We chose to take this trip and visit these countries for the following reasons:
1. We’ve never been to any of these countries before.
2. We were interested in learning more about Europe’s famous castles, churches and palaces.
3. We wanted to visit the sites of World War II and learn more about the atrocities of Hitler and the Third Reich.
4. We were never on a river cruise before. We chose this one because of its association to the “Sound of Music” movie location (Salzburg, Austria) and the lure of the Danube river.
5. I wanted to see the country where my ancestors came from – Germany.
6. Last, but not least, we were flying to Europe from New York, so we wanted to visit the September 11th Memorial and the World Trade Center site in New York City.
