In October 2024, my wife and I decided to go on an adventure to Northern Arizona with the intention of seeing as much of the Grand Canyon, Antelope Canyon, and Sedona as we could pack into a week. Needless to say, we weren’t disappointed. There are many beautiful places on this planet, but this area of the USA ranks right up there with some of the most incredible natural wonders on earth.

Victoria, the capital city of British Columbia off Canada’s Pacific coast, is a beautiful city on the southern edge of Vancouver Island. Butchart Gardens, also on Vancouver Island, is in nearby Brentwood Bay. The early spring is a perfect time to visit both. Flowers are blooming, the weather is still cool, but the surge of tourists haven't arrived yet.

After leaving Vienna, we headed west on the Danube to our final three destinations. Well known for its production of apricots and grapes, the Wachau Valley has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage landscape. Then to the Bavarian city of Passau on the border of Germany and Austria, resting at the confluence of the Inn, Ilz, and Danube rivers. Founded by the Celts more than 2000 years ago, over time the city gained great economic and political power due to its location. A final day would be spent in the medieval center of the Bavarian city of Regensburg declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2006 due to its well-preserved architecture and historical importance.

After leaving Budapest, our next stop would be Vienna. With a number of locks to pass through on the Danube River, the Viking Egil longship needed to get an early start from Budapest and sail through the night, as it wouldn’t be until the next day when we arrived for two days in Vienna. We arrived in Vienna the next morning, October 31. We left the longship after breakfast for a tour of the historic Innere Stadt (Inner Town) inside Vienna’s famed 5.3 km circular grand boulevard, the Ringstrasse.