Sep 15 - Guten Tag from the Danube River!

Today was a leisurely day sailing on the Danube; it’s a waterway busy with barges, kayaks, fishermen, and of course, other river boats.  We had our mandatory muster drill on the sun deck at 10:00 AM.  This morning Tessa, the Program Director, offered German lessons in the lounge!  Since it was raining we were happy to sit inside and participate!

Tessa is a great Program Director who seems to wear many hats; she organizes ‘events’ onboard like the welcome reception, gives port talks about the ports we are visiting, makes sure everyone gets off on their tours, gives German lessons, and does presentations!  What a gem!  After lunch Tessa gave a talk on Mozart and Austrian Coffee Houses.  She managed to give us information about coffee growing, the history of coffee houses, how tea came to Europe, and then tied that all into the composers, and then back to the famous coffee houses of Vienna and how to order a coffee.  It’s really complicated!!!  The session would not have been complete without a demonstration on making strudel and then a sample of Apple Strudel and Coffee! More food!!!  OMG!

Dinner is early tonight due to the Mozart and Strauss Concert when we arrive in Vienna. We have to be ready for the bus at 7:45.  This will be our ‘cultural activity’ for the cruise!  It was an excellent performance with strings ( violin X 3, cello, bass) plus a flute and piano  We were also entertained by a couple of ballet performances and three opera numbers.  If I were more ‘cultured’ I would be able to tell you what they were! 

Sep 16 - A busy day in Vienna!

This morning’s excursion was Panoramic Vienna, a bus and walking tour showing the highlights of the old town.  We are in the G group!  G for gimpy? geriatric? Oh wait - ‘gentle’!  This means a slower pace with less walking!  Thank God!  It was a lot of walking through alleyways and little ‘neighbourhoods’ to admire the architecture, and life in Vienna.  

We ended up at St Stephen’s Cathedral, Vienna’s most important religious building. 

 

This afternoon’s tour was Behind the Scenes at the Spanish Riding School, home of the Lipizzaner Stallions. It was a very long walk from where the bus let us off to the Hofburg, the former Imperial Palace, and after the introduction, and finding out it would be another hour of walking and standing - and then the long walk back to the bus, I decided I couldn’t do it!  So sadly I decided to get a cab back to the ship.  Disappointing, but I need to save myself if I want to do any of the upcoming excursions.

Mary kept going and has shared a photo! 

Tonight we leave for the scenic Wachau Valley and stop at Melk tomorrow!

Until next time….

M & D

 

 Sep 13  Off to Budapest, Hungary

                                View from our ship, Viking Rolf

Luggage outside our door, breakfast at 7,  and down to the lobby to get on the bus at 7:30 AM. After a pleasant bus ride from Prague to Budapest we arrived at the ship at 3:30 and were checked in and in our closet (oops! I mean cabin !) shortly after.  The ship looks lovely and our compact cabin has everything we need ; it’s just an engineering miracle the way they have everything tucked in. The expression ‘No room to swing a cat!’ comes to mind!  Our luggage arrived minutes later and we were unpacked by 5:00 PM.

Barely enough room to walk between the beds!

Our ‘organizational centre’

Bathroom with the most wonderful shower - handheld shower, heated floor, grab bar, huge bath sheets!

Then we were off to the welcome wine and cheese where we met a couple from Pennsylvania who have cruised extensively with Viking ( expedition ships, ocean and river - ca Ching ca Ching! ).  That was held in Aquavit - an outdoor seating area on Deck 3, with a few seats indoors in the shade.  Both red and white wines were there for tasting!  Next an information meeting in the lounge with way too much information!  LOL

Following the meeting we went for dinner.  No tables for two so we joined a couple from North Carolina and two sisters from New Hampshire.  We had lively conversation throughout dinner and will be happy to share with them another night.  

Although it’s still early, bedtime will come soon as we are still adjusting to the new time!  But before we sign off, here is some cooking trivia from the host on our bus!

Basis for German cooking is fat

For Italian - olive oil

For French - melted butter

For English - water!

Until tomorrow…

:Sep 14 - our day in Budapest

Budapest is divided into two parts, Budapest and Pest, by the Danube River.  We are docked on the Pest side, the more commercial part of the city, but looking towards Buda.  We can watch the steady stream of traffic and trams crossing the Liberty Bridge.

