BURT WOLF: TRAVELS & TRADITIONS (TV SERIES) - DVD review

River cruises always sounded appealing to me. The boats are smaller than big cruise ships, they sit high in the water so they can glide through the shallows, and there's scenery to look at on both sides, 24/7 . . . well, if you have infrared night goggles, that is.

But the biggest draw is the history. In medieval Europe, the rivers were early highways that connected important capitols and centers of commerce. What that means, for the traveler walking off the gangplank, is that the oldest section of a city is often located right there by the river that first spawned a settlement.

Burt Wolf is the perfect guide for a series on European river cruises, because more than most travel shows his narrations are bursting with historical facts. He's a complete guide, too, with equal knowledge and interest in history, architecture, art, culture, and food. In fact, in addition to the 400+ programs he's written and produced, Wolf is the author of some 60 books--many of them highly regarded cookbooks. So when this guy tells you that the blintzes in Linz, Austria are both historically important and more delectable than any you'll get anywhere else, you'd better believe him.

Staid narration is not his thing. Though he probably overuses the phrase "for thousands of years," Wolf is a sucker for throwing in a small joke at the end of a serious description. When he's describing the Roman aqueducts and explaining how their support columns spanning rivers were designed like the prow of a ship to minimize erosion, he tells how the mortar the early builders used was made from "lime, pork fat, wine, and figs . . . with a little salt and pepper added for taste." The first part was oddly true, but the cookbook writer in him just couldn't pass up the joke, and he does this again and again. I personally liked it because it lightened the narration, and I think he's successful in this technique because he never goes for the big laugh. It's always a smile or a mild chuckle he's trying to generate, so the jokes glide by as effortlessy and enjoyably as the river boats. In Linz, Wolf's voiceover tells us, "people have been living here for 3000 years," and as the cameras pan young people walking the streets he adds, "though most of them look considerably younger." Again, not exactly a belly laugh, but it's typical of the way that Wolf tries to make his narrations as airy and fun as the visuals.

These six river-cruise shows from his PBS "Travels & Traditions" series aired around 2007. Included are programs on "Cruising the Rhine," "Cruising the Danube," "Cruising Provence," "Cruising France," "Tulip Time Cruise," and "Cruising the Netherlands." There's some overlapping in the Netherlands program with the more specific show on "Tulip Time," but as a thematic package "Great River Cruises of Europe" is an enjoyable armchair vacation.

b>"Cruising the Rhine" takes you from Amsterdam to Basel.

"Cruising the Danube" goes down the second longest river in Europe, departing from Budapest and stopping in Bratislava, Vienna, Durnstein, Grein, Passau, and Linz.

"Cruising Provence" takes you down the Rhone River, from Tournon to Nice . . . on the French Riviera.

"Cruising France" gives Wolf the chance to explore Paris on one of the famed Seine barges, while also taking in some of the city's most famous sights, like the Eiffel Tower and the Musee d'Orsay.

"Tulip Time Cruise" is a two-country cruise that begins in Amsterdam and passes through Schoonhoven, Dordrecht, Antwerp, Brussels, Ghent, and Brugges.

"Cruising the Netherlands" again begins in Amsterdam and includes stops at Volendam, Edam, Keukenhof Gardens, and Middleburg.

Visually, the cinematographers mix it up with long shots, tighter crowd shots, aerial shots, up-angle shots, and artsy shots of details--statues, monuments, paintings, frescoes, etc.--that are often cut to match the beat of the classical music that provides a smooth background for the voiceover.

Wolf has a nice feel for what people want to see: both the landmarks and off-the-path sites. For every location you get a brief history, some sense of what made the city important, a look at the landmarks most worth visiting, and a few lesser-known sites. He likes to share quirky history, too, as when he tells us that Austria's empress, Maria Teresa, kept her jewels in a safe location with her other treasure: a prized baseball card collection. He has a good feel for the side trips he takes us on, too. One of the more fascinating was a look inside one of the houseboats that line the canals of Amsterdam, permanently docked and hooked up to electricity and all the modern conveniences. To learn that many of the boats were modified from old ships was surprising, to say the least. The boat that Wolf toured was a converted 1913 ship that used to trade on those waterways. Meanwhile, inside a cathedral that houses the bones of St. John the Evangelist we get not only a sense of what the cathedral and St. John were known for, but a mini-lesson from Wolf about why medieval churches wanted relics (pilgrim dollars!).

"Great River Cruises" is so full of history that you won't absorb everything in one sitting. But it's this focus and depth that makes the shows more than a vicarious travel experience.

Video:
"Great River Cruises" is presented in 1.33:1 aspect ratio, and the images so eye-appealing that you wish the series had been shot in HD and transferred to Blu-ray. As is, there's a slight level of grain throughout and some indistinct edges and noise on some of the brighter outdoor shots. Overall, though, for a DVD the picture is of good quality.

Audio:
The audio is no great shakes: a simple two-speaker and center speaker offering in English, with no subtitles. While there's no hiss or distortion, there also is no fullness of sound. It's average, at best.

Extras:
No bonus features. Just watch the six episodes and start saving your money for your own river cruise.

Bottom Line:
Wolf is a nice guide who manages to have personality without being a personality that competes with the visuals. And "Great River Cruises of Europe" gives you a pretty good sense of what you'd see and experience if you got on one of these boats. Not the onboard stuff, mind you, but rather the off-the-boat stops.