cited benefit we provide to those who use our services.

Our Business Achievements Since 2016

Most notable was the 3 years required to plan and execute our 2019 75th Anniversary of D Day tour.  This was for many an “once-in-a-lifetime trip”.  We were able to lead 33 great folks on this adventure.

We organized as a LLC in 2016. 

We are accredited members of the Better Business Bureau since 2017, so you know we are a vetted business.

We started to emphasize our niche of luxury trips, emphasizing European river cruises, European tours led by us and Luxury Ocean cruises to benefit you, our clients. 

We emphasize group travel—it often is more fun for you to travel with friends, families or like-minded folks.

We added our blog to the website instead of on a different platform, which resulted in huge SEO gains for key search terms associated with our niche and resulted in large increases of visits to our website—all to benefit our current and future clients. 

We added both a River Cruise Questionnaire and an improved Travel Request Form to our website, making it easier for you to tell us about your wants and needs for an upcoming vacation.

We created and added 50 European Travel Guides Request forms to the website as a way to help you learn more about a destination you may want to visit.

We created and added River Cruise Port Guides Request forms to our website as a method for you to learn about stops during your cruise and to determine if the route you are considering is the right route for you.

Our Unique Qualifications

As stated earlier, we write a weekly blog, usually 2000 words or more, full of our personal pictures to stay in front of you.  

We want to help you have the right vacation, at the right time. 

We have good results from our website and blogs which provides us over 6000 search engine visitors to our website annually. 

For specialized trips, we use targeted client lists of our past and potential clients.  We also post special group European river cruise and tours on our Specials page of our website. This helps you not waste time and learn about trips that really interest you.

In 2018, we received a national level Trendsetter’s award as runner up for the best target marketing program from TravelAge West Magazine for our special 75th anniversary of D Day tour we led in 2019.  We were featured in their magazine along with the other 8 winners.

Holding our TravelAge West Award in 2018

Our Primary Specialty--Are We the Right Folks to Plan your Next European River Cruise?

Our knowledge of Europe river cruises is exceptional. 

We have been on 18 Europe river cruises, written over 60 blogs about all aspects of Europe river cruises, have 3 items on the first page of Google, we have 51 port guides (they are free) for you, and we have help dozens enjoy river cruising in Europe. 

And if that we not enough, we have 50 free guides to most Europe Cities you might want to visit before or after your Europe river cruise.

My Final Thoughts

Wow!  What an amazing journey!  25 years helping others have great trips to savor life a little more, and make memories.

By visiting Dream Destinations, and trusting your vacation to our professional skills, your journey to a great trip begins here!

Bur we will never forget, we never could have come this far without you, our wonderful travel friends.  The friendships we have created a special:  Thank You So Much!

We are travel experts, ocean and river cruise experts, and Europe destination experts.  We have first-hand knowledge of almost anywhere you want to visit in Europe.  We know our products and the vendors who sell them to you.  We have designed special tours for dozens of clients, led several and will continue to find just the right vacation that will exceed your expectations.  As you can see, our full service agency can get you to almost anywhere you desire to travel and provide you a great experience and vacation.

When you are spending your hard earned money for a vacation, you want an advisor who can match you with the right trip.  You want someone who will understand your expectations and fuel your anticipation (or excitement) to get you the best possible trip experience.

Whatever your Dream Destinations are, we are here to help you get the best possible vacation based on what is important to you!  We will provide you high quality, expertly planned travel.  Please give me a call 713-397-0188 (Hank) or email me at hschrader@dreamdestinations.com.  We want to help you:  Savor life…make memories…Visit Dream Destinations!  Your journey begins here!

HANK is a certified Western European Destination Specialist (DS) who has been traveling to Europe for 48+ years.  He is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC), conferred by the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA).  This recognized expert in cruise and leisure travel is a retired Army Officer, and taught World Geography for 8 years.  He is a `71 graduate of West Point and has earned 2 master’s degrees.  His other Certifications:

• AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist

• Viking River Cruise Specialist

• Scenic River Cruise Specialist

• Emerald Waterways Specialist

• Avalon Waterways Specialist

• Brit Agent

6 Historic Cities in Germany You Can Visit on AmaWaterways

6 Historic Cities in Germany You can Visit on AmaWaterways

By Hank Schrader, USMA ’71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

www.dreamdestinations.com

I have strong German roots on my father’s side of our family—my grandfather came to the US from Germany on 23 August 1893 at the age of 18 with his brother Carl.  He became a naturalized citizen on 31 March 1902 (thanks Anne for her research on Ancestry.com!).  My grandmother arrived in the US from Germany 13 February 1904 at age 22.  My Dad was born on 5 January 1918 in Chicago. 

So, it stands to reason, I have a real interest in Germany and its history.

There is a lot to learn about Germany, so I thought I’d tell you briefly about the key historic periods in Germany history and then tell you about our visits to 6 historic cities in Germany.

There are many lists of historic cities and their importance in history, culture and food, beer and wine, but I have selected just 6 for today’s blog, since we have or could have visited all on an AmaWaterways cruise.

So, let’s learn about 6 of the historic cities of Germany after a brief history lesson about the significant ages of Germany history.

Key Periods in German History

German history can be divided into the following time periods:

• The First Reich 843-1806—was established by Charlemagne during his reign as the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.  In this period of history, Germany was a true feudal system—it was said the nobles were to protect, the clergy to pray, and the peasants were to work.  Charlemagne is recognized by most as the first emperor of the Holy Roman Empire but some historians claim it started after Charlemagne.  The Empire controlled most of what was to become the German state and lasted until 1806 but never was able to unify the country as in other European countries like France. 

The Emperor was elected by the 7 most important nobles, called prince-electors, and several of the historic cities below played an important role in the Holy Roman Empire structure and governance.

By 1789 there were over 1700 kingdoms, duchies and principalities.  Germany never became a unified country until 1871.  Religion played a central role during most of this period—the belief system was that “one’s role was determined by God and could not change”. 

But change came with the Protestant Reformation (1571-1648).  Martin Luther began this with his differing religious views.  Along the way, there was the Peace of Augsburg (1555) that granted religious legal status to the Lutheran Religion (“Whose realm, his religion”); there was a counter reformation to imprison and discourage heretics (non-Catholics); and the 30 years’ War from 1618 to 1648 (one of the most destructive wars in all of Europe’s history caused by the struggles between the Catholics and the Protestants and their rights to worship). 

Then came the Napoleonic Wars (1799-1815).  Later the Prussian Empire, led by Fredrick the Great, emerged around the Protestant Berlin and Potsdam region and ther were more battles.  The Industrial Revolution started slowly in Germany in the 1830’s.  Change was slowly coming.

• The Second Reich 1871-1918—is often defined from the unification of Germany following the Franco-Prussian War (1870 - 1871) and crowning of Wilhelm I as German Emperor at the Palace of Versailles.  The other key leader was Otto von Bismarck as the first Reichskanzler (chancellor—the head of the government).  It was a period of German Imperialism and a rise of German military strength—the army was the best in world according to many observers and the navy second only to Great Britain. 

Prussian dominance was evident—over 2/3 of the population lived in the Prussian principality and almost all key military leaders were Prussian.  It was a period of complex European alliances, aimed at keeping the balance of power from tipping too much in the favor of one country over another. 

Sadly, in 1914 war erupted and ended 4 years later.  This period lasted until the end of WW I with the abdication of Wilhelm II in 1919 following the German defeat in the Great War.

• The Weimar Republic 1919-1933—after their defeat in WW I, the Weimar Republic was Germany’s attempt to establish democracy and end the out-sized influence of the nobility and the military.  But the crushing war debt, hyperinflation and more than 3 million out of work caused this government to ultimately collapse.

• The Third Reich 1933-1945—the austere conditions in during the Weimar Republic in Germany led to the rise of the Dictatorship of Adolf Hitler and WW II.  He managed to conquer most of the continent of Europe but ultimately was defeated by the allies in WW II.  His leadership resulted in the murder of millions, countless war dead, and the utter destruction of almost all of Germany.

• Post World War II and the Reunification of Germany 1945-1990-Present—while there is a lot of relevant items such as the Cold War conflict, with Germany divided into East and West Germany after WW II, I just cannot escape two personal facts here. 

As a LTC at the end of WW II, my Dad was the occupation commander of the northern region of Germany that our family immigrated from to the US.  All our relatives except one died during the war.  It was sad yet uplifting that after all the carnage, there was hope and rebuilding. 

I remember one night, talking about our German roots right after the fall of the Berlin Wall and my Dad told me he never thought he would see unification of Germany in his lifetime.  He told me a little about reconstruction efforts, the Marshall Plan to rebuild Germany and joy to see the resilience of the German people.  Germany has once again become a world power and a leader in the democratic world.

LTC Hank Schrader Sr.

Now, on to the 6 cities that are part of the historical eras of Germany you can visit on an AmaWaterways river cruise.

Freiburg (Freiburg-im-Breisgau)

This city among other claims to fame is said to the sunniest city in all of Germany.  Located on the southern edge of the Black Forest, and near the Rhine River, it was a good trade location and rich burghers and the mercantile guilds were the original political force in the city.  It is a university town (started in the 1400s), once was a walled city but its number one sight is the Freiburger Münster (Freiburg Cathedral) (started in the 1300s).  The cathedral was completed in 1513.  Here are some pictures of Freiburg:

Cathedral

Cathedral

The Spire being repaired

Merchant Guild House

Pictured below is the Schwabentor Watch Tower Gate. It is one of 2 remaining towers in the city. The other, the Martinstor is a 13 century gate tower.  The city walls are long gone.

A special feature of Freiburg is its numerous Bächle (little waterways) that are unique in Germany.

One of the little waterways

A friend in the water—be careful!

 Heidelberg

The old bridge over the Neckar River and the huge palace ruins have a romantic effect on this town.  Heidelberg is a historic university town, considered by many the home of Romantic Germany due to its poets and philosophers—it is not surprising one of the best ways to experience Heidelberg is to hike the Philosopher’s Path on the north bank of the Neckar—you can think about all the scholars looking for inspiration while you walk (it is an optional tour if you take an AmaWaterways cruise on some routes).

The castle ruins

The Castle in the snow

The Tower Gates

Top sights in Heidelberg, include a visit the red-walled Castle ruins (it is often more interesting than restored castles due to the detail still remaining on the walls), with its Great Vat, a 49,000-gallon 18th century wine cask.  There are beautiful views of the Neckar Valley and Heidelberg below.  

Another great site is the Church of the Holy Ghost, where you can see the tombstone of Prince-elector Rupert (King of Germany from 1400 to 1410) from the First Reich era.

The old town area is a great area to explore.

Christmas markets stalls

The Golden Fleece Sign

Koblenz

Located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Rhine, this city is a symbol of German unification during the Second Reich.  80% of the town was destroyed during WW II during the Third Reich.  Here are some key sights (from one of our 50 European city guides):

1.     Deutsches Eck—is a monument on the point of land where the Rhine and Moselle join.  Kaiser Wilhelm I statue is featured here.  It was erected in 1897 to honor Kaiser William I but was damaged during WW II during the Third Reich and later replaced.  St Castor’s Basilica is on the backside of the triangular Deutsches Eck and has the tomb of two Trier Prince-Archbishops electors from the First Reich. 

Kaiser Wilhelm Statue

2.     Old Town Koblenz—one of the oldest towns in Germany, the old town area is the charming and romantic streets between the St. Castor’s Basilica and "Liebfrauenkirche" (Church of Our Beloved Lady). 

One of the town squares in Koblenz

3.     Goerresplaz Square—known today as Goerres Square, it is the central square of the old town.  The fountain in the middle of the square with its 10m high historical columns is worth seeing.  The artist Jürgen Weber tells the story of the town of Koblenz in 10 overlapping scenes presented in this three dimensional work of art.

The story of Koblenz

4.     Liebfrauenkirche—is a beautiful Baroque church with onion shaped domes.  This basilica with five-axis pillars was built between 1180 and 1250.  The new construction of the Gothic chancel had begun in 1404 while the baroque onion towers date back to 1693. 

5.      Schängel Fountain--The Schängel fountain is a monument to the city’s eternal “bad boy” who spits water from his mouth.  Designed by Carl Burger in 1941, the fountain stands between the Renaissance and Baroque structures of the present Town Hall and the former Jesuit monastery.

6.     Electoral palace--The Elector Clemens Wenzeslaus built this palace from 1777-1786 during the end of the First Reich.  Prince Wilhelm, later known as German Emperor Wilhelm I (from the second Reich), officiated here as the Prussian military governor from 1850 – 1857. The palace now houses administrative offices and is not open to the public.

Electoral Palace

7.     Bundesgartenschau--The “Empress-Augusta-Gardens “are located on the Rhine banks and they are some of the most beautiful gardens between Basel and Rotterdam.  On the tree-lined, grassy bank you will find the monument of Joseph Görres, as well as little treasures such as the Luise Temple.

8.     Fort Ehrenbreitstein--The Fortress rises 118 meters above the Rhine and dates back to the year 1000. Over the centuries the fortress buildings and fortifications were extended by the Electors of Trier.  After its destruction by the French, the Prussians rebuilt the fortifications and it became one of Germany's strongest fortresses. It is today open to the public and is directly across the Rhine from Koblenz.

The Fortress

 Regensburg

The town has a strong historical past.  The town of Regensburg is located on the northern most point of the Danube River.  It started out as a Roman town, has a medieval stone bridge the crusaders crossed on their way to the Holy Wars (which is guarded by an impressive watch tower), and has a good old town area. 

The city watch tower gate

During the 2nd and 3rd Crusades, the stone bridge was the crossing site for Crusaders off to do battle in the Holy Land and is the oldest surviving stone bridge in Germany.

The stone bridge

There is an impressive cathedral here—please enjoy this picture!

The Cathedral

The Old Town Hall once was the meeting place of the Parliament of the Holy Roman Empire during the First Reich.  Regensburg managed to escape WW II without any real damage during the Third Reich.

The Town Hall

Anne’s favorite hat maker is here, so we find this one of our favorite Bavarian towns.

The Hat Maker Store

A unique shop ready for Christmas

Trier

The oldest city in Germany, established by the Romans, has always played a part in the development of Germany through the ages.  Trier was an old Roman outpost which was first settled by the Roman in 17 BC.  It is very near the Luxembourg border—in fact, one side of the Moselle River is Trier, Germany and the opposite other side is the tiny country of Luxembourg.  Anne & I first visited here in 1989 on our own.

Important Roman sights include the Roman Baths, an amphitheater, the Basilica of Constantine (it was the throne room of Emperor Constantine), and the huge city gate, the Porta Nigra gate, that dates back to 180 A.D.  It has earned the nickname of “the Rome of the North.”

Porta Nigra—the old Roman Gate

Other sights are the Trier Cathedral (it is the oldest Cathedral in Germany) and the ornate Trier Electoral Palace and gardens (part of the First Reich).

The Elector Palace

Also worth a visit is the old town area of the main market (Hauptmarkt)—besides people watching, the backdrop is the Porta Nigra and the large square is lined with a variety of architectural styles and is quite colorful.

Market Square

Würzburg

There is a lot to like about Würzburg.  As you approach the city, two key sights emerge—the Marienberg Citadel, a Renaissance fortress and the old bridge that reminds us of the famous St. Charles Bridge in Prague. 

Marienberg Citadel

The Old Bridge

Walking on the Old Bridge

But the star here is the Residenz Palace, a UNESCO world heritage site. 

Along with the impressive palace (which can be toured on an AmaWaterways cruise), the gardens here are whimsical, and colorful.  These gardens were built when the Residenz was fortified, so all the gardens had to be inside the walls.  There are 2 gardens here.  The first is the Court Garden, a Baroque, formal garden.  The central feature of this garden are 8 large yews that shaped in perfect cone shapes. 

The second garden is an English garden of meadows and small forests.

 Würzburg is in the Franconia wine region is less well known producer of dry white wines made from Silvaner grapes.  The official name is Grüner Silvaner.  A lot of this wine is grown around Würzburg.  One unique feature of this wine is its special bottle—it is in a bottle called a Bocksbeutel (in German)—a distinctive green oval shaped bottle.

One feature of wine cruises on the Main River on AmaWaterways is a special wine tasting in Würzburg’s baroque Residenz Palace.  Wine in a palace—how cool is that!

My Final Thoughts

Just one more fascinating reason to visit Europe—German Historic Cities!  There is a lot here that relates to the key periods of Germany history—I hope this blog helps you understand the significance of these 6 historic cities in Germany history.

