Best Of
Re: 28 Aug - Classic Tour review
kfnknfzk - I was on this tour w/Claudia. On Day 10 w/the guided walking tour, at the end of the city walk, anyone who wanted to see the Lion Monument continued on w/the guide. Only 6 of us went to see it.
Re: Duffel bags for K&T
mil, thanks again. I should have clarified, and apologies for misleading everyone. The comment about the tripod is for the Zanzibar portion of the trip. I have heard about the fast pace of the jeep portion of the safari, but I wanted to get some unique shots of Stone Town at night, necessitating a tripod. If any of you have words of wisdom on my plan, please feel free to let me know as I have never done one of these before. To be clear, I never intended to use the tripod on the "Safari" portion of the trip, just stone town...and maybe in camp??? Or should I give up on the idea of a tripod altogether? It wouldn't break my heart to ditch it, it's a pain lugging it around all over the world. One last point. I don't have anything greater than a 70-300 lens...thoughts? Should I rent a larger lens, or stay with what I have? I appreciate all the pearls of wisdom.
Hulka
Re: Regular Sneakers or waterproof trail runners needed for Switzerland Crown Jewel Tour
The nice thing with the tour is there's very little need for dressy clothes so you can focus on the weather. I was surprised how warm it was at the Italian end. Wished I'd brought some shorts at least for sitting outside on our balcony ( everyone had balcony rooms overlooking the lake in Lugano).
Re: Regular Sneakers or waterproof trail runners needed for Switzerland Crown Jewel Tour
It is cold. A packable mid-length puffer jacket, gloves, warm hat to cover my ears, warm socks were fine for me. Those packable puffers swish into nothing. You’re not going to need these warmer clothes anywhere else. The views were spectacular. .
Re: “Impressions From The Seine” Trip Review April 8 – 17, 2024 (Part 3)
@travel maven That's a great picture of the crosses at the American Cemetery.
The memorial that you have a picture of honors the 1st Division, 2nd Division (landed on June 7th), and the 29th Division which landed on this beach. But it must have been paid for by veterans of the 1st Division because 1st Division definitely got first billing on the monument 
Several of us on the tour were veterans, and the guide kept using the term "casualty". In military terms, casualty has a very specific definition. Casualties are those who are missing from roll call. That includes killed in action, wounded in action, sick, missing, captured, deserted, anything that would remove a person from the fight. It was unclear if the guide was using the term correctly or to mean “killed in action”. Our attempts to get her to clarify were unsuccessful. Maybe she didn’t know.
Re: Duffel bags for K&T
Hulka
10:01AM
. . . .I have been considering reducing the camera backpack that I usually carry at home to just two lenses, the body and a tripod (never leave home without a tripod), maybe 7-10lbs total.
Hulka, you might want to reconsider your decision to take a tripod, unless it is mini-pod or mono-pod. You will be in a safari vehicle on a game drive most of the time you want to take photos. There is no place- no space and no time, to set up a tripod in a safari vehicle. You almost never get out of the vehicle on a game drive- exception, to check the spare tire. 
Also, remember, that you may be in very dusty conditions, bouncing along on bumpy heavily rutted dirt 'roads' where it can be very dangerous to change lenses. If you are a DSLR or mirror-less camera user, a good camera body with one good zoom (e.g. 24 - 300) lens is all you need.
AlanS
Re: Scandinavia in Spring Packing List
It should go without saying that with the effects of climate change, fluctuations will occur. We have already seen glaciers retreating in areas above the arctic circle, as well as colder than normal winter temperatures in the far north. Nonetheless, you will experience clean, safe cities and breathtakingly beautiful vistas. Enjoy!
kfnknfzk
Re: “Impressions From The Seine” Trip Review April 8 – 17, 2024 (Part 3)
Dinamo: We left the boat at 7:45 am and I believe we were back at around 6:30 pm. We had 3 buses so plenty of room to spread out. It was a 2 hour bus drive to the D Day sites in Normandy with a bathroom break after 1 hour of driving. The break was about 20 minutes or so, it was a large facility with bathrooms, snacks, souvenirs, etc. It was quite crowded with tour buses, but our bus was the first to arrive. We also picked up our guides after this. Our Guide spoke to us during the balance of the drive. We first arrived at Pointe du Hoc and also had time to explore the old German pill boxes and the big pits left by the bombs. I believe we were there for about 90 minutes or so, I felt it was enough time to take in the scene, take pictures, listen to the Guide and explore a bit. We then boarded the bus and took a short drive that runs along Omaha Beach. I think we were here for about 45 minutes or so. There was enough time to walk down to the water, take pictures of the Monuments and listen to more stories from the Guide.
We then boarded the bus for lunch, driving about 15 minutes to a lovely Chateau La Cheneviere, a 17th century manor house with beautiful grounds. It is actually a Hotel. The food and wine were excellent and we then had time to walk around the grounds of the estate which are lovely. This was about 90 minutes, I think.
After lunch we drove for about 15 minutes to the American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-mer. I believe we were there for about 90 minutes. We walked around the area with our Guide who told us more stories about our American Vets. We then walked over towards the main memorial where there was a short ceremony, speech, laying of a wreath by about 8 of our Tour Members who were Veterans (tour members raised their hand to volunteer during one of the discovery meetings on the boat), singing of the National Anthem and playing of Taps. It was all very emotional. After that, we still had a bit of time to wander a bit with our guide and hear additional stories.
All of my times mentioned above are just educated guesses, but I felt that we had sufficient time to spend in the area and explore. I don't remember going to a cafe and bridge, as hi-lighted in the "Longest Day" movie. Keep in mind, that we only saw Omaha Beach, not the remaining beaches. We had a 2 hour bus ride to return to the boat, with no rest stop this time. We did see some good examples of the Hedge Rows from the bus on the way back to our boat. Our guide talked about the difficulties encountered with these hedge rows for our troops.
My husband and I really enjoyed this excursion, it was one of the reasons we went on this tour, along with excursion to Monet's Giverny. There is so much history involved with the D Day landings and I am sure we only scratched the surface, with the emphasis on the US Troops and Omaha Beach.
Hope this info helps.
Re: QUESTION ABOUT THE TRINTY LIBRARY
I honestly got more enjoyment out of the Chester Beatty library/museum than the very brief crowded view of the Book of Kells. The library is free, located on the grounds of Dublin castle. Loads of interesting religious artifacts.