Everything had a bit of a delayed start on New Year’s Day, but I was up, as usual. I had my early breakfast, did a bit at the gym, walked around the ship, watched us go through a few locks, and had lunch. We arrived in Melk at around 2:00, where the big tour of the day was Melk Abbey. That involved a short bus ride up the hill to the Abbey, a tour of the Abbey, and a walk back down the hill and through the town, on our own. Here are some highlights of the day: As a friendly r

This marks the time in a trip when I don’t really have time to write, but I will share more pictures and give a few highlights. On Dec 31, we arrived in Linz, Austria early in the morning. We could either go to Salzburg, Cesky Krumlov, or stay in Linz. I opted for the full-day Salzburg tour because I made plans to meet with John Thomasson, my college voice teacher, who is now teaching at the Mozarteum! The tour left at 9am and made a stop in Mondsee a town in the Lake Distric

As much as I hate to admit it, I left home feeling slightly under the weather. I was dealing with lots of congestion and a slight fever, so I decided I should go straight into town to the Apotheke and ask for something to help my symptoms. They were very helpful and gave me some medicine, along with some tea. I took three doses of the medicine, and although I think it made me drowsy, it really dried up the congestion! We were to be back on board at 11:00 to leave for Passau,

As one would expect from a German train, it arrived right on time in Vilshoven—11:24 am. I walked through the lovely town down to the river and walked right on the ship after telling my name to the man at the door. My first view of the ship! I was escorted to the reception desk, which was friendly & efficient. They told me that my cabin was not ready, but if I went to the Lounge or Al Fresco Restaurant, they would find me when it was ready. Honestly, I was a bit skeptical tha

After sleeping for almost 11 hours (unheard of), I woke up at almost 8am took a quick shower, quickly threw my things in my suitcase, and enjoyed the most beautiful breakfast in the Sofitel Munich Bayerpost. Now I am on the train and have time to write a bit about my journey here and my day in Munich! Sunrise from Sofitel Munich Bayerpost My direct flight from Atlanta to Munich was at around 6pm on December 27. For some reason, I got to the airport around 2:30. I usually enjo

I am a travel advisor and voice teacher with almost 20 years of teaching experience (bio at the end of this post), so I am combining my passions into one fun and exciting opportunity! SING AT SEA! Come and commune, relax and revive, on land and at sea where your wellness will thrive! If you enjoy singing, want to be a better singer, or think you can’t sing and want to try it out in a safe environment, then this cruise is for you! If you enjoy travel, then this cruise is for y

You might say that I have entered the “gig economy” in my own way. I am a freelance voice teacher, singer, and travel advisor. I love all of the things that I do, and that is important to me. Without the security of a full time job, a bit of stress can enter in, especially when things that I thought were going to happen don’t happen. It is easy to feel mistreated or misunderstood and to be motivated by stress, fear, or money. I’m quite certain that those things are not going

Sometimes an experience is so monumental that a picture being worth a thousand words is still inadequate. An attempt to capture the experience of Blue Hill at Stone Barns in words and pictures is truly futile, but it will help me to remember the experience and share it with those who might be interested. Our dinner reservation was for 8:30 pm, and they suggested arriving around 30 minutes early to walk the grounds and possibly have a drink before being seated. We arrived a bi

This is the time late in my trip that I don’t feel like writing about every detail, and you might not feel like reading them either. 🙂 I’m going to post a bunch of photos and make comments when needed. It was a good, full day of squeezing in as much as possible in a sort period of time. The main thing is that I absolutely love this city and the people here, and I definitely need to return to explore more of the city and the rest of the country! The morning. A stroll through

Today I woke up around 6am and got ready to leave for my 9:45 train from the Hamburg Hauptbanhof to Amsterdam Centraal. Re-packing my suitcase is a pain because of the way I pack, but it works. Basically I pack my clothes like a burrito. They’re very compact and have minimal wrinkles. I had four water bottles to return to the grocery store, which got me 90 cents back, so I got a salad and a bottle of water for the train ride. The weather was a bit misty, so I decided to take

