Tuesday, 31 December 2013 - Budapest, Hungary

A not very good photo in Budapest

Overcast, gloomy and bitterly cold, the cold just seems to seep through your jeans and I'm forever thankful we bought such thick coats and jackets in the Czech Republic some years ago.

The big surprise today is what a surprisingly lovely city Budapest is. I'd rank it up there with Paris and certainly a long way ahead of Vienna! The buildings are all beautiful (they seem to have avoided the scourge of the communist concrete block) and there are many lovely wide boulevards with trees either side (well, obviously by definition, but they do deserve the boulevard designation). It must be simply stunning in summer when all the trees are in leaf etc. Even so, the buildings, the river and bridges are quite quite beautiful.
Our tour this morning was a combination of bus and walking round the towns of Buds and Pest. As always it was interesting, entertaining and we learnt a lot. I took lots of photos but whether or not they will download remains to be see. Maybe I'll try doing one at a time today and see if that is more successful. Overall the WiFi in Budapest has been much faster than in Bratislava so Geoff has been able to check etrade which has kept him happy.

Tonight there is an 8 course degustation dinner dance somewhere in town. Sounds a trifle daunting to me but we'll see.

A tourist looking a little chilly in Budapest

but a glass or two of mulled wine soon warmed him up!

St Stephens cathedral was very impressive
 -both inside

- and out.

Monday, 30th December - Bratislava, Slovakia

Dinner last night was interesting. We were bussed to a place on the outskirts of Vienna - city meets Vienna Woods - to and old guesthouse at a vineyard for what was described as a typical rustic Austrian meal at which, in past times, the new vintage was sampled.
It was indeed, very crowded, very noisy and as the evening wore on, exceedingly hot.
Geoff immediately assumed it would be a cross between a BBQ and a hofbrauhaus beer swill so we weren't expecting much in the way of haute cuisine. The meal was a self service buffet thing, but the food was surprisingly good, and the sparkling mineral water was very welcome but the wine was barely drinkable. German oom pah pah music (live) added to the noise and all in all we were glad when it was time to return.
I gather from comments made this morning there were a lot of complaints, but it was an experience and really not too bad.
We went to sleep as usual with the doors and curtains wide open and I woke about 6.30 to lots of lights only to find another boat rafting up to ours and so close that if you put your hand out of our door it would be in their kitchen.  So we were up very quickly to shut doors and curtains.
About 7am we set sail from Vienna, which involved navigating a very deep lock and arrived in Slovakia late morning. (Bratislava is only 35 miles, or maybe kilometres, I'm not sure which, from Vienna).
After lunch we had another walking tour for a few hours and once again learnt a lot of history about the place as we walked. It was very cold, but still clear blue skies and mainly sunny, so we have been very lucky so far. It wouldn't be much fun going on all these walking tours in the pouring rain.
After two hours of waiting for pictures to upload I've given up on then so no pictures tonight. Maybe I'll have a better connection tomorrow.

Sunday 29th December - Vienna, Austria

The weather has deteriorated somewhat with yesterday's clear blue skies and sunshine replaced by miserable overcast.
The morning's excursions offered a choice of Art Galleries, but as Geoff has already outdone himself on this trip by voluntarily going to the Louvre without complaint, we decided not to push it and passed on the excursions.
Austria, like Germany, closes down on a Sunday, so no shops were open, though it is unlikely we would have gone shopping anyway. Instead we ended up going for a long walk along the banks of the Danube. Given that the centre of the city is very elegant, especially the tree-lined boulevards, we were struck by how appallingly ugly are the apartment buildings along the riverside. It seemed a bit incongrous to us.
This evening, it seems, we are being taken to some restaurant in the Vienna Woods for dinner.

So there are no photographs of anything interesting to post today. However, in light of Michele's  excellent gingerbread train that she produced for Christmas, I have an image of one of the pretty gingerbread houses here on the ship.

Saturday 28th December 2013 - Vienna, Austria

So, today we woke up in Vienna, somewhere I have always wanted to visit. We must be moored some way from the famous Ringstrasse as the view from our window was very uninspiring - motley modern buildings and something particularly hideous and out of keeping with the "elegant Europe". That particular building, it turns out, was designed by Harry Seidler. So initially I was very disappointed as Vienna was not as I had imagined.

A bit hard to see, but this "balcony" is actually a very good example of trompe l'oeuil.