Today’s Panoramic Tour of Budapest took us past landmarks such as the opera house, museums, Andrássy Avenue ( the Champs -Élysées of Budapest) with a stop at Heroes’ Square, a huge square with Monuments from Hungary’s history.

On the other side of the river is Buda - the more posh part of Budapest. We passed  the castle district , Matthias Church and had a great view of the Parliament Buildings, the second largest in Europe, second to London! 

After the tour we came back to the ship and had lunch in the lounge.  We met a couple from Massachusetts and enjoyed our conversation with them over an open- faced Baby Shrimp Sandwich!

A leisurely afternoon was spent on the Upper Deck  watching the traffic go by on  the Pest side, and the river on the Buda side of the ship.  It won’t be long until a welcome reception by the Captain and Hotel Manager, a description of tomorrow’s events by Tessa, the program director followed by dinner!  How can it possibly be time to eat again?!?!

Leaving  Budapest…

This will be a whole new experience for us on this small ‘ship’.  A tour of the vessel takes 5 minutes at most!  The officers are very visible, stopping to chat with guests, and there are no lines for getting on and off.  I am getting my workouts, however, going up and down stairs to our cabin in ‘steerage’ and getting off in the port with stairs to the street and a ramp from the ship.

Next time you hear from us we will be in Vienna!

The Longboat Ladies

😁😁

 Sep 10 -12 - Prague, Czech Republic

Sep 10 - arrival day

Prague is a beautiful city which straddles the winding Vltava River (Click the blue link for a more detailed description) and will be our home for the first three days.  We were brought to our hotel by a fearless driver who sped through the steets (does everyone drive this fast in Europe?!?!) weaving in and out of traffic, not letting anything impede her path!  We were welcomed by the Viking representative at the Art Nouveau Palace Hotel.

The rest of the day was spent taking it easy in anticipation of our first tour, Prague by Night.  Our guide, George, gave us a historical description and talked about his life growing up under Communism.  The following link, Prague during the war. is an interesting look at Prague then and now, using the sliders under the pictures to see the changes.

We saw the Dancing House, also referred to as ‘Fred and Ginger’ which was designed by two architects, one a Croatian and the other, Frank O Gehry, a Canadian!  Fred is the rock structure on the right, and Ginger is the glass structure on the left! 

We went up to the rooftop terrace for a spectacular view of the city, all lit up.

We were taken through Old Town, New Town and Lesser Town, and made a stop at the Strahov Monastery which now houses a hotel and pub!  We were not able to see the historic areas at night, but did have a sample of their beer ( or for some of us, wine!)  More spectacular panoramic views of the city!

 

Back at our hotel, we flopped into bed after a long, but enjoyable day.

Sep 11 - a day in the city

                                       Hop on Hop off routes 

Rather than do the physically demanding Viking Tour which involved 4-6 km of walking over cobblestone streets, we chose the hop on hop off bus, as a means of getting to some important landmarks like the Astronomical Clock at Old Town Hall, and Prague Castle.  

So many side streets and even main thoroughfares have cobblestones on the sidewalks and on the roads and while they look interesting, they require careful walking and make for bumpy rides!

The first stop on the green route was only a block from our hotel.  So we got on there and went right to the Old Town Hall at Stop 4 for 10:00 AM to see the Astronomical  Clock.  We enjoyed the Old Town’s architecture and even signed the book of Condolences for Queen Elizabeth II.

From there we got back on the bus and at stop 5 switched to the red line’s  Stop 3 at the same location.  This took us to the Prague Castle. It was a long walk in and had so many parts of the castle to tour.  Because my old body would not tolerate that, we spent most of our time in the Courtyards and looking at St George’s Basilica.  We giggled at people who were posing for photos in front of the church! Some people are so vain!

  After a lot of walking and standing we hopped back on the bus for a ride  back to the hotel.

In the evening we were taken to a Folkloric Dinner in the countryside at the court of the village of Číčovice.  Throughout the typical Czech meal, we were entertained with dancing, song, and instrumental music; they played violin, bass  and even a dulcimer which we had never seen before.

Sep 12 - Last day in Prague

Today is our last day in this lovely city. It has been interesting to stay here; it is the first time I have stayed in a city where I can’t read the signs or understand the language I am hearing all around me! The architecture is interesting - reminds me of St Petersburg or Amsterdam. Most of the buildings look the same in the downtown area as you would have seen in some of the previous photos I’ve posted.

