On the River

 Today we cruise the Danube River on our way to Vienna. Tonight we will arrive in time to head to a concert of Mozart and Strauss. It’s a relaxing 

Already we are seeing ruins of castles from long ago. I imagine this is the first of many.

Life on the River ship is different from the ocean ships- for many passengers this is their first time for adventure. I remember how we felt when we took that first trip! I had a big need to experience every little thing- this trip I’ve decided to relax, enjoy, see a few sights and have fun. I don’t have the energy level I had 10 years ago but it doesn’t mean I can’t make this trip special for me- 

Along with castles we will enter and leave 69 locks along the way..

These canals will be used to deliver us to Amsterdam smoothly. It’s always a thrill to me to watch the gates close and water rush in and bring us up higher. It’s kinda like being a slow Jack in the box- we start down low where no one sees us then pop! Up we come. 

Around dinner we dock in Vienna for the next day and a half. Tonight following dinner we will head to a concert of Mozart and Strauss. After all , no visit to Vienna would be complete without music from two great composers! Below are pictures I grabbed while traveling up one floor of stairs ( that meant 3 flights. I thought I was dying!!!) 

The concert hall was built into the Austrian stock exchange building. It now houses a residential musical school. We were entertained by a string ensemble, piano and both ballet dancers and Opera singers. We enjoyed it immensely. And of course the final piece was the Blue Danube Walz. Im so glad I had opportunities in my life to listen and learn to appreciate classical styles- I can’t imagine life without Mozart or Strauss. And gosh, Vivaldi is thrown in there too! It was a great way to welcome us to Vienna!

We returned to our home away from home . Tomorrow we explore the old town area full of Cathedrals, castles and history!

Permission to come aboard, Captain

 Heading to the ship this morning. We are sailing on the Viking  Vidar, who is described as the Norse God of Vengence For avenging the death of his father Odin by killing a wolf.” This picture shows our ship and it is docked with another Viking ship tethered to it.Viking has 50+ ships traveling the rivers of Europe and often they will share a dock like this. When the passengers of the farthest ship disembark they walk through the lobby of our ship. I imagine this will happen often during our journey.     Our taxi pulled up right in front of the ship and before we could hop out there was a staff member at our side helping get our luggage out. That’s one of the perks of this company..excellent service! We have gotten very spoiled. It turned into a very sunny spring day and walking down the gangway was exhilarating! Im always better when the actual trip time arrives. I like our on-our-own adventures but when we get to the point where someone else is going to worry and take care of me….I swoon with delight.!!!!

 The view from our room towards the bow. 

Inside the staterooms it is tight, but manageable. The room is smaller than our Ocean cruise room.. good thing we are only here for 28 days. It has all the essentials and you will notice the bottles of wine… no those did not come with our room.. the fruits of our tasting from yesterday. We will continue to taste them throughout the trip.

It took about a half hour for us to fully unpack, Al’s hand is still quite sore so I got the job of hanging everything on hangers and sorting….much like at home. (Some things never change) 

The view outside our stateroom. This bank was very active with lots of people walking and enjoying the Riverside. We just needed to remember to close the curtains as evening came ….

                            After we settled in our cabin, it seemed like a good time to take a slight walk along the river. We came across this art installation a few hundred meters from our ship. The shoes along the Danube was art that we remembered from our last trip and it seemed very appropriate that we return here before we leave Budapest.  Im 

Shoes on the Danube Bank (Hungarian: Cipők a Duna-parton) is a memorial erected on 16 April 2005, in Budapest, Hungary. Conceived by film director Can Togay, he created it on the east bank of the Danube River with sculptor Gyula Pauer [hu] to honour the Jews who were massacred by fascist Hungarian militia belonging to the Arrow Cross Party in Budapest during the Second World War. They were ordered to take off their shoes (shoes were valuable and could be stolen and resold by the militia after the massacre), and were shot at the edge of the water so that their bodies fell into the river and were carried away. The memorial represents their shoes left behind on the bank. 

There were some 20,000 Jews and undesirables lost here.

It is a sobering reminder and I find it appalling that today we seem to have forgotten the horrors that humans can commit towards other deemed “different” 

Throughout our trip I expect to see reminders of this and even though it is hard for me to see, I must remember how important it is that we never forget.

 

It was sobering to see even small children’s shoes. 

As the evening started and the majority of passengers were aboard, it was time for the safety briefings and practice. We donned our life jackets and headed up to the top deck to check in to our safety place. The night lights of Budapest twinkled for us.!