Let AmaWaterways take you there—it is the right cruise line for you among many other good choices—great people on a great river cruise line with awesome food and wine—we highly recommend it!

When you are spending your hard-earned money for a vacation, you want an advisor who can match you with the right trip.  You want someone who will understand your expectations and fuel your anticipation (or excitement) to get you the best possible trip experience.  And, you want someone who can help you with the decision making process.  We think we have all these qualities.

Whatever your Dream Destinations are, we are here to help you get the best possible vacation based on what is important to you!  We will provide you high quality, expertly planned travel.  Please give me a call 713-397-0188 (Hank) or email me at hschrader@dreamdestinations.com.  We want to help you:  Savor life…make memories…Visit Dream Destinations!  Your journey begins here!

HANK is a certified Western European Destination Specialist (DS) who has been traveling to Europe for 49 years.  He is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC), conferred by the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA).  This recognized expert in cruise and leisure travel is a retired Army Officer, and taught World Geography for 8 years.  He is a `71 graduate of West Point and has earned 2 master’s degrees.  His other Certifications:

• AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist

• Viking River Cruise Specialist

• Scenic River Cruise Specialist

• Emerald Waterways Specialist

• Avalon Waterways Specialist

• Brit Agent

Happy Thanksgiving

May you be safe, well and happy. We are so thankful for your support, friendship and trust of us.

We can’t wait to help you in the future.!!

Anne and Hank

Our Constant Search

Our Constant Search

 By Hank Schrader, USMA ’71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

www.dreamdestinations.com

The travel business could be defined as a constant search.

 What is the search for?  What are we looking for?

 We are looking to match 3 things to help you, our clients!

 We are looking for the right product or trip, at the right time, to the right person.

 So, today, let examine what our search means for you.

Our Business Structure

 Visit Dream Destinations, LLC is a luxury leisure travel company.

 Our mission is to provide customers with the highest quality, expertly planned domestic and foreign leisure travel with a focus on Luxury Cruises, European River Cruises and European Vacations for groups and individuals.  We exist to attract and maintain customers.

We want to become the trusted travel advisors of choice for discerning travelers who want a good value for their travel budgets

 The Right Product or Trip

A trip on a river cruise is almost always the right trip for many. This is the Rhine River Gorge.

 Our slogan says it all—“Savor Life . . . make memories . . .Visit Dream Destinations!  Your journey begins here!”  As the slogan implies, we find the right trip for each client that they will remember for a lifetime.

We are small enough to give our clients personalized service, yet big and experienced enough to them the right trip!

 Finding the right trip or product vendor requires a lot of knowledge and often some detailed research on our part.  The only way we will get it right is to listen very carefully to you.

 In travel agent jargon, it is known as qualifying.  But to us, it is listening to what you want and what you do not want.

To get started we need at least 4 things from our potential clients.  They are: 1) a trip destination or transport method in mind, 2) a budget, 3) a date for travel and 4) is a good fit for us and you. 

Now the more specific you can get, the better trip we can design.

Our goal is to create exceptional trips for our clients.  We will accomplish this by applying our 3 core values to the sales process.  Our core values are trust, knowledge and care.

We establish rapport with you by developing trust—we are who we say we are.  This leads to common ground, good communication and relationships.  We try to under promise and over deliver.

We next ask a lot of questions and listen—what exactly does the client want?  What have been the best previous trips?  And perhaps the most important—Why do they want to go?

Now we apply our knowledge and research skills—in short, our clients learn—do we know what we are talking about? 

Matching the right person to the right trip at the right time is crucial for our success.

Throughout this whole process, you should be thinking--do these folks of Dream Destinations care about me and have my best interests at heart?

We want to form a partnership with you—not just sell you something.

In simplest terms we inform, handle questions and then you decide.

We also respect you, our client—there are boundaries, we use your preferred method of communication and never are pushy.

The Right Time

Timing often is everything in the travel business.  It is not uncommon for folks to ask us to help them plan a trip after 9 to 18 months after they have found about our services.  Some even 3 years or more after finding out about us.

Why?  It is simple—travel is usually not an impulse buy!  You need time to plan for a vacation window, perhaps save up for the trip, or make sure it happens on just the right time, like a milestone time or festival.

So, even after they decide to go there will be some lag time—we usually book trips 9 months or more before they go on their vacation.

These four pictures emphasize the right time—two anniversary tours of D Day we led:

Our 70th Anniversary of D Day Tour in 2014.

Part of our 75th Anniversary Tour of D Day tour on 6 June 2019—we helped guide 33 on this once in a lifetime trip

The Right Person

No matter how hard we try, we can’t be everything to all people.  So we target certain travelers. 

Our 3 most targeted clients are potential river cruise clients, 7 day or longer ocean cruise clients and European tour clients. 

Here are the profiles of a good match for our #1 client, River Cruiser

1.     60+ but we see this trending lower

2.     Many retired

3.      Enjoy small villages or historic sites

4.      $80,000 median income—usually higher

5.     Visited Alaska/Hawaii/Europe

6.     Taken a 7 day or more ocean cruise but really would like to try a smaller ship

7.     Well-travelled

8.     Will spent $200+ a night per person if value is there

9.     Milestone life event—significant anniversary or birthday

10.  Like wine/food

Here are 10 pictures of the right people—all have used us to plan their river cruises:

Here is the profile for our # 2 client Luxury Ocean Cruiser

1) Median income $97,000—could be lower on shorter cruises

2) College grads—76%

3) Median age 40—48%

4) Retired—20%

5) Married—79% and often like to bring their family on the cruise or travel with friends.

Here are 5 photos of some folks we have helped take ocean cruises:

Our # 3 Client, European tour client, usually has the same profile as our river cruise client. Here are some photos of tour clients:

Client Retention

We have 4 areas we concentrate on to enhance our client retention.  They are:

1.     Communication.  We will contact each customer after each trip for feedback & follow up on these results.  We will send a hand-written note to every person who books with us before & after the trip.

2.     Content.  Our website, blogs, PDF slide shows are of exceptional quality and reflect our brand and advertising.

3.     Consistency.  We will follow up 100% on our promises—we will return calls and e-mails as promised.

4.     Create Community.  We try to blog each week with high quality topics that help our clients learn more about the travel opportunities we can provide them.

Our website has over 10,440 visitors this year (as of today 19 November 2020), so it must have something worthwhile for you-- either content or inspiration—hopefully both!.

About 2,849 visit our home page and then over 7,591 have gone to another page on the website.  This means they find our content worthy of a second look or they went directly to the desired page from a web search.

By far, our Best Europe River Cruise Routes Guide (2,849 visitors) and our Europe River Cruise Comparisons 2020-2021 (1,967 visitors) are the two most visited pages on our site.  It is a small wonder, because we feel these are as good a resource as is available to most folks on the worldwide web.

Why don’t you read them now?  Here are the links:

We want to turn our best clients into lifetime clients.  We hope you feel the same about us!

My Final Thoughts

Our goal has always been to help you travel better and get more value for your money.  The right trip, at the right time for the right person.

We would like to thank those of you who have trusted us for their travel needs and look forward to helping you again and anyone else in the future who might need our help.

When you are spending your hard-earned money for a vacation, you want an advisor who can match you with the right trip.  You want someone who will understand your expectations and fuel your anticipation (or excitement) to get you the best possible trip experience.  And, you want someone who can help you with the decision making process.  We think we have all these qualities.

Whatever your Dream Destinations are, we are here to help you get the best possible vacation based on what is important to you!  We will provide you high quality, expertly planned travel.  Please give me a call 713-397-0188 (Hank) or email me at hschrader@dreamdestinations.com.  We want to help you:  Savor life…make memories…Visit Dream Destinations!  Your journey begins here!

HANK is a certified Western European Destination Specialist (DS) who has been traveling to Europe for 49 years.  He is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC), conferred by the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA).  This recognized expert in cruise and leisure travel is a retired Army Officer, and taught World Geography for 8 years.  He is a `71 graduate of West Point and has earned 2 master’s degrees.  His other Certifications:

• AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist

• Viking River Cruise Specialist

• Scenic River Cruise Specialist

• Emerald Waterways Specialist

• Avalon Waterways Specialist

• Brit Agent

Veteran's Day 2020

Veteran’s Day 2020--Thanks for Keeping Our Country Safe!

By Henry Carl “Hank” Schrader, Jr. Maj (ret), Infantry

On Tuesday 10 November 2020, I got an e-mail from a classmate of mine to ask if I could provide him some information about the achievements of our 1971 graduating class from West Point.  He is going to be the featured speaker at Branch Night at West Point on 2 December 2020.  This is where the members of the Class of 2021 will find out their branch assignments upon graduation and commissioning in the United States Army.

So, this got me thinking, I really should provide a tribute to my classmates.

Our Class Coin

This is something very personal—nothing has had as much impact on my life as serving in the military, attending West Point, and having members of my family serve in the military. 

Since about 1940 or so, someone related to me has served our country and help keep it safe.

To all of you who read this and served in the military, thank you for your service—most will never know how much you contributed to the well-being of our country and keeping it safe. 

So, I thought I’d tell you a little about the folks who keep our country safe and send my humble thanks to them in recognition of Veterans Day 2020.

A Little History about Veterans Day

Veteran’s Day is celebrated on 11 November each year.  The significance of this date commemorates the end of the fighting in WW I.  For students of history, like me, we like to say “on the 11th hour of the 11th day in the 11th month the guns fell silent”—an easy way to remember the exact date and time of the end of hostilities of WW I in 1918. 

This original celebration has changed in America from an Armistice Day observance into Veterans Day, the holiday that we celebrate today. 

Veterans of all our military forces should be recognized for keeping our country safe and this blog is a tribute to all who have honorably served our country.

Veterans have taken a simple Oath with a Huge Impact

Everyone who serves in the military takes an oath at a swearing in ceremony.  They all swear to defend the country by these words, or similar words

“I, (NAME), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same”

While this not the entire oath, it is the key part—these folks are the front line of defending our way of life—pledging allegiance to the USA, and our Constitution. 

Too many have paid the ultimate sacrifice with their life to make our country safe—they are special people who put others first—we have lost one member of my class in defense of our country.

For the vast majority, all the good traits that come from military service never leaves them.  It is no wonder I am always drawn to these folks.

Our Family Service Traditions

Anne’s Dad, Alfred W Ludtke, served in World War II, as an officer of Gen MacArthur’s personal staff in the Philippines.  After the war, he continued his service in the reserves and rose to the rank of LTC.  Thank you A. W. for your service and sacrifice for country!

My dad, Major General (retired) Henry Carl Schrader, served for 33 years.  He defended our country in WW II in Europe, was in the Korean War and last served in combat in Vietnam--a little over 7 years in combat.  He was an engineer officer—loved to build things and he was excellent at it.  You are my hero and inspiration Dad!

My Dad’s Command Photo in Vietnam 1970

Neither of these two brave men are with anymore—rest in peace—you made the world a better place.

My Dad’s headstone at Arlington National Cemetery

I served for 20 years as an infantry officer.

My nephew Lance, served in the Army as part of the 10th Mountain Division in Bosnia.  After his military service, he continues to serve our nation as first a police officer and now a fireman.

Hank, Lance (in his fire inspector uniform), Dalton and Mindy

My niece, Mindy Kay is on active duty in the Air Force. 

Mindy

Dalton with his Mom after the commissioning ceremony

I had the honor in May of last year of helping continuing the family tradition by swearing in 2nd LT Dalton Andrews, Mindy’s son, during his graduation ceremonies from North Texas State University.  He has started his active duty service as an Artillery Officer in January 2020.

Thanks for your service—you three young ones have made me proud (you can say those things when you are 71)—you helped and are helping to keep our country safe!

My West Point Class of 1971

Sometimes, the best way to describe how our country’s veterans help keep our country safe is to use examples from your own experience.  Here are some of our class achievements (the data is about 95% to 99% accurate and any errors or omissions are mine alone but it still tells a great story of our class impact on the United States):

We graduated 729 men in our class of 1971.

According to our yearbook, here are the branches our classmates began their military service in:  Air Defense Artillery 64; Adjutant General 4; Armor 81; Artillery Branch 148; Chemical Corps 1; Engineer 47; Finance 1; Infantry 243, Military Intelligence 33; Military Police 12; Medical Service 6; Ordnance 2; Signal 47; Transportation 7; and Quartermaster 1. 

18 went into the Air Force and 3 joined the Navy.  We had five foreign national cadets who returned to their countries.

We had 296 who retired from the armed forces, active or reserve (they served 20 years or more unless medically retired).  Here is a breakdown of ranks achieved: 

21 General officers {(3 Generals (4 stars--all foreign armies); 6 LTGs (3 stars), 6 MG (2 stars) and 6 BG (1 star)}; (one was an Air Force BG)

85 COL; 128 LTC; 30 MAJ; 1 CPT and 2 CAPTs in the Navy, (equivalent rank to an Army COL).

In the 5 to 40 years or so that the 729 members of my West Point graduating class of 1971 were on active duty, they helped keep the country safe by serving in 7 major conflicts. 

Here is a list of those conflicts and the number of the class serving during these conflicts: Vietnam (12), Granada (2), Panama (9; 4 were Battalion Commanders), The Gulf War (26, 13 were Battalion Commanders), Bosnia (4, 1 was a Commanding General), Afghanistan (6, 2 were Commanding Generals) and Iraq (10, 3 were Commanding Generals). 

For me, who did not serve in any of these conflicts, it is humbling to say the least. 

They are perfect examples of selfless sacrifice—in the military you go where you are ordered to go.  There are no excuses, you have a duty and an obligation.  These guys are the rock stars of our class and I salute them!

We had 130 return to teach or support operations at West Point (some twice), to include 2 back-to-back Superintendents, and one was the Dean.  2 were Department Heads of Instruction (Math, and Law)

Six members of our class have been selected as Distinguished Graduates.  The Association of Graduates (AOG) has only recognized three foreign nationals as Distinguished Grads and we have two of them in our class.  Only three classes have six Distinguished Grads – 1950, 1951, and 1971.  The Class of 1956 has seven.

Our class has some impressive members who have served in the Federal Government.  They include: a US Senator; an Ambassador at Large, Department of State Coordinator for Counterterrorism; an Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics; an Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel & Manpower; an Acting Director, Federal Transportation Administration; a person who served in the Department of State, an Administrator, US International Development; 2 Senior Executive Services federal employees; and 3 working in Department of Veterans Affairs.

At the local government level we have 2 state representatives, 2 mayors, a county supervisor, 2 state judges, and several who have served in various state and city level departments.

We have 21 medical doctors in a variety of specialties, 6 dentists and 1 veterinarian.

Almost all members of the class have earned at least one or more post graduate degrees.  We have 17 who have earned PHDs in disciplines other than the medical field (28 total in the medical fields)—a total of 35.

We have 25 who are lawyers (probably more) and many CEOs of various sized companies and enterprises.

Several hold patents, and have written books.

We have one Olympian – Lyle Nelson (Biathlon) who represented his country 4 times—holds record for most appearances in Olympics by any West Point grad.  We have one member of the class in the Army Sports Hall of Fame and he is also in the US Lacrosse National Hall of Fame.

I think it is fair to say in the soon to be 50 years since we graduated, our class has helped to make the United States a better place from the service and achievements by members of the class of 1971.

You have truly achieved a multitude of service to the nation!  As the class moto says it has truly been “Professionally Done”.

A Quick Salute to Those Who Have Trusted Their Travels to Us

After all, this is a travel blog, so here are the 71 folks who have traveled with us: Steve Marsh, John Howard, Jim West, Jerry Wright, John Bantsolas, Jeff Rock, Gerry Cummins, Gordy Schnabel, Jack Pingle, Art Baker, Danton Steele, Gerry James, Ken Hartlein, Marc Erlandson, Jim Buck, Tom Mannle, Bill Barkovic, Jack Chiles. Bob Fitton, Bill Mattfeld, Bruce Litwin, Glen Barefoot and Dave Hardman.  We also have 2 more classmates who have trips planned with us in the future.  Thanks to my 25 classmates that put their trust in us!

Here are some photos of their trips:

Jim, Tom, Hank and Bill are classmates

Hank, Jane and Len (‘75), Jim and Maureen (class of ‘71)

from left to right, Rand, Steve (‘71) and Barbara, Jim and Cindy, and John 2015 AmaWaterways River Cruise

Mary and Jack ‘71 at Angkor Watt in 2016

2016 AmaWaterways Cruise. On the far right John (‘71)

Kris and Marc my classmate

Jeff and Hank 2018 on an AmaWaterways cruise

Some of our 2019 D Day Tour Group. In the picture Gerry C, Jack P, Art B, Gerry J, and Jerry W. Not in the picture Gordy S all from ‘71.

