Amsterdam - Arrival Day

Here we go again on another adventure.  This time to Europe on a Viking River Cruise. The dates of this trip are:  Sept 11 - Sept 27. We are traveling from Amsterdam to Budapest. Our 1st stop, Amsterdam. What am interesting city. We're in the heart of town with tons of people and bikes. Soooooo Many Bikes !!!  They have a floating bike parking lot with thousands of bikes parked near the Central Station. And yes, coffee shops everywhere. Cannibis open for smoke and sale all over. Just walk and sniff. Also erotica shops displaying all their wares in the windows! For ALL to see. And the Red Light District??? Not even going there.... Well it was a short day because we were really tired from the flight so we retired early to the room to sleep. I think we were dead to the world by 8 pm. Tomorrow is a long day. Night!!

Amsterdam - Day 2

Ah finally refreshed from a great nights sleep. Now out to the tour company for our all day tour. First northern Netherlands in the morning then we head south. We boarded a large double decker luxury bus. Dibs on the Front Seat !!!  Our first stop was an open air museum consisting of real grain grinding windmills from the 17th & 18th century. Not many of these are left throughout the country. Also here was a wooden shoe maker. He gave us a demonstration on how the shoes were made originally, then how they make them now. They use duplicating machines like making keys. It cuts an exact copy of the shoe onto the block of wood. They use Poplar trees for the wood. Then hand paint them.

The land here is 6 ft below sea level throughout the country. So there are canals everywhere. We drove then to one of the last home made cheese factorys to see how it's made and tastings, of course. Lot's of interesting flavors. Aside from cheese, smoked eel is the specialty of the region. We walked around a very small fishing village, had a drink, snack and some shopping.  We then boarded the Maarkam Express (Ferry) from Volendam to Maarkam over the Eiselmere fresh water lake.  Back onto the bus to head to Delft to visit a Delft porcelain factory.  Here we were given a personalized tour of the factory.  At this factory it is still done all by hand. 

Amazing how the paint changes from black to blue when glazed and fired. Also..... Very expensive! We toured around Haag where the Queen lives and Parliment resides. Lastly we spent some time walking around Madurodam, the miniature city. All the buildings are exact replicas of building in Holland only 25 times smaller. Including the airport, ships, etc. What a long, but very interesting day.  We now head back to Amsterdam for a quick dinner and early to bed again. Weather is cool and nippy. Around 63F. Jacket weather. Busy day again tomorrow!

Amsterdam - Day 3

Hi! Welcome to day 3 of our Amsterdam visit. This morning we got up a little later because it was Sunday. We had picked up pastries last night for breakfast for a morning snack. We were going to head to the Anne Frank house but I expect it won't open till 9.  I was right. We packed up a few things to be ready to check out upon our return. The walk to the Anne Frank Monument was quiet and different. No bikes, no people, no cars, very weird. But enjoyable to see the city this peaceful. We arrived at the Anne Frank House upon opening at 9am. Although there is no furniture left in the rooms, the videos and pictorals really help to give you a sense of what the family went through. When we walked through the secret passage behind the bookcase and then you realize it was a different world. You must read the book to understand everything they went through. We headed back toward the hotel and decided on coffee & a croissant in a small cafe. They had a big fat, furry cat that kept us company. Now people are starting to come back into reality. We headed back & checked out of the Hotel. A short taxi ride to the port of Amsterdam to our Viking River Cruise ship. 
Well our room is on the lowest deck - below water and is about 125 Sqft. Tiny. But we'll live. Also no one is under the age of 65. Except me and my cousin. What fun! We are docked here overnight so I took her back to see the Anne Frank House and the Floating Flower Market till the rains came. Yes you can buy tulip bulbs & Cannibis seeds at the same place. Hummm. I'll pass for now. Back to the ship for dinner, a presentation on our days on the river, and early sleep. C u 2mro!

Amsterdam - Day 4

Well these beds aren't the greatest but it was a good nights sleep aboard the Viking River Spirit. Breakfast was a delish buffet or made to order and we were provided with a nice tour around Amsterdam. Starting at 8:30am we toured parts of Amsterdam by bus, then onto a canal bus to see the sights from the water perspective. It wasn't bad but picts weren't easy to get. Later we had a tour via bus all over the city. By 10:30 we visited the Gauguin Museum. It's ok if your passion is art. After a short hour we hit the bus back to the ship. At 1:00 the ship took off down the Rhine river toward Germany. I sat mostly on the top deck in the sun or what little sun we had. The winds were chilly and you had to wrap up in a towel or jacket. This was the start of our journey down the Rhine River to many locks. UNO, Scrabble & cards keeps us busy along the way, love the food, games, and the other folks. Everyone jokes around even though we don't know each other very well yet. We will enter Germany sometime in the middle of the night. I need to hit the hay now. Too much wine and my head is bobbing. Gnight- till tomorrow in Cologne....

