August 10 - Londonderry / Derry

When we got up in the morning and ready for the day, we went on another of the optional tours we had purchased. This one was a tour of the Inishowen Peninsula (Grianan of Aileach). It was a raining, cloudy morning, and we weren't sure what we would see. However, after driving for a couple hours, we went off the main road (narrow as it was), and onto another, even narrower road, beginning to climb up into the hills.

3-ring Stone Fort

Entrance to the Fort

Near the top of the hill, we came upon a stone fort, which was built in a round format. The walls were about 20 feet high, and entry was through a low, narrow doorway. This is where they watched for the enemy ships (Viking, English, French, etc) and brought the people living around the fort inside if they were attacked. There were tunnels inside the walls where the women and children hid during enemy attack, while the men manned the walls and fought off the enemy. Because of the low cloud, we couldn't see too much, but there was a view of the ocean where the enemy ships were trying to come ashore.

View From the Road

After that, we carried on to another view site, but Dawn and I didn't get off the bus. The road was so narrow, that the bus had to stop on the road because he couldn't get turned around if he had gone into the viewing site. Another vehicle came along, and he had to back up until we could get past him. I was sure glad that we weren't driving the bus. My goodness, these roads were narrow. Then it was back to the hotel and lunch.

After lunch, we had a walking tour along the city walls with our guide, Ronan McNamerra. He was a man of Irish / Chinese decent and had a great accent and a great sense of humour. He was a lot of fun to listen to and kept our attention as he gave us some of the history of this city. It was one of the memorable tours because Ronan was so engaging. He had a way about himself that made you pay attention.

City Wall

City Hall

The city wall was built around the city as a means of defence. There was only a small part of the wall left standing for historical purposes. It was about 12 feet wide, and perhaps up to 20 feet high. There were gates to the city built into the wall, and we walked over a couple of them. Then, he took us on a short tour of part of the old town. He talked about the various merchants that were in different locations and gave us a good overview of what life must have been like back in those days.

A highlight was walking past one of the cafes, and the sign that was in the window. It shows in the following picture.

A Sign of the Times?

Finally, he took us back to our pick-up location, and we had a bit of time until the bus was to pick us up. Then it was back to our hotel for dinner, and off to bed. Tomorrow, we were travelling on to Belleek and Galway.

August 9 - Titanic and Giant's Causeway

We were up and off by 8:30 am this morning. Our first stop was in Belfast, where the Titanic was built. They have an exhibit in a very large building that showed the process of the building of the Titanic. It took us through the whole process, right from the time the keel was laid, until the ship was launched. It took us through what life was like for the workers, the riveting of the plates of steel to the keel and struts, the fitting out of the ship, what the rooms in the various classes were like, where the crew lived, and so on. It was different than the exhibit we saw in Victoria because that was to display the artifacts that had been recovered from the sunken ship. This was about the construction of this giant ship.

Rope Bridge to an Island 

From there, we were off along the northwest coast to visit a site known as the Giant's Causeway. This is an area where the volcanic matter was laid down to create a very rugged coastline and some islands off the coast. Of course, there is a legend about how a giant laid down the huge columns of basalt to create a causeway to the Scottish lands where he messed with another giant's wife. That giant came home, and the one from Ireland barely escaped back across the causeway, being chased by the Scottish giant.

When the Irish giant got to his home, he ran into the house and his mother told him to get into bed. When the Scottish giant came in, he was still looking for the Irish giant. He pulled open the bedroom door, and there was the Irish giant in bed, pretending to be a baby. The Scottish giant saw a picture of the Irish giant on the wall, and it looked just like the baby laying in the bed so he ran away, not wanting to meet the father of this giant baby.

As the Scottish giant ran back to Scotland across the Causeway, his heavy steps caused the Causeway columns to collapse, leaving a couple islands in a line across the Irish Sea.

Cement Fence Post

Peace Bridge

From there, it was on to Londonderry / Derry. It is called this because the Protestants are supporters of England, and want it named after London. However, the Catholics want nothing to do with England, and only want it called Derry. It depends who you talk to what it is called.After checking in to the hotel, we went on a walking tour of Derry and the Peach Bridge. This is a walking bridge spanning the river, joining the old part of town with the British fort on the other side. It is an attempt to heal the rift between the religions after the "troubles".

Leaving the Restaurant

After that, it was on to an award-winning restaurant, Tiberquay, for an optional dinner that night. Then, it was back to the hotel and off to bed. Tomorrow, we have a couple tours in and around Londonderry.

August 8 - On to Belfast

We were up early and on the bus by 8:15 am. This morning, we drove to Belfast, with a pit stop on the way. When we arrived in Belfast, we were taken on a Black Cab tour. These were mostly typical Black Cabs that can be seen on British TV. Some of the cabs were small vans that held more people.

