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What a great idea to follow along with your friends on their journey! I hope their trip was amazing as well. Thank you for watching my videos, I had so much fun making them.

We loved Koblenz! Wish I would have spent another day there. Welp, there’s always another cruise! :)

Thank you very much! We had so much fun. Making the videos was like reliving them. 😍

@@OwnRareTravel Great, because I enjoy watching them.

Ha! Good one! Next time I’ll ask for bagels! :)

Loved Reims! I was completely surprised by how beautiful that church was. Thank you for commenting!

Agreed. It was very interesting to hear how the Gutenberg Press impacted the world when it came out, but there was too much time spent there. Mainz is a beautiful city, I should have walked out and explored more on my own. Are there parts of Mainz you really liked?

@@OwnRareTravel didnt get to see to much of city or do i remember.i remeber spending to much time at the gutenberg museum wish i would have just walked or taken a choo choo train around the town

OH MY! Lordy I hope this 3rd time is the charm! We loved this cruise. The places we visited were amazing. Wish we could have stayed 2-3 days in each port. Let me know if you have any other questions about specific towns. Part of what I loved about creating these videos was re-living all of the captured moments. What did you enjoy best about the Danube cruise? I'd like to go on that one next year.

I totally missed this comment! So sorry, you are probably back now. We used our CCard the whole time. It cost us a tiny bit in fees but we didn't worry about cash conversions at all. I hope you trip was AMAZING!

Glad you like them! Are you thinking of taking a Viking Cruise soon? Would be great to hear your experience.

@@OwnRareTravel Cruised on AMA Sonata a few years ago from Basil, Switzerland to Amsterdam. GREAT cruise. Excellent food, and lots of historical sites. But not cheap.

Good perspective, thank you! Any other recommendations? Any places you really like to visit?

@@OwnRareTravel How about Ontario, Canada, or Singapore, or New Zealand?

Excellent! You will love it. That trip was our favorite vacation so far :)

Well thanks so much for watching the videos! I learned a lot of lessons doing this. The first... it takes a lot longer in post production than expected. :) Hence why it took almost exactly a year to get them all done. I'll put together a video of all the videography lessons... I'll start my getting them out of my head and on to paper today. You ask the best questions! I had not thought all the way through these before. I talked to my wife and she had some excellent points. 1) When putting the video together I was quite disappointed how little video I had at the Pullman. It was a great hotel in a wonderfully walkable part of town. Most everything we wanted to do was in walking distance, cafes, gardens, entertainment... the Metro station was close too when we headed elsewhere. Totally aligns with what you read. The Renaissance was not as central to Zurich as the Pullman was to Paris. There were restaurants somewhat close but we mostly took the streetcars to go anywhere. A streetcar stop was about 2 blocks away from the hotel so it was no problem getting there. The Renaissance definitely more disconnected from the city though. The included breakfast was great at the Renaissance. That part felt very high end. The Pullman's was quite crowded and hurried, food was good just a different feel. 2) I am using a DJI Pocket 2 (~$280) This little thing has been a miracle worker for me. It is small enough to put in any pocket, and comes with a cover that completely protects it. I can get take it out of my pocket and start videoing within about 5 seconds. It can shoot 4K 60fps and writes directly to a high speed SD card. That makes editing much faster since I don't have to download vids from the phone. Usually I shoot vids in 1080 60fps. My PC's CPU and GPU choke on 4K. Someday... The negative to the Pocket 2 is how small the screen is. Pretty limited view, I just point the camera and hope (grin). A phone's screen is beautiful and you can see exactly what you are shooting. Not so much the Pocket 2. There is a new Pocket 3 ($520) out that has a bit larger screen. Not quite worth the difference IMHO. I have a few phone gimbals but they generally take so long for me to get the camera in and ready that found I just didn't use it very much. I know others have had great luck with them. 3) Yes we missed that excursion. I love these historic cities so that bothered me a bit, but well... I LOVED the bike ride so... in the end i think we made the right decision. Also, the Burgfest was happening that day so the schedule was all thrown off. That impacted the scheduled events but I don't exactly know how much since we were off on a biking adventure. :) Here is the sheet I put together to decide what excursions to take: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1b566QH71YT-1ipNB5xFGeMLVxMDLSBsB499F4iJis14/edit?usp=sharing I hope that helped! -Aaron

Thank you for watching! We absolutely loved the cruise! This was our favorite excursion. Really a great experience. Our bus got behind a very slow car on one of the long back roads and very nearly missed the cogwheel train... I mean it was like 30 seconds til the train left. I was sitting in the front row, the tour guide and driver were not happy... said lots of things in a language I don't know. :) It was perfect temperature most of the days. Cool enough (55-62?) to have a light jacket when leaving in the morning and warm (75-80) when we were arriving back in the afternoon. It did rain a few days but that really helped the river levels which were low. Particularly important for these river cruises. Let me know if you have any questions. My wife remembers things better than I, thats why I am glad to be going back over these videos. Its fun to relive the moments.

Oh, I am ALMOST done with the last video, Paris. Just finding my footage and some music for Versailles. Promise, I'll get it done before August 1st!

We didn't go on the Worms Tour it was sold out during our cruise. I have to say that Speyer was very enjoyable. That Tek Museum was completely unique and surprising. So from what I know I'd have done the same thing if I had the option.

@@OwnRareTravel just got back from trip.listening to your videos before and after very informative.all the cities were beautiful.did speyer didnt get to see tek musuem they have something similar in wash dc.very tiring aaron.thought the food was sub par.was on the romantic danube few years ago food was better.simon is great.rooms so small had french balcony.

Thank you! Cheers! Found the LUTs for the Pocket 2. Changed my cam to D Cine Like (akin to Log) so YAY! Thanks for your help.