Cologne, Germany - Day 5

Well we cruised the river from 1 pm yesterday to 1pm today. The weather changes rapidly. One minute it's nice and your sitting on the deck reading or sleeping the next minute it's misting rain and the temp dropped 20 degrees. I'll probably have pneumonia when I get back. At 6:30am we rolled past Dusseldorf. A beautiful German city but we are not stopping here just passing through. Finally, we dock at Koln or Cologne as the yanks say. Since most of the excursions are included in the price of the cruise, we prepared to disembark in Cologne. We endured a 2.5 hour walking tour of the city and one of the the largest churches in Europe. It really wan't that bad.  After that we hit the Lindt Chocolate factory on our own. Yum-Yum...  Free Chocolate!!!  Chocolate is our religion and much more important than any church! Delish! We visited several stores and back to the ship for a local German band show coming on board. They were really good! Just couldn't understand a word they were saying as the sang. Don't get me wrong.... They were good just all in German. Time for bed as we push away from the dock for our evening travel to Koblenz & Rudisheim
for tomorrow. Till then... nite!

Koblenz & Rudesheim, Germany - Day 6

Welcome to day 6 - we docked early in Koblenz today and started the day right off with a bus tour up to the Marksburg Castle. A small, but quaint little castle for a small family with servants and yes, it did have a torture chamber. But it was a little treacherous walking. The ground was very uneven and rocky. Many of the senior citizens had a difficult time, but they endured taking it very slowly. Directly after we returned to the ship to continue our cruise down the Rhine River. We are now at the point of the Middlerhine Gorge. Here you start seeing a difference in the landscape. We went from completely flatlands to hills along the river, to now mountains along side the river with castles every mile or 2 and cute Bavarian style houses lining the waterway. The railway lines both sides of the river too with passenger trains and cargo trains. As they go by and you watch them go behind us down the river it almost looks like a toy train scenery. We finally met up with the area of the river where the Rhine meets the Mosel River. As we continue southward our next stop will be Rudesheim. During the day on the cruise ship, besides watching scenery, and walking the top deck, going around and around and around....... the cruise company treated us to a presentation of the making of Rudesheimer Coffee. Basically coffee with sugar, liquor, vanilla, whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles. Not too bad. We finally arrived in Rudesheim late in the evening after 8:00 pm. Some people took the optional excursion to the Mechanical Musical Instrument museum. It was OK, but it is dark as the black of night has descended. You can't see to walk much less try to walk to the city. For some reason where we docked there were no street lights.  Those that didn't go out, stayed and played Bingo. Yes, they do that here too. Gotta keep the Indians busy, you know. As of this writing, most have gone to bed and I will be going too. People are starting to get sick.... great... just what we need...
Night...

Mainz, Germany - Day 7

Day 7.  We left Rudesheim at 5 am to head down the river again. At 8 am we arrived in Mainz, just north of Frankfort. In Mainz we did a walking tour of the city. Mainz is the birthplace of Johann Gutenberg, the inventor of the printing press. We visited 2 churches, one with stained glass windows designed by the famous artist Marc Chagall. We saw the Gutenberg press and the original printed bible. We ran around town looking in shops and bought some pastries and candies local to this region. We had to be back on board by 12:15 to sail at 12:30. The rest of the afternoon was spent aboard ship watching scenery. We left the Rhine river and are now on the Main river. Now till tomorrow we will cruise through a series of 34 locks till we arrive at our destination in the morning of Wertheim. For now they are playing a Liars game on the lounge. For me, read a book and go to bed. Not used to cold, rainy, windy weather. Till tomorrow. Night

