Danube Cruise!

My younger sister Mikele and her husband Bob had so much fun on their Viking Rhine River cruise a few years ago, that they urged me to join them on a similar trip on the Danube in April this year. At the time - over a year ago - I was concerned about taking time away from work, but after I retired last summer, that became a non-issue. It was cold and rainy most days we were there, but we still enjoyed the trip quite a lot, especially the exemplary meals and other services provided by Viking. I took a lot of photos and posted them on my Facebook wall during the trip, but here are just a few selected pics, for my non-Facebook friends, along with a narrative of some of the things I remember from the trip.

Viking River Cruises booked my Lufthansa flights from Denver to Frankfurt to Budapest through United Airlines, which complicated things. I wasn't able to check in online, because neither United nor Lufthansa could find my reservation on the second flight, from Frankfurt to Budapest. I resolved to get to Denver airport a little early, to improve my chances of having my seat assignment and baggage check-in go smoothly, and I was glad I did, as the person checking me in, also had difficulty finding my reservation, but it was all resolved, eventually, and I headed confidently to the gate, with two boarding passes in hand. While I was waiting for my flight, I transferred the Denver-Frankfurt flight-planned route from my FlightAware app to my ForeFlight app. It was fun, to see what they usually show as a big loopy route, up over Greenland, as the straight-line route that it really is, when viewed from directly above in ForeFlight.

The flight to Frankfurt left fifty minutes late, which gave me very little time to make my connection to Budapest, as they had only allowed me an hour and fifteen minutes between flights. I tried as best I could to hustle through the Frankfurt airport, but with the delayed arrival, a long wait at the passport entry line, having to exit and re-enter security, then rush down several flights of stairs, and hurry from gate 1 to gate 68, the Budapest flight had left long before I got to the gate. The Lufthansa customer service office was back at gate 12, so I hustled back there, and they tried to get me on another flight that day, but it wasn't looking good, especially because they couldn't find my reservation in the system for 20 minutes. The agent kept complaining to the lady next to her, that having Viking book the ticket through United had made it more complicated. They finally found me a seat to Budapest on a flight four hours later, which gave me plenty of time to hang out at my new gate, call Viking to let them know my new flight number, and ponder my fate. It seemed touch and go, whether the ship was still going to be there, at my new arrival time. I tried not to worry, since there was not much I could do about it. My revised Budapest flight was also delayed a little, but eventually got me there. I was met by a Viking employee in a bright red parka, who helped get me to the shuttle point outside, and rode with me to the ship, which was moored by the Chain Bridge on the Pest side of the Danube. I learned that Budapest is really two cities, Buda and Pest, on opposite sides of the river. Long story, there.

I was so happy to find my ship, The Viking Var, still at the dock, and to hurry down the gangway and check in, just as it was beginning to get dark. I barely had time to drop my bag in my cabin, get to my seat at the dinner table with Mikele and Bob, and snap this mug shot of us, with the Parliament building in the background, before they cast off, the ship pulled away from the dock, and they began serving a delicious dinner. I suspect they were waiting for me, or else I was really close to being left behind. Mikele said she was following me with the Find My Friends app, and keeping the Manager up to date, on my progress through Budapest, and that was probably why they were willing to wait, knowing I was getting close. We had a pleasant, very pretty evening cruise, up and down the Danube river, with the lights of Budapest all around, as we were eating our dinner. Then we wandered the upper decks of the ship, discovering different angles on the view of the surroundings.

This is Heroes Square, in Pest. We were assigned the most delightful tour guide, for our bus/walking tour of Budapest. She was very knowledgeable, humorous, and opinionated. She had so many clever one-liners that livened up the day. Each one was supported by a long story about events that occurred in the history of Budapest and/or Hungary. Two that I remember, are "Politicians are concerned about the next election. Statesmen are concerned about the next generation." and "A Communist promise, is not a promise." She described the very small apartment that she and her family had shared for the past 30 years, talked about how fortunate she was, to get her son into an "elite" school in Buda. She was careful to emphasize that elite means they demand the kids pay attention and participate. So many other things she told us...

She took us to see a magnificent church on the Buda side, I think it was the Matthias Church. So many amazing cathedrals in Europe. This one of course had its own amazing story. I'm a big fan of stained glass, so that's where I was looking, most of the time.

