![\"DSC00738\"](\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/DSC007381.jpg\")
<\/a>Rene Van Loon<\/p><\/div>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0The crew of the Jarl was outstanding \u2013 great customer service, attention to detail and always went the extra mile to accommodate our needs.\u00a0 The food was excellent \u2013 varied, plentiful and often times themed according to the country we were passing through.\u00a0 Our most frequent contact with the crew (with the exception of the bar tenders of course) was with Program Director, Rene Van Loon, a delightfully entertaining gentleman from The Netherlands who, each evening, gave us the next day\u2019s itinerary along with a few amusing stories.\u00a0 I had a chance to sit down with him during the cruise to talk about his river cruising experiences (I had lied and told him I was a fairly well-read travel blog writer.\u00a0 It really wasn\u2019t a lie; I am fairly well read and I do write a blog).\u00a0 He talked about his love of travel and people as well as his time with Viking River Cruises.\u00a0 He says, \u201cOur CEO\u2019s focus on customer service pervades the whole company.\u00a0 Our goal is to create an UFE for each passenger\u201d.\u00a0 UFE?\u00a0 UnForgettable Experience.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0When asked about amusing or unusual experiences he gave two:<\/p>\n
1)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Prior to his cruising days he was giving a tour of Rome, when he asked the group at the end of the tour if they had any 2)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 During a cruise he got a call from an elderly lady who said she was trapped in her room.\u00a0 He told her that if her door was locked that she could unlock it from the inside.\u00a0 She hung up, but called back a few minutes later saying she was still unable to get out of her room.\u00a0 So he decided to walk her through the process and asked her to describe what she was looking at.\u00a0 She said, \u201cI see two doors, I tried one, but that was the bathroom and I can\u2019t try the other one because it has a \u2018Do Not Disturb\u2019 sign on it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 The people we were cruising with were very fun (See Part 2) and the crew was incredibly accommodating, but if I\u2019m being honest, the people at our ports of call, to put it as nicely as I can, seemed a bit tired of tourists.\u00a0 Maybe the summer had brought them too many \u2018ugly Americans\u2019, perhaps the fact that Germany had just finished it\u2019s \u2018Oktoberfest\u2019 attributed to a \u2018hang-over\u2019 affect.\u00a0 Perhaps they\u2019re still a bit miffed over losing a couple of world wars, I don\u2019t know, we just didn\u2019t see too many smiling, laughing, glad-to-see-you Germans.\u00a0 Whatever the opposite of \u2018warm and fuzzy\u2019 is may Audie Murphy<\/p><\/div>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It was in one of the battles for the Colmar Pocket that Audie Murphy, the most decorated soldier in WWII, won his Medal of Honor. \u00a0There is also a memorial museum in town where there are an incredible number of WWII artifacts.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A short cruise from Breisach, Germany to Basal, Switzerland concludes our romp up the Rhine.\u00a0 In summary, I had a lot of fun, gained a lot of knowledge, gained some new friends and gained a few pounds, and it was all well worth it.<\/p>\n What’s next? \u00a0‘Subscribe’ above and have our weekly posts come directly to your email.<\/strong><\/p>\n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Bob Sparrow \u00a0 \u00a0The crew of the Jarl was outstanding \u2013 great customer service, attention to detail and always went the extra mile to accommodate our needs.\u00a0 The food was excellent \u2013 varied, plentiful and often times themed according … read more<\/a> questions.\u00a0 A tourist in the back of the bus asked: \u201cWhy did the Roman build so many ruin?\u201d<\/p>\n\u00a0be a good description. And the French have never really had much time for us, to wit:\u00a0 We were in the town of Strasbourg, France and I was trying to find change for 10 Euro so I could tip our tour guide.\u00a0 After being refused in two stores I went to the tourist<\/a> office to asked for change.\u00a0 I was told something in French, by the lady behind the counter, and while I didn\u2019t understand her, I could tell from the body language I probably wasn\u2019t getting any change.\u00a0 I said, \u201cI\u2019m sorry, I didn\u2019t understand\u201d, to which she replied something else in French.\u00a0 A British lady standing next to me in line interpreted and said, \u201cShe\u2019s not giving you any change unless you buy something.\u201d\u00a0 I said, \u201cWhy couldn\u2019t she tell me that in English?\u201d\u00a0 The Brit leaned toward me and whispered just loud enough for the French lady to hear, \u201cI don\u2019t know, but if it weren\u2019t for British and American troops, she\u2019d wouldn\u2019t understand French either, she\u2019d be speaking German.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Viking offers plenty of \u2018included\u2019 (no additional cost) tours to castles, cathedrals, the Black Forest, etc., as well as\u00a0additional tours you can pay for \u2013 which we did for 1) a pub crawl in Cologne (What a surprise!), and 2) a tour of World War II battle <\/i>grounds.\u00a0 The latter was my personal favorite.\u00a0 Our guide, a gentleman from New Zealand, took us to the top of a hill and described the movement of American, French and German troops in the valley below.\u00a0 He was so passionate and created such descriptive word-pictures as he described the battles for the Colmar Pocket, that you could almost hear the tanks rolling and the machine guns firing.<\/p>\n<\/a>