Would you believe it? The Danube is not Blue after all…read more My wife and I recently went with a tour group to Austria and were able to take a river cruise on the Danube river. To set the record straight, the Danube is not blue. Who knew? However, the cruise on the river will leave you anything but blue. During our cruise, we saw some beautiful scenery, old castles on the hills and of course, the beautiful Danube itself. It was a pleasant sunny day as we cruised on the river. At many places we could see rolling hills and typical Austrian villages, houses and churches along the shore. Granted, for those already familiar with the area, these scenes are expected. However, for the visitors to the area, it was quite a treat - especially when we do not have mountains of any sort back home. All that to say, we had an enjoyable cruise down the River Danube - but no one was Waltzing. I would certainly recommend this for those coming to this area. You will be glad you that you invested the time.

After a day trip to Melk from Vienna, we decided to try out a river cruise for part of our return…read morejourney. We boarded the MS Austria in Melk for the downstream trip to Krems. While the boat was rather crowded, we managed to get to the dock early so that we could board first and find a place to sit. We scored a table next to the windows and ordered wine and a light lunch. The sightseeing was wonderful as we were able to enjoy many sights that we would have missed on the train. The cruise stopped in Emmersdorf, Spitz and Durnstein before our final destination of Krems. Definitely a much nicer way to travel than by train.