Postscript

Now that we are home and have had a few days to try (not too successfully) to get our bodies back on Eastern U.S. time, I decided one more entry in this blog is needed.   Our trip home was fairly uneventful, despite the fact that the Budapest to Frankfurt flight left late and cut our connecting time to under an hour.   One interesting thing to note - at Frankfurt airport they now have one terminal just for arrivals and all the other terminals are used for departures.  I don't know if all incoming flights are handled the same way, but we had to disembark down stairs from the aircraft and board a bus to the arrivals terminal instead of exiting via a jetway.  Once in the terminal we had to make our way to the correct gate for our connecting flight, as normal.  I don't know why they have this arrangement and am curious as to how it helps airport traffic flow.

The main thing I'd like to talk about in this post is our observations of the differences between ocean cruising and river cruising.   We have done a lot of ocean cruises and this is our first river cruise, so there may be things that are different on other river cruises.

Upon boarding the ship, our first note was that no one took our picture for security.  There was actually much less security on this cruise than on any ocean cruise.   There was no bag or person xray machine and our room key was similar to a hotel key.  It was actually, better than a hotel key because it had an RFID chip.  We only had to hold it up to the door to unlock it.

The safety drill was a bit different too.  Instead of gathering in a lounge and being escorted to a life-boat station, everyone was told to gather on the top sun deck.  The captain commended us in being able to all get there in under 10 minutes and explained that, if the ship sank the sun deck would  still be above the river water level.  Since the ship would be either docked or close to shore all the time, if there were a problem we might be instructed to just walk off the ship to the shore.

One great advantage to a river cruise is that you never have to take a tender to get to shore.  The ship can dock anywhere.  While we were on this cruise and the lock masters were on strike, the captain proved this by docking in some unorthodox places so we could get on a bus to the next city we were scheduled to tour.

Another advantage is, you don't have to worry about sea sickness.  River water is much calmer than oceans.  The only jostling occurred when we went through the locks.

The state rooms on this river cruise were a little smaller than those on ocean vessels, but still very nice.  There are no regular balconies, but our room had a French balcony.  This consists of a sliding glass door with railings across.  This was nice enough to allow us to get a breeze or take unobstructed photos.

Since river cruise ships are smaller, it is easier to get to know other passengers and the crew.  The ship we were on was at capacity with 168 passengers and about 40 crew members. We got to meet quite a few of our fellow passengers and got to know all the restaurant staff by name.   We also got to have a more personal relationship with the cruise director.  With such a small number of passengers, I think they got to know most of us too. 

On the down side, dinners were always later than Ray & I prefer.  The daily routine was happy hour in the lounge from 6-6:45PM, a briefing on the next day's activities at 6:45PM, and the restaurant opening for dinner at 7PM.  This schedule was sometimes adjusted if the day's tours got in late or a night tour was planned, but for most days dinner didn't end until 9PM.  Entertainment was usually scheduled to begin after dinner and the next day's tours would begin at 8:30AM.  That meant that either you went to dance or hear a band and skimped on sleep, or skipped the entertainment in favor of some sleep.  Guess which we chose.  There were a few times when the entertainment was scheduled before or during happy hour, and we got to go.

We really enjoyed this cruise, but the one thing we missed above all was sea days.  On an ocean cruise there are always days in between ports when you can rest up from the activities of touring.  On a river cruise there are no days off.  You dock every morning in a new city.  Two straight weeks of walking tours every day can be exhausting for people like us.  We are just not that young anymore. 

One thing we learned is that we really didn't have to book the extra tours before the cruise.  On an ocean cruise, this is essential. With a large number of passengers you need to book tours in advance in order to make sure you get the ones you want.  On a river cruise with only 168 passengers, there is always room to accommodate another person on any of the tours.  Although, we probably would have done just as many tours if we hadn't booked ahead.  Despite the exhaustion, we really didn't want to miss anything. 

It was a great trip.  The ship, crew, and itinerary were all excellent.  I would recommend an Avalon European river cruise to anyone who can do it.

Last Day

Today is our last full day in Europe.  Tomorrow we will embark on the long flight home, so today we are resting up for it.  The Avalon cruise staff arranged for a taxi to take us from the ship to our hotel this morning.  It was a short, fast ride. Despite the usual heavy city traffic, the driver had us to our hotel in about 10 minutes.  I think he was in a hurry to go back and pick up some more fares.

