10/17/14 Budapest

We had a wonderful dinner last night at the Klassz restaurant.  It was lovely to have a one course meal at an earlier time.  On the way back to the hotel, we passed a bride, her flower girl, and what I presume was the bride's mother walking toward us on the sidewalk.  The unusual part of this is that the bride was on her cell phone!  Was she calling the groom to find out where he was?  Did she forget something needed for the ceremony? or perhaps the ceremony was over as we did see some rice on the sidewalk, so if that is the case where was the groom?  Did he get a ride to the reception and the bride had to walk?  Of course, we will never know, but it certainly was an unusual sight.

We had a great breakfast in the hotel dining room and then used our underground pass to go to the giant Ferris wheel.  Although it was spitting rain, we had a lovely ride and the views were great from the top of the arc.  It went around three times so we really had a good ride.  Susanne opted to wait for us below as she is not crazy about heights.  We had intended to take a tour of the Parliament building, but the price was a bit steep so we instead took a ride on the tram along the embankment.  We walked back to the Metro station and then came back to the hotel.  We took our flight information to the business office and after much trial and error (the keyboard here is not qwerty), we were able to print out our boarding passes for tomorrow.  We had a nice lunch in the bar of the hotel as it was quite wet out by lunch time.  Susanne and I went for a walk about 3 PM, but had to cut it short as the rain and wind picked up.  We were quite drenched by the time we got back to the hotel.  I just dried by soaked pants with the hair dryer.  We have decided to walk back to Klassz tonight for dinner as it was so good last night.  We will have to get up early tomorrow to get breakfast before we get picked up for our ride to the airport.  We will fly from Budapest to Paris, have a four hour layover, and then fly into Boston.  We should be home about 9 or 9:30 tomorrow night.

10/16/14 Budapest

Last night after dinner, the captain took the ship for a ride up and down the river so that we could enjoy the fantastic light show.  It was really amazing!  This morning after breakfast, we took a bus to the Corinthia Hotel.  It was raining when we woke up this morning, but the sun was out by the time we got on the bus.  As we could not check in yet, we bought a subway pass for the five of us and visited the History Museum.  The first part dealt with the early history of Hungary.  The labels were in English, but there was no air conditioning so we were very hot.  The second half dealt with more recent history and while it was cooler in these rooms, none of the signs were in English.  We took the subway back to our nearest stop and walk along looking for a place for lunch.  We stopped at New York Cafe, which was built in 1896 and was a magnificent palace - now a hotel.  We had a nice lunch and by the time we got back to the hotel, our rooms were ready.  We took a few minutes to freshen up and then went out again.  We walked down to the Opera House hoping to join a tour, but the price was quite steep and we decided to skip it (I did take a few pix in the lobby area - beautiful building).  We then walked down to the Cat Cafe.  Lana had seen an article in the Hartford Courant about it.  It is a small cafe filled with live cats.  The cats were wonderful - sleeping on chairs, cat perches, inside boxes and on the floor.  They seem to be rescue cats and we met two young girls from the States who are having a semester abroad here.  They miss their cats from home so came here to have a cuddle.  We are now putting our feet up and will walk to dinner around 6 tonight.

10/15/14 Budapest

Last night we had the Captain's dinner - a five course affair.  We were all stuffed as we left the dining room - we joked about using the elevator to get back to our rooms.  Fortunately, Dave woke up at quarter to midnight and noticed that we were coming in to our docking place.  All of the important buildings are lit as well as the bridges - absolutely spectacular!  Because we got in so late and most people were not able to enjoy the light show, the captain is going to take us for an after-dinner cruise tonight.

