North to Alaska – Day 1 We started our day early, to get to the airport for a 5:40AM boarding. Of course, thinking the lines would be short, that early, was my first mistake. The second mistake was thinking the TSA Pre line would be shorter than the regular screening line. We made it to the gate shortly after the boarding began, and were able to board when our rows were called. Feeling rushed, it was a great feeling to get seated and wait for the trip to begin. We took off late, but made it to Seattle 20 minutes early, made the next flight with no “rush” mode setting in. Both flights were on Alaska Airlines, which still have a nice seat spacing, where my knees are not against the seat in front of me, ... read more

Cologne. We docked overnight, but we knew in the morning around 5:30AM that we were in a big city, when an ambulance siren broke the silence. Today is a day of walking tour, and free time. After breakfast, we left the boat at 9:00 to walk around the square, of the Cathedral. This is one of Germany’s oldest cities, and was pretty much destroyed during the second world war. The Cathedral has a little damage, but the area beside it wasn’t so fortunate. The time to return to the ship was lunch. We had lunch on board, and cast off for Amsterdam. That is our final city, and the tour of the Romantic River Rhine will be history tomorrow night (Wednesday). We are having the farewell dinner tonight, since tomorrow night is not working well with ... read more

Today we see two cities, two docks, and enjoy the quite of Sunday morning in Germany. We docked in Mainz, last night, and this morning, we arose, ate breakfast on the ship, and began the walking tour of Mainz. As you may or may not know, Mainz is where Gutenberg began using his invention – the printing press. Before moveable type, people copied books, by hand. They did have printing before by putting the image on wooden blocks, but you can imagine not having a backspace or delete key when you make a mistake, just recarve the entire block. With the ability to make the type, and reuse it, printing a page was so much easier, and the type was able to be reset on another page. Johannes Gutenberg was a nobody, and while there are ... read more

Where to begin. The day seemed like we covered much ground, but really was just in Strasbourg. Strasbourg is a unique town. Some of the people living there have had to change their nationality 4 times in their lives. These are old people. Strasbourg has been a French town now since the end of WWII. It was French, then German, then French, then German, now French. They have a river that runs around the town, not so much in the mode of San Antonio, with shops for food places. These are buildings and places that are older than the US. The Alsace region is known for its wine and grape production. Some grain was raised by the farmers before they started making wine. The Romans had a tax office there, and the town was critical in ... read more

We haven't left yet, but getting ready is part of the fun. (No, I don't want to take those shoes, and I will take those shirts). We will start at the top of the Rhine, and go down to Amsterdam for 9 days, riding the Avalong Waterways Luminary ship.... read more