One of the Cabbies

Protestant Mural

All the cabs went to the same places, and at times, we stopped and heard from a couple of the drivers who spoke about what Belfast was like during "the Troubles". The cabbies were a mixture of Catholic and Protestant drivers, each having a good sense of humour, but wanting us to see, and get a feel for, what life was like in Northern Ireland during that time.

Mural in Protestant Section

First, we stopped at a Protestant area and one of the cabbies who was Protestant spoke to us about the characters involved, the murals that were painted, and tried to explain why they were fighting to stay as part of the United Kingdom. He talked about some of the leaders who were fighting for their convictions and the many who were killed.

The Wall Between Catholic and Protestant

Then we drove to the wall that is still standing and helping to keep one of the Catholic areas apart from the Protestants. Now they are living in peace, but the wall is not something that they want to take down.  It is a very tall wall (40 feet high) and over a mile long. We stopped and heard about it, and about the people who have written slogans of peace on the wall. Dawn wrote our name on it, along with people like John Lennon.

Catholic Cabbie

Catholic Mural

From there, we went inside the wall and stopped at a Catholic memorial to those killed during the fighting. A Catholic driver gave this presentation, and it was quite a different point of view from the Protestant presentation. He spoke of the sociopaths and psychopaths who shot many innocent women and children. What a sobering set of presentations, even though these cabbies were good friends, with many living in communities of the other religion.

After checking into our hotel, it was back on the bus to take a guided walking tour of the back streets of Belfast. Our guide was a woman who had a great sense of humour. We only walked through a small part of the city, but she took us to many places that we likely wouldn't have gone to. She spoke of them as places the locals went. In all cases, she was a fast-talking, humorous guide.

Mural outside Pub Wall

Carved Wood Door in Pub

We visited one of the local pubs that had a door made of special wood and beautifully carved. Then she took us to another bar (her favourite) where we were treated to a drink as part of the tour. When we were finished there, we re-boarded the bus and drove to a fish and chip shop that had stayed open just for us. This was another favourite of our guide and I have to admit, it was very good.

Then it was back to our hotel, and get ready for bed. Tomorrow, we do some more touring in Belfast, and then drive on to another town.

Bookmaking Shop in Belfast

August 7 - To Ireland

We were up and ready to leave by 4:55 am. Our car arrived, we loaded our bags in the trunk and set off to Munich airport (Dawn and I were the only ones leaving this early). The driver spoke English well, and got us there in plenty of time. Dawn rode in the back seat, and could see the speedometer, and noticed that at one time, we were going over 150 km/h. It didn't feel like that, but he got us there inside of 2 hours.

I had checked in the previous day, so we just had to check our bags, go through security, and then head for the boarding gate. It was quite a walk, and when we got there, there were only 2 other people there already. However, by the time we boarded, the gate was full of people, sitting and standing.  We boarded the plane, found our seats, and flew off to Dublin.

At Dublin, we collected our bags and then found our travel company greeter.  She took us to where the bus was located, and when the driver arrived, we set off for the hotel in Dublin. It was a Radisson hotel, very nice but hot inside the room. We had a bus tour of the city at 3:00 pm so when that time rolled around, off we went to view the sites of Dublin.

We viewed some sites of the city, and finished at a graveyard, for a graveyard tour. The tour was led by a local guide who knew an amazing number of facts and dates. She pointed out the tombstones of some famous people of Ireland, who were instrumental in Ireland being the way it is. The chronology of the walk developed the players in what is known as "the Troubles", and problems between the Catholics and the Protestants. It was an interesting introduction to this country and although the wind was blowing pretty hard, we enjoyed the information.

The tour was followed by a welcome reception at the cafe in the graveyard where we met some of the other people on the tour, and got some drinks and appetizers. We were up and off to Belfast by 8:15 in the morning, so it was back to the hotel and off to bed.

August 6 - Regensburg, Germany

We arrived in Regensburg by 10:00 am and set off on our guided walking tour of Regensburg. It was quite a long walk from the ship, along the riverside until we reached where we were going to go into the old part of town.

We viewed a very old church, the Cathedral of St. Peter, and saw where it was first started about 6 centuries ago, and then had the newer part added on, farther to the west, made of different stone. There is still work going on in present times.

Our guide was very humorous, and we very much enjoyed the stories he told as well as his take on politics, present and past. The final place he took us before leaving us on his own was to the historic Wurstkuchl, a tavern by the Danube. It is considered the oldest "fast-food" restaurant in the world. It was developed to provide a lunch facility for the workers who built a bridge across the Danube in the 12th century.

