Thank you, RayArt, for your comments.
> As I speak German, I was looking forward to the next one which was going to be called Rheinmaidens. What happened to that?
In the course of the first virtual cruise it became apparent that there are two very different approaches to the idea of a virtual cruise in a Gransnet thread.
So, the second virtual cruise, in which I was not involved, and the present one in which I am involved, each follow one of te two different approaches.
Realising that the two approaches do not really mix, those who like the one style decided to have Rheinmaidens, along the Rhine, starting in Switzerland, and I decided to start one from Mainz along the river Main.
So two virtual cruises, one for each of the two approaches, could be happening concurrently and separately. Participants in Gransnet could participate in one of them, both of them, or neither of them as each participant chose. That seems to me to be a good way to proceed, given the two different approaches to the way to proceed.
I don't know what has happened to the proposed Rheinmaidens virtual cruise. Maybe it will happen, maybe not, I don't know.
> I’m afraid this latest one seems very dreary and formal by comparison like being sent to do homework in a silent library.
Thank you for commenting. The river Main virtual cruise does have a more formal structure, but there have been some overland excursions, two as in a real cruise on this route and two that are not in the real life cruise. However, from my point of view it is quite exciting, several people have made suggestions at various times and these have been included.
There have been some interesting surprises discovered during the cruises.
> ^ I don’t like the format with so many links.^
The two approaches to virtual cruises have different policies for links
> I am reluctant to click on things where I can’t see https:// that tells me the name of the site.
Thank you for that feedback. Perhaps I need to have the link show the web address and write the title in the line below, like the caption on a picture in a magaine.
> The number of links is overwhelming, not moderate which is says in the heading.
Yes, the use of links has been more than originally intended, but the links are good for videos.
> At times it has looked like a personal lecture tour, teacher and one student so not very inclusive.
Well, people are welcome to post and participate that way, yet people are also welcome to participate by just reading and not post if that is what some people prefer.
I have tried to keep the thread going, so if nobody else posts, well I suppose it could look that way. I like to think that when people have made suggestions then I have acted inclusively. For example, there was a suggestion of a side trip, so we left the cruise ship moored up and went by train, and a very interesting side trip it was. There have been a number of things that people other than me have suggested that I would not have known about otherwise, including stopping at one place that was not on the map that I was using.
> I didn't understand the bit about treasure hunts and no teams.
It is working well, people other than me have found a garden, restaurants and a museum and so on.
> Also I like to be free to chose what I eat. Vegan only is very restrictive especially in Germany and would be in the Loire.
Well, one post in another thread was about parts of a creature that had not been allowed to live, and I felt distressed, so I tried to avoid that in the river Main cruise.
> I wouldn’t be interested in a rigidly-controlled teacher-lead cruise.
Actually, that was not what I had in mind. I have put forward a suggested format of a virtual cruise together with learning a little of the language, everybody being equals, Doulingo being the teacher. The idea to practice using the languagea little at a basic level mixed in with English.
I have started this thread so as to find out, I suppose, in the light of your comment, whether what I am suggesting will be regarded as a boring, tedious, slog, or as a wonderful opportunity to participate together in gathering information about somewhere and learning a little of the language, proceeding on the basis of teamwork, not a tomato and spoon race.