I started a bit later than I should have. The ship was scheduled to be cleared at 0600. By the time I got the free port bus to town it was 0700 and 0720 when I finished walking to the train station. I had half the port bus following me because I actually knew where…
Category: 2017 Trips
Superb Vacations in 2017
NCL Mediterranean Cruise from Barcelona – Day 3 – Post # 4 (Sea Day)
Sea days are a wonderful thing. Today’s activites: I slept in until around 0930. I would have slept longer, but the Cruise Critic Meet and Mingle (official meeting) was scheduled for 1100. At the Cruise Critic meeting I met a few of my fellow cruisers that were joining me on the private tours…
NCL Mediterranean Cruise from Barcelona – Day 2 – Post # 3 (Palma Mallorca, Spain)
I was one of the first few people off the ship today. I had intended to visit the Bellver castle, however as I was walking I checked the website and found that it (and many other museums in town) were closed on Mondays. Luckily I determined this before hiking up the hill to the castle. …
NCL Mediterranean Cruise from Barcelona – Day 1 – Post # 2 (Barcelona, Spain)
Thanks to my favorite airline (United) my flight landed at 10:32 instead of 07:45. I rushed to drop off my suitcase at Bags & Go (which will bring it to the ship for me) and catch the Aerobus. I took the Aerobus to Placa Catalyuna and the metro to La Sagrada. Luckily I arrived at…
NCL Mediterranean Cruise from Barcelona – Day 0 – Post # 1 (Departure)
So far everything is looking wonderful. The door chime on the Excursion wasn’t active this morning. I got to the Parking Spot (#2) and luckily I was more organized than usual and had my reservation because they were out of uncovered parking, so I got a free upgrade to extra wide uncovered parking. I’m…
Day before departure for Mediterranean Cruise
I’m mostly ready for my next fun trip – my first ocean cruise this year. I’ll be sailing on the NCL Epic on Sunday from Barcelona, Spain (or will it be Catalonia?). My flight goes through IAD (Washington DC Dulles) Itinerary is as follows: Sunday Oct 22nd: Arrive in Barcelona, tour of…
Return from Brussels, Belgium
This morning I finished packing my bag and took the very short walk to the train station. The train costs 8.8€ from the Brussels North station to the airport (there is a charge to access the platform at the airport included and the ticket needs to be scanned to exit the station). The train only…
Brussels, Belguim
Today I took two ‘free’ walking tours. The first one started from Grand Place at 10:00 AM. I got to Grand Place early so I could take some photos in daylight. The tour was very informative about the history of Brussels and the buildings nearby. We also stopped at the Manneken Pis (pissing boy fountain),…
Day 8 of Rhine River Cruise – Disembarkation in Amsterdam, Netherlands
This morning we packed, had a small breakfast and left the ship around 8:00 AM. I stored my luggage at a friend’s hotel and then went to the Rijiksmuseum. The museum is large and we left around 1:00 PM. I rushed back to the hotel to get the tram (12) to the…
Day 7 of Rhine River Cruise – Amsterdam, Netherlands
This morning we arrived in Amsterdam, Netherlands. We docked not too far from the central train station. There was an MSC ship docked at the port when we arrived. It left shortly after 9:00 AM. Our included tour started with a bus tour of the city. We had a short walk where the guide…
Day 6 of Rhine River Cruise – Koln, Germany
This morning we arrived in Koln (Cologne), Germany. We started the morning with a 90 minutes walking tour of the city. There was a special pilgrimage occuring at the Cathedral, so it was difficult to explore. We visit St. Martin;s church and the Roman ruins under the church during our free time. After lunch…
Day 5 of Rhine River Cruise – Rhine Gorge and Marksburg Castle
The ship stayed docked in Rhudesheim, Germany until 9:00 AM. I walked briskly through the town to get a few photos in the daylight. It was quite foggy as we were departing, which worried us that we wouldn’t get to see the best scenery on the cruise. Luckily within minutes the fog lifted. It…
Day 4 of Rhine River Cruise – Heidelberg and Rhudesheim
This morning we arrived in Speyer, Germany. We took a bus to Heidelberg, Germany. The first stop we made after the journey was to the castle in the middle of the hill. It was an impressive building. There was a wine barrel that held 58,000 gallons of wine in the wine cellar. After…
Day 3 of Rhine River Cruise – Strasbourg, France
Today we docked in Strasbourg, France. We got on the bus at 9 AM for the tour. They took us by bus for a panoramic tour and dropped us in the city for a walking tour. The walking tour took us to the most scenic areas of the city. We entered the Cathedral and watched…
Day 2 of Rhine River Cruise – Breisach Germany and Colmar France
This morning we arrived at the dock in Breisach, Germany much earlier than expected. The ships did have to rearrange themselves in the morning before we disembarked. Our morning walking tour of Breisach, Germany started at 9:30 AM. We walked up a hill to a nice cathedral and the town hall. The cathedral…
Day 5 in Switzerland / Day 1 of Rhine River Cruise
This morning we explored Basel. We went to the city gate first via tram. We then walked around the area and found the Rathaus (City Hall). The building stood out from all the others because of it’s color and decoration. We then walked to the Basel Gothic church. We used our Swiss…
Day 4 in mostly Switzerland – Bernina Express
I woke up this morning to find a light dusting of snow. It was still lightly raining. I walked to the lake and took some photos of St. Moritz. I walked back to the hotel and had breakfast (was included) and they provided a shuttle to the train station. I actually got to…
Day 3 in Switzerland – Glacier Express Panoramic train from Zermatt to St. Moritz.
Today’s train is the Glacier Express which leaves at 7:52 AM. I got up early and took some more photos of the Matterhorn before the sun was fully up. This was the best time to take the photo because it was not harsh light. Only a few more minutes later and the sunlight was…
Day 2 in Switzerland – Montreux – Zermatt
I didn’t get as early a start as I wished, but daylight only started at 7:10 AM. I got the 8:11 train to Brig (off at Visp) from Montreux. In Visp I got on the 9:41 AM train to Zermatt. Interestingly enough although I was on the train for an hour no…
Arrival in Switzerland
My transfer between LGA and JFK in New York City yesterday was uneventful (uneventful is a good thing). My airplane landed a little early this morning (7:14 AM instead of 8:05 AM). I managed to get some sleep on the plane (probably more than I did the night before when I was packing for the…