After he left us, we used the bathrooms that were there, and then went back looking for and ATM the guide had suggested and one of the stores that Dawn had seen on the tour. This was back up the hill into the old town, and then trying to find it. After quite a bit more walking, we finally found all the places we were looking for, and then went back to the ship. We were very tired of walking, going ove 12,000 steps today.

We spent the rest of the afternoon/evening on the ship. We had to get our bags packed and ready because we were the first off the ship (4:55 am) the next morning. Then, there was a farewell cocktail hour and farewell port talk where they clarified the disembarkation procedures for the next day.

Then it was to the dining room for the farewell dinner. They outdid themselves for that meal, once again creating a 5 course extravaganza. Of course the fois gras was not to our taste, but the rest was simply amazing. As we had done for the rest of the trip, we ate too much. Dinner was followed by the final entertainment show in the lounge - "Hansi" a comedy musician. He was fairly funny, but we decided to leave before the show was over because we had to get up so early.

Then it was into bed, setting the alarm for 3:45 so we could be ready when the ride arrived to take us to Munich.

August 5 - Passau, Germany

We arrived in Passau at about 7:00 am.  This is another old city where 3 rivers meet; the Danube, the Inns, and the Ilz. It was the one port where Dawn was concerned about the water level because she could remember from a few years ago, watching pictures on the news of Passau being seriously flooded. We had been told that if the water is too high, we won't be able to get under some of the bridges, so would have to move from place to place on buses. As it was, that didn't happen.

Today, there was an optional tour to Salzburg which we were not going on. We had been there when we were here for the Finland hockey tournament, and the tour was the same as we had gone on. Instead, we went on a brief walking tour of the old town and visited some of the sites in the city.

The church was one of the highlights of this tour. It has an organ with over 1700 pipes, and each day at 12:00 noon, there is a half hour concert. We wanted to go to it, so made sure to purchase tickets for this concert. Then, there was a more than an hours wait until the concert started. It was drizzling on and off, so wasn't the most pleasant of times, but we were able to get into some stores (of course) to purchase some souvenirs.

With about an hour to go, we finally went back to the church and sat on some benches that were under cover, to wait until the doors opened. We watched more and more people coming to purchase tickets, and it looked like there was going to be a big crowd.

When the doors opened, we finally got in and grabbed a couple of chairs, rather than sit in the hard, uncomfortable-looking pews. Before the concert started, it seemed that the place was full. Someone said at one point that they thought there were 400 people there for the concert, and that sounded about right.

When it started, we sat and listened for the half hour. It was pretty amazing to hear the high and the low sounds that could be created. There were 5 different places where the pipes were located in the church, and the pieces that were played highlighted the various pipe sections. It was like stereo sound, hearing where the sounds came from.

After that, it was back to the ship to laze around for the rest of the day. As I said, we were tired, and it felt good to not have something on the agenda. During the wait, there was an announcement over the PA system that they were going to move the ship for a couple hours because they needed a diver to go down and make some repairs to the thrusters. We sat in the lounge at the front, and watched as they moved the ship, and then moored at another industrial dock to wait for the diver to arrive.

Finally he showed up, got into his wet suit and went in the water. Later he came back up and got a torch to cut something. Then, his helper pulled up some grating, which I at first thought was stuck in the thruster prop, but turned out to be the cover of the thruster. After this, they started pulling something up, which turned out to be a very long piece of mooring rope that had been caught in the thruster propeller.

We were moored here much longer than anticipated, so the ship taxied the people who had stayed on shore back to this moorage area. When everyone was aboard, we left for our final port, Regensburg.

August 4 - Cesky Krumlov

We arrived in Linz, Austria about 7:00 am. From here, we had booked an optional tour to a medieval town in the Czech Republic called Cesky Krumlov. It was about a 2 hour drive from the ship, and we had to bring our passports because there was a possibility that we would have to show them at the border.

We took a pit stop at a gas station, just before the border, and then continued on. As it was, there were no guards visible when we got to the border although there was a bit of a roadblock a short distance later in a small village. We didn't get stopped and so carried on to the site.

Fountain in the Garden

When we arrived, the bus let us off near the upper gates of the town. We met our local guide, Lukas, at that point, and began the walk into the town. The upper part consisted of both an English garden and a French garden. They both were quite nice to see. We walked through the gardens and down toward the castle, going down a very old rock staircase. Then we continued downward and came to a viewing area by the palace that gave us a very nice view of the town that was below the palace.

View Through Porthole

When we finished there, we continued walking down towards the river that was like a natural moat around the town. The cobblestone streets were narrow and somewhat hard to walk on. We looked at the shops that were there and got out of the way of the few cars that drove down the streets. Not many were allowed there. They had to get special permits to drive in the old town, and these were hard to get.

