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The MS Deutschland, a 520-passenger ocean liner of Peter Deilmann Cruises (Alexandria, VA; 800/348/8287, www.deilmann-cruises.com), offers theme cruises, including classical music cruises. I was aboard for the Sept. 18-Oct. 1, 2008, classical music cruise from Hamburg, Germany, to Monte Carlo, Monaco.

The basic cruise cost started at $5,391 per person, double occupancy, and included airfare from New York, European airport transfers, meals, all shore excursions and all musical...

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My husband, Ray, and I took a tour of Greece and the Greek Islands, June 13-27, 2007.

Greece comes alive between 9 p.m. and midnight. This is when the cities grow festive as families socialize, children play and restaurants get crowded with evening diners. If you don’t adhere to the local rhythm, you will find “ghost towns” in the afternoon and miss the essence of the country. Be sure the itinerary you pick allows you to be in port until at least 1 a.m.

We found the Greek...

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My wife, Margi, and I in August ’07 drove 100 miles southwest from Kraków, Poland, to Zakopane, the famous ski resort. It was crowded because the world summer ski jump championships were being held. . . on special plastic surfaces so that the effect was the same as skiing on packed snow.

We had lunch at the top of an incline railway with good views of the jagged Tatra peaks and the town of Zakopane below. We enjoyed watching locals and visitors alike sit on the steep grass...

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Re my husband, Maurice’s, picture of Tembe National Elephant Park in South Africa (Aug. ’08, pg. 90), ITN neglected to include my comment that our tour there was planned and arranged by Gill and Graham Maskell of Africa 2000 (P.O. Box 1204, Hilton 3245, South Africa; phone +27 33 3433911).

Normally, only visitors staying in the park’s lodge have access to the reserve, although one extra car per day may be allowed in. Because Graham is a well-respected guide who knows the curators at...

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The first trip on which I used the audio systems mentioned by Mr. Roberts (Sept. ’08, pg. 15) was the 13-day “Eastern Europe to the Black Sea” cruise-tour with Grand Circle Travel (Boston, MA; 800/248-3737, www.gct.com). We traveled through Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania, Aug. 29-Sept. 10, 2008.

I really liked them, but I found myself way behind and hurrying to catch up. When I lost the connection, I knew the group was way ahead of me.

I take videos during a...

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In the October ’08 Discerning Traveler column, Dr. Wagenaar wrote, “Medicare provides no protection outside the US…” I’ve read this elsewhere, but there are two exceptions.

In the government’s guidebook “Medicare and You — 2008,”* on page 25 it says, “Travel… limited to medical services provided in Canada when you travel the most direct route through Canada between Alaska and another state.” It also says, “Medicare also covers hospital, ambulance and doctor services if you are in the...

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A reader remarked that in November ’07 the Bucharest subway was “filthy but worked” (Nov. ’08, pg. 14). Things have changed. Both lines I rode on in October ’08 were served by beautiful new articulated trains open from one end to the other, and the whole system was clean.

The historic quarter was in the midst of massive street work, as if they were determined to have the entire area redone at once.

By the way, a remarkable thing about the Romanian leu is that the notes do not...

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A reader reported a very negative experience taking a train from Oslo to Stockholm in July ’07 (Oct. ’08, pg. 18). In contrast, our trip from Stockholm to Oslo on Aug. 8, 2008, was very pleasant.

We booked our tickets with Rail Europe (www.raileurope.com) for the train leaving Stockholm at 8:30 a.m. and arriving in Oslo at 2:35 p.m. Both railway stations were located much more conveniently than the airports in the respective cities.

Economy-class tickets cost $38 each. Compare...

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