The view directly off my balcony. When the sun rises around 5 am, it’s hard for me to sleep much longer. When it sets around 10 pm, it’s hard to go to bed around that time. I guess if I lived here, I would have really good blackout curtains! I went up to the buffet to get some of the muesli and fruit for breakfast again and took it to my room to eat leisurely and enjoy the room as long as possible. I did a short run on the treadmill in the gym also, and got myself ready to m

Again, I slept pretty well, although I woke up a few times. This time, though, I slept until 7:30, which was 8:30 since we crossed a time zone! I had placed a room service card for breakfast on my door the previous night, and it was supposed to arrive between 6:30 & 7:00. I suspected that something had gone wrong earlier, because it was gone about 2 minutes after I put it there. As I was leaving to get breakfast at the buffet, I noticed that it had somehow fallen into a cubby

So breakfast today was yogurt, more blueberries, and a muesli bar that I took from dinner the night before. It was good mixed in with the yogurt and blueberries. I arrived at the ship’s coffee shop at 6:59 AM just before they opened at 7:00. I also ordered an orange juice, which was expensive, but it was freshly squeezed and wonderful. The ship was arriving in Oslo at around 9:45, so all I had to do was gather my belongings and relax until we reached the port. I noticed that

Well, I seem to be on a alternation of sleep patterns. I think the constant rocking of the ship lulled me to sleep rather than keeping me awake. That’s very fortunate, considering that there would be nowhere to nap today! I had already bought yogurt and blueberries in Oslo, so I just needed to go up to deck 7 for some coffee. I got my coffee and had my light breakfast in my room. Since the ship was scheduled to arrive in Copenhagen (København) at 9:45, I had plenty of time to

I think the bed at Anne’s is actually a sofa bed, but I slept until 7:30, thank the Lord!! Perhaps that’s because it was rainy and dark? It was great to have a good night’s sleep and to no have to wait from 6 AM until 8:00 for breakfast! I got myself ready and went upstairs for my breakfast. This cost me 100 NOK ($13) extra, but I had read reviews on Airbnb that it is a good breakfast and worth it. I was happy to get a chance to see more of the house, which was just as I had

I’m now on the train en route to Flåm. We’re approaching Ustaoset, and this place is a winter wonderland! The ground is covered with snow, and the water is frozen. I wasn’t expecting this, but it’s completely beautiful. The rest of the train ride has been great too, and it has only gotten better as it it’s gone along. It’s like judging a singing competition. You don’t know how to judge the beginning until you get farther into it. As we left Oslo and saw the first sights of fj

The sun rises at just before 5:00 AM, so I was happy to have slept until 6:30 yesterday. I got up and fixed my spinach and eggs, and ate my plums that I had purchased the day before. I think the spinach must not come pre-washed here–there were some gritty bits in there. I’ll know better tomorrow! I also made coffee in Ole’s fancy Mocca Master coffee maker. I read that everyone in these very northern countries love their coffee and they they drink light roast. That’s what Ole

Once again, I was in the front of the plane (aisle seat on the 1st row), because I paid a little extra for extra leg room. A guy asked if I would trade seats with him (middle seat in the 3rd row) so that he could sit by his girlfriend. Obviously, I had to disappoint him. However, the window seat in our row was available, so the couple got to sit together after all. My bag was ready for me soon after arriving at the carousel, and I found the express train to Oslo. In order to

My first stop after leaving the house was Prikið. I was told to go there for breakfast and/or coffee. I already had my skyr, etc, so I just had coffee. It was not exceptional coffee, but the place was a fun, grungy diner sort of place. I would like to go back for breakfast, but that will be on my next trip to Iceland! Oh yeah, and this interesting fountain/wall at City Hall. There was a lot about the religious history of the country and how the vikings converted to Christiani

Dinner took about 2 hours. That was a lot of food to eat! At 8:30 PM, it looked like it was about 3:30 in the afternoon, so I roamed around a bit more and went inside the Hallgrimskirkja, which is kind of like their Empire State Building. You can see it from everywhere. The inside is very simple with light streaming in, and the organ is beautiful and shiny. I went to Harpa, which is Reykjavik’s shiny, beautiful concert hall. They had some jazz going on tonight, but I just did