The area surrounding the church had its own amazing and beautiful structures and statues. Because it was up on the hill, I was able to grab this mug shot of us, with our ship, the Viking Var, the long low white ship, on the river in the background. Looking at all the rooftops in the picture, I'm reminded that there is so much history to learn about this area, not unlike so many areas in Europe. The Roman Empire had a huge influence. I think she said that the Romans developed and protected their area on the Pest side of the Danube, and left the Buda side to what they thought of as the savage local population. Notice how flat the Pest side is across the river, and that we are at a much higher elevation. Our guide mentioned that the Danube is on the boundary between two tectonic plates, and the west one pushed up to form the hills on the Buda side.

I enjoyed our tour of the bridge, but the captain was clearly uncomfortable in a group, and left us with a lot of unanswered questions. I didn't make the effort on this cruise, to find a time when I might be able to start a one-on-one conversation and possibly drop in for an informal visit. One cool thing we learned, was that the bridge is mounted on hydraulics, so they can lower the entire enclosure, when approaching a low structure over the river, like the many highway or railroad bridges we passed under.

We saw so much beautiful scenery along the river, and moving along upstream on the river provided so much pleasant time watching the water and shorelines go by. We also had so many opportunities to see amazing clouds and shafts of sunlight.

We passed through our first lock on the second night. This is a hydromechanical facility that allows the water, and the ship floating on it, to change altitude without moving horizontally very much. Not unlike a lot of people, I've always been fascinated with the mechanics of transportation, and locks are right up there, on my high-interest list. We passed through 25 locks on this cruise, and were continually being raised up, until the very last one, just before Nuremberg, where they lowered us down, and it became clear we had passed over the high point in the interconnecting Rhine-Main-Danube canal between the North Sea / Atlantic Ocean, and the Black Sea.


The TV on the wall in my cabin had a channel to watch a camera in the front of the ship. I didn't use it much during the day, since I'd rather just be out there. But I left it on for way too long every night, before I fell asleep, as I was fascinated, watching the lights go by overhead, every time we went beneath a bridge, usually as we were passing through a city, sometimes cruising under several bridges in just a few minutes.
The low-light camera only showed black-and-white at night, but that was good enough for me. Some of the bridges were so low, that the captain had to take advantage of the ship's ability to lower its upper structures, to fit underneath them as we passed by. Passengers weren't allowed up on the Sun deck, when this was happening, because we would've had to lay down, to avoid getting hit by a passing bridge structure.

My cabin was on the second deck, just above the waterline, and came with a delightful veranda with a couple of chairs. With such easy access to the outside, it was so difficult to fall asleep, if there was anything going on out there. I saw all different kinds of water birds, ships passing by, people walking their dogs, pretty shorelines with lots of foliage, beaches, rocks, castles, towns, and a few bigger cities. In this pic, we're passing under a well lighted bridge.

We went on a walking tour through Vienna, passing through so many interesting places, such as the Spanish Stables, where the Lipizzaner stallions are trained, the homes of various famous people in history, and clean and beautiful courtyards and square, interesting animated clocks, and so much more. This slightly rounded panorama I assembled from six photos, shows St Stephen's cathedral in the center of a large square. There's a long story behind the construction of this cathedral, as there is for every church in Europe, I'm sure, and many of them have "they didn't finish because they ran out of money" and "they finished this part hundreds of years later" somewhere in the narrative.

We took a short planned break from the walking tour near St Stephen's, to enjoy some pastries at a very popular bakery and cafe nearby. I think it was called Aida. They had such a huge selection of tasty confections, and some very tasty coffee drinks. One needs to remember to carry individual Euro coins with them, as many of the restrooms we saw were guarded by a turnstile that required the 1 Euro coin, and me only carrying paper Euros. We saw so many clean streets and bathrooms, that it seemed like a reasonable cost of doing the necessary business, as it were.

The afternoon tour was to the Schonbrunn Palace, which is apparently a big part of the history of Vienna. We heard so many stories about Emperor Leopold and the family. I found the tour so interesting, and at the time I felt like I was learning a lot, but I eventually got overwhelmed by it all, and I confess I cannot remember much now.

Here's an evening view from the Sun deck of our ship, at our mooring in Vienna, before dinner. They cast off during dinner, and headed the ship upriver to Krems, Austria.

