Melk, Austria
May 7, 2022
Every city has a history, the famous people who were born there and the primary manufacturing, agriculture or other means for the local economy. Usually included with our tour guide’s information is the city’s role in the wars over the years and who governed them. You could apply this to any town in the world. Every village, town and city has a brass plaque somewhere, right? Statues, fountains and gardens are made for and by someone- that doesn’t always mean it’s significant or interesting.
Perhaps after a few dozen tours, excursions and many local guides we have become jaded, snarky and snobby. I like to think that we are seasoned travelers. Everyone will give a big round applause to their guide, the excursion or lunch. Yet later at the risk or being negative ( the mark of the beast on any tour!) the small talk begins with some subterfuge questions like, “Hey, how did you like that lunch?”, to which everyone at the table becomes an expert at reading facial expressions and body language. After some guarded reviews it’s clear to everyone that the lunch sucked and we can all have a laugh about it.
Many of the tour group are also seasoned travelers who will comment on free time being too long or too short and at others times there may be a snipe at a local guide who talked too much or too little. Marla and I were once seconds away from saying how much we loved an art gallery before a tour member went on a rant of how much she hated it. Beauty, or lunch, is in the eye of the beholder.
With that, I thought the cranberry sauce over the gravy looked gross and the “ dumplings” were probably just white bread.
Cruising the Danube 