The Adventures of Scotty, Sue and Dan Aboard Narnia (and other adventures)
The Adventures of Scotty, Sue and Dan Aboard Narnia (and other adventures)
Christmas had arrived! and what better place to spend this day together then in the magical city of Budapest? The ship docked early in the morning on the Pest side of the Danube, just across from Castle Hill on the Buda side of the river. We spent the morning getting oriented on a city bus […]
What to do in Vienna, Austria, on Christmas Eve? While all of the locals are celebrating Christmas today (as is tradition in Europe), we went went for a nice 18 mile bike ride along the Danube River, the Old Danube Canal and the New Danube Canal. We rode from the ship, following various excellent bike […]
We FINALLY have an open Christmas Market! While there were some Cultural Market celebrations open in Prague, this is our first “official” European Christmas Market visit on this trip. In total we visited 3 markets in Vienna, We went first to the large market at Rathausplatz, and then 2 smaller markets, Karlsplatz and Stephansplatz, both […]
We docked in old town Vienna on this very cold Thursday morning. As we had posted before, our ability to do this cruise was in question due to the COVID lockdowns implemented in the various cities along our planned route. Vienna came out of lockdown about 3 days before our planned departure and we are […]
There are 19 major commercial locks along the course the Danube that allow shipping traffic to safely maneuver up and down the natural elevation changes of the river basin. From our start in Regensburg, Germany to our end in Budapest, Hungary we will traverse 16 of them. This trip sees us mostly cruising during the […]
The sun rose on December 22, 2021 to find us still cruising down the Danube through the rolling hills of the Wachau Valley. This Austrian region is famous for it’s wine vineyards (dormant this time of year), small quaint villages and hilltop fortresses. We bundled up against the 20 degree Fahrenheit chill, sat on our […]
After leaving Regensburg Germany last night, we traveled down the Danube to the City of Passau where the Danube, Ilz, and Inn rivers meet. It was a VERY chilly morning as we disembarked for our walking tour around the cobblestoned old town with it’s historic baroque architecture. We walked through the narrow alleyways from river […]
This morning we left the ship for a guided stroll around the medieval center of Regensburg Germany. The city is situated on the Danube and it’s historic center was in easy walking distance from our dock. The city was beautiful but deserted at this time of morning. We meandered through the streets ending up at […]
Today we drove from Prague, Czech Republic to Regensburg, Germany. The drive took us just over 3.5 hours, including a short stop right before the German border crossing. Once in Regensburg, we proceeded to the dock where we boarded our home for the next week, the Viking Riverboat, Jarl. This will be the first time […]
As we noted in our earlier posts, we’ve spent the day walking around Prague and in that journey we have come across many beautiful Christmas Trees. They deserve their own post.
After a brief respite at the hotel we went back out in search of Christmas Spirit. We strolled back across the river and found the old town square bustling with light and life. Locals and tourists, young and old, couples and families were out happily enjoying the brisk night air, the food stands of hot […]
‘This morning we left our hotel in Lesser Town Prague for an early morning private walking tour of Old Prague. We explored the city with the the help of our awesome local guide who showed us around the various “must see” sites of the area. The 3 of us spent about 4 hours traversing the […]
The day has arrived! After many months of planning, waiting, cancelations, re-bookings, changes, COVID testing and more changes, we are finally off to Europe in search of the elusive 2021 Christmas Markets! This morning we made the drive to San Francisco Airport were we boarded the upper deck of a Lufthansa 747-8 for the to […]
We were not surprised tonight when we received an email from Viking informing us of changes to our 12/19/21 Danube Waltz 7 day river cruise from Passau, Germany to Budapest, Hungary on board the Viking Kadlin This cruise is part of our 2 week, 2021 Christmas Market Adventure, You can read about the original trip […]
As of December 8, 2021 you can call me Captain! It began back in August of 2021 when I came across an ad in our marina’s monthly newsletter. A local maritime training school was offering “in-person” US Coast Guard Captains License training (OUPV/6 Pack) during the pandemic. I have always toyed with the idea of […]
One of the (many) benefits of being retired, living on the waterfront, and having a wonderfully supportive, understanding, loving & working wife is that I can go paddling anytime the mood strikes me. Today was such a day. I had a wonderful 4 mile paddle around the delta with my camera mounted on the kayak. […]
We posted earlier about the Tidal Wetlands Restoration that is happening around our home in the delta and how it is opening up new areas and habitats, well we decided to take advantage of this perfect November day to explore some of the newly created waterways. As we are unsure of the depth of the […]
Phase 1 of Narnia’s electronics refit is well underway. Info on the refit is here and here. This week we removed the old Simrad CR34 Chart Plotter, IS12 Wind Gauge and the IS12 Depth Gauge. We are keeping the Auto-Pilot so had to retain the AP-16 control head . We also removed the associated NavPods. […]
Friday night happenings at land base house: Full planning mode for volunteering to be dog handlers again for 2022 50th anniversary of the Iditarod for ceremonial start in Anchorage and official race restart in Willow. This will be followed by a few nights of down time In Bettles (35 miles north of the Artic circle) […]
The crew of Narnia are very fortunate to live on the Delta in Northern California. Some of the reasons we purchased here was because it was adjacent to a large wildlife preserve and the miles of waterways offered great kayaking, power boating, and a “no low bridge” route from our home to San Francisco Bay […]