We got very lucky at the hotel.  Check in time wasn't until 2pm and we arrived at 10am, but they actually had a clean room available.  We settled in and relaxed for awhile, then went out for a walk.

Saint Stephens Basilica

One of the places the guides said was worth seeing which was not included in yesterday's tours, was St. Stephen's Basilica.  It is only a few blocks from our hotel so that was our destination.  St Stephen was the Hungarian king who led his people to Christianity, and is the patron Saint of Hungary. We spent about an hour looking at all the altars and art. It is a beautiful church.

After that we went looking for lunch.  Ray really wanted a hamburger and we had been told that there are lots of McDonald's in Budapest, so that was our goal.  We walked quite a long time up and down some of the lovely pedestrian streets with no luck.  Finally, we turned back towards the hotel to look for another market square Ray had seen on the map in the other direction.   That's when I spotted a clock with what looked like a McDonald's M in the middle and an arrow below.  Sure enough, this was telling everyone that McDonald's could be found down that cobblestone walk.

When we got there we discovered a mecca of American restaurants, and we decided on a T.G.I. Fridays so Ray could have his burger and I could find something more to my liking (chicken fajitas). I guess this is just about right for 2 Americans' last day in Budapest. ;-))

A van is picking us up tomorrow morning for the trip to the airport.  This is going to be a long day.  We're guessing that it will take about an hour to get to the airport.  We leave the hotel about 7:30AM and our flight from Budapest to Frankfurt leaves at 10:40AM.   We arrive in Frankfurt about 12:25PM, then catch the next flight to Orlando at 2:05PM.  That is supposed to put us in Orlando at 6:10PM Eastern time. Then comes the ordeal through customs and the ride home in the Villages shuttle van.   Our travel time from first takeoff to final landing is supposed to be 13 hrs and 30 minutes.  Add in the 3 hours from our hotel pickup until takeoff and 2 to 2 and a half hours from landing until we get home, and we are expecting our travel time tomorrow to be something like 19 hours.  So dear friends and family, don't expect much from us for a few days.  We are going to be zonked.  Maybe that will help get our internal clocks back on Florida time.

Budapest

Entering Budapest

I'm a day late writing this because we had a very full day yesterday.  Our cruise director arranged with the captain for us to not sail into Budapest until after 8AM.  That allowed us to finish breakfast then go up on the sun deck to see the port for the first time while she gave a commentary.  Originally we had not planned to go off on the included city tour in the morning, but once I saw this magnificent city, I decided I would regret it if I didn't.  I caught Ray off guard and he wasn't ready to leave the ship by the 8:45AM bus departure time, so I went on my own. 

Heroes Square

The bus took us on a ride around the city, while the guide pointed out various buildings and monuments and told us a little about her city.  Most of the tour was on the bus, but after about an hour the bus brought us to some stairs leading to St Matthias Church up on the hill.  It was only one flight of stairs and then a gentle walk along a cobblestone path overlooking the city, with the Danube on our left. 

St Mathias Church

We couldn't go inside the church, but we got to take photos of the city from this great vantage point and browse in the shops around the square.  After taking my fill of photos and deciding which direction to go in, I spotted  special treat.  Two men came walking into the square in medieval attire and carrying 2 birds on their leather-gloved hands.  One was a falcon and the other was a hawk.  I followed them until they settled in a central spot on the square and watched the hawk put on a show of it's powerful wings.

Hawk near St Mathias Church

After the bus dropped us back at the ship I found Ray and we had a quick lunch with our friends.  He had taken a walk off the ship while I was gone to see if any of the buildings along the shore contained the hotel we are booked in after eaving the ship.   He didn't find it, but he did figure out where it was later.  It's not far.  Next we headed off on the afternoon tour with our Australian friends.  This was to an artists' community called "Szentendre." 

Inside Serbian Orthodox Church

We walked the length of the town as the guide explained some of the products being offered in the shops, then visited the museum of Margit Kovacs' ceramic art and a Serbian Orthodox church.  We couldn't take photos in the art museum, but I have included a link.

