COLOGNE, GERMANY — If you have a hearty appetite and a craving for high-sugar, high-cholesterol food, then there's nothing quite like eating your way through Germany’s popular Christmas markets.

BUDAPEST — Moonbeams danced playfully on the surface of the Danube, competing with reflections from Budapest’s myriad lights, as the Viking Egil cruised unhurriedly past stately 19th-century architecture and impressive monuments in Hungary’s capital city, adoringly called The Queen City of the Danube.

AVIGNON, France — Earnest young people are plastering the Medieval walls with playbills and posters. Street performers — magicians, fire-eaters, caricaturists, clowns, jugglers, comedians, mimes, drummers, belly dancers — vie for attention and hope for a few euros in appreciation for their efforts. In front of a dumpster, a chamber orchestra is sawing through Bach.

Are you ready to go cruising this fall and winter? But which cruise line to pick or where to go? Well, our friends at CruiseCompete sent me their CruiseTrend report for 2017 and it has a wealth of information, like:

STRASBOURG, FRANCE - I had been looking forward to this trip for a while. Not just because it would be my third visit to fascinating France, but also because of the mode of transportation I would be using to get around during my six days here — a barge. And not just any old commercial barge, but a luxury European Waterways barge with all the amenities of a 5-Star hotel.

ABOARD THE CELEBRITY CONSTELLATION - Behind the galley doors, chefs meticulously garnish mint on a line of desserts while kitchen staff remove the wilted leaves from salad crates and run towers of steaming entrees into the dining hall.

ABOARD THE AVALON TRANQUILITY II - With each trip, I try to pack less; just the essentials in an ever-shrinking suitcase. I have a fantasy: perhaps if I can learn to schlep less from place to place, I can learn to pare my to-do list as well.

STOWE, VT. - Just like clockwork, as sure as trees turn colour in autumn, my mother would summon us for our annual fall foliage pilgrimage.

CIVITAVECCHIA, ITALY - It was mid-day when we started out from Rome in the direction of this seaside town, which serves as the Eternal City’s port.

DISENCHANTMENT BAY, ALASKA - There’s many reasons people take an Alaskan cruise - a chance to see the state’s natural beauty up close while witnessing whales, bald eagles and wildlife playing in their natural habitat are a few.