A REFRESHING WAY TO SEE EUROPE

I have just returned from a river cruise through Europe. Amsterdam to Budapest, 1500 miles. The itinerary was great - from magnificent cities (Amsterdam, Vienna, Budapest) to fascinating towns (Nurenberg, Cologne, Passau) and picture postcard villages (Miltenburg, Melk, Rudesheim).

This trip was impossible until a few years ago The recent completion of the lock and canal system allows for travel on the Rhine, Main and Danube Rivers. The system of 68 locks, raising and lowering the ship as much as 1400 feet is an awesome engineering feat. It also doubles as shipboard entertainment.

River cruise ships hold approximately 100-120 passengers in a pampered, deluxe style. The cabins are comfortable, about 135-140 square feet and provide all the amenities you might expect, short of an all-out luxury cruise ship. The ship I was on was Swiss owned and Dutch operated. Neat as the proverbial pin, all operations from tours to food services were efficiently performed in a manner that reflected personal pride.

A typical day will start after breakfast. Your ship is always moored in the center of town, along a main street leading to easy exploration and return. For the small villages, a few local guides will take everyone through the winding streets for a brief overview and familiarization. Then explore on your own. Shop or just sit, eat and drink at a local shop or market.

Tour buses take groups around the large cities or inland for special visits to monasteries or occasional inland towns; such as Rothenburg. In the evening plan on walking around the towns where you are docked. Evening explorations and discovering the local festivities are among the most pleasant memories of the cruise.

River cruising is a wonderful alternative to bus tours. Priced at a modest increase in price over traditional bus tours, a canal and river cruise is a delightful alternative. Please do not confuse a river cruise with either a barge (far smaller and slower) and an ocean cruise ship (far larger and less travel oriented). A river cruise is a new breed and offers a well thought-out blend of many other ways of travel.

Please call or for more specifics and recommendations.