When we left the church the weather turned bad.  It was raining and a very strong wind was blowing through the streets.  We worked our way back towards the bus, along with a couple of friends, stopping for hot (I should say warm) chocolate and to browse in a few shops on the way back.  The wind got pretty vicious,  tearing loose a metal gate and downing several trees along the river.  We have been very lucky with the weather on this trip, so I guess this afternoon evened things out a little.


After dinner, we headed back out on the third and final tour - Budapest's Night Lights.  The buses took us to 3 vantage points around the city to see the lovely city lights.

Budapest Parliament At Night

Of course we were exhausted by the time we hit the bed and fell immediately to sleep.  This morning we had to disembark, but we arranged for the taxi to take us to our hotel at 9:30AM, giving us a little time for breakfast, goodbyes, and to finish packing.

I'll talk about that in the next installment.

Bratislava

I am writing as much of this as I can while my laptop still has power.  I am having trouble with my power converter. The one I have is set up to handle most different configurations around the world.  The main problem is that it is a rectangular cube and all the European standard plugs on the ship are recessed round holes.  So despite the fact that the prongs are long enough to reach, a rectangular cube won't fit in a round hole so it doesn't connect firmly. I have tried all sorts of Rube Goldberg solutions to get it to stay in place, and have succeeded up until now.  It just won't be coerced today.  The ship personnel loaned me one but it only takes straight 2 pronged U.S. plugs.  That works for everything but my Mac, which requires either a 3 prong plug or a square power brick that, once again, won't fit in a round hole.  I might have better luck when we transfer to the hotel in Budapest on Wednesday but I'm not counting on it.  For some reason I have been unable to publish the blog from my iPad (which I can charge),  but I might have to try again.  At the moment my Mac is at 36% power, so this may be the last time I use it until I get home.

Dawn Over Bratislava

We arrived in Bratislava early this morning and once again went out on an 8:30AM tour.  We are both really looking forward to sleeping late when we get home.  The tour guide, Dagmar, lead us to the bus, which had to park a few blocks away.  We rode around the city for about an hour to see some of the nice homes on the side of the mountain, including residences for the U.S., British, and Chinese ambassadors.  The U.S. Ambassador's residence looks like a mini white house. 


Then the bus left us off in the old section of town for a walking tour.

Slovakia is definitely the poorer half of the former Czechoslovakia.   There are many more austere structures reflecting the Communist era.  Many buildings were bombed during WW II and replaced by uninteresting box buildings. They are trying to restore many of their old buildings but it is obvious that it is taking them longer to do so.  We were interested to see that they still run electric trams through the city.

They do have a sense of humor though. We saw a wonderful sculpture of a man sticking out of a manhole in the old town.  Our guide said he is trying to look up ladies skirts.

Sculpture in the Old City

We also visited St Martin's Catholic Cathedral and the Bratislava Castle.   We were able to go inside the cathedral and learn a little of the history of that church as it survived the Communist era.  Our guide was very good in balancing the positive and negative aspects of their history.   It was interesting to note that, in this area in the 18th and 19th centuries, Protestants were only allowed to build their churches as plain buildings with no spires or other outward indications of their religion.  During the Communist era, only those approved could study for the Catholic priesthood and people going to church wore hoods so no one would know who they were.  Now, Catholicism is the dominate religion.

The Old City Hall

We saw lots of lovely old homes, churches, and remnants of the old city wall.  There is a great pedestrian promenade through the center of town past several embassy buildings, with fountains and a chess board built into the cobblestones that is large enough for people to be the chess pieces.

Chess Board on the Promenade

At the end of the tour We did a little souvenir shopping and went back to the ship for lunch.  We were supposed to go on a tour to a castle outside the city this afternoon, but we were too tired.  This was been a great trip, but the one bad thing is that there have been no rest days.  Both of us have sore legs and backs from so much walking that we are not used to.    

There is a music group coming on board at 5:30 to give us a little pre-dinner concert.  Tomorrow we arrive in Budapest, our last stop and we hope to make it through all the scheduled tours then.

Vienna

In Front of Schoenbrunn Palace

Private Garden

Main Garden

Carriages on the Place Grounds

Today we spent the whole day in lovely Vienna, the classical music capital of the world.   We began the day with a visit to Schoenbrunn Palace, the summer palace of the Habsburg dynasty from the time of Maximilian II until the end of the monarchy in Austria.  The castle itself is huge,  with over 300 rooms plus a theater building, carriage house, and horse stables.   If that weren't enough, the property contains a huge front courtyard, massive gardens, statues, a garden maze, and a zoo!  The next to last emperor Karl Joseph and his empress Elizabeth had 16 children and preferred this to the main residence in the city.







