It all sounds so wonderful.

Todd, what an adventure! Not unlike Ngaire years ago in China taking taxi driver to top of a skyscraper to show him where the ship was....but this time, you had to find it on your own!

Yesterday we were in Mainz, Rudesheim, and Koblenz. We toured in Mainz and went to the Gutenberg Museum - the person responsible for moveable type. Quite interesting and they have a demonstration of how the machine worked - I was used in the demonstration. We had an escorted bus to Rudesheim (quaint little town on the river with wineries and vineyards).

We cruised down the Rhine Gorge with numerous castles (about 19 or so) and the famous Lorelei rock. Everyone was either on the top deck or in the lounges watching as the castles went by. It was rather cold - so I stayed in the lounge most of the time and took pictures from the outside when the castles were going by.

We had our last dinner last night with Ngaire and Ken as they left the ship today on their way to Africa. Dinner was Lamb for Ngaire, Ken and Mike. I had pasta. We had a good time in the lounge after dinner with Ngaire and Ken and others we have met on the cruise.

We had breakfast first thing with Ngaire and Ken before they left the ship. Today we are in Cochem and will be touring the inside of a castle. It looks like it is going to be a cold and gray day.

Olivia -

That China Taxi story did come up on the trip! We all had a good laugh about that as well.

thanks for sharing Todd. We did Prague one Xmas. All I remember is all the kiddie swimming pools around town filled with carp and how cold those castles were. Imagine living in them? Brrr. It must be good to get back to your cozy ship.

We had dinner at the Captain's table on the last night - they served a wonderful chateaubriande - I had seconds!

We left the ship this morning at 9:00 am and went to the Train Station in Trier via Taxi. We took the train from trier and were supposed to change trains in Saarbrucken - well there was a station that there was an announcment all in German - apparently everyone then got off the train to catch a bus to Saarbrucken...this was due to a problem with the train. Well we did not understand the announcement - the train went past this station then the lights all went out. We sat there for a few minutes - then the train engineer was shocked to find people aboard. He helped us get off the train, walk across the train tracks with our luggage and guided us to where we would find the bus.

We took the Bus to Saarbrucken arrived around 12 noon - the next train to Paris was at 3:00 pm.

Long story - we made it to our hotel - Paris La Defense at about 7 pm. Off to see the Eiffel Tower at night in a few minutes.

Oh my Todd, what an experience! Glad it turned out ok. A similar thing happened to us once in France. Because of a flood, train delays were announced, but we understood nothing!

Todd, we had instances like that in Germany as well! Glad you found a nice conductor to safely bring you to the bus. Enjoy Paris.

Oh my is right!! I think I would have been in tears by then - good thing the Conductor came around to help you Todd and get you on your way. Enjoy Paris!!! Someday, we will get there.

Oh my Todd, what a mess. Between missing the bridge on the bike ride and the train fiasco you sure had your share of misadventures! We had a similiar thing happen to us on the trains in France.

Dinner with the Captain, that certainly was special. The Captain is such a nice man and he likes to SING. Sang many songs one night in the lounge. Sounds like a great meal!! I will have to find out from Mike if it was better than the N.Z lamb, that would be hard to beat.

I have almost finished a complete report on the trip and some is basically the same information I already posted. Just need to finish it up and will post it from the Navigator.

I am very comfortable in recommending and using AMA for our 2010 group river cruise between Prague and Budapest. I was also contemplating using Scenic (more expensive) but I do not think there is any way that I can sail on that line before we need to decide. I prefer to have experienced the product before taking a group. Just not comfortable doing it any other way.

I really think that AMA is a good product and a great value. With this one trip under my belt I will now be able to give advice on the different issues that may come up.

Once the schedules come out for Regent and AMA
we will look at the dates and make a decision.

Todd, sure does sound like a mess. One thing that caught my eye was your mentioning Saarbrucken because my mother was born there--it was under French administration then. Some day, I hope to visit.

We've enjoyed your reports and Ngaire's. Gail and I are definitely a "go" for the 2010 cruise.

---------------

Eugene

We had a great time in Paris. We ran into people from the cruise on our first night - we went to the Eiffel Tower at night and a large group from the ship were on an escorted land portion of the trip - they were staying at the Hilton Eiffel Tower - right around the corner from the Eiffel Tower - really very close. We had dinner with a wonderful lady from New Zealand (who we had seen on the Ship) at a Café across from the Hilton Eiffel Tower, and then were joined by two Canadians and two Australians we had spent a lot of time with on the Ship.

We arrived back home! We arrived last night (home) at 8:30 pm.

Regarding AMA - I found it to be a great product and a great value. River cruising was very interesting and scenic as there is so much to see while cruising down the rivers. Also, not sure I mentioned - but we went through about 50 locks on our 1 week cruise - very interesting. You can actually touch the side walls of the locks in the open areas (top deck) and your room (looks kind of mossy - but it's that close). Service, food, accommodations, public rooms, etc were all quite good.

Welcome home, Todd - sounds like you had a great trip. Thanks so much for sharing it with us!

Welcome home Todd!!!

Oh the jet lag....

But I was just looking at pictures from the trip and we had such a GREAT time on this adventure!

Pictures from the Trip

Wine with Dinner
Dessert
Dessert
Alex our favorite Bartender
007 (Plamnen) Our Favorite Waiter with LAMB for Ngaire!
Towel Fun!
Mike at the Bar in the Main Lounge
Captain's Dinner

Such wonderful, happy pictures! Say hi to Mike! Glad you had a great time; Love your pillow pal

Quick question on the internet - was it WiFi or just through the cabin TV?

Was WiFi in two locations on the ship we were on Amadagio - Front and Aft Lounges. Also, in the Rooms, it was on the Cabin TV and there was a Keyboard.

Never Mind.
I sent an email to Todd instead. :D