Lukas had quite a dry sense of humour and told us many stories about this town and his country. He told one story about the town barber and his beautiful daughter. The crazy, rich king living in the palace took a fancy to the barber's daughter and took her to live with him in the palace. After some time together, he got angry at her and threw her out of the palace window.

Looking up at the Palace

Fortunately, she didn't die due to landing on the garbage that gathered below the palace walls. She was injured, but living, and she went back to live in her father's house. Later, the crazy ruler wanted her to come back to live with him, but her father refused, so the ruler had him killed and the girl came back to live in the palace. Well, a couple weeks later, he got angry with her again and decided to chop her up into small pieces with his sword and then throw her out the palace window. He wanted to make sure that she was really dead this time.

We stopped for some photos on a bridge crossing the river below the palace. The palace wall was very imposing. Lukas pointed out an interesting item hanging out from the wall of the castle. This was the toilet which worked on the gravity principle, with all the waste dropping to the grounds below the wall.

From there, we walked around some more, viewing some of the sites in the village. Then we went into an old restaurant for lunch. This was an interesting place, with many small rooms that lots of our group had to squeeze into. We were fortunate to get seats near the door so there was a bit of a breeze blowing in to cool us off. The other rooms were small and hot.

After that, we had free time for a couple hours to explore, but we were tired and hot and decided to go to the meeting place to wait. We sat on the bridge for a while and then joined a lady from the ship who was sitting outside a restaurant having a coffee. We joined her and ordered a soft drink. While we waited, more and more of our group joined us until it seemed like almost everyone was there, filling the tables outside the restaurant.

Finally, everyone was there, and the cruise directors returned to take us back to the bus. Thank goodness we didn't have to walk back up the way we came in, but it was quite a long walk back to the bus. Then it was the trip back to the ship and some comfortable rest.

Tomorrow, off to Passau.

The Town

Palace Decoration

Tower

Panorama of the Village

August 3 - Durnstein and Melk

This morning, we were up fairly early because we had an early start to our tours. We arrived in a little village called Durstein, which is located at the beginning of the Wachau Valley, one of the major grape producing areas of Austria.  Durnstein is a small village built on the banks of the Danube, below an old fortress that is in ruins. This Fort is one where Richard the Lionheart of England was held captive for 2 months because he had an argument with the king of the castle.

The village was really interesting. The ship’s Cruise Directors took all the passengers on a walk through the village, pointing out some of the interesting things. Apricots are a major product of this part of Austria, so they have lots of items made from Apricots for sale in most of the stores. Apricot liqueur is one of those, and many stores gave away samples to try and entice folks to purchase some.

We ended up purchasing some Apricot jam, and a small bag of chocolate covered apricots. We also purchased some other things, but the apricot jam was the major reason for making purchases.

The village was quite beautiful, and it was easy to picture what life must have been like in the 16th century.

We were scheduled to leave Durnstein at 11:00 to travel through the the Wachau Valley. We got back a little early, grabbed the camera, and went up on the top deck to view the sights in this valley.

We saw the many villages and vineyards along the 40 km of this valley. It was very beautiful, and we learned lots about the history of the villages and towns along the way. One of the Cruise directors gave us the information as we went along.

After leaving the valley, we arrived in another village called Melk. This is the home of a palace once belonging to Leopold III. In the 11th century he gave the palace to the Benedictine monks. They converted it into a fortified abbey and it soon became a hub of intellectual learning.

Now, it is still run by the Benedictine monks, and contains  over 80,000 priceless volumes in the library housed in the abbey. We were able to see 2 of the library rooms, and they were pretty amazing.

From the library, we went into the church. Walking into the huge area was breathtaking. It was very large, and surrounded by gold plated statues and religious painting. Similar to the church we saw in Hungary, it was quite amazing.

After this tour, it was back to the ship and get ready for leaving. We attended the talk about what was happening tomorrow, and then had supper. As usual, it was fantastic. By the time it was finished, it was 9:00, and we were both pretty tired and headed off to our cabin, rather than gather in the lounge to play games.

Tomorrow we stop in Linz and take a trip to Cesky Krumlov in the Czech Republic. This is a pretty full day, so we will be up early again tomorrow.

August 2 - Vienna, Austria

I got up before the alarm went off and had my shower. By the time I was finished, it was time for Dawn to get up. We had to get breakfast in before the tour left at 8:15 am.  We went to breakfast and had what we wanted. We sat with the two women from dinner last night, and another lady joined us, part way through. She was from Seattle so there was lots to talk about. Her luggage hadn't arrive yet, so she spent much of yesterday doing some shopping. She had lots of problems because her debit card didn't work (didn't have the chip), so it took her some time to et the money to pay for the things she bought.