Wertheim, Germany - Day 8

Another good morning and a noisy, bumpy, cruise down the Main River going through locks all night. We finally moored in a quaint city of Wertheim. This is what you think of when you think of Germany. A very small city, cobblestone streets, a castle on the hillside, little bavarian looking houses with flower boxes on the window sills.... Yes perfect. A street vendor selling bratwurst and knockwurst, a couple of wine shops, a few beer gardens, and of course the pastry shops. I think everyone on the whole ship wants to stay here. This is perfect. This is also where several glassblowers come from too. As we boarded the ship to leave, their resident glassblower of 6 generations boarded too. He came on board to give us a demo on the technique. And, of course, to sell his signed product to everyone. He was a character and loved his Jaegermeister. Yuck..... He was fantastic. His name is Hans Ittig. You can search Utube for his demos. Tonight is the guest & crew talent show. Should be interesting! Cruising again overnight to Wurtzberg & Rothenburg. All day tomorrow. Till then - night

Wurtzburg & Rothenburg, Germany - Day 9

Welcome to day 9 of our trip from Amsterdam to Budapest. Today was a lovely sunny day (thank god) and we boarded our coaches and headed to Wurtzburg. We visited a beautiful palace with many different styles of architecture throughout the building. The intricacy is amazing. Dating back to the 700's. Even the gardens were beautiful. From there we coached to Rothenburg ob der Tauber. The only still standing walled city. Wow!! How quaint! Beautiful. Shops, horse drawn carriages, little cafes, even the German Christmas museum of Kathy Wohlfart. Famous throughout the world. We had a wonderful authentic german lunch of bratwurst, sauerkraut, and mashed potatoes. Ummmm. We visited the shops and bought a few gifts. Then back on the bus back to the cruise ship. Boy it was nice to get off the ship today and just be out in the sun all day. We are now cruising the rest of the Main (34 more locks) to a canal that will
connect us to the Danube. Along the way tomorrow we will stop at Nuernberg. For now I am going to bed. Gnight!

Neuremberg, Germany - Day 10

Hi again, this time from Neurenberg, Germany. We had a wonderful and informative presentation from our cruise staff today about the Main-Danube Canal and the locks we will be going through. In all from Amsterdam to Budapest we will have done 1080km, 68 locks, and spent 38,000 gallons of diesel fuel. The highest lock is 1340 ft at it's peak. The highest lock change in water displacement will be 243 ft. It's amazing to watch them manuver this Huge ship ( 370 ft long, 37 ft wide, 5 ft draft) into these tiny locks and watch it fill with water as we rise or drop to meet the next level.
At our stopping point we met up with the Viking Sky, Viking Danube, Ama Waterways Amadeus, and 2 Avalon Ships. I did visit the Ama one. We caught our coach into town and toured the main sights in Nuremberg. We visited the castle and then walked down to the main street. Well here it was Sunday so all the stores were closed.... But..... It was Sunday sooooo there was a big festival in the town square. Beer tents, sausage tents, shop vendor tents.... Wow.... a big festival. We had a blast. So much stuff to do and see and eat. No dinner tonight on the cruise ship. Stuffed our faces with Bratwurst, cookies and fried goodies. What a way to end our German country visit. As we head back to the ship, we are on our way now to our last German city before we actually get on the Danube river and get into Austria. I think we will try to get an authentic German dinner tomorrow night. For now..,, chow

Regensburg, Germany - Day 11

Wow what an exciting day. First of all overnight we sailed through the Main-Danube waterway. We passed the point overnight of the 'European Watershed Monument' which is the highest point above sea level for a lock. 1340 ft above sea level. For this we received a certificate. Fun! We arrived at Regensburg and enjoyed Another sightseeing tour of the city. The best was having sausage and kraut at a restaurant that's been in business for over 800 years. We returned to the ship for our nightly briefing only to find out that we are stuck here in Regensburg for another night and will have to pack up to move to the Viking Sky. Turns out due to a very hot summer and very low water levels our ship cannot continue and we will have to transfer to another ship. Not a big deal on this wonderous adventure of ours, but some people are not taking kindly to the move. You cannot predict what the weather will do. We will enjoy ourselves and make the most of it.  You see the draft of the ship is 5 feet.  In some cases we are hitting the rocks on the bottom, so the captain and crew are afraid that we will get stuck if we continue.  We did hear that another ship DID get stuck, so they don't want to take any chances.
And now for a nice quiet nights sleep. Tomorrow to Passau. I'll let u know what happens over the next couple of days. Should be interesting. Night!!'

Passau, Germany - Day 12

Hi all !!! Again we are still docked in Regensburg. Today we coached to Passau. We toured the town and at St. Stephens Cathederal we were given a wonderful organ concert. Why is this special? This is 5 organs, 1800 pipes, all done by one person!! One giant keyboard to access all 5 organs. It was really wonderful. We had lunch in the local Ratskeller Restaurant and enjoyed free time around the city. We headed back to the ship at 4:30 for evening meal and final goodbye to the crew. Tomorrow we board a bus for Melk to board the Viking Pride Ship. Their passengers will board our ship. We are swapping. Due to the low water levels. We said goodbye to the Captain and crew tonight. We'll see what tomorrow brings. Always an adventure!

