After stopping in Dürnstein with @vikingcruises, we got back on the Skadi & spent the bulk of the day slowly traversing the Wachau Valley. Having made some friends on board by this time, @paintthenight & I grabbed the bottle of @veuveclicquot that we had been saving in our room (one of my favorites and a sweet gift from Viking!) and proceeded to share it with our new friends as we listened to commentary from the ship’s Program Director about the towns which passed by outside the window. At one point the sun came out and brilliantly lit up the boat, shining in the champagne and making the whole world seem to sparkle. • I felt extraordinarily grateful, in that moment, to have been given an opportunity to be there and to have been able to bring my mother as a gift for her birthday. There’s so much pain in the world and some people can’t even afford greeting cards for one another but here I was taking my mother on a cruise that some people save up years for. Essentially because of my follo...