Oh, the things you can learn from a good tour guide. On a two-hour walking tour of Koblenz, Germany, with Heinz Gerd Reis, I learned about:

– The naughty spitting boy

– The woman in a boat who brought wine to Germany

– The horse statue with its rear end turned toward France Read more...

Over the years, I’ve had several different types of room keys on cruise ships. Some were actual metal keys. Most were credit-card type keys that you either slide through a side slot in the door or hold in front of the lock.

Once I even had a velvet knot that I was to loop on the outside of my door to let room service or others know that someone in the cabin didn’t want to be disturbed. Otherwise, the door was unlocked when I was not in the cabin. No cabin keys were necessary. Read more...