Melk, Germany - Day 13

Today was the big transfer from the Viking Spirit to the Viking Pride ship. We packed all our crap up (I think my bag weighs 100 pounds!). Got on the buses for our 4 hour drive. We stopped in Linz for a potty break. It was 2 hours into the trip. I thought the seniors were going to hijack the bus to the next potty stop. They can't wait that long. We finally got to Melk and boarded the ship. After a quick lunch we had a walking tour of the Abby. 30 Monks still work there. It was huge. Then a quick walk around town to stretch our legs. Then, of course, back to the ship to head out to Durnstein. A small city in Austria on our way to Vienna. A quick late night stop and stroll through the town. An early night to bed for all of us since we were up early for the move. Till tomorrow!

Vienna, Austria - Day 14

Here we are in the great city of Vienna. We started off with a city tour by bus to see the main sights and get aclimated to the layout of the city. Once we did a complete loop, the bus driver dropped us off at St Peters church ( the 3rd one we've seen on this trip). We are on the heart of the old town. It's busteling with tons of tourists. The town has changed a lot. Still an old Church, still the opera house, still the palace with the Royal Lipizaner Stallions.... But now you also see... Tiffanys, Salvadore Ferragamo, Channel, Louis Vitton, and many more. It's like Rodeo Drive! No shopping for me here! Guess I'll go see some horses, tour another church, and..... Why not.... Eat another chocolate pastry with coffee......Can u spell...BUZZZZZZ...... I don't need to sleep. We made it for the last tour of the day of the old Opera House which has been completly rebuilt. Now.. how did she tell us to get back to the ship??  Subway? Which Way?  Well, we figured it out and we took the subway back to the ship to get ready for dinner and the show tonight. The show was a Mozart & Straus symphony with some opera singers and a couple dancing ballet. It
was nice but the room was hot and jammed with people. It was not what we expected but overall, ok. I wouldn't recommend it. It was one of the excursions that cost additional money. We are all going to bed now. We set sail for Bratislava, Slovakia at 2am. It's best to get to sleep or drink more wine and pass out before the ship sails and makes more noises. Gnight!

Bratislava, Slovakia - Day 15

Oh poo, our trip is nearing it's end. This morning we arrived in Bratislava, the capital of the Slovak Republic. For a short time in history it was the capital of Hungary. But all changed when Czechoslovakia split and it became the capital of the Slovak Republic. We took a little train ride from the port to the town center at the opera house (town hall). From there our guides walked us all around the city explaining the sites and the unique little statues. Another church, another statue, another coffee shop.... But it's all still enjoyable. Back aboard ship we pulled anchor to head to our final destination-Budapest. It was a beautiful, hot day. 2:00p we had the crew provide us with an Apple Strudel demonstration with a tasting after. Ummm good. The Captain and crew did the farewell cocktail party in the evening, I hope I can stay up late enough to see the beautiful city of Budapest since it is all lit up in the evening as we pull into port.  Yup.. Made it.. Beautiful!!! A georgeous city! but too dark to take pictures. Till tomorrow!

Budapest, Hungary - Day 16

Our last day of our cruise & tours. I have to say Budapest is beautiful! So much to see, so much history, beautiful architecture, and shopping galore! Wow. I never imagined it to be like this. Even at night the whole city is all lit up. We did a walking tour of the city but in the 4 hours we had we barely scratched the surface. Our guide was excellent. In fact since it was Sat we saw 2 weddings today too. In the afternoon dad and I went to the Horse farm. This farm is owned by 2 brothers who have won over 13 World Championships for cart racing with 2 and 4 horses through obstacle courses. The use the Hungarian Lipizanner horses. Georgeous!!! Smart!!! We had our final farewells tonight with all our new friends we met on the ship and a final farewell Hungarian dinner. Can't wait to eat regular food again. Boiled chicken and salad..... Got to lose this weight!!! Well time to pack... Hummm..... Left with 49 pounds and 1 bag, returning with 2 bags and well over 70 pounds....I think my bags gained weight too!!!
This is my last message as we fly out on the morning. I hope you enjoyed my daily commentary. Pics will be posted soon!!