Our guide this morning took us to both sides of the city.  We had a little walk about on Castle Hill, where we were able to visit St. Matthias Church.  The style of the church is neo-gothic, but the interior reminded me of some of the Spanish churches we have visited with a Moorish influence.  I like the design and color, but I know that some people are put off by it.  The roof of the church was magnificent with colorful tiles.  We then took some photos from the Fisherman's Bastion - great shots of the Parliament building from here.  On our walk back to the bus, we were lucky to see the Husar Guards marching accompanied by a band and men on horseback.  It was quite a sight.  The guide asked and apparently they are making a movie today.  Back on the bus, we passed by a few monumental bath houses as Budapest is known for its thermal springs.  We also saw Heroes' Square and the beautiful Hall of Art.  We then drove down Andrassy Ut, a wide boulevard similar to those in Paris.  There were many lovely homes and embassies on this road as well as the Hungarian State Opera House.  We came back to the ship for lunch and then headed out to the pedestrian shopping street.  There were many shops, restaurants, cafes, banks, etc. along the street.  We found the huge farmer's market at the end of the street - meats, vegetables, fruits, souvenirs - a little of everything.  Unfortunately, I was looking for a particular item as a favor for a friend, but was not able to find it.  On the way back to the ship, John and I walked down the river a bit to take pictures of  a Jewish memorial.  There are 60 pairs of shoes on the bank of the river to represent the Jews who were marched there and then shot during World War II.  It was a very poignant sight.  Some of the shoes held fresh flowers and some had votive candles.

The city is quite lovely, but much poorer than even Bratislava with the average salary here being the equivalent of $750 (US) net per month.  Nurses only make about $400.  With the average apartment selling for $100,000, this is a tough situation.  Apparently, renting is not done here so many young people must live at home until they can save to buy and apartment.

10/14/14 Bratislava, Slovakia

We awoke to find ourselves docked in Bratislava, the capital city of Slovakia.  We had a bus ride around the residential part of the city, particularly the residences of the diplomats.  The home of the American ambassador looked like a mini version of the White House - a bit silly and pretentious as far as I am concerned.  We also could look across the river to the apartment buildings leftover from the Communist era - quite ugly blocks on the outside, but apparently people have modernized the insides.  The average person in this city earns 850 euros per month and since houses cost between 100,000 and 200,000 euros, many people live in apartments.  By the way, the average car costs 150,000 - again out of the reach of most people.  We visited the castle situated on a hill looking over the city and had great views.  It was quite a lovely, warm day today - a bit of fog in the distance, but glorious in town.  We walked through the historic district and then had about an hour on our own before having to be back on board.  I found the city quite charming - not too big, friendly people, surprises around every corner.  One of the surprises here is that they have life-sized bronze statues placed just anywhere.  There was one of Napoleon leaning over a park bench in the main square and another of a man peering out from a manhole cover.  We departed the city just before lunch and continued sailing down the Danube.  This area is quite flat, unlike the Danube of a day or two ago.  We passed through one of the Danube's deepest locks (60 feet) at about 2:30.  We then came in to watch the pastry chef put on an apple strudel demonstration in the lounge.  The strudel looked lovely, but unfortunately, the secret ingredient was rum - a good way to ruin a great looking strudel!  There is a farewell dinner tonight even though we have one more day on the ship.  I believe the menu is five courses with the main course being Beef Wellington and prawns.  I am looking forward to some plain, home cooked food.  Every night is a fancy meal with an equally fancy dessert.  I am afraid to step on a scale.  We will arrive in Budapest tonight.  I hope we can watch the approach as I'm sure the city is lit up and beautiful at night.  The timing will depend on how much boat traffic is on the river and the wait at the locks.

10/13/14 Vienna

First of all, I have to apologize for the lack of photos.  I discovered last night that I had exceeded the limit of the storage on the iPad for saving pix.  Since this is the first time using the iPad instead of the laptop, I was unprepared for this.  Next time, I will take something to dump the pix on so as not to take up so much room on the tablet.  I also will try to add pix when we get home.

Last night was different in the dining room.  We had a tour of the kitchen and in several places on the ship, stations were set up for serving yourself.  There were all kinds of breads, vegetables, meats, cheeses, desserts and local beers and wine for those who wanted it.  It was really quite nice and fun.  I will certainly post some of the pix - hard work on the part of the kitchen crew to put on such a huge spread.