We toured only a few rooms in the castle in the first hour and a half, then were given an hour of free time to wander in the gardens.  Many of the rooms we saw were decorated with oriental art.  Several of the children were also talented artists, and their art decorates some other rooms.  In particular, one daughter produces excellent family portraits.




On the bus ride to and from the palace the guide gave us a tour of the famous buildings we passed.   It is a beautiful city with lots of interesting architecture in a variety of styles. We passed the famous feris wheel that Ray rode when he was here many years ago.  There was another city tour offered in the afternoon, but we decided to rest instead.  We didn't want to fall asleep during our evening tour.  The ship's restaurant offered an early dinner buffet instead of the usual sit-down dinner.  We had wiener schnitzel, potato salad, and carrots, an excellent Austria meal.  At 7:30PM we boarded the buses again for a ride to the Heeresgeschichitiches Museum (Museum of Military History) for a concert of Strauss and Mozart music by the Salonorchester Alt Wien (Salon Orchestra of Vienna).

The building was spectacular.  Upon entering there are statues of military heroes lining the path to a grand staircase.  The ceilings above the staircase are all painted with art as in most baroque buildings. The entrance to the concert hall is on the second level. This is a large open room with a stage.  They use regular chairs for concerts because these can be removed when a ball is held in this room.  Our guide explained that balls are a big thing in Vienna.  Everyone learns to dance by age 15 and balls are held for every occasion.  For festival days a ball might be held in a building that has several ball rooms, each with a different stye of music.  This way, a multi-generational family can go to the same place , each generation going to the room with the music they like, then meeting up later for coffee or an after ball breakfast.

Entrance and Grand Staircase from the First Landing

AConcert Hall Ceiling

Our concert tonight consisted of 2 45 minute sets with an intermission and a glass of champagne or orange juice in between.   In addition to the orchestra there was a soprano, a baritone, and a pair of ballet dancers performing to some of the music.  This added a very nice interpretive layer to the music.  We enjoyed it very much.

On the way back to the ship we got another small city tour, seeing Vienna at night.  It was lovely.

Melk, Duernstein and the Wachau Valley

Melk Abbey

Today was a 2 port day.  We began by docking in Melk before sunrise this morning. At 8:15AM we were off for a tour of the Melk Benedictine Abbey.  This is a church, a school, and a place for 15 Mocks to live.  Another 15 monks are based here but are assigned to churches in the surrounding communities. The Abbey is very large, as our pictures just might hint. 

Melk Cross 1362

We began by touring a wing set aside as a museum.  Here we saw religious art, the Melk Cross containing a relic of the true cross, several impressive Monstrance, Chalices, and staffs.  After a few minutes on a veranda overlooking the town we entered the library. They have a large collection of antique books, many of which were hand copied by previous generations of monks.  No photos are allowed in the library and books must be read there - they cannot be taken out.

Inside Melk Abbey Church

From there we entered the church.  It is a very ornate Baroque church, with gold everywhere. There are paintings on the ceilings here, in the library, and in several other of the rooms.  The Benedictines take a vow of poverty, but they support the Abbey through forestry and tourism.


There was a wonderful old grandfather clock outside the gift shop.  I looked it up later and found it is called the Ischl Clock.  It was built about 1810 and is made of 10 different kinds of wood found around Bad Ischl - pear, walnut, oak, beech, linden, maple, ash, Scots pine, larch, and spindle tree.

Ischl Clock

After leaving the church we met some friends and decided to take the walk through town back to the ship instead of taking the bus.  This was a pleasant walk, although the first section consisted of many steps down the side of the hill.  The stairs were even and there was a good railing so it wasn't bad. Once in town we stopped for coffee and a little shopping before heading back to the ship.

Avalon Panorama docked in Melk on the Danube

Everyone was back on board for lunch as we shoved off to travel a little further up river to Duernstein. On the way we stood on the sun deck and took pictures as our cruise director narrated the sites of the Wachau valley.  We docked again about 2PM and most of the people on board went for a walking tour of Duernstein.  The last 2 days have been long ones and we got our walk in this morning, so we decided to stay on board this afternoon.  This is a pretty but very small town and we can see most of it from the ship anyway.

