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From: Tom Elam <thomas.e.elam@gmail.com>
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.advocacy
Subject: The trip to France, Germany and Switzerland
Date: Fri, 30 Aug 2024 09:15:06 -0400
Organization: A noiseless patient Spider
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To sum it up, fun but not as much as we thought it might be.

Arriving Paris on time we elected to take a taxi to the hotel. Given it 
was 4 of us the taxi was not that much more than the train/Metro and a 
lot less hassle. The hotel transfer was on us as we arrived several days 
before the Viking tour started.

Took our friends to see some museums, the tower level 3, other spots, 
and had some incredible meals. However, the friends are not in the best 
physical shape and that limited our options. We traveled by Metro, Uber, 
taxi and RATP. They were fascinated by the Notre Dame crypt, Montmarte 
and Musee D'Orsay. The tower experience was slightly compromised by rain 
and poor visibility, but at that point we had no other options for 
another day. The just-concluded Olympic games had a few streets closed 
and the Champ de Mars still occupied by venues and blocked off.

Leaving Paris by Viking bus via the Luxembourg American cemetery we 
arrived the Viking ship at Trier. Spent a week+ on board, visited some 
Moselle/Rhine River towns in Germany and France. A WWII buff, I was 
amazed the the Allies ever made it across the part of Moselle valley we 
saw.

Viking's U.S. marketing portrays the company's river cruises as 
exceptional. In our experience with prior European river cruises they 
are not. The ship needed some cosmetic refurb, on day 1 a "technical 
issue" delay caused us to miss our first stop, and the food and crew 
service was very good, but not great. We also had a few tour guides that 
did not speak great English. My wife had to assist one with translating 
the excellent French of a local vineyard owner.

On the other hand we had a medical emergency that led to an unplanned 
stop. It was handled well and did not cause any issues for the schedule.

Arriving Basel we did the ship's included city tour that was very well 
done. That afternoon we departed for Zurich, toured that city center for 
a day and a half by tram with a lake boat ride thrown in, and had a 
great meal on the last evening. Jolly good fun.

Had a bit of a tram experience. The hotel was a few miles west of the 
lake and city center. Departing the hotel on line 4 for our dinner the 
tram stopped after about 10 minutes and it was announced that there had 
been an accident ahead involving a tram and car. Line 4 was being 
delayed and diverted. Almost all the passengers left the tram. Two young 
locals offered to show us how to get to our destination. We followed 
their instructions and arrived via a different route with minimal delay. 
Could have figured that out ourselves but their assistance was very helpful.

Flights back through Philly were both on time. Got to experience the 787 
for the first time too.

Next year? I'm voting for 2 weeks in southern/western France via rental 
car. The wife has veto power but there is a still lot we have not seen. 
And Hugh, I checked with National. My age is not an issue for them.