Irene and John (‘71) on our 2019 AmaWaterways Cruise

Jerry (71) and Mary

Our Family Support Groups

We should also recognize the families of our veterans—they also serve, maybe not directly, but they contribute behind the scenes and often make it possible for our vets to complete their missions.  It is a rough life—separations, no notice deployments, constantly changing family situations that they must navigate often with little help. 

There is a constant worry something will go wrong—the military is a dangerous business whose members often go in harm’s way even when just training.  Stress and coping with stress is a way of life.  Trust me, it is not easy.

Anne supported me 100% while at Fort Ord and until my retirement. Here is a picture of us before we were married at Fort Ord.

Here is just one example of the behind the scenes work of families (there are so many other examples I can’t tell you all of them but this one is personal)--the Arlington Ladies.

My Mom served as an Arlington Lady. 

My Mom and Dad’s Wedding Photo in 1942

Another photo of my parents

My Mon in 2004 by her Kentucky Christmas Tree

For those who do not know what an Arlington Lady is, every soldier who is buried at Arlington National Cemetery has a volunteer lady, who attends the service, to let our service members know their service is recognized and they are not buried alone.  This is especially important for those who have sacrificed and may not have family members present.  The ladies present cards of condolence to the next of kin from the military service chief and spouse on behalf of the service family, and from the Arlington Lady herself.  One of the duties, is to try and remain composed, but after the ceremony, most of these ladies, cry their eyes out when alone—I know my Mom often did.  I’m sure many think it could be me next getting the condolence card about a family member. 

For these ladies, Memorial Day happened more than once a year—it happened every time they came to Arlington National Cemetery for a funeral.

I also know several wives of my 71 classmates have also served as Arlington Ladies.

They too, like all family members, deserve to hear “Thanks for keeping our country safe”

A Final Thought

Of all the services our government provides its citizens, there is none more important that defense of our nation and our way of life. 

Today, less than 0.05% of our nation’s citizens are serving our country in the Armed Forces. 

These men and women, deserve more than thanks for their service.  Maybe next time you meet a veteran, why not say something like this “Thanks for keeping our country Safe!”

Trust me, those who have served will appreciate it more than you could ever understand—why not tell a vet or his family that you know your freedom and safety depends on those who serve?

For me it was an honor to serve and most vets I know feel the same way—they are proud and humble, who did what was required and made sacrifices for the common good.

To all my fellow veterans and their families and especially my 1971 West Point Classmates—Thanks for keeping our country safe!

Hank

6 Nations Rugby--Great Travel Ideas!

6 Nations Rugby—Great Travel Ideas

By Hank Schrader, USMA ’71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

www.dreamdestinations.com

In a travel year like no other I can ever remember, Anne & I watched the end of the 6 Nations Rugby Tournament last Saturday on TV.  England won but the real story is how different this year’s games were played and when they finished.  As with everything else this crazy year, the competition started in February and was scheduled to end in March, but it was suspended until last week (31 October 2020) for the final 3 matches.  There were no fans at the venues.  It was strange but there was a lot of quality rugby being played by these national teams.

So, why am I writing about rugby on a travel blog?  To me, it just points out how a pandemic has changed the world of travel and how much we miss visiting the 6 Nations that complete each year in my favorite rugby competition.

My game plan for this adventure is first to tell you a little about my rugby career, a little bit about the Six Nations Tournament and then how our travel has been associated with these 6 countries by telling you a favorite memory or two of our travels to each place.

It should be an interesting journey!  Ready?  Let’s go together!

My Rugby Career

I started playing rugby in 1972 as a member of the Ft. Riley-Kansas State Rugby Club, where I played for about 3 years and developed a passion for the game and the sport.  Next was the Ft. Benning Rugby Club for 9 months or so, where I won the Coaches Award as the Outstanding Player in the Spring Season of 1976.  My next team was the Monterrey Rugby Club for 9 months. 

Ft. Benning Rugby Club

In Panama, I was Captain of the Atlantic Syndrome Rugby Club (where I won the Most Valuable Back Award) and later the Captain of Panama’s Pacific side and Captain of the Isthmus select 7-a-side team that competed in Mexico City.  Then off to the Fort Bragg team for about 6 months or so.  I also played for the Seattle Rugby Club while in grad school for a little over a year.

2 of my rugby awards

Upon arriving at West Point to teach physical education. I was fortunate enough to be selected as an assistant coach for the rugby team from 1982-1984.  One of the highlights had to be escorting the team to play in England against the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst Rugby Team. What a thrill to visit the home of rugby and have our lads play at Twickenham Stadium, one of the venues of the Six Nations Championships!

West Point Rugby Club at Sandhurst 1983

I was also a member of the Old Gray Rugby Club.

My last team was a return to the Monterrey Rugby club and later as a member of a Monterrey Select team where we won the Inter-Service National Military Championship in May of 1985 at Fort Sill, OK.

In about 350 or so games, I think I have scored about 67 tries (like touchdowns in football), 16 Drop Kicks and 108 conversions (like a PAT in football) but I never really kept records.

The Six Nations Rugby Competition

The 6 teams in the tournament are England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales.  Each team plays the other teams once, with home field advantage that alternates every other year.  The competition began in 1883 as the Home Nations Championships with England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.  In 1910, France was added and it became known as the Five Nations Championship and I began following the tournament during my playing career.  In 2000, Italy was added and the championship was renamed the Six Nations Championship.

It is the most important international rugby championship that is played in the Northern Hemisphere and features the key originators of rugby union play.

While the world cup championship is more important than the six nations, the six nations is for many fans the most interesting and meaningful rugby tournament—it is easy to follow since there are limited teams and rugby pride is rampant in the England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales countries—it is very much like our football super bowl.

It is my favorite rugby tournament—I just love the passion, the quality of play and the pride in supporting one’s national team!  We were in Dublin at Kehoes Pub just before the Ireland and Scotland match one year and the atmosphere was electric—we had a ball!

So, with that in mind, let’s visit the six nation’s countries and learn about our favorite memories of each country.

England

It is easy to argue that England has changed the world more than any other country in the world’s history in the last 300 years.  As the saying goes, the sun never set on the British Empire—at one time they ruled over 50 countries.  England’s strength was and still is its sea power.

A place so steeped in history and fascinating places to visit, I’m going with a tranquil visit to the Cotswolds, a place that evokes calm and relaxation.  I will say London was a close second, but somehow I think we managed to see a side of the more rural England and still visit some awesome nearby sights such as the country palace (Blenheim Palace), a great college town (Oxford) and a jaunt into Shakespeare’s hometown of Strafford-on-Avon.

The Cotswolds area in Gloucestershire is about 25 miles wide and 90 miles long.  It is in the English countryside that is like stepping into a real life fairy tale area of rolling hills, sheep and quaint villages. 

Our favorite village is Chipping Campden.  It was a sheep market town that once was the most important source of wool in England. It was said that Cotswold wool was the best wool in the world and made many merchants here rich.

France

France is a diverse country that combines man-made beauty and natural beauty.  From art, to great food, to philosophy, the French have been leaders for the rest of the world.  One way to describe this country is “L’art de Vivre”—the art of living.

I could easily spend 6 months traveling around France, but I decided to pick Paris, as it is one of Anne’s favorite, there is such a wide array of things to do and see, it is near enough for great day trips but it is the small café’s and bistros I love the best.

Yes, the art of living—enjoy these pictures!

Seine River

Danton’s—great Bistro in Paris

Ireland

Ireland is the 3rd largest island in Europe.  It was ruled by the English until 1949, when 26 counties formed the Republic of Ireland and 6 counties became Northern Ireland.  It became a member of the EU in 1973.

I’ve picked two favorites here—Dublin and a country estate—Mt. Falcon.

In Dublin, perhaps one of our best experiences was in Kehoes in Dublin prior to the Ireland vs. Scotland rugby match in 2011.  This is a Traditional Irish Heritage Bar, established in 1803.  The place was packed, both sides had excited fans and the Guinness flowed.  Kilts on the Scots mixed in with Green Irish team jerseys and the banter was non-stop, pointing out the merits of one side versus the other side deficiencies.

Kehoes

Other great sights in Dublin are the wonderful painted doors, the Guinness Storehouse, and the Book of Kells.

Dublin painted door

The other memorable place was a stay in the country manor of Mount Falcon in County Mayo.  This former estate of the Knox family is now a luxury 4 star resort.

Mt Falcon

Italy

This unique country with so many famous sights has 20 regions that have their own distinct character.  This peninsula country is about 850 miles long and 150 miles wide.  It has over 5,000 miles of coastline.  It is a land of food and wine and the “sweet life” but still is the world’s 7th largest industrial power.

There are so many good choices, this was perhaps the most challenging country to narrow it down, but I decided to go with Rome.  There is so much history of the ancient sights, the Vatican, the shopping but my favorites are visiting the vibrant squares that are markets during the day and al fresco restaurants at night.

Campo de Fiori Flower Market—turns into liviey night spot

Roman Forum

One of our great adventures in Rome was a food tour led by Hande Leimer, owner of Vino Roma.  We visited a Rome Market where all the produce comes directly from the growers.  We visited the market, some food shops and cafes, and ended with a geleteria!

Hande our tour guide

If you truly want to understand a different country, you have to participate in their daily lives.

Scotland

Scotland has two regions—the Lowlands, an urbanized area, and the Highlands, a nature lover’s area of mountainous type terrain, with over 280 hills and mountains over 3000 feet or more that is dotted with deep lakes called lochs.

Edinburgh is the winner here, as it has so much to see and do.  Anne has some real Scottish heritage and I have been allowed to come along and learn about clans and the Scottish way of life.  On the Royal Mile, you can visit 2 castles, see key sights and even buy a kilt, as we did.

Edinburgh Castle

Great Hall. Edinburgh Castle

If you only have a day or two, the choice has to be Edinburgh, but I’d stay longer and see some of the highlands also!

Cawdor Castle

Wales

Wales is only 170 miles long and 60 miles wide.  It has 750 miles of scenic coast.  It has its own unique language that has survived to present day, although almost all speak both English and Welsh.  It also has a passion for rugby that makes it the number one sport in the country.

I can’t do just one here, since one was among the most memorable trips we ever took.

 Our most memorable trip has to be Anne’s 60th Birthday, when we stayed at a vineyard about twenty miles outside Cardiff.  We attended a cooking school with perhaps at that time the most famous chef in Wales, Angela Grey.  She taught us how to make some classic French dishes in her cooking school at Llanerch Vineyards.  We made Coq au Vin Blanc (Chicken in White Wine Sauce), Lyonnaise Potatoes and Crêpes

The second has to be our stay in Conwy, Wales—a small walled city with a great castle (you knew somehow I had to get another castle into this blog) and a chance to really get down with the locals in their pubs.

My Final Thoughts

I hope you enjoyed this unique rugby tour of the 6 Nations through our eyes!

We hope this inspires you to dream about European travel—and then take action when travel restrictions are lifted!  We will be ready to help!

When you are spending your hard-earned money for a vacation, you want an advisor who can match you with the right trip.  You want someone who will understand your expectations and fuel your anticipation (or excitement) to get you the best possible trip experience.  And, you want someone who can help you with the decision making process.  We think we have all these qualities.

Whatever your Dream Destinations are, we are here to help you get the best possible vacation based on what is important to you!  We will provide you high quality, expertly planned travel.  Please give me a call 713-397-0188 (Hank) or email me at hschrader@dreamdestinations.com.  We want to help you:  Savor life…make memories…Visit Dream Destinations!  Your journey begins here!

HANK is a certified Western European Destination Specialist (DS) who has been traveling to Europe for 49 years.  He is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC), conferred by the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA).  This recognized expert in cruise and leisure travel is a retired Army Officer, and taught World Geography for 8 years.  He is a `71 graduate of West Point and has earned 2 master’s degrees.   His other Certifications:

• AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist

• Viking River Cruise Specialist

• Scenic River Cruise Specialist

• Emerald Waterways Specialist

• Avalon Waterways Specialist

• Brit Agent

Hank's European Geography Quiz

Hank’s European Geography Quiz

By Hank Schrader, USMA ’71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

www.dreamdestinations.com

Here is a little fun for you (I think we could all use a little fun right now)—25 Quiz Questions to challenge your knowledge about European Geography.

I am a former high school World Geography and AP Human Geography teacher and coupled with our travel experiences, we have learned a lot about Europe and want to share our knowledge with you--hopefully you will enjoy this quiz!

I will first ask the question—there may even be a hint to help you, then a picture related to the question, and finally the answer.

It should be fun!  OK, class is in session—Good Luck!

The Quiz

1)     Q.       Most of us remember the oldie song “Ferry Cross the Mersey”.  It was by Gerry and the Pacemakers.  So if you rode this ferry, what city would you be in?

We visited this city in 2017 on our Azamara British Isle’s cruise

This is a picture inside an actual ferry across the Mersey—the Zeebrugge!

A.         Liverpool, England.  Gerry and the Pacemakers were part of the “Mersey beat” scene.  The song refers to the River Mersey which flows past Liverpool, England.

2)     Q.       The Danube River starts in Germany and flows to the Black Sea.  It also flows through the capitals of four nations—the most of any other river in the world.  Name the four capital cities.

You would see this castle/fortress at one of these capital cities.

A.     Vienna, Austria; Budapest, Hungry; Bratislava, Slovakia and Belgrade Serbia

3)     Q.       There are 2 countries in Europe that are on both the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea.  They both have large coasts and famous beaches.  Can you name them?

This is a port in the Atlantic Ocean for one of these countries

Here is another port in a different country for this quiz.

A.     France & Spain

4)     Q.       Great Britain is comprised of 4 countries—England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.  Which country does not have its own official flag?

London England Parliament Build with the Union Jack proudly flying above it.

A.     .  The only official flag of Northern Ireland is the Union Jack.  The Ulster Banner was used by the government of Northern Ireland from 1953 to 1973 but it was abolished by an act of parliament in 1973.  While not the official flag, some still display it and it is sometimes used in some international sporting competitions.

5)     Q.       One of my favorite train rides is through the Brenner Pass.  Can you name the two countries on either side of the Brenner Pass?

The Alps from the air

A.     Austria and Italy.  This mountain pass through the Alps is one of the principal passes in the eastern Alpine range since the mountains here are at a lower altitude than many other Alps Mountain Passes.  The scenery is great during the train ride and dairy cattle graze in the alpine pastures.

6.     What US state is named after a Greek Island?  This Greek Island once had one of the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World at its harbor entrance. (Hint—my classmate from West Point is one of the 2 Senators.  It is a very small state.)

Colossus of Rhodes, artist's impression, 1880. Public Domain Wikipedia

A.     Rhode Island.  Rhodes, Greece is a popular island and tourist destination, especially for its Medieval Old Town.  In ancient times, at the entrance of its harbor was the statue of the Colossus of Rhodes, one of the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World.

7.     Q.        London and Paris are both located on rivers.  Name the two rivers.

Here is one of the rivers—these love locks no longer exist—the weight keep causing the rails to collaspe!

A.     London is on the Thames.  Paris is on the Seine.

8.     Q.        There is one European country located on the Adriatic Sea that has only one island.  It is not on the sea, but on a beautiful lake.  Part of this beauty is the rugged mountain range near the lake, the Julian Alps.  Can you name it?

This is a picture of the island. You can clearly see the steeple of the famous church on this island.

A.     Slovakia. The only island is on Lake Bled, and there are no salt water islands.  The island’s name is Bled Island.  Located on this small island is the Assumption of Mary Pilgrimage Church.  The church has a famous tradition—local grooms carry their brides up the 99 steps, while the bride remains silent during the trip—it is said to bring them happiness in the future.

9.     Q.        Name one of the two cities in France that is known as “the Venice of the North.” They are referred to Venice because of its canals.

This is a picture of one of the canals.

A.     Strasbourg or Colmar. The picture is one of the canals in Strasbourg.

10.  Q.        There are several tiny countries in Europe—I call them Little European Treasures.  Name 2 of these countries or city-states that are land locked (no direct access to the sea)

Here is a picture of one of the tiny countries I call Little Treasures

A.     In Italy, the Vatican and San Marino.  The other 2 countries are Lichtenstein, and Andorra.

11.  Q.        My father fought in the Battle of the Bulge in World War II.  Most of the key fighting took part in the dense forest of Wallonia in Belgium and in Luxembourg.  What is the name of this forest region?  (Hint—it is also the US military official name for the battle).

