Traveling the world has been a dream of mine ever since I can remember. Thirteen years ago I retired from teaching and began my journey to destinations I never imagined I would see. My husband, Justin, and I decided we wanted to explore smaller ships. That's when we found Viking River & Viking Ocean. We do enjoy our road trips and you'll find those adventures featured here as well. Enjoy the road less traveled and adventure onward!
Lazienki Park in Warsaw is filled with beautiful gardens, statues, Chopin playing benches, and a splendid palace that must be seen. Viking River Cruises provided a cursory look at the park, but during our extended stay in Warsaw we hired a private guide to take us into the Palace. I was especially taken with the woodworking, gorgeous chandeliers, and paintings.
Many wartime secrets live in the Warsaw Zoo. If you’ve seen the movie, “The Zoo Keeper’s Wife,” these photos will bring to life their actual home, the tunnel that helped the Jews escape, as well as her sculpting workshop. It’s worth visiting and our guide, Hubert Pawlik, did a good job of bringing this history to life in our private tour.
While in Warsaw we visited the Warsaw Uprising Museum. It is an excellent interactive museum that depicts the last Polish uprising in Warsaw during WWII. It’s overwhelming and nearly incomprehensible to see the horror of the siege but the patriotism by the Polish people cannot be diminished by any means. It’s a must see if you are in Warsaw and an experience you won’t soon forget. It takes a good 2 1/2-3 hours to take it all in.
There is a stark difference between Krakow and Warsaw. Warsaw is all new since the 50’s with a definite Communist and Socialist feel. Viking took us on a bus and walking tour of the city and these are some of the sites we saw.
Auschwitz and Birkenau was a very somber and at times disturbing tour. Images of the Jews and others in the concentration camps has left an indelible mark on me and one where there leaves no doubt of the atrocities by the Nazi’s and their deviousness in the destruction of a people. This video captures some of the images that touched my heart to its core.
Traveling from Prague to Krakow held many interesting sites. We had a long bus trip but it was broken up into several stops including a quaint town in the Czech Republic for lunch.
This is one of Viking’s new Bus Tour options. Our guide, Michael, and bus driver Peter, have been doing a fabulous job. This is one of the longer bus tours I’ve taken and they do manage to break it up and definitely keep you entertained.
Our walkabout in Prague took us to some interesting neighborhoods and sites today. St Cyril and St Methodists Cathedral is a site not to be missed. Beautiful exterior and interior. You see signs of renovations all over the city. Enjoy a quick look at our walkabout.
Viking River Cruises offers a terrific excursion when in Prague. Our evening was spent outside of the city in Číčovice where we dined and were entertained by locals with native dances, songs, and food. Be sure to sign up for this one! It was so much fun!
Prague offers many incredible sites and one is the Old Jewish Quarter. Included in these photos is the Old Jewish Cemetery, The Pinkas Synagogue, The Ceremonial Hall, and The Old-New Synagogue. The cemetery was a very sobering experience to see the masses of graves and lives lost. #MyVikingStory
The Viking Beyla arrived in Meissen and what a charming city it is. Our included tour included a visit to the Meissen Porcelain Factory and showroom which was filled with lovely and expensive china. Pillows, jewelry, dishes...so many choices all with a high price tag, but you can find some bargains. A walk to the castle and through Old Town and market square were part of this tour. Another lovely day. Thanks, Viking! #MyVikingStory @Zamszanytravels.com
Traveling up the Elbe toward Meissen, we saw some interesting sites from the sun deck aboard the Viking Beyla. Great sailing weather although a bit cold. We were all bundled up as we went from side to side to observe and take photos of the landscape. Enjoy a few moments of our travels! More to come!
Viking River Cruise Poland, Prague, and Elegant Elbe finds us on Day 3 as we depart Berlin for Wittenberg where we will board the Viking Beyla. Our included tour today featured The Palaces of Potsdam and Worlitz as well as the grand noble residences of Frederick the Great.
We even had a lovely gondola ride through the park and the rains managed to stave off for our tour. Our gondola rower was hard pressed as we had 24 in a boat which should have had 17! An extra tip was in order for this ride and well-deserved. The park is beautifully laid out with many canals and bridges. It would be a lovely spot to see in the summer when everything is in bloom. Huge rhododendrons were everywhere.
All in all, even though it was an 8 hour excursion day, it was broken up into frequent stops and was enjoyable.
Our final day in Wittenberg was met by mostly sunny skies and a three hour walking tour of Wittenberg with Viking River Cruises. We are on the Elbe and traveling to Poland and Prague.
During our included walking tour, we walked in the footsteps of Martin Luther and saw signs of their recent festivities which marked 500 years since the Protestant Reformation.
Examples of his legacy were everywhere. We saw the All Saints Church, Castle Church, and learned all about his wife Katherine. We also visited the Luther House Museum and saw the “Theses Door” where he nailed the “95 Theses.”
We had a lovely guide named Angela who relayed many interesting stories about the history. It’s interesting to note that there are only 3% Catholics, 13% Protestant, and 80% have no faith in Wittenberg. The Catholics and the Protestants tend to stick together, she said.
And now we’re sailing down the Elegant Elbe toward Torgau. An evening stroll will be available at this port.