After breakfast, we headed back to our room to get ready for the tour. However, we both weren't too keen on going this morning. We were still tired from all the walking yesterday so decided not to go in the morning. We did have two tours later on in the day.

After lunch, we took an optional tour to the Schoenbrunn Palace. This was the home of the ruling family of Austria over many years in the 16th century and on. This palace was used for various things. One king didn’t like it for a summer palace and started building one near downtown Vienna, the next decided it was great and moved back to the original palace. Finally Marie Theresa, a much loved ruler even now, consolidated everything at the Schoenbrunn Palace.

It is a huge place with over 1000 rooms (the tour guide said we were going to see them all, but then laughed and told us we were only going to see one section.  

The grounds are huge. There is a huge garden behind that goes up to an Arch of Triumph, and apparently there is as much garden on the other side of the Arch. Inside the main courtyard, there are buildings all around, and likely housed some of the guards in the old days.

Near the palace, we stopped and looked down the length of the building. The guard and servant quarters extended for ½ a mile each way. The place was absolutely huge.

Inside we went through a number of rooms, viewing the various things and admiring the value of the things in there. It was similar to the palace we had visited in St. Petersburg. They lived a very rich and pampered life (when they weren’t having babies).

The tour was only an hour long with the guide, and once she was finished with us, we went back outside. It was hot, so we went and sat under an umbrella and had a drink. We were due back to the bus by a set time, and we made it with lots of time to spare.

After that, it was back to the ship for dinner.

After dinner, we had another optional tour to a Viennese Concert. This was downtown in a concert hall of no particular importance, but, one of several in the city.

Inside the building, we had to go upstairs a couple of floors, because there was more than one concert room in this place. The one we were scheduled to attend was in a middle-sized hall, about 10 meters wide by 20 meters long. It had a very high ceiling which was rounded to reflect sound back down into the room. There was a small stage with a number of chairs set up.

For the audience, there were about 40 rows of seats, each having about 20 seats. The seats were padded, wooden seats that were wide, although not overly comfortable. There were also seats ringed around the room, so in all, the hall likely held about 1000 people.

When the orchestra entered, there were 3 women and 8 men, one who was the concertmaster. One woman was on the piano, 2 were on violins. The Concertmaster played violin, and another man did, too. The rest of the men played viola, cello, bass, clarinet, oboe, and flute.

They sat down and began playing. It was great to hear, and they were very good.

The group also included two singers; the woman sang soprano, and the man sang tenor. Their pieces were operetta songs. Along with the singers, there were also two ballet dancers, a man and a woman.

The concert was about an hour and a half, with a 15 minute intermission. Time went by very quickly. We really enjoyed the performance, and were surprised at how the time had gone by so quickly.

Back to the boat we went, and off the ship went for the next day. We would be visiting a couple small villages and sailing through some very pretty country for a stretch of quiet time.

August 1 - Bratislava, Slovakia

When we awoke, we were still sailing. We had breakfast and then settled back to watch the river flow by. About 9:45, we went through the first of 14 locks that are on the Danube. This one is apparently the biggest and the most interesting, at least according to the Cruise Director.

It was very similar to what we saw in Panama and in China. In this lock, there were 4 boats. In front of us was a cargo boat, and beside it on the other side of the lock was the ship that we had caught up to in the morning. Then us, and apparently another boat came in behind us on the other side.

This was interesting because we weren't in a narrow part of the river, and there certainly weren't any hills/mountains around us. Apparently the river was not in its original riverbed. Instead, they had dammed the river, creating a lake in order to have a water drop so that hydro electric power could be generated. Of course, they had to have a way for ships to get up and down the river, so they built a lock to move up to the next level. It looked like there were 2 locks, side by side and I would imagine that one was for going up and the other for going down.

Once through the lock, we sailed on what was a man-made lake. They had built up walls on each side, and we were sailing above the level of the land and the villages that we passed. It was a strange feeling seeing the terrain go by below our level. I wouldn't want to be around there if something happened and the wall was broken. I'm sure there would be a lot of flooding and death, not to mention the river traffic being unable to travel.

At the same time as we went through the lock, there was a demonstration of how to make Apple Strudel. We wanted to go to that, but wanted to watch the passing of the lock, too, so chose to stay on the deck and watch the passage. Apple strudel was on the menu for dessert, so it would have been nice to see how the experts make it.