Luxembourg City—it is a short distance to this famous battlefield site.

A.     Ardennes.  The Ardennes Counteroffensive was the last major German offensive campaign of WW II.  The Ardennes is in the Southeastern corner of Belgium and in Luxembourg.  We are working on a possible trip to this battlefield and museums in 2022 that we would escort.

12.  Q.        Sometimes the name of a place can tell you what you might expect to see or do at place.  One our favorite German Cities is “Baden Baden”.  So what does “Baden” mean?  (I’ll accept one of two answers here—and it’s not the famous casino!)

Baden Baden

A.     Bath or Spa.  Baden in German means “to bathe”.  Wikipedia says “Baden Baden” means the town of Baden in the territory of Baden.  Bad in German is translated to mean a Spa town.

13.  Q.        Europe is a continent of peninsulas (a peninsula has water on 3 sides)—it has 5 peninsulas.  The Jutland Peninsula is the smallest.  Can you name the country that occupies most of this peninsula?  (Hint—a lot of Vikings came from this country).

This is the very end of a portion of this peninsula. This is Kronborg Castle.

A.         Denmark occupies most of the Jutland Peninsula.  A very small portion of the peninsula is part of Germany

14.  Q,        Another peninsula question—remember Europe has 5 major peninsulas.  Only one of these 5 is occupied by one country and two enclaves (an enclave is a country inside another country).  Can you name the country that occupies this peninsula?  (Hint—the name of the country is also the name of the peninsula.  I call these 2 small countries Little Treasures and one of these is the smallest country in Europe).

This is the colorful town of Portofino

A.     Italy occupies all the land mass of the Italian Peninsula.  The enclaves are San Marino and the Vatican (the smallest country in Europe).

15.  Q.        What mountain range separates France from the Iberian Peninsula?  (Hint—the tiny country of Andorra is in this mountain range—one of what I call the Little European Treasures).

The foothills of this mountain range

A.     The Pyrenees Mountains separate France from Spain.  The mountain range is about 305 miles long and its tallest peak, Mt. Anelo, is 11,168 feet tall.

16.  One of the islands of Scotland is famous for a small breed of horses—they are often called ponies.  It is also known for a special breed of herding dogs—the slang name for these dogs is also a great hint to the name of this island.  Can you name this northern most island of Scotland?

A Scottish Island but it is not the island that is the answer.

A.     The Shetland Islands—home of the Shetland ponies and “shelties” or Shetland Sheepdogs.  It is a popular stop for cruise ships, as many tourists like this unspoiled destination.

17.  One famous square in London commemorates a famous naval battle in which the English defeated the combined French & Spanish Fleets in 1805 as part of the Napoleonic Wars.  The hero of that battle was an admiral named Lord Horatio Nelson and he stands tall above the square on a column.  What is the name of the square (it is also the name of the cape in southwest Spain where the naval battle took place)?

Lord Nelson on this famous square

A.     Trafalgar Square.

18.  Q.        Two European Countries claim to be the originator of French Fries (Pomme Frites)?  Can you name them?  What are French Fries known as in the United Kingdom and Ireland?

A.     Belgium and France both claim to be the originator of French Fries.  Both have reasonable claims and I don’t favor one over the other.  French fries are called chips in the British Isles.  They are “chips” of the whole potato—hence you might have heard of Fish and Chips, the popular pub dish in the British Ilse’s.  What we call potato chips in the US are known as crisps since they are crispy!

19.  Q.        One of the most renowned train rides of the world starts in Paris and ends in Istanbul.  What is this train rides most commonly known as?  (Hint—Agatha Christie wrote a famous story about this train ride for her Belgium detective, Herucle Poirot and it has been made into several movies.)

You might see this famous landmark in Istanbul

A.     The Orient Express.  The official name of this luxury train ride is the Venice-Simplon—Orient Express.  If you want to go bring your tux and formal wear and a lot of cash—it costs $19,900 or more for a suite cabin shared by two!

20.  Q.        One famous English King, Henry VIII, did not live in London after 1529.  What is the name of the palace that Henry VIII lived in after 1529 (by the way, it’s a great day trip from London)?

Henry VIII re-enactor at this famous residence

A.      Hampton Court Palace.  The Palace was Henry VIII’s favorite royal residence.  Among the highlights of the palace are Henry’s State Rooms, the vast Tudor kitchens and over 60 acres of enchanting gardens.

21.  Q.        One of the themes of Geography is called human-environment interaction—it focuses on how humans adapt to and modify the environment in which they live.  What man-made feature (canal) allows travelers to cruise on both the Rhine and Danube Rivers without ever having to leave water?  Completion of this canal was one of the reasons why so many modern luxury riverships cruise in Europe, as completion of this canal allowed for a 14 day cruise on the two rivers of the Rhine and the Danube.  Did both Charlemagne and Ludwig I of Bavaria both try to build the canal prior to its completion in 1992 (True or False).

This town on the Danube is the starting point of this canal

A.         The Main-Danube Canal connects the Rhine River to the Danube River, using the Main tributary.  It is 106 miles long, has 16 locks and was completed in 1992.  True, both Charlemagne and Ludwig I dreamed of linking these two rivers.

22.  This city used to be called Byzantium and later Constantinople.  This is where Europe meets Asia, separated by the Bosporus Strait.  What is a strait?  What is the name of this city today?

A.         A strait is a narrow passage of water connecting two seas or two larger bodies of water.  The Bosporus Strait connects the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea.  The current name of this key city is Istanbul but some countries like Greece still call Istanbul by its older name Constantinople.

23.  Q.        This city has been called Europe’s ultimate walled fortress city.  It is located in the southeast of France.  What is its name?

A.     Carcassonne, France.  Since the pre-Roman period, a fortified settlement has existed on the hill where Carcassonne now stands.  In its present form, it is an outstanding example of a medieval fortified town, with its massive defensive walls encircling the castle and surrounding buildings, its streets and its fine Gothic cathedral.  It is the largest walled city in Europe.

24.  We have all heard of the pied piper of Hamelin, a fairy tale written by the Grimm Brothers and others.  In what European country is Hamelin located?

The Pied Piper leads the children out of Hamelin. Illustration by Kate Greenway. Public Domain Wikipedia

A.     It is located in Lower Saxony, Germany (northwestern Germany).  The town of Hamelin has a fine old town area and on Sundays during the summer months actors recreate the Grimm Fairy tale of the pied piper of Hamelin.  According to this fairy tale, the pied (pied means dressed in multicolored clothing) piper is hired to lure a rat infestation away from Hamelin.  Using his magic pipe, the music puts a spell on the rats and the rats follow him to the Weser River, where they all drown.  When the town refused to pay him the agreed upon sum, he later uses his pipe to lead the children of the town away in revenge to a cave where they were never seen again.  On the main street of Hamelin, it is illegal today to play music in public except during these recreations!

25.  Q.        What two European Cities, located on the Danube River, where united and became the capital of Hungary?  What is the name of the bridge that united these two cities (the English nickname is okay)?

A picture of the famous bridge that unites these 2 cities

A.     Buda and Pest united to become Budapest.  They are united by the Széchenyi Chain Bridge.  It is more commonly known as the Chain Bridge.  This was the first permanent bridge built across the Danube in Budapest.  It was built from 1840 to 1849.  It is 375 meters long and 16 meters wide.  This bridge connected the towns of Buda and Pest and was the major reason these two towns became Budapest.  In 1989, it was the site of a protest for freedom and independence from communist rule.  Today, the bridge is a symbol of Hungarian liberty.

Bonus Question

26.  What is Anne’s favorite Europe City (hint—it is in Belgium, begins with the letter B, has canals and can be spelled two different ways)

A.     Brugge, Belgium!  The alternate spelling is Bruges. 

My Final Thoughts

So, how did you do?  Do you deserve an A on this quiz?  The good news is it is not graded—it is for fun!  I hope you learned something new about our favorite travel destination--we sure miss traveling to Europe!

We hope this inspires you to dream about European travel—and then take action when travel restrictions are lifted!  We will be ready to help!

When you are spending your hard-earned money for a vacation, you want an advisor who can match you with the right trip.  You want someone who will understand your expectations and fuel your anticipation (or excitement) to get you the best possible trip experience.  And, you want someone who can help you with the decision making process.  We think we have all these qualities.

Whatever your Dream Destinations are, we are here to help you get the best possible vacation based on what is important to you!  We will provide you high quality, expertly planned travel.  Please give me a call 713-397-0188 (Hank) or email me at hschrader@dreamdestinations.com.  We want to help you:  Savor life…make memories…Visit Dream Destinations!  Your journey begins here!

HANK is a certified Western European Destination Specialist (DS) who has been traveling to Europe for 49 years.  He is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC), conferred by the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA).  This recognized expert in cruise and leisure travel is a retired Army Officer, and taught World Geography for 8 years.  He is a `71 graduate of West Point and has earned 2 master’s degrees.   His other Certifications:

• AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist

• Viking River Cruise Specialist

• Scenic River Cruise Specialist

• Emerald Waterways Specialist

• Avalon Waterways Specialist

• Brit Agent

The Benefit to You from Our Travel Experiences

The Benefit to You from Our Travel Experiences

By Hank Schrader, USMA ’71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

www.dreamdestinations.com

Sometimes, we just have to “toot our own horn” so to speak.

We have unique first-hand knowledge about European travel and especially European River Cruises.  We use that knowledge to plan great trips.

The benefit to you is a better vacation.

Our goal is simple--to help you get a better understanding of European travel and the huge value to you of a European river cruise vacation and experience based on our vast knowledge about these travel options.  Then you can decide if it is the right option for your vacation.

Ready, to learn more?—let’s GO!

What We Do For You

We pride ourselves in providing travel advice that benefits you in 4 ways.  They are:

We design vacations that matches your travel style.

We will help you reach your—Dream Destinations.

We are your travel solution and inspiration!

We design customized trips that are just right for you.

The Importance of First-Hand Knowledge

You want a travel professional who knows from first-hand experience what you will experience on your vacation—that’s us!

We have been on over 25 ocean cruises, and taken 18 week-long Europe River Cruises.

We try to travel to Europe 2-3 times every year, usually escorting clients nowadays.

I have been traveling to Europe for 49+ years, Anne since 1989.

We will provide you amazing information on European trips, since we have written 50 European Cities Destination Guides.  We have personally visited 43 of the 50 Cities—most with several days visits.  Most of our guides include a PDF slide show of the most important sights to see at that city.

Our Guides provide you a quick, portable summary of 1) the best sights and things to do, 2) transportation option to get around in the city and 3) information about possible day trips to nearby sights that can be easily visited to enhance your vacation experience.  

We have written 51 European River Cruise Port Guides.  These guides have great value, as they help you decide if a particular cruise route is right for your trip and to help you decide upon the included tours during the trip.  It also ensures you won’t miss anything during the visit.

The bottom line is that we use this knowledge to match you to the right vendor, at the right time, to get you the best possible vacation—a true benefit to you!

This a great way to help you decide if we are the right folks to help plan your next vacation, especially for European Vacations and European river cruises.

A Blog Example—Why Buy a Europe River Cruise from Us?

As you may know, we have written over 75 blogs about European River Cruises.  Here is one example, detailing why you should use us to buy your European River Cruise.

Summary--There are about 75,000 to 100,000 professional travel agents in business in the United States (at least in 2019—not so sure there are that many in 2020 due to the pandemic and resulting crippling blows to our industry).  

There are also the giants of the internet (Travelocity, Expedia, etc.) and wholesalers (Costco).  You can also buy direct from many travel vendors.  To be sure, you the consumer, have a lot of choices and ways to buy travel.

With the plethora of options, it got me to thinking—Why should you buy a river cruise or for that manner, any travel from us, Anne & Hank Schrader, of Visit Dream Destinations, LLC?

I will begin by answering this question by explaining what the Europe River Cruise Trends are and then talk about sellers of travel (travel agents and others).

For sellers of travel, my game plan here is to define our competition first, and then tell you who we are, what we stand for and who are customers are.

Finally, I will explain why you should buy a river cruise from us.

Why it Matters—you have lots of choices and deciding if we are the right folks to use is critical to your success.  Europe river cruising is a wonderful vacation but is often sold by agents who just don’t know enough about the product to make a good vacation an exceptional one that exceeds your expectations. 

We gained that knowledge by earning certification as specialists in several river cruise companies but primarily by cruising the European rivers on the companies we sell.  There is no substitute for first-hand knowledge.

Did we convince you that we are the right folks to use to plan your Europe river cruise?

Here is the link to this blog

An Example of How One of Our Trips Enhanced a Tour We Led

In preparation for our D Day Tour we led in 2019, we made a recon visit to Bayeux, France.  We inspected the hotel we had reserved (3 years earlier) for most of 33 guests that we guided on our 75th Anniversary of D Day tour.  Since the hotel did not have an elevator, we selected rooms for guests that would be best for them.

Churchill Hotel in Bayeux—this picture was taken during our 27 November 2018 recon visit

We also scouted out restaurants to recommend to our guests during our 4 day stay in Bayeux, since meals were not included in the tour. 

La Din’nette—one of the several good restuarants in Bayeux we found

We also determined our original plan of moving our clients on the tour from the small Bayeux train station with only stairs to Paris for the final night of the tour was not feasible or desirable.  We had to get our vendor to provide a round trip motor coach for the transfer from Paris to Bayeux and then return to Paris.  This visit enhanced our successful tour and prevented a potential disaster for our guests.

While some of our clients were aware of these efforts, it is the behind the scenes efforts that take a trip from good to excellent.  We pride ourselves in providing exceptional experiences and work hard to deliver them to our guests.

Part of Our 2019 D Day Tour at the Airborne Museum on 6 June 2019

Anne and Hank with our 2018 TravelAge West Wave Award—a huge honor for a small travel agency

Pre and Post River Cruise Extensions—Our Knowledge will Enhance Your Trip

Most folks want to extend their stay either pre or post (usually both) in combination of their European river cruise.  We excel in comparing the vendor’s offers compared to doing the trip on your own.  Here is a great example of how our knowledge can enhance your trip.

Astronomical Clock on the Town Hall in Prague Old Town Square

Prague Old Town Square

Prague is a common pre or post cruise extension for river cruises.  On our trips to Prague, we have guided clients and conducted recon visits to prepare our city guide. 

On one trip, we were able to compare the offering of one vendor, AmaWaterways, of their extension to an independent trip by our clients or an extension led by us.  We were able to go on a guided tour of some of the sights led by a guide hired by AmaWaterways and got to compare our services compared to their offering. 

This is a key business differentiator between our services as compared to our competitors.  We could now help our clients decide the best option for them during this segment of their vacation.

My Final Thoughts

It is my sincere hope you agree with us, that we have met our two goals of this blog—we can provide you great useful, information that will enhance your next vacation and we are the right folks to help you plan your next vacation.

When you are spending your hard-earned money for a vacation, especially a pricey Europe river cruise, you want an advisor who can match you with the right trip.  You want someone who will understand your expectations and fuel your anticipation (or excitement) to get you the best possible trip experience.  And, you want someone who can help you with the decision making process.  We think we have all these qualities.

Whatever your Dream Destinations are, we are here to help you get the best possible vacation based on what is important to you!  We will provide you high quality, expertly planned travel.  Please give me a call 713-397-0188 (Hank) or email me at hschrader@dreamdestinations.com.  We want to help you:  Savor life…make memories…Visit Dream Destinations!  Your journey begins here!

HANK is a certified Western European Destination Specialist (DS) who has been traveling to Europe for 49 years.  He is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC), conferred by the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA).  This recognized expert in cruise and leisure travel is a retired Army Officer, and taught World Geography for 8 years.  He is a `71 graduate of West Point and has earned 2 master’s degrees.   His other Certifications:

• AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist

• Viking River Cruise Specialist

• Scenic River Cruise Specialist

• Emerald Waterways  Specialist

• Avalon Waterways Specialist

• Brit Agent

Our Azamara British Isle Cruise

Our Azamara British Isle Cruise

By Hank Schrader, USMA ’71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

www.dreamdestinations.com

It has been quite some time since I wrote a blog about ocean cruising.