It seems that most people live in ‘flats’ in larger buildings.  Each apartment building might have a few flats on each floor and buildings are just a few stories high. The Czech people are friendly and everyone in the hotels, popular sights etc speak excellent English.

Today our excursion was to Terezín, a city that was built by the Hapsburgs in the late 18th Century and then taken  over by the Nazis in 1938. It was transformed into a ghetto and later a concentration camp. 

We spent the first hour there in a museum where the story of Terezín unfolded.  There were descriptions, photos, and even original  children and residents’ artwork that had been found in boxes in a basement years later.

Next we went to the cemetery and fortress which was used as a concentration camp and to receive people being taken to other camps such as Auschwitz. After standing and looking at all the exhibits and descriptions for over an hour in the museum, and looking at the long walk to the fortress, I decided not to go.  

Mary went and will surely post her photos on her Facebook Page at some point. However, I did find a post on YouTube that will give you an idea of what Terezín is about.  Click the blue print if you interested in learning more.

We went to lunch in Litomêrice, at a microbrewery called Koliba. People seemed to like the beer - and the wine was OK too!  😁🍷😁

We had supper at the hotel, and now are packing our bags as we head to the ship in Budapest tomorrow!  It’s been a really nice start to our trip and we are looking forward to our first river cruise!

Stay tuned…

Mary & Dorothy

Travel to Prague

Sep 9 -  Travel to Prague

And another adventure begins….

Just before our driver picked us up to go to the airport, we each received an email from Viking telling us our ship had been changed and of the low water levels in Europe - with the possibility of having to do a ‘ship swap’ along our route. 

If water levels remain low during your voyage, we may also need to enact what we call a mid-cruise "ship swap" to bypass areas that are impossible to sail through. Since Viking operates identical Longships purposefully sailing in opposite directions along the river, we are able to transfer you by motorcoach from your ship to the exact same stateroom on an identical sister ship further along the river so that you can resume your itinerary with the least possible disruption.

 Oh joy! Not what we were hoping for!

 After leaving a half hour late our flight was uneventful!  We both managed to grab a few winks ( emphasis on ‘few’!) after dinner was served.

The delay leaving, meant that we didn’t arrive in Frankfurt until after 7:00AM with an 8:25 connecting flight to Prague.  We always request wheelchair service as you never know how much walking it will take in an airport!  So we sat and waited for the cart to take us to immigration.  There are no speed limits on the ‘Frankfurt Airport Autobahn’ as the driver sped through what seemed like miles of walkways shouting, ‘Achtung, bitte!’, ‘Watch out!’ at the unsuspecting people who leapt out of the way!

We then had to switch to another cart which whizzed us to security!  Please note that seatbelts are required on these carts!!  No kidding!  But that was the beginning of another adventure…. When we got through security and sat at the designated spot, no cart came!  It was now 8:00 AM and we decided that we could walk as we were leaving out of gate A26 so it shouldn’t be too far from where we were.  What we soon found out was that between every two numbers was a long distance, so Mary ended up almost running, as I tried to keep up, hoping that she could convince the agents at the gate to wait for the little old lady with the cane doing her best to get there.

Well…. When Mary breathlessly got to the desk they told her the gate had been changed to A18, and we had to back track!  By now it is 8:20!  So Mary was off and running back to a gate we had passed precious minutes ago.  Luckily for me there was a special assistance person pushing an empty wheelchair and I pleaded with her to take me as we were about to miss our connection!  We got to the gate at 8:26 and they were looking for us!  Phew!  That was the closest call we have ever had to missing a flight!  Someone must have been looking over us!

As the captain pulled away from the gate raindrops obscured our view out the window.  💧Rain!💧. Is this another sign that someone is on our side raising the water levels!  We shall see!

We arrived a few minutes late into Prague and were met by two wonderful Special Assistance porters.  Now praying that our luggage arrived after the delays and changed gate, we were wheeled to the carousel - and to our bags!  Hallellujah!  

The Viking rep was there to greet us and the porters took us right to the vehicle that would transport us to our hotel, the Art Nouveau Palace Hotel

We are both exhausted and will relax for the afternoon and get ready for our tour of Prague by night!  Our next post may not be for a day or two but we should have lots to tell about as we have several tours booked!

The Happy, Tired Travellers!

😁🛫🛬🚌😁