July 2015 - Richard M. Langworth

Viking’s Danube Waltz (6): Passau

27 July 2015

June 6: Passau, Germany

continued from part 5… Once called “Batavia” or “Batavis,” Passau is a charmer of a medieval Bavarian town at the confluence of the Danube, Inn and Ilz, the last out of the Black Forest, spewing dark peaty water into the larger, faster-moving rivers.

With a population the same as Manchester, New Hampshire, it draws 1.6 million visitors per year, compared to 1 million down at Durnstein, population 400 and a tenth the size. Result: you can move around without masses of crowds and enjoy the transition architecture, Gothic to Baroque.

St. Stefan’s Cathedral has one of the largest organs in the world and the recital there is tremendous.…

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Ripka — “Peace for our time.” Chamberlain arrives from Munich after the Sudeten agreement. (Wikimedia Commons)

“Iran is Not Nazi Germany…

23 July 2015

…And Mark Steyn is not Winston Churchill,” writes Tim Reuter in Forbes.

—a rather thoughtful piece, though a bit harsh on Mr. Steyn, who offered exactly the right take on Neville Chamberlain. He was “an honorable man who believed he was acting in the interest of his country.” That was also how Churchill eulogized him after Chamberlain’s death in 1940.

It is reassuring to know that Iran is (thank goodness) not Nazi Germany; and that the Iran nuclear deal and Munich are not analogous. But some of Mr. Reuter’s sentences rest uneasily next to each other.…

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Viking’s Danube Waltz (5): Salzburg and Linz

19 July 2015

June 5: Linz, Salzburg and Viking Cuisine

continued from part 4… Visiting Linz and Salzburg….

The quality of Viking’s Danube Waltz cuisine is uniformly high. There is always a choice of three or four first and main courses, nicely balanced between meat, fish and vegetarian, with excellent soups (and again, there’s no reason why you can’t order both a starter and soup). At dinner, several staple items always accompany the choices: Caesar salad, sautéed salmon fillet and rib eye steak. Meats tend to be overcooked, so specify medium-rare if you mean medium—and some are tough, for which there are two solutions: send it back and ask for another (never a problem), or bring your own steak knives (unless they’ve accepted our suggestion that these be provided.)…

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Churchill on Socialism

14 July 2015

This quotation is now going around the web, broadly attributed to Churchill. Is it accurate? “Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.” —M.S. via email.

It is more or less correct, but it’s a truncated version of two separate comments, run together to make them more interesting (in the eye of the drafter).

“Socialism is the philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy.” —Perth, Scotland, 28 May 1948, in Churchill, Europe Unite: Speeches 1947 & 1948 (London: Cassell, 1950), 347.…

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Viking’s Danube Waltz (4): More Austria

13 July 2015

June 4: Durnstein and Melk, Austria

Cruising Austria …continued from part 3… Viking encourages you to buy local wine and beer and stash it in your stateroom cooler. In practice this is superfluous because there is so much of it aboard, especially with the premium drinks package. You only have to lift a finger or a wine list, and it’s there 24/7.

However, if you’re serious about wine or cocktails, the premium “Silver Spirits” package is worth $300 per cabin. (It also includes espresso and other specialty coffees, juices and mineral water.)

Acceptable house wine and beer are poured freely, but not the premium stuff, and mixed drinks cost extra.…

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Viking’s Danube Waltz (3): Vienna

11 July 2015

Vienna, Austria

continued from part 2….

June 3:

Viking’s cuisine is generally first-rate, highly varied, and the breakfasts lack nothing we could think of except the odd blintz. For example, there were three different styles of yogurt, eggs any way you want them including custom-made omelets, smoked salmon, fish, cheese, cold cuts, champagne by the glass, a dozen or more varieties of bread and rolls, pastry galore, all the usual things you find under hot plates, and everything of uniform high quality. For items you order from the table, like Eggs Benedict or pancakes, servings are small, but this is a plus for two reasons: it gives you more room to try different things, and if you want more of anything, a waiter will happily bring you a second serving.…

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Churchill on July 4, 1918

4 July 2015

Happy 4th from Hillsdale College.

“The Third Great Title-Deed of Anglo-American Liberties”

Winston S. Churchill, Liberty Day Meeting, Central Hall, Westminster, July 4, 1918. Excerpted from Robert Rhodes James, Winston S. Churchill: His Complete Speeches 1897-1963, 8 vols. (New York: Bowker, 1974), III 2613-16.

I move that the following resolution be cabled from the meeting as a greeting to the President and people of the United States of America: This meeting of the Anglo-Saxon Fellowship assembled in London on the 4th of July, 1918, sends to the President and people of the United States their heartfelt greetings on the 142nd anniversary of the Declaration of American Independence.…

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Viking’s Danube Waltz (2): Bratislava

2 July 2015

Bratislava

continued from Part 1….

June 2: Bratislava, Slovakia

If the Viking Legend is any example, you don’t need to worry about table service. The wait staff, mostly Filipino, could not have been more attentive, but at the same time never struck us as fawning or gratuitous. Our favorite waiter’s name tag read “Neri.” It turned out that he’d opted for that because his real name wouldn’t fit: Aldefonso Neria. He and his colleagues were gems, always looking out for us, and soon began to save a nice place for four by throwing napkins over chair backs at a well-situated table.…

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