There is great value in smaller cruise ships and the more I thought about it, the more I need to communicate how I believe the smaller ocean cruise ships will lead the way on cruising’s return to our oceans.

So, today, I’d like to tell you about our 14 day British Isle cruise on the Azamara Journey in 2017.  When you get to see all we were able to experience, I think you might want to consider this wonderful type of cruise for your next vacation when it is safe to return to the oceans and seas of our world.

Ready?—let’s go!

Overview

We sailed on the Journey in July 2017.

The voyage started in Southampton, England.  We visited Ireland, Wales and ended up in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Ship Features

This is a well-designed ship.  The Journey carries 694 passengers.

The Azamara Journey

There are 3 dining areas.  Discoveries is the main dining room.  The Deck 9 buffet restaurant is called Windows.  Patio is an outdoor a la carte restaurant. 

The ship also features two specialty restaurants, "Aqualina" and "Prime C". 

Aqualina Dining Room

Aqualina Meal

Aqualina Seafood

Prime C Restaurant

A beef eater’s delight—my prime rib at Prime C!

As always, Anne took a great picture of our stateroom.

Our Balcony Stateroom 7086

Route Overview—13 Night British Open Voyage

We boarded the Journey on 19 July 2017 at Southampton, England.

On the voyage, we visited St, Peters Point, Channel Islands, Cork (Cohb) Ireland, Holyhead, Wales, Liverpool, England, Dublin, Ireland, Belfast, Northern Ireland, Glasgow (Greencock), Scotland, Isle of Skye (Portree) Scotland, Invergordon, Scotland, and Edinburgh (Leith), Scotland.

This was a special Perry Golf cruise.  Many on the cruise got to play golf in most ports and they also got to attend the final day of the British Open.

St Peter Point, Channel Islands

The Channel Islands are located in the English Channel.  St. Peter Point has a population of about 18,000 folks.  This is a picturesque place and has a great castle in St. Peter Point.

Here are some pictures:

St Peter Port, Channel Islands

St. Peter Point Castle

Cork (Cohb) Ireland

The port of Cohb was a gateway from Ireland for many who immigrated to the United States—in fact over 17 million.  It is also the final port that the Titanic stopped at prior to the tragic sinking after departing in route to the United States.  We took the local train into to Cork and enjoyed this visit very much.

Here are a few pictures:

Annie Moore Statue in Cobh. She was the first immigrant to arrive at Ellis Island. The statue includes her 2 brothers.

Sign explaining the Annie Moore statue.

Cork Ireland Butcher Shop

Liverpool, England

If you are a baby boomer like me, most grew up loving rock and roll music.  As I’m writing this, I’m listening to 60’s and 70’s rock, as I do most days in the office.  So, a chance to see the home of the Beatles was awesome.

Liverpool, England

Entrance to The Beatles Story

Display of the Cavern Club in the Beatles Story Exhibition

The famous photo from an album cover on display in the Beatles Story

Dublin, Ireland

Returning to Dublin was a treat.  The capital of Ireland never gets old.  We decided to visit the Guinness Storehouse and there is nothing like a pint in the home of this world famous brew.

One of the displays on how Guinness is brewed

Anne with a pint of Guinness and her camera at the Storehouse

Belfast, Northern Ireland

We had never been to Belfast and this wonderful town did not disappoint.

City Hall, Belfast, Northern Ireland

Alfred Tower Belfast, Northern Ireland

Glasgow (Greencock), Scotland

In Glasgow, I chose to take a tour and visit Stirling Castle.  Stirling Castle defends the passage between the Lowlands and the Highlands and is said to be the most strategic place in all of Scotland.  After two epic medieval battles, the Battle of Sterling (1297, with forces led by Braveheart, William Wallace) and the Battle of Bannockburn (1314 with forces led by Robert the Bruce), the castle became the primary residence of the Stuart monarchs.

It is huge and an impressive castle.

A gun battery of Stirling Castle

One of the many halls in Stirling Castle

A gracious lady in Stirling Castle

Reenactor in Stirling Castle

Isle of Skye (Portree) Scotland

This is a remote, wild area for the most part and a unique visit that would be quite hard to do except on a cruise ship.  It is nicknamed the “Misty Isle” and has some of the best scenery in all of Scotland.  The village of Portree has about 3,000 folks and is the largest settlement on the Isle of Skye—the locals say there are more sheep than people on the isle.

I took the Circular Scenic Tour and Dunvegan Castle Tour.  Dunvegan castle has continuously been inhabited for 800 years (most of any Scottish castle).  It is the ancestral home of the Chiefs of the Clan MacLeod. 

Dunvegan Castle

I really liked the gardens.

Part of the huge gardens of the castle

Gardens of Dunvegan Castle

Invergordon, Scotland

This is a very good look at the Scottish Highlands.  Here are some pictures of Invergordon:

Invergordon, Scotland

Wall At in Invergordon, Scotland

I took a very good tour here to Cawdor Castle and Gardens, which included a stop at the famous battle of Culloden, were the forces of Bonnie Prince Charlie of the Jacobite rebellion (a struggle to retake the British throne by the Stuarts) were defeated in 1746 by the English forces.  This battle ended the power of the Scottish Highlands clans and laws enacted repressed much of the Scottish culture.

The ancestral home of the Campbell’s of Cawdor, the castle complex has been inhabited for over 600 years.  Located in the Scottish Highlands, it is more a mansion than castle, despite its’ outward appearance as a defensive castle, with some awesome gardens.

Cawdor Castle

One of the Gardens of Cawdor Castle

Edinburgh (Leith), Scotland

Perhaps one of the more interesting areas of the British Isles, we really enjoyed our chance to return to Edinburgh.

Edinburgh Castle

The famous Royal Mile in Edinburgh

The Royal Yacht Britannia

My Final Thoughts

One of the advantages of small ship cruising on Azamara is longer stays in port, and I think you can see how exciting and educational this 13 night cruise was.  It was an awesome look at the British Isles

We hope this inspires you to dream about European travel—and then take action when travel restrictions are lifted!  We will be ready to help!

When you are spending your hard-earned money for a vacation, you want an advisor who can match you with the right trip.  You want someone who will understand your expectations and fuel your anticipation (or excitement) to get you the best possible trip experience.  And, you want someone who can help you with the decision making process.  We think we have all these qualities.

Whatever your Dream Destinations are, we are here to help you get the best possible vacation based on what is important to you!  We will provide you high quality, expertly planned travel.  Please give me a call 713-397-0188 (Hank) or email me at hschrader@dreamdestinations.com.  We want to help you:  Savor life…make memories…Visit Dream Destinations!  Your journey begins here!

HANK is a certified Western European Destination Specialist (DS) who has been traveling to Europe for 49 years.  He is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC), conferred by the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA).  This recognized expert in cruise and leisure travel is a retired Army Officer, and taught World Geography for 8 years.  He is a `71 graduate of West Point and has earned 2 master’s degrees.   His other Certifications:

• AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist

• Viking River Cruise Specialist

• Scenic River Cruise Specialist

• Emerald Waterways  Specialist

• Avalon Waterways Specialist

• Brit Agent

5 Things We Miss About Travel to Europe

5 Things We Miss About Travel to Europe

By Hank Schrader, USMA ’71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

And Anne Schrader, Certified Travel Consultant and Europe Destination Expert

www.dreamdestinations.com

Today’s blog title is inspired by Anne—it’s Thursday Morning and the blog comes out in a couple of hours and I just didn’t have a good topic.  But in true form, after returning from walking our Dog, Libby, Anne had a brilliant idea.

“Why not write about the 5 things we miss in Europe?  She then suggested for her it was food, flowers, friends, famous places and fun.

My co-author Anne on a recent AmaWaterways cruise

So, today, I’d like to tell you about the “F”ive reasons why we miss traveling to Europe.  Hopefully, after reading this and seeing Anne’s pictures you will give us an A grade and not an F!

Food

If you know us, food and wine are always on the list of important experiences we have in Europe.  They range from picnic supplies for the train, small bistros to Michelin starred restaurants.  Perhaps the best factor is the overall importance most European countries place on food—it is really hard to get a bad meal!

Here are just a few great food experiences we miss so much (I really am missing so many here but I had to cut it down a lot):

In Paris, here are 3 favorites—Danton’s (a small bistro), Le Soufflé and the Coup Chou.

Danton’s Bistro

Danton’s Bistro

Le Soufflé Gran Mariner soufflé

Le Coup Chou

We love German food and Anne’s favorite is Schweinhaxe—pork shank!

Pork Shank—Schweinhaxe

In Austria, in our opinion, the best Weiner Schnitzel comes from Figmüllers in Vienna but Anne lovers their liver and onions.

Biggest schnitzel—what a treat!

Anne’s Liver and Onions

In Italy, for us, it has to be Carbonara, although Henry has never had a pasta dish he didn’t like.  The good thing about carbonera is that it is a favorite throughout Europe.

Carbonara

In Brugge, it has to be Mussels and Frites for Anne; lobsters (both of us) and Flemish carbonnade (a wonderful stew dish) for Henry.

Mussels and frites for Anne

Hank attacking his lobster meal in Brugge

Lobster

For Hank it would be tough to choose between Flemish Carbonnade and Guinness Irish Stew. But luckily for me, Anne can make both wonderfully, so he has the best of both worlds.

I guess we can’t really leave the food topic without a good story about friends and food.

As you probably know, we have annual trips with our very good friends Denise & Mark Thomas. While Mark is the certified wine expert, Denise has as an excellent palate and has her preferences.

We almost always leave the wine choices to them.  Their knowledge, is not only about the wines themselves, but they also know whether the choice will enhance all of our menu choices, and to insure there is a true value (biggest bang for our Euros) that makes the experience even better.  Can’t do better than the right wine(s) at the right price!

Other than agreement on the wine(s), food choices are not always in sync for the four of us.  Both Denise and Anne are NOT fish aficionados, even though Anne does love shell fish, Denise’s only choice is Alaskan King Crab.

However, Mark and Anne are up for just about everything!  So, for Christmas in Paris, Denise and I acquiesced to let Anne & Mark dine on one of the most extravagant seafood meals they had been trying to convince us to experience during every one of our Paris trips (we have never been shy about spending our Euros)!  They were not disappointed and the presentation, regardless that Denise and I ate beef, was certainly something in and of itself to behold!  Great Memories!

Our Christmas Seafood Meal

Are you hungry yet?

Flowers

It always is amazing to me how many gardens and flowers are available in Europe.  They range from large, formal gardens, to small window boxes.  Here is a small sample:

Small Paris Garden

Flower Market in Frieberg

Rose Garden in Bamburg, Germany

Flower Market in Rome

Colorful Street in Mykonos

Doorway bursting with color in Cochem Germany

Flower Boxes in Cochem

Friends

Life is sure better when you share it with others.  We have been so lucky to have many great experiences and chances to share with others.

On the tours and river cruises we have led, the best part has always been traveling, not with clients, but friends who trust us with their travel experiences.  We have built some awesome bonds with these folks. Here a few pictures of some of the times we have experienced.

Our 2019 AmaWaterways Cruise Group

Part of our 2015 River Cruise

The rest of our 2015 river cruise group

D Day Tour 2014

Part of Our D Day 2019 Group

The hardest part of traveling with friends is having to say good-bye after the trip is over.  Of course, we’re lucky because we do stay in touch and spend time talking not only about our past excursions, but also planning future ones!  We have recently discovered that the more photos we can post of our times traveling together with a certain friend does keep him involved in the weekly blog and we are certain that it means we’ll definitely have more opportunities to update and enlarge our gallery of times we’ll spend with him!

Jeff and Anne in Prague 2018

Happy birthday, my friend, Jeffrey (I’m proud to share the same birthday 6 October, but you’ll always be the older and wiser man!)!!!

The October 6 Birthday Boys—Jeff (1948) and Hank (1949)

Famous Places

There is just no shortage of famous places, structures and iconic symbols of countries in Europe.

I wrote a blog about the 10 most iconic places in Europe—here is the link https://visitdd.wordpress.com/2017/04/05/how-many-of-these-10-iconic-europe-landmarks-have-you-visited/

Here are a few pictures:

Fun

Life is too short not to enjoy it—we always create memories from our experiences when traveling to Europe.  The world becomes just a little smaller seeing how others live and play and have fun and we just love joining in. 

Drinking Wine in Bayeux with some new European friends

Sometimes it also involves Americans traveling to Europe.

Think I’m kidding—here is a great story about how small the world is. 

We attended a great wine tasting in Rome at Vino Roma with Hande Leimer, a wine and food expert.  

Handi leading us on a food and wine tour

While we were waiting to start, talking with some of the other guests, it turned out one of the couples was from Virginia, where I went to high school.  I asked what High School they attended and their reply was Fort Hunt HS.  Small world, same HS I graduated from in 1967!

Fast forward to 2018, over lunch at a West Point rugby reunion, during a discussion about traveling in Europe, we learned one of my classmates, Jack, also had gone to a wine tasting at Vino Roma. Small world indeed!

Sometimes when leading groups on AmaWaterways our clients show talents that are delightful.  My classmate John and his wife, Irene, who is Greek, are both specialists in the Greek culture and language.  It was amazing in 2019 to watch them lead and dance the other passengers to beautiful Greek music provide by the on-ship entertainer.  A true joy and fun for all!

John and Irene dancing on out 2019 AmaWaterways Cruise on the Rhine

We also love festivals—here is part of our 2019 75th Anniversary of D Day group in 2019 with some fashionable ladies from the 1940’s!

Bob, Tom and Joe with 3 reinactors from 1944 from our D Day Anniversary Tour

And, to show you even Santa likes us, here is photographic proof!  He is one fun guy!

My Final Thoughts

So, how did we do—do we deserve an A for our five F things we miss about travel to Europe?

We hope this inspires you to dream about European travel—and then take action when travel restrictions are lifted!  We will be ready to help!

When you are spending your hard-earned money for a vacation, you want an advisor who can match you with the right trip.  You want someone who will understand your expectations and fuel your anticipation (or excitement) to get you the best possible trip experience.  And, you want someone who can help you with the decision making process.  We think we have all these qualities.

Whatever your Dream Destinations are, we are here to help you get the best possible vacation based on what is important to you!  We will provide you high quality, expertly planned travel.  Please give me a call 713-397-0188 (Hank) or email me at hschrader@dreamdestinations.com.  We want to help you:  Savor life…make memories…Visit Dream Destinations!  Your journey begins here!

HANK is a certified Western European Destination Specialist (DS) who has been traveling to Europe for 49 years.  He is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC), conferred by the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA).  This recognized expert in cruise and leisure travel is a retired Army Officer, and taught World Geography for 8 years.  He is a `71 graduate of West Point and has earned 2 master’s degrees.   His other Certifications:

• AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist

• Viking River Cruise Specialist

• Scenic River Cruise Specialist

• Emerald Waterways  Specialist

• Avalon Waterways Specialist

• Brit Agent

Wine Cruises on AmaWaterways

Wine Cruises on AmaWaterways

By Hank Schrader, USMA ’71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

www.dreamdestinations.com

By far, AmaWaterways has the most special wine cruises as compared to the other 7 river cruise lines that primarily market to North America river cruisers—as you may know we study all 8 lines (AmaWaterways, Avalon, Crystal, Emerald, Scenic, Tauck, Uniworld and Viking).

AmaWaterways has 60+sailings a year that have a special wine theme and the events are included in the cruise fare—that’s right, there is no additional cost to be on a wine themed cruise.

So, today, I’d like to tell you about wine cruises on AmaWaterways.  I will tell you about the 4 European areas that have wine cruises included in the fare and explain what it is like to be on a wine cruise, as we have been on 4 with AmaWaterways.

I will finish up, by telling you about a special idea we have about a pre/post tour with a wine cruise and a tour of some key WW I and WW II sites in 2022, so please read to the end of this blog to learn more.

A Quick Overview of Wine Cruises on AmaWaterways

The wine themed cruises are usually led by a Wine Host from a winery in the United States.  The host will conduct some tastings of their wines, discuss wine and host a wine dinner on the ship paired with their wines.

We have been on two hosted by US winemakers and two cruises hosted by drink experts—one was a regional expert from France and the other was a beer cruise with a beer expert from the US .  The Ledson wine cruise (on the Rhône) and the Bordeaux cruise were special—we would go again on both.

Mark Thomas, then general manager of Ledson Winery, preparing for a tasting on the 2014 Wine cruise hosted by Ledson Winery

The other bonus about these special wine cruises is that they are often in Spring or Fall, times when the cruises cost a little less than the most popular summer season.