Makes sense to do a Hop-on Hop-off tour in Paris. You can control a lot more of your experience that way. The video I am working on now is when we were in Paris and went through the Palace of Versailles. It was truly amazing... but very busy. Controlling your tours is a good idea right now, especially with the Olympics, never know what is changed/closed or completely new.

@@OwnRareTravel when your in paris for 1 day and a half did the seine dinner river cruise 8 -11 pm was awesome then hop on hop off saw everything except louvre was closed on tuesdays

I only want to visit a cemetery once.

EXCELLENT! Great time for a European Cruise!

Have fun! Are you on the cruise now? I am just getting back to commenting and I see this comment was 2 weeks ago! I hope you love the relaxing river currents, so peaceful.

@@OwnRareTravel we did the romantic danube tobudapest vienna bratislava regensburg passau neurenberg prague awesome to aaron

Glad it was helpful! What was funny about this cruise is how much my wife was against cruises... hated the thought of being on a boat locked in with a bunch of people we don't know. Now? She says it was the best vacation we've ever taken, loved the ship, the staff, the food, the people (with a few exceptions(grin)), and the locations. Enjoy your trip! Can't wait to hear how it goes for you.

THANK YOU! It's really nice when you can turn a beautiful walk in a beautiful place into something that can be shared with the world.

YES! Sign me up! :)

Hello Denise! I loved that excursion, probably my favorite. There were a couple stops along the way. They were in spots I found to be absolutely gorgeous... like quintessentially Switzerland type gorgeous. We got in the front seats (by getting to the bus very early) so we could capture some of the most interesting parts of the bus ride.

It's not clear in most of my videos how alive the cities are. Little clips like playful bike ride that show just the tiniest bit. Thank you so much for noticing. I need to keep my eye out for these moments. :)

You will love it! We went late July through early August. It certainly rained some days but was really perfect temps throughout, high 50's to high 70's. I'd say my favorite excursions were Highlights of the Alps and Biking the Moselle.

We heard the Zermatt Extension was awesome, the Blackforest Excursion... not so good. We went on all of the included excursions when we didn't have another one scheduled, really glad we did. The Montemorte Hill one was sold out, so we went on the Palace of Versailles one, it was very crowded... but glad we went on it. Can't wait to make that video, such good video from that place.

Last comment.. :) We loved that Tek Museum in Speyer, so eclectic... so unexpected. So glad we went on the gondola ride over the river in Koblenz too, very cheap but had amazing views.

great ano ther one.my trip july 26 starts in zurich

Most of our time in Zurich was on a Sunday so most things were closed. You are going at a great time!

Indeed! Just a couple days in Zurich made me want to go back! Spent a week in Geneva recently, cemented my love for Switzerland. Thanks for watching! Any other cities you recommend?

@@OwnRareTravel I've only been to Europe twice and raced around trying to see everything while doing nothing justice. Most of the places I went are well-known, but one that wasn't was Helsinki, Finland. Almost everyone spoke English. It's clean and very easy to navigate. Also pretty much everywhere in the Netherlands is easy to train, bike, or walk. I'm anxious to watch more of your work.

Fantastic! We loved it! What excursions are you going on? Highly recommend going on the gondola over the river in Koblez if you have time. Also, the Speyer Tek Museum was so much fun.

walked around speyer was so tired didnt come back to see tech museum.have something similar in dc.koblenz took cho choo train around besides the walking tour..not a day of rain july 27 aug 5.

That day was magnificent. It’s really nice just having them out here to look back on. Thank you for supporting our channel!! :)

It was so fun! Viking had the trip perfectly planned. Really never expected to bike through such lush beautiful places.

It was much less tiring to ride the eBikes that's for sure. However, they did take a bit of getting used to... you know... without going into the water. :)

Yes that was an absolutely fantastic excursion. There was some walking but not a lot. We did walk around Brienz for about 30 minutes, no major grades. On the highest part of the mountain we walked to the restaurant and to the train station, no more that 10 minutes or so. Up there you could choose to walk up some pretty steep areas if desired.

He was an awesome Cruise Director. What a great day!

That is fantastic! I find that exact thing the most exciting about just randomly walking a city, you never know what you will find. Lake Geneva was so majestic and beautiful, wish I could have spend another 3 hours just walking around it.

Indeed! What a beautiful place to just walk and explore. Have you been to Switzerland? What cities do you recommend? بالفعل! يا له من مكان جميل للمشي والاستكشاف. هل زرت سويسرا؟ ما هي المدن التي تنصح بها؟

You are so welcome! Are you going on one of the Rhine River tours? Looking for our next one. Any recommendations?

Hello! Ours was the beginning of August as well. From what I understand it is normally warmer during that time so yours should be better. Have a great trip!

Thank for watching! I am getting them out much slower than I expected to. I'll get them all completed. I loved that trip! I get to re-live all the moments by editing each piece of footage. It has been awesome... and tedious. :)

Totally agree! I should have mentioned that. Most of us walked down to the Burg Eltz, however they had a shuttle that would take anyone all the way down if they wanted to ride.

Nice! You are going to love it. We haven’t scheduled our next one yet, but will soon. Any favorite places you have?

@@OwnRareTravel wheres days7-12 going in few months

Oh my! I just finished the Night/Day Parallel Walking Tour Experience video. Can’t wait for you to see that one. Uploading soon.

Thank you, Bruce! Great experiences in the old European Cities. Funny when you pull up to a city you have never heard of before and love it so dearly.

Right on! We are right there with you. Have you checked out all the other itineraries? So many good options.

We could get one of those bigger suites this time and have a grand old time together. What would be your favorite river to go on?

did u do heidleberg.also gotta choose speyer or heidleberg

Great suggestion!