Elegant Elbe Viking River Cruise
October 29, 2023 - November 14, 2023
Summary
We really enjoy the Viking River Cruises (VRC), in case that wasn't clear. This will our fifth VRC. While some people
like to take the ocean bound cruises - not that there is anything wrong with those - we prefer the river cruises.
We prefer having land visible from the ship at all times.
This trip is a little different than our others too. Immediately before this cruise was the
Cities of Light VRC. Though they are back-to-back, they are,
technically, separate cruises and will be chronicled as such too. For this second leg of our journey,
we have a pre-cruise extension planned in Kraków, Poland, and also had a post-cruise extension in Berlin.
While we transitioned directly from the COL cruise to the EE, the EE will be chronicled as if it were a separate VRC.
We print a packing list and a house checklist (thanks dad) before we leave. One item on the list is to turn the clocks back or ahead, in case. Since the time change was going to occur one weekend we were away, we turned them back just before leaving. And Europe turned them back the weekend we were leaving - so we didn't "gain an hour of sleep", we had to adjust for 5 hours of time zones instead of six. Or however that works.
Trip statistics:
- 6,150 [approximate] miles traveled not including all the walking or location / local shuttle / buses
- 140,177 steps or 53.10 [approximate] miles walked by Linda
- 238,412 steps or 112.88 [approximate] miles walked by Steve
- 6,378 photos retained (yes, that's more than 200 pics per day... and "retained" because some images were deleted immediately after taking due to blurriness [probably] or a missed opportunity or whatever). This summary does not include all of them either, also because all phone pictures were taken twice due to the lack of preview, and some were combined to create stitches and or panaramic shots.
- 140 videos (though some were clips of the same event, then pieced together)
- 3 countries visited, 1 new one for us
- 1 exotic car spotted: a Rolls-Royce
As with our previous Viking cruises, this trip was great. The weather was pretty good and there was only one day with some
brief drizzle. Temps were generally in the mid to upper 50's F, with a couple days in the beginning in the 60s.
Day 1: Travel
Day 2: Warsaw, Poland
including a bus tour, and a food tasting tour
Day 3: Warsaw, Poland
including a monestary visit
Day 4: Kraków, Poland
including a bus tour, and a food tasting tour
Day 5: Krakow, Poland
including Auchwitz and Birkenau, and a dinner with a performance
Day 6: Krakow, Poland
including a dinner with a performance
Day 7: Prague, Czech Repuclic
including a bus tour, Lobkowicz Palace with a concert, and a night tour
Day 8: Prague, Czech Repuclic
including a bus and walking tour
Day 9: Bad Shandau, Germany
including the Bastei, and scenic sailing
Day 10: Dresden, Germany
including a bus and walking tour
Day 11: Meissen, Germany
including a walking tour and porcelain making, and scenic sailing
Day 12: Wittenberg, Germany
including scenic sailing, and a walking tour
Day 13: Potsdam, Germany
including a walking tour with the Sanssouci Palace
Day 14: Berlin, Germany
including a bus tour, a food tasting tour, and a dinner
Day 15: Hamburg, Germany
including Hamburg and a model train museum
Day 16: Berlin, Germany
including the Berlin Cathedral, and other sightseeing
Day 17: Travel