We had eaten a big breakfast, so chose not to have lunch. Instead, we went to our cabin and had a nap. About 2:00 we arrived in Bratislava, the capital city of Slovakia, and docked.  Then at 2:30 we set off on a walking tour of the old town. This was a guided tour, and each cabin was given 2 machines that would let us hear the guide as he provided commentary on the things we were seeing.

Our guide was Jan. He was a young fellow who clearly knew a lot about the Old City and the history around it. He had quite a sense of humour, and told us many stories about why things were the way they were in the old days, always giving some dry humour sprinkled within his stories. He was fun to listen to, and we learned a lot about what life must have been like in the medieval cities.

The tour was about 2 hours long, and after that we had some free time. Dawn wanted to find a post office, and she asked our guide where to find one. He explained where it was, and pointed out were it was in relation to where we ended the tour. In theory, I understood what he told us, but when we walked off looking for it, it was clear I didn't pay enough attention. We walked all over the place, back to where we had originally toured, but couldn't find where he had told us to go.

So, we asked at a little shop, and even though the woman didn't speak English, she was able to direct us to a post office. When we entered, it was mainly postal boxes, but there were a couple wickets. They didn't sell stamps, and also didn't speak English, but again, this one told us where to go to find the place that did sell stamps. She drew it on our map, so we were able to find this place, which was around the block, and outside the old city wall.

In we went and it was a much bigger place, and clearly there was lots that went on. We waited in line for a bit, then I went to a guard to ask him if this was where we could buy stamps. He didn't speak English, so took us to another lady who also didn't speak English. However, there was a lady nearby who heard us having difficulty and she could speak some English so translated our request for us. She was able to let the lady know what it was we wanted, and then we were able to get some stamps. It is very difficult when you don't speak the language.

After that, we headed back to the ship, despite having lots of time before we were supposed to be back. We spent some downtime, relaxing and generally taking a break. We attended the Port Briefing for tomorrow where we would be in Vienna. We have a couple tours booked there but didn't realize there was also an included walking tour of the old part of the city. It sounded like it was going to be a very busy day.

Then it was down to the restaurant and dinner. We had mushroom soup and a warm cheese in pastry for the appetizers. For the main course, we both selected the pork medallions in a pastry cover (similar to beef wellington). It was very tasty. Of course, the dessert was apple strudel and ice cream. We loved it, but were very full.

We sat with a different group for this meal. This group was all of Chinese extraction. One lady was from New York, another from Taiwan (she didn't speak much English), the other couple was from Perth, Australia. They were somewhat hard to understand, but we had a good time talking with them and finding out about their lives. Interestingly, the lady from Taiwan had also been a teacher. She taught grade 5, so we had some things in common.

After dinner, there was supposed to be some sort of game in the lounge, but we were very tired and decided to forego the pleasure of playing. Instead, we went back to our cabin and were shortly in bed. It was just after 9:00, but we couldn't keep our eyes open.

The ship left at 11:00, heading upstream to Vienna. It was scheduled to be a very busy day, and we were going to be very tired by the end.

July 31 - Leaving Budapest

When we got up, after sleeping in as long as we wanted, we didn't have a lot to do. The hotel let us stay for a couple hours later than regular check-out time, so we had about 3 hours to wait until boarding our ship. We were checked out just before noon, and left our bags for storage at the hotel. Then, it was spend some time walking the streets near the hotel, looking at the shops and restaurants.

The young lady who had greeted us outside the restaurant where we ate the first night there was working, so Dawn suggested I get a photo of her. When she was finished greeting some guests, I asked her if it would be alright to take her picture, she agreed. So I got a nice photo of her outside her restaurant.

Then we walked into the square and decided to sit in the outdoor part of another cafe and have some ice cream and a pop. We were under the awning, so out of the sun, and when the breeze blew, it was quite nice. We watched the people walking by, and listened to the conversations of those around us. There really is nothing different about these folks from us, except the language.

We managed to make this last for about an hour, and then I wanted to have a look at what was just up the way from us. We walked up the square, and found one of the bridges that crossed the Danube. We knew approximately where our boat was docked, so we decided to go onto the bridge (It seemed to be only for pedestrians and bicycles) so see a little farther down the river side. The breeze was blowing down the river, and without buildings blocking it, the breeze felt great and cooled us down. We knew our ship was at mooring place 9, and the ships right by the bridge were at number 6. We could see 7 and 8, but 9 wasn't very visible due to the boats in front.

I walked farther out onto the bridge (almost half way across) to see if it was visible. We knew it was docked outside of another ship, and I thought I could see it, so at least we now had an idea of where to go. I had spoken to someone from Gate 1 to find out exactly where the ship was, and because the area is quite long, they were only able to tell me the number of the gate, and the name of the building close to where it was moored.