Tomorrow we still are here in Budapest but Im going to relax,read and just do nothing but eat, sleep and catch up on the blog… starting Friday we will be busy every single day.

 

Budapest after wine tasting- walking off the alcohol!

A view of the Parliament building on the banks of the Danube. 

Budapest is a combination city. The flat big city side is  Pest - nightlife, shopping, the where it’s happening side of town! This afternoon we are visiting the quiet side-Buda. Located on the hills across the Danube River, Buda was the home of the Royal families and therefore the palace was located defensively on the hills. St.Matthias church was also located here . The church has a long history for Hungarians  and is worth visiting. We had been inside before so skipped it this day. 

Al and Steven 

A side view of the church. It was a beautiful afternoon so we just walked around the area and snapped pictures at anything that caught our eye. This is a hill and we had been here before but didn’t realize that we were on the crest and that the other side had views as well! 

Just goes to re- enforce our idea that you can always revisit over and over and absolutely find something new to see! 

It is spring- the decorative cherries say so! 

A grotto built into the side of a building. 

We walked around the area and were joined by Hundreds of other tourists. Everyone shared in my photos- ( this would be the time for advanced editing! )

Mt favorite  view!

 Another view of Pest from Buda

We ended our day by staying in Buda and finding a burger shop for dinner with Susan and Steven. On the way to dinner Al was busy walking,talking and looking at a boot put on a car for parking violations and tripped over the uneven bricks. The future pictures will show his pretty brace he found to wear.. luckily he didn’t break his nose or teeth! ( and the boot was really cool to see- a miniature of the US ones) so we all understood how he was intrigued…. Tomorrow we have a leisurely morning and board our ship The Vidor to start our journey to Amsterdam 
 

We begin the day with exploring and tasting wine….Budapest day 1 (actually half day)

 

This morning we took a little walk around the neighborhood while awaiting our tour guide. The architecture of the city is fantastic. You can see the influence of the Hapsburg  dynasty everywhere. Here you can see the Hungarian State Opera House. The impressive part for me was the ceiling of the portico. 

The ceiling of the W hotel

Decorative door at the “W”

Hungary has a varied history.. The Mongolians,Austrians, Germans,Ottomans- all occupiers at one time. This has an influence on everything that was built.

A beautiful spring bloom in the middle of the city. This street had a theatre and an opera house on it. Plus the building below that was styled like a French mansion. 

Al sitting with the famous Hungarian composer Emmerich Kalyan. He was famous during the 20’s and 30’ even being a favorite of Hitler. Because he was Jewish, he escaped prior to WWII to the US and lived the rest of his life there until old age, then returned to Paris until he died. The flowers and statues are beautiful.

After a nice walk, we met our guide Peter and our friends Steve and Susan for an interesting wine tour of Etyck. This small town 40 minutes outside of Budapest is home to many small wineries. Like many smaller wineries, these wines are sold locally and very rarely make it out of the country. Our guide Peter is a wine maker himself so he had a great insight into the process and the winemakers themselves. Driveway leading to a hillside of wineries

 

Our winemaker Charlie.

The hillside was lined with these doors.Each door was the entrance to another winery.

Through the big wooden doors and down the steps into the winery. Albert followed by Peter our guide

Behind those doors the actual work goes on

The winery tasting room was cozy and warm.Charlie does not speak English but was interpreted by Peter. He was a winemaker in the communist years at the state winery and now makes his own wine for local sale. The region mostly grows grapes for white wines and sparlklings but is now, with climate change, beginning to develop some Pinots. We had several tastings of his wines along with some little snacks . It was a fun event.

Through the big doors and into the barrel room. Charlie is letting us taste straight from the barrel. This is a new wine for him..a Pinot Noir. Due to climate change grapes that make lighter reds are starting to grow in the region and He is trying new wines to the region.

 Using a giant Pepeete he pulled wine from the barrel by suction and filled our glasses. While warming it with our hands he encouraged us to try it.

Charlie’s keys to his winery

After visiting Charlie’s old school typer of winery we headed to a more modern,production orientated winery. Still a small operation compared to California wineries, but big enough that the winemaker makes his living off his wines.  Here life is very modern and we were not able to see the actual process just taste his wines. Along with that, his wife provided us with a delightful lunch of chicken Papriska to complement the wines. This winery reminded me more of the wineries in Northern California but smaller scale. Still friendly but definitely not old school.His son is also making wines and getting his PHD in viticulture. 

  The tasting room

This was a nice winery but we all decided we all liked Charlie’s place the best. The wines were good here but they were certainly made for the local market and were more industrial.