Our shore excursion in Krems was to Stift Gottweig, a monastery of canons founded by the bishop of Passau. This monastery supplements its income by selling various products from its apricot orchard, most notably bottles of apricot nectar that are really delicious! Mikele bought one, and it didn't make it much longer than our next day, as we all enjoyed glasses of apricot nectar with breakfast.

One of the most beautiful things at Stift Gottweig, was this ceiling fresco painting over the imperial staircase, by Paul Troger in 1739, which is considered a masterpiece of architecture in Austria. It represents the Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI as Apollo. There are many stories told in these figures!

Another gorgeous view of magnificent architecture along the shore of the Danube, as we motored by, on our way to Passau, Austria. There so many similar things to see along the river.

We signed up for a walking tour of Passau, Austria. This city is at the confluence of three rivers: the Danube is joined by the Inn river from the South, and by the Ilz river from the North.

Being where they are, and three rivers coming together, Passau has seen way more flooding than anyone would ever think they could endure. This picture of our congenial and knowledgeable guide, also includes a tiny mark straight above her head, between the two rectangular windows on the second floor. The mark identifies itself as the high water mark during a flood in July of 1954. She said, "No one lives on the first floor any more."

No trip to Europe would be complete, without some mention of the beautiful cobblestone streets, that are still seen all over every city and town. There were many different styles, but I found this one the most interesting.

We were treated to a very short organ concert in St Stephan's cathedral in Passau. The interior decorations, were so ornate and beautiful. The organ, she said, has the most magnificent tones, and "of course there is nothing like it in America."

Bob and I decided to try to get to the top of a local hill in Passau, and investigate a local fortress Veste Oberhaus, before our ship was due to leave in the afternoon for Regensburg, Germany. Here is a view of our ship through one of the holes in the wall around the fortress.

We signed up for the Jewish walking tour of Regensburg, Germany. So much of Europe has such deep history, and of course the Romans factor deeply into that. In the center of this picture, you might be able to see how they integrated one corner of the old wall that enclosed the original Roman settlement that became Regensburg, into the newer structures.

One of the things our guide mentioned, was that after the Jews were "allowed" (forced) to leave Regensburg (they were killed in other cities) in the early 1500s, the remaining residents took possession of all their property. They even raided the Jewish cemeteries, and used the gravestones in their buildings, perhaps as a mark of triumph? If you're looking closely, you can still spot the gravestones integrated into structures, in locations throughout the city.

We cruised all night, and arrived in Nuremberg, Germany, in the morning, during breakfast. Home of the Nazi Party conventions and propaganda events, and later the World War II war crimes trials. Because of Bob and Mikele's great interest in history, we chose the World War II Nuremberg tour. We saw a lot of interesting places. This pics is of the grandstand across from the huge Nuremberg parade ground, where I'm sure we've all seen old movies of Adolf Hitler surrounded by thousands of soldiers, giving his hugely motivational speeches.

We toured what they called the Documentation Center, a place which documents Hitler's rise to power, and the various people, mechanisms, and events, behind how the Third Reich became so powerful, and committed the unbelievably atrocious acts they did. It's meant to be (and is!) a very moving reminder of something that mankind should never want to repeat.

One last look at our ship, the Viking Var, as she was tied up at the Nuremberg dock, on the last night before our cruise ended. They had a very nice goodbye dinner and associated activities, before we all retired for our last night in Europe. The next morning, we all headed back to our various homes. Mikele and Bob had to be on their way at 4am, but my flight was a little later, so I got to have breakfast in the dining room at 6am, before I caught my shuttle to the Nuremberg airport at 6:45.

I woke up on the cold, rainy morning of my travel-home day, with a really sore throat, which turned into a full-blown cold, with a runny nose, sinus congestion, coughing and sneezing, over the course of my flight home. At least I didn't have any trouble with my Lufthansa reservations, or the flights themselves, which were mostly on time. I was just glad that my ears stayed clear all day, so I didn't blow out my eardrums during the descent to landing. Part of me wished my ears were plugged up, because I was sitting next to a mother with her mostly well-behaved baby, and one row in front of a very unhappy baby, who screamed at the top of their lungs during the entire 10 hour flight from Munich to Denver. I was so glad to get home!