About 2:30, we headed back to the hotel to collect our bags and get a taxi to the ship. We probably could have walked, but decided to ride. The driver let us out a ways from the gate because the road didn't go along the shore at that point, so it would have saved us 5 Euros if we had walked, rather than take a couple minute ride.

Boarding was a pretty easy process. We left our bags at the shore and crew members took them aboard. We had to walk through another ship, go upstairs a couple flights, then cross to our ship, and go down a flight to get to the office area. We gave them our passports, they checked to find our room, and then a crew member took us to our cabin and showed us around.

The ship looked new (we found out later that it had been commissioned at the beginning of April this year) and our room was really nice to see. First, the air conditioning was working very well, and it was chilly in the room, which was a welcome relief. Although not large, it was comparable to the rooms we had on the ocean cruises, and very similar to the room we had in China on that river cruise. A very nice bathroom that was bigger than the ocean cruise bathrooms, but not quite as big as the Yangtze cruise bathroom. We did have a large glass door, which was our balcony door, but there was no room between the door and the balcony railing, so it was only for show. At least the door was large, making the whole wall a window.

Once unpacked, we went up on the top deck to just sit around until the Welcome and Safety Briefing at 5:45 pm. This lastest until about 6:45, when there was a talk about the port we would be at tomorrow. They gave us some pointers, and spoke about what was on the itinerary for the day. Then it was time to head down a deck to the dining room for the Welcome dinner.

We had met and spoken with a few people while waiting for the events just mentioned, and so sat with one of those couples who were from Southern California. A couple other fellows from Fort Lauderdale came and joined us, and as we ate, we got to know each other. The dinner was a 5 course meal, starting with soup, then a cold appetizer followed by a hot appetizer. The the main course (there were 2 special items to choose from, as well as one that is available all the time). We chose the chicken stuffed with prosciutto and cheese. Before dessert was delivered, there was a big entrance with the wait staff carrying a cake around the restaurant. We thought it was to show what was for dessert, but as they were passing our table, they stopped, lit a sparkler, and presented it to Mark, the retired firefighter from Southern California. Today was his birthday, and he was certainly surprised that they knew about it. Dessert was actually the chocolate cake, similar to what we had on the tour yesterday, but presented a bit differently. All in all, a very nice meal.

Dinner was going to be followed by entertainment with Budapest Operetta. We decided to forego that pleasure, and instead went up on the top deck to wait for the ship to leave. We would be traveling upstream, and going by most of Budapest after dark. This would be an opportunity to view the beautiful lights on the amazing buildings. Ahead of us, in the direction we would be going, there was clearly a large thunderstorm, and the clouds were building toward us. The light show behind the amazing buildings was spectacular in itself. 

The ship was late leaving because there was some sort of emergency, and they had to wait for an ambulance to come and get someone. The longer we waited, the closer I got to falling asleep, so I finally went back to our cabin. Dawn stayed up on the deck to watch the departure, and she said once the ship started moving, it got quite chilly and windy. Most of the people left, and once we were past the main part of the city, she came back to the room. Shortly after she returned, I could hear the rain hitting our window. However, this was not a problem because we were both trying to go to sleep. A cool room, a comfortable bed, and warm blankets - what more could we want?

June 30 - Day Trip to Danube Bend

We were off again at 8:30 for a whole day tour. This was a tour 3 historic sites and took all day for us to experience them. We finally got back to our hotel at 6:45 pm. We were tired, hot and sweaty and it was good to be back in our room.

Many of the Budapest streets were closed for a Triathlon that was taking place that morning. Our taxi to the tour beginning had a lot of trouble finding a way to get there, but after some doubling back, driving down some streets the wrong way, and generally working hard to get us there, the driver finally made it. We were greeted by a young woman who verified we were on the tour and then showed us to the bus. There were only a couple people on it, and it was quite hot. We were going to get off to try and stay cool when more people started showing up, and the driver started the bus and ran the air conditioner.

Our Bus

By the time we left, the bus was full to overflowing. We thought they might have oversold the trip, but there were exactly enough seats for the 32 paying customers. The tour guide had to sit on the floor at the front of the bus because there was no seat for her.

Off we went. We had driven by the same places a couple times by now, so were able to recognize a number of the buildings and streets we were on. The bus also had trouble finding the way out of the city, due to the triathlon, but he finally got by the road closures. Once on the highway, it took about 45 minutes to get far enough from the city center and we began to see less dense areas and individual homes. The roads were busy (it was Saturday morning and we were going to a place of tourism and relaxation) but we made good time to our first stop.