It was a cloudy and bit raw day today.  We went on our city tour - first by bus on the Ringstrasse - the grand boulevard which encircles the medieval center of the city and then by foot into the center.  Vienna is an enormous city.  There are 8.1 million people in the whole of Austria, which is slightly smaller than the state of Maine, and 1.8 people live in Austria - think of it - one in every four people live in this city!  Vienna was the seat of the Habsburgs and the center of the Holy Roman Empire.  We walked past the stables of the famous Lipizzaner horses, but unfortunately they were not out practicing today.  We wandered past many churches, museums, art galleries, and opera houses.  During our free time, John and Lana discovered an international contemporary glass art shop and when I caught up with them, we discovered that they knew Jeff Pan, a former student, friend of our son Doug, and a local glass blower.  What a small world!  They have had a few of his pieces for sale in their store.  We came back to the ship for lunch and were going to join the Farmer's Market visit with the chef, but we didn't realize you had to sign up ahead of time.  Oh well, we had a quiet afternoon on the ship.  I would have gone back into the city, but there really wasn't anything I wanted to shop for and the museums are all closed on Mondays.  Tomorrow morning we will be in Bratislava, Slovakia and then onward to Budapest where we will disembark and spend a couple of days on our own before flying home.

10/12/14 Melk and Krems

We awoke to a very foggy morning.  There was a lot of  ship traffic on the river last night and this morning so as a result we had to take a bus to Melk Abbey.  Although the abbey was redone in the baroque style, I found it much less garish than St. Stephen's Cathedral of Passau that we visited yesterday.  We had a lovely guide who first led us through the museum full of the abbey treasures.  The last room was my favorite as the ceiling was flat, but painted so as to appear vaulted.  It was quite well done.  We then walked out onto a balcony with fantastic views of the countryside, the town of Melk, and the Danube.  Our next stop was the library.  They have twelve rooms containing 80,000 medieval manuscripts.  My favorite part was the wooden doors with built-in bookcases that covered the windows.  In earlier days (I don't know what happened here), the monks would open the door and let in the natural light in order to read a manuscript rather than light a candle and risk the danger of fire.  Our last stop was the church itself, which was festooned with olive branches to celebrate the 1000 years of a Benedictine monastic order here.  The thirty monks who live here run a school for 700 students, both boys and girls.  We visited the garden - very formal except for the smattering of cartoonish animals scattered throughout - very whimsical.  We walked down the hill through town until we were back on board the ship.  After lunch we went up to the sun deck.  The sun had come out while we were at the abbey and it was a glorious day although a bit windy on the top deck.  The ship sailed through the Wachau Valley, which was delightful - many small towns, terraced  grape fields on the hillsides, and some great castles on top of the hills.  One of them was perched  on the top of a craggy rock on top of a hill  over the river.  Another (Durnstein Castle))  was the one in which Richard the Lion-Hearted was imprisoned until he was ransomed.  We also saw some naked Austrians swimming in the river - whole families of them.  We finally  docked in the town of Krems. We walked around the historic part of town,but as it is Sunday, the shops were closed..  We did take a few pix and saw a hot air balloon.  We are now back on board and will have dinner soon. on top of a craggy rock at the top of a hill.  Another was the one in which Richard the Lion-hearted was imprisoned (Durnstein Castle) until he was ransomed.  Unfortunately, we did not see anyone harvesting the grapes even though this is the season as today was a Sunday.  The grapes from this region are used to make Riesling - a white, dry, fruity wine.  Out next stop was Krems.  We walked through the old historic district, but again, as it is Sunday, none of the shops were open.  We did take some pix and saw a hot air balloon.  We are back on the ship now and will be here until almost midnight when we sail again.

Passau photos 10/11/14

The first photo is of a poster showing that most of the city is on a penninsula.  Next is a mural on the Rathaus (city hall), the Bishop's house, some of the organ pipes in St. Stephen's Cathedral, a part of the baroque ceiling of the cathedral, flowers in a street side planter, a "sign" in front of a modern art store, and a topiary in front of a hotel.

