Budapest day 2: July 31, 2013

Today we left the viking Odin. We woke up early, left our suitcases in the hall with our departure tags on them and left for breakfast. Many guests had left already. Many had early morning flights to catch. Some guests went to the Hilton in Budapest to stay a few more days, others took a bus to Prague. We moved to the Marriott which is right on the river and just a few doors down from where the Odin was docked. Before we took our cab, we walked the chain bridge to the citadel across the river.

Walking across the chain bridge. I want to see this one tonight.

At the citadel, Tony found this Trabant, a Russian built car made out of metal and the interior was apparently made out of paper. 

The church at the Citadel on the hill. We sat on a bench under the trees and completed the Viking questionaire about our cruise. 

The view from the Citadel, would have been perfect except for the man in the way!

I think this is one of the prettiest castles in Europe. It is also well taken care of. The walk up was also interesting. The castle district is full of shops, cafes and restaurants. 

Today was sunny but not so hot. It only went up to 29 degrees instead of 38 degrees! Tony liked this fountain.

The view from our room at the Marriott . The grass is on top of the roof below. Great view of the bridges and the river.

This room is a little roomier than our cabin on board. After lunch walked, shopped and went back for a nap. Getting ready for dinner. We spotted some nice little cafes with Hungarian food in the Pest district.

We ate dinner T the Vendiak pub and restaurant . Great food, good service , live jazz and we ate outside. Lovely way to spend the evening.

The view from our hotel room at night. Tomorrow another day in Budapest .

Budapest : July 30, 2013

We arrived in Visgard this morning. We left the ship for a tour though the Hungarian countryside and to Budapest . While we toured the ship sailed to the harbour. Hungary is different than I thought. The country side is pretty, with lots of little homes and gardens. In Austria the fields were organized and groomed. Here it is more of a jumble of things. Buda and Pest are ( is) huge. 

Sailing into just outside Budapest .

City park in Pest.

Lots of ornate buildings.

Some interesting art work.

The heroes square. The statues here are incredible.

People of all nationalities are here.

The sky is clearing up. But the breeze kept things a little cooler than yesterday.

The castle park in Buda. On the other side of the river .

Love the mosaic roof of the church.

Lots of tours and tourists.

Banners, towers and clearing skies.

 Inside the church.

Lovely patterns on all the walls.

The mosaic floor.

On the tower lookout.

Feels like medieval times.

Our anniversary is today. We had dinner with our friends on board. Champagne , special cake , and cards.

The bridge where we are with the ship.

Wish my camera was better!

Tomorrow we disembark and leave for two nights at the Marriott hotel in Budapest . The trip has been great. Less than a week to go. 

Vienna : July 29, 2013

I wish we could have had more time here. What a beautiful city. Again hot, clear, sunny weather. When we woke up we were docking in Vienna. Grabbed breakfast. Scrambled eggs, bacon, poached tomatoes, coffee, there is always so much to eat . Our tour started, part bus and part walking. 

Clean, buildings well kept. Also,well dressed people. The buildings, statues and monuments were too many to take note off. 

Our guide explained it all but too be honest, I just took pictures.

Beautiful residences of a time gone past. A history that now makes Ausria a neutral country.

 We took the catacomb tour. Underground, cold, profound. Lots of coffins of dead bishops. Then in another room deep beneath the church there are bones of the people who have died. A scary yet very sad place.

The church was an example of gothic architecture. 

We chose not to,climb to the top.

What do we do next? Tony and I stayed in town and found some lunch, shopped and people watched. We were back on board in time for the captains dinner and toast.

Champagne and white wine spritzer a for the toast.

Leaving Vienna .

Our second to last dinner. Tomorrow Budapest in Hungary.

Sunday July 28 : Sailing the Blue Danube 

Today they announced that we needed to sail without stops in order to make it to Vienna. Tony and I had gotten up at 6:00 am to prepare for a shore excursion that did not happen. We had breakfast and then I walked the upper deck for 5 miles. Beautiful scenery .

At 10:00 in the morning it was already very hot. Today was one of the hottest days.

Along the sides of the river, there were campers, boats, swimmers and the occasional city. It was Sunday and you could hear the church bells. The Blue Danube valley is lovely. Austria is very green. The trees are different than home.

At lunch time , we had a taste of  Austria lunch. Great beer and sausages. They really tried to make our stay on  board enjoyable.

Dessert was pretty good too. I know I am going to gain 10 pounds on this trip. They have lots of great beer and wine as well.

After lunch more sailing. The afternoon was very hot. Some reports were as high as 40 c. It was hard to find a cool, shady spot. We took a break in our room which is air conditioned from 3:00 to 4:00. Dinner was early because we caught a bus from the ship tp the concert hall in Vienna.  Classical music, opera,and dancing. It was lovely. The sound in the hall was great. The stage is very small. The soprano was wonderful . When we left the concert it was very warm at 10:30 pm. Luckily the bus was air conditioned.

The out side of the concert hall. Hard to get pictures with all the people.

Inside the concert hall waiting for the performances. At intermission they had champagne or orange juice. 

When we came home, we had Hungarian goulash soup. Lovely flavor. We had a drink in the lounge and then went to bed. A full day in Vienna tomorrow.

July 27, 2013 : Our Passau Adventure

We are still behind in our cruise. We are beginning to realize that we are missing some sights and do not have as much time in some cities as others. It's still a good time but a little dissapointing. Last night folks were very upset. The bar was an open bar all night.

The entertainment from last night. The locks we went through yesterday were over 80 feet tall. Just amazing.

Today we decided to take the 2 hour bus ride to Passau which we ordinarily would have docked at today. But things are stil behind and they are scrambling to make it up to us. The bus ride was not that bad. At least the bus was air conditioned. It was very hot here today. Over 38 degrees Celsius.

The streets in the old town are very narrow and old. Passau was flooded just two months ago. Our guide showed us the high water mark. Many buildings had their doors open to air out. There was a smell of mould coming from some buildings. 

The water went up to the bottom of the windows in the pink building. People have worked very hard to cleanup their city. It is a beautiful place. On one side the Danube river and on the other side the Inn river. The third river is the Ilz. Many beautiful churches and neat cobbled streets .

Again the streets were so hot. We were all dripping. Everyone tried to find the shade.

Inside St. Stephens cathedral. Done in the baroque style as compared to the gothic style of the cathedral in Cologne.

Lunch was in the courtyard of a local restaurant which normally would have been lovely but today all we wanted to do was jump in the fountain.

Solid, hearty German food. Pork cutlet, broccoli, spaetzle and sauce. Soup and ice cream with mixed warm berry sauce included. 

In the afternoon we walked around a bit, looking for shade. This is the outside of St. Stephens on the other side. They are painting the church white which is back to its original color. A great contrast to the blue sky. Well we will see what tomorrow will bring.