Entrance of the Cathedral

Main Altar

The first place was the site of the head of the Roman Catholic Church in Hungary. It was at Eszergom which means Center of the Catholic Church. We had a visit inside the cathedral, which is a huge building. It doesn't look what we think of as a church from the outside - tall columns, flat marble walls, and very imposing. Inside, though, was a different story. It was huge with lots of arches and very high domed ceilings. One room was the original chapel which was quite small, but the added on parts were simply huge.

1000 Pipes

There was a pipe organ with over 1000 pipes that only gets played on Sunday at 10 am. It must be beautiful to hear. While we were in there a fairly large group of people gathered and sang what sounded like something from the Renaissance era. They may have been a choir who traveled there to sing. The acoustics were amazing, sounding very clear and loud. I thought at first that it was recorded music because I couldn't figure out where the music was coming from. Finally, I noticed where they were gathered and realized that they were the ones singing.

View of the Valley

After about 45 minutes we moved back outside and looked at the view over the Danube Valley. This was also quite lovely to see. It reminded us of home, with the rolling hills and lush greenery. We took a few photos.

Bridge to Slovakia

From Slovakia

Beside the Cathedral was the Visegrad, the former Royal Residence. We didn't go inside, but it was quite a building. Shortly after leaving here, we went across a bridge into Slovakia, just to get a photo opportunity of the Royal Residence and the Cathedral. In total, we were in Slovakia about 20 minutes before going back across the river and off on our 45-minute drive for lunch.

Fortress on the Mountain

Lunch was at a restaurant on top of a mountain. It was beside what was once a military fort to protect the Danube Valley from invaders. It looked like there was a wedding scheduled for later on in the day. A section of the dining room was set up for the wedding party, and outside, there were 6 identical models of Audi parked in a row. The steps up to the restaurant were decorated with the wedding colours, as well. Lunch was chicken soup with pasta, the main course was turkey and potatoes (lots of them), and the dessert was chocolate cake. It was a filling lunch, but not spectacularly good. The view from the dining room, and outside on the deck was very pretty, overlooking the river valley and the fields below.

Outdoor Cafe

Audi's Gathered for the Wedding?

After lunch, it was back down the mountain and another 45 minute drive to Szentendre, a small town on the bank of the river where we were to catch the public boat back to Budapest. This town was supposed to have a guided walk around the town to see some of the sites. We walked a little way, and then decided to stay near the public boat. We sat in an outdoor restaurant, watching the people walk by and had a pop. We asked for lots of ice, and this place was very accommodating. They don't use a lot of ice in Europe, we have found, and it is somewhat difficult to get cold drinks.
Finally, it was time to board the boat. We decided to sit on the top deck (it did have a cover, but it was outside). The boat was very full, with all the seats upstairs were filled. At least when we were moving, the wind allowed us to feel somewhat cooler. The sun had also gone behind the clouds, so we didn't get the direct sunlight. The locals clearly knew what we didn't, and picked the side that was going to be in shade while we traveled the 22 km back to Budapest. However, they did sit in the bright sun while we were waiting to leave, so in the end, I think we had it a bit better.

Up the Street From Cafe

It was fun to motor up the river, seeing the sites on both sides. It was somewhat sparsely populated for a fair amount of the trip. There were lots of summer places; cabins, small houses, bigger houses, some camping in tents. We didn't see a lot of swimming in the river. The girl at the restaurant said the river was pretty dirty. The part that we traveled in was quite muddy, looking a lot like the colour of the North Thompson as it goes by Westsyde.

Upstairs on the Public Boat

Well like all good things, in and hour and fifteen minutes, the trip came to an end. Once off the boat, we had to find a taxi to take us back to the hotel. We found one sitting at the side of the road and asked if he could take us to our hotel. He told us to wait and called for another taxi to take us there. When it got there in a couple minutes, the driver didn't appear to know where the hotel was. He kept asking us a street name, but we didn't know street names, so weren't able to confirm if that was where it was. He asked another driver who said it was on the street our driver was indicating. I pulled out my phone and used the GPS which basically showed that our hotel was not where he was going to take us, so he used our directions and we got there within about 10 minutes. It cost a bit more than the taxi from the previous day, but was within range. We were out of the local currency (Hungarian Forint), so I paid in Euros and got change back in Forints. After checking with my exchange program, it turned out to be about $12 Canadian.

We were both very tired, and after cleaning up, we relaxed. I began to write this post, but was falling asleep, so rather than end up falling off my chair, I stopped and laid down and had a nap. It was difficult to wake up, but I knew I wouldn't sleep through the night if I didn't stay awake.  I did share a selection of our photos with mom, so got something done before it was time to go to bed.

Tomorrow, July 31, we board our ship, the Monarch Empress. We will have to figure out where it is docked so we can get a taxi there when it is time. However, that is for later today.