10/11/14. Passau

We had a lovely walking tour this morning.  Passaic is called the city of three rivers as the Inn, the Danube, and the Ilz all come together at this point.  It is at the border of Austria (in fact we can see it in the distance).  Passau was the site of a Roman fort and became a huge center of the diocese of the Holy Roman Empire.  During medieval times, it was an important center for the salt trade due to its position at the confluence of the three rivers.  The cathedral was destroyed in a fire in the 17th century and was rebuilt in the baroque style.  It boasts the largest cathedral pipe organ in the world with 17,974 organ pipes.  We were lucky to arrive there at noon and were treated to a concert featuring Bach and Liszt.  We came back to the ship for lunch and then split.  John hiked up to the castle on the hill across the river while the rest of us wandered around the tiny streets and poked into a few shops.  We will be leaving here at 5 and heading for Melk, Austria.

Regensburg photos

Today's photos are of a Jonah and the whale pub sign, a Roman tower, the Old Stone Bridge, Goliath House, looking down the side of the cathedral, a stained glass window, and a cuckoo clock store sign.

10/10/14 Regensburg

We had a leisurely sail this morning on the Danube.  We passed many small towns and at one point we passed a huge field of sunflowers.  After lunch we arrived in Regensburg, but as there were many ships here already, we had to tie up next to another Viking ship and walk through their lobby to get out onto the dockside pavement.  We had a wonderful tour of the city.  Our guide, Monica, gave us a glimpse of history from Roman times, through medieval times, through World War II and on until the present day city.  We saw some of the original Roman walls and a gate, Porta Pretoria, which was built in 179 AD.  Most of the city was not harmed during the war so many of the medieval homes and structures escaped damage.  One of the oldest bridges crossing the Danube is located here.  The Old Stone Bridge was built between 1135 and 1146.  The knights of the Crusades used it to cross the Danube on their way to the Holy Land.

It is comical that most of the cities we have been in lately claim to have the best sausages, but Ravensburg says. "Nuremberg may have the best sausages, but we have the best mustard!"  There is a small restaurant, The Old Sausage Kitchen near the Old Stone Bridge, which has been in the same spot since 1135.  They claim that they fed the stonemasons as they built the bridge.  As we will be here until 10 tonight, I was thinking about walking back to take some pix of the cathedral.  I just got back and it was worth the walk.  Dom St. Peter is a Gothic cathedral with twin Renaissance towere.  The inside was magnificent with 13th century stained glass windows.  Our guide this morning said that during the war they were taken down pane by pane and buried in sand to preserve them.  On the way back to the ship, I passed a cuckoo clock shop - the first I have seen on this trip.

Nuremberg photos

The pix today are of the unfinished Nazi arena (looks similar to the coliseum), a view of the city from the castle, a tower in the castle, the gold fountain in the Hauptmarkt, and a detail at the bottom of the fountain.

10/9/14 Nuremberg

We awoke in Nuremberg this morning and after breakfast, we put our suitcases in the hall for the move, said goodbye to our favorite people on the ship, Edina, our housekeeper, Olivia, the dining room manager, Mary and "Mr. Coffee in the dining room.  We will miss them and only hope that we find their counterparts in kindness on the next ship.  We took a short bus ride into the city and we had very good commentary from John, our tour guide.  He is originally from Wales and came to Nuremberg 22 years ago.  He has been a tour guide for 20 of them.  We saw from the bus, many of the important sites from World War II including the place where the huge Nazi rallies were held, the courthouse where the Tribunal was held, the documentation center, and Hitler's hotel.  Most of the modern city was destroyed by 44 air strikes, but much of the main buildings underwent a massive reconstruction after the war using the original stone.  We began our walking part of the tour in the castle.  It was well constructed and was heavily fortified.  The guide said that the Allies were very fortunate that the city surrendered as it would have been difficult to "storm" this castle!  We walked down the hill to the center of the old city, which is surrounded by the original old city wall.  In the Hauptmarkt (city center), there is a beautiful and ornate gold fountain.  As the registry office is nearby, this is a favorite photo op for new brides and grooms.  In fact, we saw two weddings while we were there.  One of the traditions here is for the new bride to turn a ring on the ornate fence surrounding the fountain.  If it is turned three times clock-wise, you will become pregnant.  The other fascinating site in the center is the Church of Our Lady.  At the top of the church, is a mechanical clock where you can see the Holy Roman Emperor and his prince electors moving around him.  This comes to life every day at noon and we were lucky enough to be there at that time.  The glockenspiel music that accompanied the movement of the princes was lovely.  We came back to our new ship and had lunch before quickly unpacking.  A few minutes later, the ladies of the group went back to town to go shopping.  The weather today is glorious - blue skies, bright sun - a great day to walk outside and enjoy the weather after the spate of gloomy days that we have had.  Tomorrow we will be in Regensburg.