When you consider that wine and food on AmaWaterways is already over the top—the fare is regionally –inspired cuisine, using fresh food sources and always paired with 2 daily changing wines—a wine cruise just enhances the chances to learn and enjoy wine even more!

France Wine Regions

The Bordeaux region and the Rhône region are the 2 main French wine regions that you can experience on an AmaWaterways cruise in France.  On a Rhine river cruise route, there is often a bonus region of Alsace white wines.

Bordeaux region of France on the Garonne, Dordogne and Gironde Rivers is about wine more than other sights on their “A Taste of Bordeaux” cruise.  It is a round trip cruise out of Bordeaux and features wine tastings, chateaux’s and abundant vineyards along the Garonne and its tributaries. 

Wine Regions of Bordeaux. Map from AmaWaterways

There are over 8,500 wine producing estates in this region—it is often considered the wine capital of the world.  Usual port cities of Cadillac, Pauillac, Bourg and Libourne are included in most sailings of this region. 

This is an important wine region of France and you will experience tastings of some of the most distinguished wines including Sauternes, Medoc and Bordeaux wines (my personal favorites).

Leoville-Poyferre Winery

Chateau de La Rivere Winery

Tasting Room Chateau de La Rivere

Here is what wine expert Mark Thomas said about his favorite wines on this cruise (we traveled together on this route in 2017):

“Some of my very favorite red wine varietals: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Petit Verdot and various blended wines with these varietals in varying percentages.  For white varietals, again some of my favorites: Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon with which some produce world-famous Sauternes.”

Wine barrels in St. Emilion prior to Gran Cru Tasting

My glass is ready—care to join me?

Rhône River

Imagine sailing on the Rhône River through the legendary wine growing regions of Provence, getting the chance to sample Beaujolais and Côtes du Rhône!

Wine Regions of Provence. Map from AmaWaterways

Beaujolais Tasting in Domaine de Averlys in 2016 on a Provence

Here is what my travel chum and wine expert Mark Thomas had to say about the wines on this cruise:

“In Provence, Rose’s dominate.  These delicious bold, crisp, fruity wines pair great with the local seafood dishes (Bouillabaisse, Fish soup, etc.).  The red grapes that dominate the region include Mourvèdre and Grenache while the primary white grapes include Bourboulenc, Grenache Blanc, and Clairette, usually blended together in some form or another.

As you head up the Rhône River from Arles toward Lyon, you first encounter the Southern Rhône region where the red grape varietal Grenache dominates.  Often primarily blended with Syrah, and Mourvèdre, these wines are rich, earthy, gamey, and full-bodied especially in the area of Châteauneuf-Du-Pape.  Other red blending grape varietals include Carignan, Cinsaut, and Counoise.  The delicious white varietals of the Southern Rhône are the same as in Provence.

Our cruise manager Kris on our 2016 excursion tasting at the HB Les Pavillon de Vins

Moving into the Northern Rhône, you’ll find Syrah is king among the red varietals while Viognier in the appellation of Condrieu, along with gorgeous blends of Marsanne and Roussanne in the appellations of Hermitage and St. Joseph dominate the white varietals.”

Just so you know, we had never had a Viognier before going on this route and now it is one of our favorites—if you want to experience, new great wines, AmaWaterways is a great place to start!

Viognier Wine and Cheese outdoor treat in Vienne

Wow!—does it help to have your own personal sommelier to help you learn about wines?—you bet it does!

Alsace’s Wines

On an AmaWaterways cruise on the Rhine River from Amsterdam to Basel or reverse, there is a good chance to sample some wines from Alsace.  

The key grapes grown in the region of Alsace are Riesling, Muscat, Gewürztraminer, Pinot Gris, and Pinot Noir.  According to wine experts, although these grapes are also grown in Germany, the Alsace wines have more flavor and are much drier than those produced across on the eastern side of the Rhine River in Germany.  These robust white wines are also named for the grapes—a common practice in Germany but much less common in France.

A wine store in Riquewhir, France—Kaisor Zimmer—Vins d’Alsace

Since 1983, the official gran cru appellation status has been awarded to about 50 terroirs.  Most of these gran cru appellation wines are dry whites. 

A wine shop in Riquewhir

Gran cru in French means great growth.  This classification of wines is a regional designation of the vineyards that produces very good wines. 

Alsace vineyards near Riquewihr, France. Photo Mark Thomas

Trust me, they are excellent!

3 of Germany’s 13 Wine regions—the Rheingau, Franconia and Moselle Regions

Wine Regions of Germany. Map from AmaWaterways

The Rheingau wine region produces elegant Riesling wines—about 78% of the total wine production along this stretch of the Rhine River are Rieslings.  About 12% of the other grapes grown in this area are Pinot Noir (or Spätburgunder, as the Germans call it).

The Vineyards around the town of Rüdesheim

The town of Rüdesheim is a great place to sample some of these great wines.  There are often 2 wine tasting tours here and both are fun and serve great wine.  As an extra bonus, there is coffee drink I first had while in the military—Rüdesheimer coffee (coffee, flamed Asbach brandy and topped with whipped cream).  If you have never had it, you are missing one of the great coffee drinks in the world!

Rüdesheim Coffee Poster

The Franconia wine region is less well known producer of dry white wines made from Silvaner grapes.  The official name is Grüner Silvaner.  A lot of this wine is grown around Würzburg. 

Vineyards around the Marienberg Citadel on the Main River

One unique feature of this wine is its special bottle—it is in a bottle called a Bocksbeutel (in German)—a distinctive green oval shaped bottle.

Sharing a bottle of Grüner Silvaner they brought back to our 2019 AmaWaterways cruise with Denise Thomas.

One feature of wine cruises on the Main River is a special wine tasting in Würzburg’s baroque Residenz Palace.  Wine in a palace—how cool is that!

Würzburg’s baroque Residenz Palace.

The Moselle region is famous for Riesling wines. Many writers claim this is the best of Germany’s wine regions, as the Rieslings (about 60% of the grapes planted here) have an exceptional balance between sweetness and acidity.

Vineyards near Bernkastel on the Moselle

On the Moselle, my favorite wine port is Zell.  It is famous for its white wine Zellerschwartzkatz (Zell’s black cat)—I also first had this while in the military on various visits to Germany.  The really great draw of this village is the story of Zell’s Black Cat Wine.

According to legend, a large quantity of local wine was being stored in barrels in a regional cellar.  When people approached, a black cat jumped on the barrel from Zell and started hissing to protect its contents.  Seeing the hissing, caused the wine merchants to believe the wine from Zell was special and better quality than the other wines stored in the wine cellar building.  Today the black cat is the symbol of this town.

AmaWaterways has an exclusive wine festival celebration in Zell.  The local children, dressed up like black cats, provide a performance that everyone who has visited Zell on AmaWaterways will remember.  You don’t even have to be on a special wine cruise to get this unique experience!

The children of Zell visiting us on an AmaWaterways cruise with an invitation to explore their city. They are accompanied with local wine queen and mayor.

Just to let you know, the legend is true—the wine is great!

Portugal’s Douro Valley

The Douro Wine Regions Map

This is a cruise for wine lovers, especially aficionados of the desert wine port (a fortified wine with alcohol added), also a cruise for those who want to sample and learn more about Portuguese cuisine, and for adventures who love new destinations. 

While port is far and away the most import wine in the region, there is increasing recognition of whites and reds produced in this great wine growing region and I was surprised to learn about 50% of the total wine production is wines other than port.

The steep, dry slopes of the Douro and soil characteristics (terroir) produce remarkable wines.

Some of the Douro’s wine vineyards. Photo from our clients the Howards.

Perhaps the most surprising fact is how many different ports, from sweet to really dry, are produced here.  One of our clients brought us a bottle of 30 year aged, dry, Tawny port—it didn’t last long in the Schrader household.

The Danube

One of the great reasons to go to Europe, especially on an AmaWaterways river cruise, is learning about a wine that would soon become one of our favorites. 

Perhaps, the best wine region on a Danube cruise is in the Wachau Valley.  It produces 2 great wines-- Wachau Grüner Veltliner and Riesling wines.  I had never tasted Grüner Veltliner before this trip, but does it ever pair well with Wiener schnitzel, one of my all-time favorite entrees! 

Grüner Veltliner vineyard sign

Grüner Veltliner vineyard

Jeff and Hank share a glass of wine on our 2018 Danube cruise

Now we look for this wonderful white wine to enjoy at home and in restaurants.

In researching this blog, I read one source that said Rieslings from the Wachau have more in common with Alsace Rieslings than the Moselle Rieslings—but for me they all are great! 

I also learned that Moselle Rieslings wines are bottled in green glass, so they can be distinguished from Rhine Rieslings which are bottled in brown glass.

Since we have experienced Rieslings from all three wine areas while on 3 different AmaWaterways cruises, my advice—make your own comparison trips with our help!  You can’t go wrong here—they are all good and I’m sure you will agree if you try our taste test challenge and book all 3 with us!

Our 2022 Cruise Idea

We are still working on an idea that might really appeal for many of you readers of this blog.  We are planning 2 AmaWaterways River Cruises with a pre/post cruise to the other great wine region of France—the Champagne region of Reims.  It won’t just be wine tasting, it will include a trip to the WW II sites of the Ardennes (Battle of the Bulge) and the WW I historic sites around Reims (there is a 40 mile circuit that has some of the best sights in France). 

We are still working on the details, so keep reading the blog for the latest updates.

We hope to repeat our great success leading military themed trips as we were able to achieve on our 70th and 75th Anniversary trips to D Day.

The bonus is we plan to invite Mark Thomas as our Wine Host on one of the cruises.

If you want to be on our list to be notified about this or other specials we might have please email me at hschrader@dreamdestinations.com.

My Final Thoughts

It’s time to raise a glass or two—CHEERS, SALUD, PROST!

Does it get any better than this?—all the fabulous features of a river cruise and a special wine themed cruise included for free!

So now is the time to take action when travel restrictions are lifted.  We will be ready to help!

When you are spending your hard-earned money for a vacation, you want an advisor who can match you with the right trip.  You want someone who will understand your expectations and fuel your anticipation (or excitement) to get you the best possible trip experience.  And, you want someone who can help you with the decision making process.  We think we have all these qualities.

Whatever your Dream Destinations are, we are here to help you get the best possible vacation based on what is important to you!  We will provide you high quality, expertly planned travel.  Please give me a call 713-397-0188 (Hank) or email me at hschrader@dreamdestinations.com.  We want to help you:  Savor life…make memories…Visit Dream Destinations!  Your journey begins here!

HANK is a certified Western European Destination Specialist (DS) who has been traveling to Europe for 49 years.  He is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC), conferred by the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA).  This recognized expert in cruise and leisure travel is a retired Army Officer, and taught World Geography for 8 years.  He is a `71 graduate of West Point and has earned 2 master’s degrees.   His other Certifications:

• AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist

• Viking River Cruise Specialist

• Scenic River Cruise Specialist

• Emerald Waterways  Specialist

• Avalon Waterways Specialist

• Brit Agent

Have Desire, Will Travel

Have Desire, Will Travel!

By Hank Schrader, USMA ’71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

www.dreamdestinations.com

Today’s blog title is inspired by an old TV show called “Have Gun, Will Travel”.  It was a 30 minute black and white Western about a single gun for hire.  The phrase really means, he is ready to go! 

So, today, I’d like to tell you about why you should seek out travel experiences with our help—you should “Have Desire, Will Travel” and be ready to go when this pandemic mess is solved.

How “Have Gun, Will Travel” Inspired Me to Write About Travel Experiences

The hero of the show was Richard Boone (Paladin), a West Point graduate, who wore all black when on assignment, and was a Calvary officer in the Civil War.  You can see the parallels for me now—West Point grad, Black Knights (Army Sports nickname) but as a young kid, I wasn’t thinking about that—he was just a cool guy in an action TV show.

His calling card was a black knight chess piece with these simple words “Wire Paladin, San Francisco”.  Again, a parallel—email us for travel help @ hschrader@dreamdestinations.com .

Even the name Paladin has meaning in history—a Paladin was a trusted knight during Charlemagne’s rule.  These noble knights (12) fought with Charlemagne against the Islamic invasion of Gaul (present day France).  The most famous was Roland.  While most of this is mythology, being a trusted advisor is an important feature of any relationship.  Do you see the parallel here?—we are trusted advisors who services will remove the hassles of your travel planning and trips.

My Travel Experiences are a tale of Have Desire, Will Travel

I have been traveling all my life.  My late father was a career Army Officer (thanks for serving our country for 33 years Dad!), so I started at a very young age to travel and learned to love it.  My Dad also loved to travel and US National Parks were very special to him, so our family had camped in and visited most of the 59 major parks by my early teen years.  

My Mom and Dad on a hiking trip—one of our favorite activities

I can also say I have spent at least one night in all 50 States in my lifetime and lived in 14 different states.  Along with living on Okinawa and in Panama for several years, I have spent about 6 months total in Germany, so I have also experienced several different cultures for extended periods of my life.  

The breakdown of different countries is something like this-- all of North America, all of Central America, all but one of South America, 35 of 50 in Europe, 13 Caribbean Islands, 2 Middle East, 1 Africa and 6 Asia—maybe 81 or so countries in total.

But this is not about where I have been, it is about what I have experienced.  Unlike some travelers who want to see every country and brag about how many they have seen and even set criteria to make sure it “qualifies” as a new country or territory, I just want to experience how other folks live, work, play and the culture they have created for their lives, especially in Europe.  

But this only is helpful to you if we can use my and Anne’s past travel experiences to help you have better trips.  Let’s explore that further together.

Creating New Experiences in Travel

So, how do you create new experiences in travel—here is a partial guide for you!

I think the first step and the most important step is deciding: Why you want to go on the trip? 

Have you read about it and want to see it firsthand?

Is this a romantic trip to share with your significant other?

Do you want to learn about how different cultures live their lives?

The next step is: What do you expect to see and experience?

Do you like small villages?

Maybe castles?

Do you want to concentrate on one country?

Do you have any activities planned or desired?

The next step is: What time is available, when do you want to go and who are your traveling companions?

How much vacation time do you have?

What time of year?

Who all is going—the family, your spouse or is it solo?

The next step is: How will you get there?

The classic planes, trains or cruise transportation questions—what arrangements and level of comfort do you need?

The next step is: What type of accommodations do you desire?

The question is also often the level of services vs. the budget—what fits best?

Now let’s put it all together and start making adjustments—reality vs. desires.

An Example from our Travels

We want to go to Europe for 2 weeks or more.  We want to go on river cruise and visit Brugge again, as it is Anne’s favorite city in Europe. 

We want to go to as many of the Christmas markets as possible. 

A typical Christmas Markets booths

Anne and Hank at the Thurn and Taxis Christmas Market in Regensburg, Germany with the owner of the HutKoeing (Hat King) with our new hats

Anne would also love to do a baking or cooking class if possible.  We want to go with our travel chums (another couple who likes to travel with us).

Denise (one half of our travel chums) and Anne bake gingerbread cookies together

We will need to select a cruise, get flights and also use trains.  We have a favorite hotel in Brugge but will need to find some other hotels for our planned stops.

View from our favorite hotel room in Brugge

We will use AmaWaterways, as it is our favorite European river cruise company and offers the best value for our money.  Maybe use AmaWaterways for flights—it depends upon price and convenience

We will need some Euros, travel documents and figure out what clothes to take.  We need to arrange for Libby, our dog, to go to the Doggy Hotel and make sure she gets the special play day package, to swim and run with the other dogs.

Libby Ready to go to the Doggy Hotel

I think this example helps you understand how detailed the planning for a good trip becomes to maximize the experiences.

How We Can Help

Does seem like a lot of details, doesn’t it?  But the answer is to let us plan it for you—we can be your Paladin!  We have the expertise to get it all right for you and find places and space you just didn’t know about.  We are ready to go to dive into the details, so there is zero hassle to you!

My Final Thoughts

We are your Paladin—Have Desire, Will Travel!  So now is the time to take action when travel restrictions are lifted!  We will be ready to help!

When you are spending your hard-earned money for a vacation, you want an advisor who can match you with the right trip.  You want someone who will understand your expectations and fuel your anticipation (or excitement) to get you the best possible trip experience.  And, you want someone who can help you with the decision making process.  We think we have all these qualities.

