Earlier this summer I reached a significant (cough, cough) birthday and was able to realize my dream of going on a river cruise to celebrate. Today I thought I’d share just a few photos with you.
We went on Avalon Waterways and traveled through Hungary, Slovakia, and Austria, ending in Germany.
We took walking tours of historic places like Budapest and Vienna, and enjoyed views of the beautiful countryside from the boat.
On the big day, crew and fellow passengers sang “Happy Birthday” to me and brought out a cake with a big, sparkling candle.
We felt spoiled throughout the cruise. It was certainly a wonderful way to spend a special birthday!
Have you been on a river cruise? If not, is it on your bucket list?
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JULIE KLASSEN loves all things Jane—Jane Eyre and Jane Austen. She worked in publishing for sixteen years and now writes full time. Three of her novels have won the Christy Award for Historical Romance. Julie and her husband have two sons and live in St. Paul, Minnesota.
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Great pics, and such a wonderful cruise! Brings back memories of the countless cruises I’ve booked for clients over the past 40+ years.
That’s a lovely birthday celebration!
God bless!
That looks like a dream trip, Julie! So happy for you. And a late Happy Birthday! 🙂
I’ve always wanted to go on a river cruise!! Beautiful pictures. Happy birthday!
What a fun birthday! My husband has a significant birthday coming up in 2025 (probably the same one you just celebrated!), and he is dreaming of what trip to take. A river cruise is definitely on our “someday” list as well as the birthday list, so we’ll see. So glad you had a good time!
What a fabulous way to celebrate your birthday!! I’d absolutely love to go on a river cruise, but will need to do that with my sisters or friends because my husband is incredibly prone to motion sickness.
I’ve looked into Avalon Waterways–one of their Danube River cruises starts in Budapest and finishes in Romania. The itinerary and cruise route goes to the lower Danube River and seeing some of the Black Sea. That one I’d love to do!
So glad you enjoyed your cruise!
We did one with friends several years ago and loved it.
My husband turns 80 in Sept. so I surprised him with a cruise around the EU. He was speechless at first but is excited now. We leave Sept.1 and are looking forward to it. Hope we can do all the walking tours.😂
Happy belated birthday. And thank you sharing this. I will add to my bucket list. My father is part Hungarian and my mother is part German. So this trip sounds like a perfect way to see heritage from both sides. 😊
I have been on a 5 day cruise to Mexico and a River Cruise. I loved it!
I would like to but it isn’t on my bucket list– I have to get through visiting all 50 states first!! I got Maine and Vermont to go. When we were in New England, we didn’t have time for those two as we spent too much time in Pennsylvania to get there! And we had to see Lexington, Concord, Boston, Salem, the Sleepy Hollow Cemetary and Poet’s Corner, and the USS Constitution😁
We’ve gone on two local river cruises – Wisconsin Dells and the St. Croix River cruise out of Taylor’s Falls, MN. Not very exciting……but our kids loved them.