10/9/14 corrections

I can see that one of canal pix, the rose and Neptune did not come through so will try again.

10/8/14 Bamberg photos

I am putting up three pix of a lock that we went through this morning.  The blue building is just one that caught my eye in Bamberg.  There is also the highly decorated old city hall, the old slaughterhouse, a loaf of bread in a bakery window, the tomb of Heinrich II and Kunithunde, a rose in the cathedral garden, a door knocker, and Neptune or the pitchfork man as the locals call him, in the Green Market square.

10/8/14 Bamberg

We sailed through more locks today.  It is interesting to watch the lock fill will water up to the level of the next section of the river.  I took some photos and hope to put some of them on later.  It is a gloomy day again today - off and on rain or sprinkles.  We sailed through the morning and stopped in a small town short of Bamberg as the locks were busy today and the captain did not want us to be late for our walking tour.  After lunch, we boarded buses and arrived in Bamberg 20 minutes later.  Our guide was a young student at the university.  She is studying French and Latin with hopes to teach school when she is finished.  She was very good and spoke English well.  We toured the town passing by the very ornate old city hall, the old slaughter house which was built over the river (no wonder everyone drank wine in those days), and ended at the catherdral (built in 1012).  The cathedral was built by Heinrich II as he and his wife (Kunithunde) had no children and he wanted the people of the diocese to pray for them after death in order to shorten their time in purgatory.  He also wanted the city to become a second Rome and there are churches on each of the seven hills of the city.  He eventually became Emporor of the Holy Roman Empire and both he and his wife are buried in the cathedral as was Pope Clement II.  Bamberg was one of the few cities in Germany not destroyed by World War II bombing.  Our guide suggested that as Bamberg is known for its smoky beer, the allied bombers spared the city so that they could celebrate here after the war.

This evening we will be leaving the Main River and begin sailing down the Main-Danube Canal that was built between 1960 and 1992.  Without this man-made canal, we would not be able to make this trip.  It is 106 miles long with 16 locks that raise the water to 1332 feet.  We are hoping for better weather tomorrow.  Tomorrow is the day that we change ships in Nuremberg.  We will be on the Eistla for the rest of the journey

10/7/14 Wurzburg

Today we arrived in Wurzburg.  We had to take a bus into town as one of the gates on the locks was not operating properly, but it was a short 20 minute ride so no problem.  We had a lovely American born guide, Mary, who met her husband, a German, and moved here 15 years ago.  She was very enthusiastic and knowledgable about the sites, history and art that we encountered on the tour.  We started at the Prince Bishop's Palace - a mini-Versailles - an ornate baroque palace.  We toured through the royal guest rooms - quite fancy - the opulence is breathtaking, especially when you think that the common people paid for most of it through their taxes and tithes and the ruler was both the head of government and the church. The palace was commissioned by the Prince/Bishop von Schonborn and he chose the architect Neumann to design the palace.  His grand staircase with its magnificent vaulted ceiling is a work of art and a treat for the eye as he was a master of spatial illusion.  The four continents (the only ones known in 1752) are illustrated on the ceiling.  We wanted to spend some time in the gardens, but it was raining a bit at that point so we skipped it.  We had a short walk to the city center and then took a shuttle bus back to the ship for lunch.  After lunch, the ship finally arrived in Wurzburg and we went back to the center to poke into some of the shops.  I was a bit disappointed as most of the stores were big ones and I prefer the small specialty shops - I find them much more interesting.  Although we did not get to his museum, Wurzburg is known as the birthplace of Wilhelm Rontgen who is credited with discovering the x-ray.  He won a Nobel Prize for this in 1901.  The other outstanding item of note in this city is that the vineyards are all around and come right down to the edged of the city.  The castle which is situated on the top of the hill across the river from the main part of town has vineyards up the slope to the castle walls - quite striking.  It is still a bit gloomy out, but the rain has stopped for the moment.  We have free time now until dinner so will try to get a few pix on the blog.

