8-day/7-night cruise-tour, May 24-31, 2009. Highlights: Board M/V Helvetia II in Basel, SWITZERLAND/ Cruise up the Rhine and visit Baden-Baden, Speyer, Andernach, Mannheim, Neustadt and Freiburg, enjoying seven classical music performances of orchestral and chamber works. From £2,660 (near $3,853). Single supplement, from £540 ($782).
Martin Randall Travel (Voysey House, Barley Mow Passage, London, W4 4GF, U.K.; phone 020 8742 3355, www.martinrandall.com).
Along the bank of the River Main, Frankfurt’s “museum embankment” will become a festival area with stage productions, live music and events, including a dragon boat race, Aug. 29-31, 2009. Ten of the museums will hold special exhibitions. Contact the German National Tourism Office (212/661-7200, www.cometogermany.com).
The 18th annual World Buskers Festival takes place in Christchurch, New Zealand, Jan. 20-30, 2011. More than 35 musicians, jugglers, acrobats, comedians and other acts from eight countries will provide free entertainment on city center squares and streets plus indoors. Performers accept donations.
Among artists in 2010 were the Daredevil Chicken Club from the USA and Cirque no Problem from Israel. For a schedule, visit www.worldbuskersfestival.com.
Nineteen people died and more than 300 were injured on July 24 in Duisberg, Germany, when a crush of people panicked during the annual Love Parade.
Billed as the world’s largest techno music party, the Love Parade was first held in 1989. With about a million people attending this year, officials closed off one end of an access tunnel to the site to avoid overcrowding. The press of thousands of people entering the tunnel was not diverted, however, and a stampede resulted. The festival will not be held again.
The annual Bach Festival in Leipzig, Germany, is being held this year June 11-20. It will focus on how Bach influenced his musical successors Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms.
With famous artists and ensembles, there will be 113 events in 38 venues, including theaters, churches, museums and historic sites, plus dancing exhibitions and museum tours.
Eight-day/seven-night cruise-tour, Aug. 26-Sept. 2. Highlights: Sail on MS Amadeus Royal to ports in GERMANY, AUSTRIA, SLOVAKIA and HUNGARY. 12 concerts, with a focus on lieder by Mozart, Schubert, Brahms, Strauss, Mahler and more. Cruise plus air from London, from £3,300 (near $5,327). Single supp., from £690 ($1,113).
Martin Randall Travel (Voysey House, Barley Mow Passage, London W4 4GF, U.K.; toll-free from US, 800/988-6168).
My husband, Ernest, and I were in Brugge, Belgium, on May 29, 2014, which was Ascension Day in the city.
Brugge has celebrated the day with a parade since 1392. It is said to be a reenactment of the Passion and Resurrection of Christ. The town essentially closes, bleachers are erected in a main square, rented chairs line the streets and the town heaves with tourists.
10-day, 9-night tour through GERMANY, AUSTRIA, FRANCE and SWITZERLAND. Departures Nov. 27 through Dec. 13, 2014. Highlights: In Munich, Christkindlmarkt in Marienplatz/in Salzburg, Mozart’s family home/Hall of Tirol, 700-year-old town near Innsbruck/island town of Lindau/Black Forest/Freiburg carriage ride/Strasbourg, home to France’s oldest Christmas market/in Zurich, huge indoor market with 3-story Christmas tree. Land, $2,150. Single supp., $440.
Insight Vacations (Rye, NY; 888/680-1241).
I was in the Tuscan town of Orvieto doing my best to stay in my hotel room and finish some writing, but there was a Pentecost festival going on outside. I could hear it out my window. I couldn’t resist, so I joined the multitude that had gathered on the square in front of the cathedral, just as the citizens of Orvieto have done for generations.
On Rapa Nui, aka Easter Island, the Tapati festival will take place Feb. 1-15, 2014. The festival has competitions based on ancient sports, which include a triathlon and horse racing. In one competition, called Haka Pei, participants slide down Easter Island’s steepest hill on banana tree trunks. There also are parades, music and dancing.
Contact the Chilean tourism board (phone 56 2 731 8336, www.chile.travel). Flights to the island are limited, so book early.