I have been receiving lots of kind feedback on these posts and emails. Thank you all for following along. It has made the trip memorable. It’s encouraging to keep writing when you know someone is enjoying the content. Trying to gather, process and write my thoughts each night has become a cathartic practice.
I have had a few questions come up along the way.
1. What’s the weather? BEAUTIFUL! I mean, really beautiful. It is unseasonably warm here after a mild winter, so everything is blooming too. I’ve never seen more beautiful daffodils, tulips, lilacs (more about those later) and cherry blossoms. The only rain we encountered was during the transfer from Warsaw to Krakow, and we were safe, warm and dry on the bus.
2. What are the people like? We have been fortunate to be surrounded by great people. Our travel group is mainly made up of Americans. (Actually, I’ve only met Americans and one British couple.) Everyone has been great besides the irritating couple I told you about yesterday.
The guides and staff at Viking have been extraordinary! It’s incredible how knowledgeable they are about the area and its history. Well, most of them. I have disagreed with them a few times, but no one is surprised by this revelation.
The locals are unique in each location we visit. I thought the Polish in Warsaw were a little shy and even avoiding. They rarely made eye contact and seemed intimidated. But the Poles in Krakow were different. They didn’t pay much attention to us at all. They were much more relaxed and engaging. Prague was too full of tourists to evaluate. The staff of the hotel and restaurants were kind, but I guess they have to be. We just got to Germany, so I don’t have an opinion yet, but I will tell you that I found the Frankfurt Airport staff incredibly intimidating. I’m not sure if I told the story, but there was a young (early teen) child being berated by the police officer for taking a photo. Of course, the harshness of their language doesn’t help.
5. How is the food? We haven’t had a bad meal, but there are some we’ve enjoyed more than others. We’ve only been in Germany for one day, and I can already tell you this is my least favorite. But there is always something to eat, and the food at the hotels and on the ship has been excellent. I am finding it extremely difficult to find cookies. There are many bakeries and sweet shops in each country, but no cookies. (And everyone knows how much I like my cookies!)