As you prepare to gather with family and friends this holiday season, consider your favorite Christmas traditions. Many of these traditions and holiday hallmarks are actually rooted in German culture, including gingerbread houses, Advent calendars and decorating Christmas trees. These popular traditions are also at the heart of Europe’s Christmas Markets – seasonal festivals devoted […]
This time next week the Olympics will be starting. There will be all the pomp and circumstance, the rivalries and the ever fascinating stories of how hard athletes trained to make it there. But this Olympics will also have some new things too. So let’s break down what’s special about the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics […]
The wonderful thing about river cruising is that you are immersed in the your destination, experiencing the history and culture of each town. At every stop the cruise director, who also serves as one of the tour guides, lead the group through cities like Cologne and Strasbourg visiting castles, magnificent churches and walking the streets of quaint towns like Mainz and Koblenz.
I’ve had the opportunity to travel to Europe several times; I even lived there for a while. As all of my past experiences in Europe were limited to the large cities, I have never had the opportunity to experience Europe in quite the same way as I did on my last cruise along the Mediterranean, and it was because of the in-depth excursions offered by our partner Ensemble that I was able to experience Europe in a new way.
From the time you board a river cruise, you begin a journey like no other. The ships are small and intimate, your scenery changes constantly and the easy access to the inner areas of towns and villages make river cruising an ideal way to enjoy a multi-destination adventure.
Last month I wrote about the advantages of small-ship cruising and this month, in a similar vein, I wanted to share my very recent (and very first) river cruise experience with Uniworld Boutique River Cruises.
I left on March 22nd to spend two days in Amsterdam prior to the March 25th sailing of the new SS Antoinette from Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Collection. The SS Antoinette is one of the new long ships and this was to be her first sailing of the season going from Amsterdam to Basel for the Castles on the Rhine tour, but more about that later.
Spring time is the best time for nature lovers to get out of their gardens and explore some of the world’s best gardens. We’ve listed the top five gardens with the cruises that will take you there. So put down those pruning shears and pick up your camera.
What is the key sign of spring?
Is it the spike in temperatures? Having more hours of sunlight? The chirping of blue birds? Nope. The true sign that spring is here is the blooming of flowers like the cherry blossoms, the tulips and the daffodils.
And this year, 2012, is a special year for flowers. Floriade, the ultimate flower festival, which only happens once every 10 years, is going on right now. The show covers 163 acres with 1.8 million bulb flowers, 5,000 rose bushes and 3,000 trees.