Whatever your Dream Destinations are, we are here to help you get the best possible vacation based on what is important to you!  We will provide you high quality, expertly planned travel.  Please give me a call 713-397-0188 (Hank) or email me at hschrader@dreamdestinations.com.  We want to help you:  Savor life…make memories…Visit Dream Destinations!  Your journey begins here!

HANK is a certified Western European Destination Specialist (DS) who has been traveling to Europe for 49 years.  He is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC), conferred by the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA).  This recognized expert in cruise and leisure travel is a retired Army Officer, and taught World Geography for 8 years.  He is a `71 graduate of West Point and has earned 2 master’s degrees.   His other Certifications:

• AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist

• Viking River Cruise Specialist

• Scenic River Cruise Specialist

• Emerald Waterways  Specialist

• Avalon Waterways Specialist

• Brit Agent

Travel Enjoyment

Travel Enjoyment

By Hank Schrader, USMA ’71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

www.dreamdestinations.com

Travel is good.  Not only is it good, there are many studies that prove it has significant health benefits.  Right now, it sure would help raise my mood—it has been almost a year since we have visited Europe and I sure miss it. 

For me, however, the biggest benefit is personal growth and learning—I just feel a little stagnate right now—yes, idle thoughts that could be quickly solved by a good dose of travel.

I yearn for that stimulation!  How about you?  Do you feel the same?  I suspect so!

So, let’s examine the benefits of travel together and hope we can soon return to the normal world of travel—I believe it will happen in 2021.

Some Facts about Americans and Travel Overseas

According to a study conducted by Hostelworld Global Traveler Report (2017 data), Americans are about 50% less likely to travel abroad than Europeans.  The report states that 29% of Americans have never left America. 

The average American has visited 3 countries; UK residents average 10 countries; Germans 8 countries; and Frenchmen 5 countries.  While it is true it is easy and cheaper to travel if you live in Europe to other countries, it saddens me to know so many Americans are missing learning and experiencing most of our wonderful world. 

Far too often, Americans choose Canada, Mexico and somewhere in the Caribbean for their only international visits.  We would hope they would expand to other worldwide locations—especially Europe. 

The good news is that most of you reading this are not the ones who have only visited 3 countries—you are the exception and we applaud you!

I Learned at a Young Age the Benefits of Travel

My parents started my lifelong love of travel at an early age.  My Dad loved the outdoors, and we often went camping as a family.  As most of you know, my Dad was a career Army officer.

When he was reassigned to Okinawa (I was 12 years old), we visited most of our nation’s national parks on the way to the West Coast of America.  We drove across America to get to a ship that took us to our new home—it sure was a great learning experience to see a lot of America!

Landing on Okinawa with my Mom and Dad in the background

But the real lesson was living and traveling in the Far East.  You can read about a rice paddy, but until you see a small plot of land worked by hand by folks living so differently than you do, that you began to understand how complex our world really is. 

My School Days picture form 1962-1963

Yet, you also quickly learn people all over the world are basically the same.  They may look different in their outward appearances, but they have the same wants and needs as you and I do.  Experiencing different ways of life, and connecting with locals, is a far better way to learn about the world than reading about different cultures in a text book.

I was lucky— I was exposed to our unique world at an early age and it quickly changed my life for the better.  To this day, my wanderlust is still strong—thanks Mom & Dad for exposing me to the benefits of travel at an early age!

The 4 Health Benefits of Traveling

It is good for your heart health.  A study of overseas travelers reported that there was a reduced risk of heart attacks in men and women.

Travel enhances your cognitive abilities—it sharpens your mind.  New challenges in a different environment will stimulate your brain.  It is especially true of folks who engage with the local people and their culture.  Just experiencing different languages will improve your communication skills.  Most travelers at least learn a few new words or phrases in a different language and are exposed to new foods, so it is easy to see how travel can sharpen your mind.

You get to relax and disconnect.  Wandering old medieval towns of Europe, sharing an al fresco meal in Rome or Paris—that is my idea of relaxing—with a good glass of wine and locally grown, seasonal food!  

Most of all, I want to slow down a little and savor life and my surroundings.  I always seem renewed after travel and there is evidence that many folks upon returning from a vacation are in a better mood and more creative.  I know I am.

5 Great Reasons Your Travel Experiences will Make You a Better Person

You will become more confident.  Change is difficult sometimes but it will help you grow.  When you travel, you become different.  You leave your comfortable, known world and venture into the unknown. 

The best part is that the unknown soon becomes familiar and usually awesome.  Good or bad experiences still leave you changed, but I will tell you, most travel is great.  The best part of venturing out is that you gain confidence in yourself.  It is very empowering to know you can handle new experiences. 

You can read about a place but until you experience it, you do not really understand it.  Battlefields, Biblical sites, ancient towns, stunning structures, different food markets, and jaw dropping scenery are all different when you visit in person.  Pictures and words are never the same as being there.  It is amazing how many times I have visited a new place and the visit completely changed what I thought the place was like. 

Chateau Chenonceau France

Travel will also quickly teach you how little you know about the world.  Even as a former teacher of World Geography, who thinks he knows a lot about the world, I still have a lot to learn.  Always after every trip I take, it just reinforces that there is so much more to learn and experience.  It always makes me eager for the next adventure!

Lake Bled Castle in Slovenia—I never knew about this wonder place until a visit in 2010.

Travel will make you appreciate your life and the world we live in.  You see some of the wonderful things humans have created.  They have created amazing buildings and structures. 

Pont du Gard

People of different cultures have found many ways to create good, tasty meals and great beverages and when you try some of them, you will wonder why you hadn’t tried them sooner.  You will be amazed at how they have adapted their lives to their surroundings and environment.  You will see beauty. 

Cordon Blu

Lobster in Brugge 2019

These experiences are life changing and you will have been given a true gift—a better understanding of our world and the people who live on our planet.  Travel broadens your horizons.

Travel will provide you experiences that you will never forget.  We have been lucky to have experienced so many, it is hard to select just a few, but I will try. 

Wish you could have joined us savoring excellent wine and food floating on the rivers of Europe in a river cruise boat as castles peer down on us from the cliffs.  Celebrating the holiday seasons in the many Christmas markets of Europe is always a highlight. 

An Advent Calendar House in Lucerne, Switzerland

Watching a play in London is fun and was made even better riding the Tube (subway) with many folks dressed up as characters from The Rocky Mountain Horror Show. 

Drinking beer at a pub in Dublin, Ireland with rugby fans from Ireland and Scotland just prior to their international test match later that day, is really getting down with the locals. 

Anne’s new drinking buddies at Kehoe’s Pub Dublin Ireland

Gazing on some of the world’s great art in Paris, London and St. Petersburg helps you understand how creative humans can be. 

Magnificent artwork in the Louvre Paris France

Learning to cook a great meal from a celebrity chef in Wales was a bucket list for Anne on her 60th birthday. 

People watching in the many outdoor cafes of Europe can be so entertaining you will sit for hours enjoying the street life of Europe. 

An excellent people watching Ristorante in San Marino

Walking in ancient ruins, imaging that we were famous ancients of an era long past, allowed us to bring history to life. 

Ruins of the Roman Forum in Rome

Doesn’t this make you want to go—just writing my blog has stirred my desire to get back to Europe soon!

My Final Thoughts

Travel is good!  There are so many benefits of travel that outweigh the minor disadvantages of making travel arrangements (most of which we can easily solve for you), so now is the time to take action when travel restrictions are lifted!  We will be ready to help!

One of the great joys of our business is helping others experience the benefits of travel—we hope we have provided real travel enjoyment in their lives.

When you are spending your hard-earned money for a vacation, you want an advisor who can match you with the right trip.  You want someone who will understand your expectations and fuel your anticipation (or excitement) to get you the best possible trip experience.  And, you want someone who can help you with the decision making process.  We think we have all these qualities.

Whatever your Dream Destinations are, we are here to help you get the best possible vacation based on what is important to you!  We will provide you high quality, expertly planned travel.  Please give me a call 713-397-0188 (Hank) or email me at hschrader@dreamdestinations.com.  We want to help you:  Savor life…make memories…Visit Dream Destinations!  Your journey begins here!

HANK is a certified Western European Destination Specialist (DS) who has been traveling to Europe for 49 years.  He is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC), conferred by the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA).  This recognized expert in cruise and leisure travel is a retired Army Officer, and taught World Geography for 8 years.  He is a `71 graduate of West Point and has earned 2 master’s degrees.   His other Certifications:

• AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist

• Viking River Cruise Specialist

• Scenic River Cruise Specialist

• Emerald Waterways  Specialist

• Avalon Waterways Specialist

• Brit Agent

My Favorite Top 12 Experiences in Europe

My Favorite Top 12 Experiences in Europe

By Hank Schrader, USMA ’71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

www.dreamdestinations.com

Wow, do I miss traveling to Europe!!!  I hope it returns soon—we have a river cruise scheduled in December—I sure hope we get to go!

As I sit at my desk writing this during a pandemic, my mind can’t help but wander on what great experiences we have had in Europe.

So, this week I’d like to talk about my 12 favorite experiences traveling in Europe.

No. 12.  My first trip to Europe in 1971

After graduating from West Point on 9 June 1971, I went with a classmate to Europe for 6 weeks.  Armed with a Eurorail pass, a bunch of American Express Traveler checks and a backpack, we went on a tour of the most famous places in Europe—Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Heidelberg, Munich, Madrid, Vienna, Venice, Rome Nice, Paris and London.

In a way, it replicated most of the old Grand tour of Europe that the nobility often took.  I fell in love with Europe and still can’t wait to return—it all started with that trip! 

Post Card I sent my parents. On 24 July 1971 I was on top of the Eiffel Tower.

No. 11.  Our First River Cruise

There is no doubt that I was stunned after taking a river cruise in 2009 on AmaWaterways.  It changed my perception of how great travel could be.  The Moselle River and Main River voyage through the heart of Europe will always be one of my favorite travel experiences.

What a surprise—Hank ordering wine on our first river cruise in 2009

In 2015, we led a group to this wonderful part of Germany and will return when we can.

No 10.  Our tour of Croatia and Ireland

There may not be a 2 week period where we learned so much about Europe in depth as those two weeks in 2010.  What a complete contrast—a Balkan country and an Irish Island.  My two favorites—Dubrovnik, the pearl of the Adriatic, and marching in the St. Patrick’s Day parade in Sligo.

Dubrovnik City Walls

Dubrovnik Harbor

Hank and Anne ready to march in the Sligo St. Patrick’s Day Parade

A quick pint with some Leprechauns after the parade

There can also be no better time than drinking pints in a Dublin pub just before the Ireland Scotland test rugby match during the Six Nations test matches. 

Dublin Koehoe’s Pub before the Ireland Scotland Rugby test match

No 9.  Our Celebrity Cruise in the Mediterranean

Seeing part of the world of Greek islands, Ephesus, Israel and the highlight for me Istanbul was an adventure beyond belief.  The spice market, the Hagia Sofia and Topkapi Palace were thrilling.  I also remember walking hand-in hand in Ephesus with Anne, just like Anthony and Cleopatra did thousands of years ago.

Acropolis in Athens

Fira, Santorini

Hagia Sofia

Spice Market, Istanbul

Walls of Topkapi Palace

Topkapi Palace

Ephesus

Anne and Hank on Harbor Road

No 8.  Our Route of Wine Traders Azamara Cruise.

Sailing from London to Spain along the coast on the western edge of Europe was special.  My favorite part was a visit to Sintra in Portugal to see Pena Palace and Sintra National Palace.  At the end of the cruise, we went to Granada and visited the Alhambra.  Later on that same trip, we visited Carcassonne, the largest walled city in Europe.

Sintra National Palace Portugal

Pena Palace Portugal

Alhambra Defensive Wall

Inside courtyard of the Alhambra

No 7.  Our 2 Baltic Cruises

This fascinating part of Europe is best understood from the importance of the Baltic Sea for development of the modern world of Scandinavia and northern Europe.  The two standouts for me—Estonia’s Tallinn Old Town walled city and Peterhof Palace in St. Petersburg.  I also liked seeing all the Scandinavia capital cities and visiting Berlin.

Old Town Tallinn, Estonia

Sampson Fountain Peterhof

No 6.  Our British Isles Cruise

Sailing to Ireland and around most of England and Scotland is an experience not to be missed.  Sharing pints in numerous pubs, visiting castles in Scotland and buying custom made kilts in Edinburg made this trip so memorable.

Pub

Pub

Kilt Factory where our custom made kilts were made

Dunvegan Castle

Cawdor Castle

No 5.  Our Danube River Cruises

We have sailed on the Danube River 6 times.  The second longest river in Europe has helped us explore a region that is so unique.  Visiting Budapest and Prague, my two favorite eastern European cities, once that seemed so exotic and unfamiliar, now beckons us to return! 

Anne with Lazlo on our Blue Danube River Cruise on AmaWaterways

Watchman of the Danube Castle

Sailing the lower Danube to the former iron curtain countries was wonderful—this area was once closed off to me during the cold war and I just thought I’d never get a chance to explore this part of Europe.  We ended that trip by staying in Brasov, Romania with visits to Peles Castle and Braun Castle.  Who knew you could visit the Iron Gates, 3 capital cities and end up chasing a vampire myth!

No 4.  Our Provence River Cruises

France is such a great country, so diverse and an amazing place to explore.  While it is hard to pick one favorite place, I always come back to the Rhone.  Wine, Roman ruins, home to the Pope for over 100 years and Lyon, the gastronomical capital of France, are just some of the reasons these trips are special.

Palace of the Popes in Avignon

Hank and Anne Wine Tasting

Perhaps best of all, we met our travel chums, Denise and Mark on our first cruise in 2013 and now we travel together whenever we can.

Our travel chums. Captain Dany, Denise and Mark

No 3.  Guiding Our Friends and Clients in Europe

There can be no better feeling than helping others learn more about Europe.  We strive to help them see great sights, remove hassles and share great times together.  We have helped folks visit with us guiding Amsterdam, Brugge, Ghent, Prague, Budapest, Paris and London

Len and Jane in 2019

Hank with Jerry Pablo and Len

Jeff and Anne in Prague

No 2.  Leading 2 D Day Tours

There is probably more work related achievement that compares with the privilege of leading 2 groups on our D Day tours.  My military background, coming from a family where my Dad fought in Europe in WW II and the responsibility of helping folks understand the D Day invasion, has challenged us and taught us a lot about how to make our participants understand what a debt we owe to those brave men who changed the course of history on 6 June 1944.

2014 D Day men

2014 D Day Ladies

Part of our 2019 D Day Tour

No 1.  Sharing Europe with Anne.

It is hard for me to image what our Europe travels would be without each other sharing our trips since 1989.  There are just too many to mention but several stand out in my mind—our cooking class in Wales with Angela Gray for Anne’s 60th birthday; hiking to Burg Eltz in March, after basing in Koblenz; Christmas markets river cruises on the Rhine and Danube; buying hats in Regensburg; traveling with our travel chums to share Christmas in Kastel Englenburg; waking up in 1990 in Baden-Baden to learn Germany had won the world cup with a street party right in the square below our window and finding Brugge, our favorite European city.  Paris, Rome and London, including our visits to the Cotswolds, were also special.  I know I have missed many others but we look forward to more adventures.

Cooking on Anne 60th Birthday

Burg Eltz

Anne, Santa and Hank at Christmas Dinner

Anne, and Hank with our new hats in 2019

Anne in the Cotswolds

My Final Thoughts

I know this list is not complete—I’m sure I’ve missed something wonderful.  Makes you want to go to Europe, doesn’t it!

We would like to thank those of you who have trusted us for their travel needs and we look for to help you again and anyone else in the future who might need our help.

When you are spending your hard-earned money for a vacation, you want an advisor who can match you with the right trip.  You want someone who will understand your expectations and fuel your anticipation (or excitement) to get you the best possible trip experience.  And, you want someone who can help you with the decision making process.  We think we have all these qualities.

Whatever your Dream Destinations are, we are here to help you get the best possible vacation based on what is important to you!  We will provide you high quality, expertly planned travel.  Please give me a call 713-397-0188 (Hank) or email me at hschrader@dreamdestinations.com.  We want to help you:  Savor life…make memories…Visit Dream Destinations!  Your journey begins here!