Church with Watchtower in the Wachau Valley

A few of our new friends on board went on a biking excursion along the Danube this afternoon.  There was a truck with a trailer full of bicycles waiting for them outside.   This is the second excursion of this type offered, but it came with a warning - if you haven't biked in a while, this isn't the time to start.  We accepted that warning.

Duernstein

Tonight there was a wine tasting during happy hour and I sampled three wines of the region.  They were very light, nice enough, but not enough body for my taste.  The dinner menu tonight included several local dishes, including a duck with orange sauce and an apricot dumpling for dessert. I tried both of these and they were quite good.  After dinner some members of the crew put on a show for us.  It was a lot of fun, with several interesting surprises.  They alternated between comedy, singing and one couple who did a tango.  I didn't have my camera, so no photos and it would take more than a paragraph to explain. 

The ship will be docked here until 11:15PM, then on to Vienna.

Cesky Krumlov

Map of the city of Cesky Krumlov

Rosenberg Castle on the Vltava River

Today was a great day.  We docked in Deggendorf and, once the crew figured out how to set the exit ramps, we boarded the bus for a 2 hour drive to Cesky Krumlov in the Czech Republic.  On the way our bus guide, Peter,  talked about the history of the area and his impression of the area as he grew up in Salzburg, Austria.   We made a pit stop at a very nice McDonalds about a hour up the road. 


Cesky Krumlov is a beautiful medieval town and a UNESCO world heritage site.  It has scars from the Communist era, but they have been working on restorations and doing a good job of it.  We had an excellent guide in the city, named Sharka.  She walked us through the city at a reasonable pace, explaining the history of the city and it's structures.   The most prominent feature on the city is the castle, built by the Rosenberg family, who lived there from 1302 until the 17th century.

After the tour Sharka recommended several restaurants where we could get lunch.  Along with 3 others from our group we choose a cafeteria style place that she said had good food at a good price.  She was right.  Ray and I had a nice lunch for under 7 Euros and the couple we were with got their lunch for under 5 Euros.  Although they use their own currency in the Czech Republic, this area gets a lot of tourists, so all the stores accept the Euro.  Everywhere we went, prices were easily half what we saw in other countries.  The Czech Republic economy is still not up to where it should be, but, according to our bus guide,  it has made significant progress in the past 10-20 years.

At lunch I tried the local dark beer and it was quite good.  It seems that the Czechs love their beer just as much, if not more than the Germans.  It is cheaper than water or soda and, despite the fact that some of their beer has up to 8% alcohol, the people do not consider beer alcohol.   If asked if they drink alcohol, they may answer, no, only beer.   By the way, the most popular beer in the area is Bud.  There is a town nearby named Budweis, which the American beer was named after.

One of Several Cafes Advertising Bud

 After lunch we visited the Catholic church, St Vitus, to see the interior art.  It was lovely, as promised.  This church is still active but only 20% of the population still consider themselves Catholic and even fewer attend church.  This is said to be the most atheist country in Europe.   However, when we passed the church earlier, there were a bride and groom being photographed on the stairs to the church.

Bride & Groom at St Vitus

After the church we wandered around, doing a little shopping and taking in the sights. On the Vltava River, which flows in a U shape around the town, people were rafting.  Some obviously had some of the local beer.  The photo below shows a group of 6 rafters we watched go under a bridge.  Shortly after coming out the other side of the bridge they had to make a turn and the guy you see in the back lying on his stomach slid off the raft and into the cold water.  (It was shallow and he was unharmed.) They just pulled over to the side where 2 of them went to a restaurant on the shore and came out with a couple of coolers to load into the rafts.

Local Sport

Our return bus trip was great too.  Since our ship was still catching up, we left it in Germany this morning and met it in Englehatzell, Austria tonight.  The ride through rural Czech Republic and Austria was beautiful - rolling hills, the Bohemian lake, forests and green fields.   I can understand why so many people from this area choose to settle in the northeast when they came to the USA.  The landscape reminded me of New York and Pennsylvania.  Normally most of the bus would have been asleep on the way back from a day trip like this, but no one wanted to miss the view on this trip.

Our ship is now back on schedule.  We will dock in Melk tomorrow as in the original itinerary.