photos from Wurzburg 10/7/14

Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures inside the palace so I have include a few outside shots along with a pic of the clock tower in the main square and one of the castle on the hill on the other bank of the river.

10/7/14 Photos of Miltenberg

The photos today are of Karl, the glass blower, the half-timbered houses of Miltenberg, a funky bird and some a hedgehog family for sale at the shops, a bar sign over the Inn of the Giant, and a swan who greeted us as we waited for our ship in Wertheim.

10/6/14 From Miltenberg to Wertheim

We had a walking tour after lunch of lovely, medieval Miltenberg.  There were many half-timbered houses, many with gabled roofs.  The oldest house I noticed had a date of 1330.  Our guide was quite good.  She was originally from South Africa but married a German and came here to live nine years ago.  She has two daughters and was telling us a little bit of information that we may not have gotten elsewhere.  For example, you have to pay 2800 euros for your driver's license.  Now, granted, that is for your lifetime, but can you imagine how long you would have to save to afford a license and then you would have to save again for the car!  That would certainly discourage most of the teen driving in this country unless your folks footed the bill.  She also told us that her younger daughter has just left home to start nursing school.  It is a three year school and she is paid to study: 800 euros per month the first year, 1000 the second, and 1200 the third.  She has to pay for a place to live, but it was only 140 euros per month.  Sounds like they encourage young people to go into certain professions - I'm sure nursing isn't the only field in which this practice is common.

We did thoroughly enjoy the town and took lots of pictures of the quaint houses.  We all came together after some free time to poke into the shops in the outdoor beer garden (The Inn of the Giant) at the Hotel Zum Riesen, a guesthouse where princes have stayed since the 12th century.  We walked back through the town and boarded our bus.  We rode for a half hour to Wertheim, where we met up with our ship, which had sailed here while we were having our walking tour in Miltenberg.  We spent a few minutes in the market square here and took a picture of the castle on the hill before boarding the ship again just before dinner.  Everyone is quite tired tonight as walking on cobblestones is hard on the feet and knees.  I will try to get some pictures up tomorrow morning before our next stop.

10/6/14 Sailing along the Main River

We turned into the Main River last night during dinner and then shortly thereafter we went through the first of 67 locks.  Susanne had never been through a lock before so was quite excited to see the process.  We had a great night's sleep and woke up inside another lock.  Most of them have lovely parks on the side and we saw people walking their dogs and jogging.  Unfortunately, we couldn't go up to the sun room to walk as is our usual custom as they have taken the rails down so that we can go under the low bridges on the river.  After breakfast, I washed a few things in the sink, which is quite a challenge as the sink is very small.  I think if you had to wash something large like dungarees or men's slacks, you would have to do it on your body in the shower!  We then went to the lounge to watch a glass blower who came on board at one on the locks.  He had a great sense of humor and gave a very good talk on the various methods and materials available to glassblowers today.  He had a small torch hooked up to propane and he gave several demonstrations.  He is the sixth generation of glassblowers in his family and his son works with him in their studio.  He frequently comes to the States to work with Dale Chihuly, a well known glass artist on the West Coast.  We will sail today until after lunch and then will have a tour of Miltenberg.

10/5/14 Photos

This is a sideways pic of my BD swans made of folded towels.

Next we have flowers planted in a grapevine form.  The next shot is of flowers growing near our docking spot in Braubach.  Marksburg Castle is next.  The old tollbooth was on an island in the river. A chain would have been across the river's span and your choice was to pay up or be shot at with cannons.  The last shot is another attempt to show a small section of the many locks on the lovers' bridge in Cologne.