HANK is a certified Western European Destination Specialist (DS) who has been traveling to Europe for 49 years.  He is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC), conferred by the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA).  This recognized expert in cruise and leisure travel is a retired Army Officer, and taught World Geography for 8 years.  He is a `71 graduate of West Point and has earned 2 master’s degrees.  His other Certifications:

• AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist

• Viking River Cruise Specialist

• Scenic River Cruise Specialist

• Emerald Waterways  Specialist

• Avalon Waterways Specialist

• Brit Agent

Best European River Cruise Advice

Best European River Cruise Advice

By Hank Schrader, USMA ’71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

www.dreamdestinations.com

Sometimes it is possible to get so much good content on a website that it becomes confusing.

As I was studying our website, I realized that putting all the blogs about European River Cruising under the category of Europe River Cruise on our blog archives page made it very difficult to quickly find the answer to a question or search you might have about these wonderful trips.

So, with blog # 77 about river cruising, I want to tell about how you can quickly find out the exact information you might be looking for about river cruising in Europe, with the emphasis on our blogs.

I will begin by providing you a little history how our blogs have evolved, tell you about our 2 most important river cruise web pages and finish with our new blog archives organization on our website.

I hope you won’t roll your eyes and scream “TMI” (too much information)—there is really a point to this blog!

Our Blog History in Numbers

Our 2020 visitor traffic as of 20 August 2020 for our website. What this diagram means is that about 65% who visit our site find something worthwhile to read!

We first published our blog using a WordPress website that was not part of our website.  In 2016, we started writing the blog regularly, publishing 36 blogs.  In 2017, we published 44 blogs.  In 2018, we published 31 on WordPress.  Our total to date—112 blogs on the WordPress Blog Archives page.

We decided to move our blog to our new website and began publishing on our Squarespace website, starting with our 27 September 2018 blog and wrote 10 more as part of the website in 2018. 

We wrote 42 blogs in 2019 and are on pace to produce 42 or probably more in 2020. 

2 of our most dedicated blog readers—Jeff and Anne in Prague after our post AmaWaterways Danube cruise at dinner in Prague.

“LOVE IT!!!! Vive’ la France!!! Tres bien mon ami!!! ”

— Jeff R in response to our A Wine Lovers Route--Provence River Cruise on AmaWaterways

Our Blog Content

Our blogs, by design, are much more detailed than most other blogs—usually 2000 words or more.  There are two types of blogs we use to help you understand our topics.

In the first type, we try to tell the story of each topic in a way you can see yourself there—can we capture the experience for you?

While some blogs easily fall into storytelling type of blog, others are designed as informational, data blogs, our second type of blog. Today’s blog is more the informational type blog.

Both have immense value, in my opinion.  Sometimes you just need the data in a form you can understand and make comparisons.  But this alone is not enough—you need to know what you will experience on a trip to get the full story.  A key element of the blogs is a clear separation of facts (usually there is a source) and our opinion.

 When possible, we use many pictures in each blog to help enhance our descriptions—Anne has some amazing pictures that are the true highlight of the blogs. We very rarely use free pictures unless we aren’t allowed to take photographs.

With an amazing picture like this one from Anne on the Danube River, you can understand her outstanding contribution to our blog!

As you can see from this blog, we break up our blogs into sub headings to make it easier to understand.  Often, there is quite a bit of research that goes into the content—we try to sift through the overwhelming amount of information and advertising to paint an easily understandable summary of each topic.  Most is first-hand information from our experiences, but some is news or research, or information facts (internet, blogs, books, travel publications, company brochures or other sources) that you might require to become a better traveler.

Our blogs have two goals—the most important is to inform you so you can decide if a trip you are thinking about is right for you.  The second, a bit more subtle, is to help you decide if we are the right folks to help plan your trip.

Our 2 Most Popular Website pages

You might be interested in our reach from our website.  We have had over 7,215 visitors our website so far this year.  About 2,200+ first visit our home page and then over 4,800+ have gone to another page on the website.  This means they find our content worthy of a second look.

By far, our Best Europe River Cruise Routes Guide (1,384 visitors) and our Europe River Cruise Comparisons 2020-2021 (958 visitors) are the two most visited pages on our site.  It is a small wonder, because we feel these are as good a resource as is available to most folks on the worldwide web.

Why don’t you read them now?  Here are the links:                                   

Our New Europe River Cruise Archive Page (Currently 41 Blogs)

Here is the link: Europe River Cruise Archive Page

We cover 5 topics on this archive page.  They are:

·       Our River Cruise Services (7 blogs)

·       River Cruise Lines Comparisons (3 blogs)

·       River Cruise Routes (14 blogs)

·       River Cruise Advice (12 blogs)

·       River Cruise Reviews (5 blogs)

So, what does this mean for you? 

In short, it provides you a way to completely understand river cruising through our eyes. 

Perhaps, best of all, it is very good content and often, many blogs are on the first page of Google or very near the top.

Here is what one reader had to say about our 10 Best River Cruise Blogs:

Len and Jane on our 2019 AmaWaterways Captivating Rhine River Cruise.

“#76 is a good blog! I agree with your ratings of your “best” blogs. These are great for folks trying to learn about European river cruise characteristics and options.”

— Len A in response to Our 10 Best River Cruise Blogs

Our Updated Blog Archive Page (Currently 52 Blogs)

Here is the link to our: Blog Archive Page

We cover 6 topics on our Blog Archive Page.  They are:

·       Europe Travel (12 blogs)

·       Europe Destinations (8 blogs)

·       Best Value Travel (16 blogs)

·       Travel Planning (9 blogs)

·       Ocean Cruises (1 blog)

·       Veterans (6 blogs)

These 52 blogs also are another great resource.  They are resources for you about our total travel agency services and will help you become a smarter traveler.

Jakie S at Pointe du Hoc 2019

Here is some really good feedback from one of the blog readers about our blog Omaha and Utah Beaches, 1944

“I wouldn’t have thought such a huge tasking could be put in such a clear, succinct, one read, to-the-point summary. However, you did it brilliantly, especially throwing in the key numbers for us “numbers” guys and then supporting it with pictures. I’ve never seen it done so well, that’s a fact! ”

— Jakie S., Col (ret), about our blog Omaha and Utah Beach 1944

My Final Thoughts

I think our blog is exactly what we hoped it would be—it represents an unmatched resource for you to learn about European River Cruising, Europe Travel and how we can help you travel better and get more value for your money. 

It is wonderful to hear so many good comments about our blog—it sure makes all the hard work worth it!

We would like to thank those of you who have trusted us for their travel needs and look for to help you again and anyone else in the future who might need our help.

When you are spending your hard-earned money for a vacation, you want an advisor who can match you with the right trip.  You want someone who will understand your expectations and fuel your anticipation (or excitement) to get you the best possible trip experience.  And, you want someone who can help you with the decision making process.  We think we have all these qualities.

Whatever your Dream Destinations are, we are here to help you get the best possible vacation based on what is important to you!  We will provide you high quality, expertly planned travel.  Please give me a call 713-397-0188 (Hank) or email me at hschrader@dreamdestinations.com.  We want to help you:  Savor life…make memories…Visit Dream Destinations!  Your journey begins here!

HANK is a certified Western European Destination Specialist (DS) who has been traveling to Europe for 49 years.  He is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC), conferred by the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA).  This recognized expert in cruise and leisure travel is a retired Army Officer, and taught World Geography for 8 years.  He is a `71 graduate of West Point and has earned 2 master’s degrees.  His other Certifications:

• AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist

• Viking River Cruise Specialist

• Scenic River Cruise Specialist

• Emerald Waterways  Specialist

• Avalon Waterways Specialist

• Brit Agent

“Good Morning Hank,

You never cease to amaze. What a wonderful blog this is😊

”

— Shelie B. Amawaterways Business Development Mangaer Tx & La on our Dream Destination Brand Blog

European Walled City Gates and Towers

European Walled City Gates and Towers

By Hank Schrader, USMA ’71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

www.dreamdestinations.com

One of my favorite things to do in Europe is to visit the old walled cities of Europe. 

Many of the walls have been torn down, but often it is possible to find an impressive gate remaining from the remnants of towns that had walls built around them to protect these settlements.

So, I thought I’d provide you some of our collection of pictures of the awesome gates that once restricted access to many of the cities of medieval Europe.

An Overview of Obsolete Walled Cities

A walled city is a fortification used to protect a city or settlement from potential aggressors.  From ancient to modern times, they have been used to enclose settlements and provide protection for those living in the city.  

Almost every town in medieval times that could built defensive walls did so—they were essential to survive the harsh times of yesteryear.  Today, walled cities have become obsolete due to improved weapons and aircraft used in modern warfare. 

The good news is that the cities that did not destroy their old walls, now usually are special places where you can enjoy a bygone era that survives in today’s modern world.

Here is a look at some of our favorites:

Amsterdam, Netherlands.  Once there were many gates to this city, but they are long gone.  The best remaining example is now a restaurant.  It was named the Waag (weight house) and is located in Nieuwmart Square, Amsterdam. 

Waag House (Weighing House) Amsterdam, Netherlands

Arnhem, Netherlands.  There are no walls left here, but the Sabre Gate is huge and impressive.  It was originally used for defensive purposes but later was used to guard prisoners and insane people.  It probably was built around 1357.

Sabre Gate Arnhem, Netherlands

Berlin, Germany.  The Brandenburg Gate is one of the most famous landmarks in Europe.  The gate was one of the 18 gates of the Old Berlin Customs Wall and built in 1730 or so.  It has become a symbol of unity for the German people after the collapse of the Iron Curtain in 1989.

The Brandenburg Gate Berlin, Germany

Brandenburg Gate Berlin, Germany

Bordeaux, France.  This gate is a little hidden, but well worth seeking out.  This medieval gate is called the City Gate Cailhau and was built in the 15th century.  The elegant gate was built to celebrate Charles VIII’s, King of France, victory in battle in 1495 (see the plaque picture below).

City Gate Cailhau Bordeaux, France

Brasov, Romania.  This walled city had 5 gates but only one, Catherine’s Gate, remains today.  Not only did it serve to protect the city, it was used to collect tolls for merchants to enter and sell their goods.  The gate was built by the Tailors Guild in 1559.

Catherine’s Gate Brasov, Romania

Brugge, Belgium.  There were many gates in the original walled city.  Today 4 remain.  They are:  The Ezelpoort (Donkey Gate), which was built over a canal.  The Kruispoort Gate is pictures below.

Not pictured are 2 other town gates. The Gentpoort gate is located on the old road to Ghent. The Smedenpoort is the blacksmiths gate and the current gate was finished in 1367.  This gate shows many similarities with another surviving gate: the Ezelpoort.

Donkey Gate Brugge

Kruispoort Gate Brugge, Belgium

Poertoren Gun Powder Tower is on the edge of Lake Minnewater. It is just a nice photo and has no real significant historical and there is no access to this tower

Carcassonne, France.  Since the pre-Roman period, a fortified settlement has existed on the hill where Carcassonne now stands. It is an outstanding example of a medieval fortified town, with its massive defenses encircling the castle and the surrounding buildings, the narrow streets and its fine Gothic cathedral.

The walls have 53 towers and 5 barbicans (A barbican is a fortified outpost or gateway or any tower situated over a gate or bridge). There is a castle inside the walled city complete with a drawbridge.  It is the largest walled city in Europe. 

There are 2 main gate entrances to the city. They are the Narbonne Gate and the Aude Gate.

Narbonne Gate Carcasonne, France

Cochem, Germany.  This delightful small town has two really good gate towers.

Endettor Tower Gate Cochem, Germany

Martinstor Gate Cochem, Germany

Dubrovnik, Croatia.  Dubrovnik is known as the pearl of the Adriatic.  This walled city is considered to be among the great fortification systems of the Middle Ages.  The walls are about 1.940 meters long and 25 meters high (82 feet) at some points.  It has 17 towers, 5 bastions and 2 angular fortification and a fort that is all incorporated into the walls.  There was even a moat around the land portions.  The city at one time was defended by 120 cannons.

It had 4 gates. Pictured below is the Pile Gate.

The Pile Gate, was one of 4 gate entrances to the Dubrovnik. It was a drawbridge gate.

These fortifications were never breached, but diplomacy skills of its leaders rather than military might was probably the reason Dubrovnik never fell to its enemies, according to some historians.  We have walked portions and the views are stunning. 

Freiburg, Germany.  Pictured below is the Schwabentor Watch Tower Gate. It is one of 2 remaining towers in the city. The other, the Martinstor is a 13 century gate tower.  The city walls are gone.

Frieburg, Germany Schwabentor Watch Tower Gate

Heidelberg, Germany.  The Heidelberg Bridge Tower guarded the bridge entrance to the old city of Heidelberg.  The bridge is over the Necker River.

Kotor, Montenegro. This walled city still has its walls intact. There are 3 gate entrances to the city. Pictured below is the main gate, known as the Sea Gate and is located on the western side of the city.

The Sea Gate entrance to Kotor.

Mainz, Germany.  This walled city once had 34 gates and watch towers.  Only 3 remain.  They are: the Iron Tower, the Wood Tower and the Alexander Tower.  The Iron tower was both a watch tower and a gate into the city.

Iron Gate

Miltenberg, Germany.  The Wurzburgtor appears in some written reports around 1379.  This medieval gate tower is on the eastern edge of the old town of Miltenberg.  Originally, it had a gun platform with battlements, as this side of the city was most at risk from attack.

Wurzburgtor watch and gate entrance in Miltenburg, Germany

Munich, Germany.  The Karistor Gate was an entrance to the historic center of Munich.

Karistor Gate Munich

Regensburg, Germany.  The watch tower over the stone bridge that was once one of the few bridges to cross the Danube River, is a classic gate and watch tower.

Watch Tower Regensburg, Germany

Old Gate entrance in Regensburg, Germany

Riquewihr, France. This small village in Alsace had good walls and a good watch tower.

Watch Tower Riquewihr, France

Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany.  This may be the best known walled city in Europe and is very popular as a tourist destination.  Rothenburg is Germany’s best-preserved walled city.  Part of the walls have covered walled walkways and can be walked and provide great views of the city.  The wall is about 2.5 km (1.5 mi) long and covered, with several towers and entrances at the gates.

San Marino, San Marino.  This tiny city is completely encircled by walls on 3 sides, since a sheer rock cliff natural barrier defends the area that is not walled.

San Marino Entrance Gate

Speyer, Germany.  This huge watch tower gate is quite a contrast to the modern city that remains now.  This once walled city had 68 towers guarding it.  The most important watch tower still remains and at 188 feet, is one of the tallest defensive watch towers in all of Germany.

The one remaining tower in Speyer, Germany

Tallinn, Estonia.  Tallinn Estonia old town is a great place to visit.  It is the oldest capital city in Northern Europe.   With 1.9 km of its original city wall still standing, Tallinn has one of Europe’s best preserved medieval fortifications—it has cool gates and 20 defensive towers. A large part of what gives Old Town its fairytale charm is the system of walls and towers that surrounds it.  The old town is divided into lower and upper towns—and it is just a charming, fun place to explore.  We have been there 2 times and are ready to go back soon.

Gate entrance to the old city Tallinn, Estonia

Trier, Germany.  This is the oldest gate on this list—the Porta Nigra.  It was built during Roman times.

Porta Nigra, Trier, Germany

Trogir, Croatia.  This old gate was built in the 17th century.

Trogir City Gate Trogir, Croatia

York, England.  York has been defended by walls since Roman times.  It has the most intact walls of any city in England.  We walked some of the walls and it was great to see this old town from the large walls. 

Monk Gate York England. It was designed to be a self contained fortress. Today it has a Richard III Museum in the old fortress area.

Micklegate Gate York England

Royal Coat of Arms on Peter Gate York, England

Inside the walls, the York Cathedral is especially impressive and there are other medieval half-timbered buildings and areas that are neat to visit. The walls had 4 main gates which restricted entrance into the town, provided protection and were also used to collect tolls.

Valletta, Malta.

This is one of the shear entrance gates to this fortress

Wertheim, Germany.  The Spitzer Turm (Pointed Tower) gate does not lean because of an architectural problem, but due to 800 years of flooding from the Main River.  The Sprizer Turm is 115 feet tall.  It dates back to the 1200s and was one of the original 18 watch towers that ringed this city.

My Final Thoughts

I hope you enjoyed this look at some great landmarks which once were so important for protection of towns and villages that now have become relics of the past.

I can’t help it—these are just cool!

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HANK is a certified Western European Destination Specialist (DS) who has been traveling to Europe for 49 years.  He is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC), conferred by the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA).  This recognized expert in cruise and leisure travel is a retired Army Officer, and taught World Geography for 8 years.  He is a `71 graduate of West Point and has earned 2 master’s degrees.  His other Certifications:

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