A tourist in Vienna

What someone, who shall remain nameless, described as "a tasty pair".  But before you all go "yuck"  I should point out that this statue is completely edible - sculpted from marzipan

St Stephens - for a change a Gothic, rather than baroque, cathedral.

This morning there was a city tour for three hours and this was very interesting. We had a bus ride round the city, along the Ringstrasse and past most things of note and were then dropped off in the centre of town for a visit to the national library (it seems Austrians like their libraries). Apart from all the books, many handwritten centuries ago, there was more interesting trompe l'oeuil to admire. Again a flat roof but you would have sworn there was a balcony up there with people leaning over the balustrades.After that we had an hour or so to wander round town (yet another street lined with brand name shops like Gucci, Armani and Zara) and admire the Gothic cathedral, St Stephens.
After the morning tour we changed our minds and decided Vienna is really a very attractive city. You just have to be in the right part.
At lunch, completely by coincidence we sat with a couple of women who are virtually neighbours of Richard. They live in Effingham, home of the golf course where we were comprehensively beaten by Jack.
Geoff managed to find an English newspaper while we were in town this morning so we are having a relatively quiet afternoon.
Still no snow, but it's cold and sunny, so much more conducive to sightseeing than rain.

Friday, 27th December, 2013 - Durnstein, Austria

During the night we woke a couple of times to find we had slimy stone walls outside the window, blocking all air and views. Eventually we realised these were locks that we were navigating. I think we have been going down to lower levels each time but as it has always been in the dark it's hard to be sure. Also, the ship seems to turn midstream now and then so it is always moored facing the same way. This too usually happens while we are asleep so I find I have totally lost my sense of direction which is very disconcerting.
This morning we woke up in a town called Melk. It is not overly large as towns go but it's claim to fame is its massive abbey, which of course was the focus of this mornings excursion.
They turned on coaches to get us up the hill to the abbey (the first and original Benedictine Abbey I think) and from there we walked in our groups through the museums many rooms ending up in the library with an amazing ceiling which, through the use of trompe l'oeuil looked like it was vaulted but was in fact dead flat. Amazing what can be achieved with paint.
The final stop was the chapel which easily outdid any others we have seen in terms of grandeur.
We opted to walk back as it was a pleasant sunny morning and, as we were scheduled to sail through the Wachau Valley for an hour or so from 1pm, decided to have a light lunch up in the lounge with its big picture windows. Very pretty countryside.
Finally mid-afternoon we tied up here in Durnstein, a small city (and apparently it is actually designated a city) of only 800. There was another walking tour of an hour and a half's duration scheduled for 3.30 so we joined that and admired the pretty vistas from the higher areas.
We were quite glad to get back to the ship though, as it gets very chilly once the sun goes down.

The Wachau Valley

View from Durnstein

Thursday 26th December - Grein, Austria

Not much worth writing about today.
The ship left Linz around 4am and arrived at today's destination - Grein - somewhere around 8.30.
There was a walking tour in the morning to keep us all active and happy, but in a town of 3000 people on Boxing Day with everything closed there is not a lot to see. (Oh there was an historical sketch for an hour before the walk, but decided we'd rather read, so missed out on that).
The town's main claim to fame is an ancient theatre so the history of that was milked for all it was worth and there was also the obligatory visit to the local church. Then back for lunch and now the majority of people have gone off on this afternoon's excursion to some castle for cocktails with Princess someone, a member of the Hapsburg dynasty.
We decided that that really wasn't our thing either so are sitting enjoying the peace and quiet in the ship's library with views all round down the Danube.
I think we made the right decision and it's nice not to be doing anything after yesterday's marathon 10 hour excursion.
(The photos are actually yesterday's ones).

Sound of Music country

Christmas Day lunch venue in Salzburg

Wednesday 25 December, 2013 - Linz, Austria

A somewhat late night last night meant we slept in and had a dreadful rush to make it to the bus on time for its 8am departure. Still the two hours on the bus were an opportunity to catch up on a bit more sleep.
We spent most of the morning in the town of Salzburg, first visiting some place that had something to do with The Sound of Music, followed by a lengthy walking tour through the old town before ending up at St Pieters Monastery which is now a restaurant. Here we stopped for lunch before walking back to the bus for the short journey to Oberdorf, the home of Silent Night. There was a short little concert in the church (Silent Night sung very nicely in German by a couple of Bavarians) followed by more walking then the two hour bus ride back to the ship.
It was certainly a very different Christmas Day from the ones we usually have, but quite enjoyable and visiting all these places is really interesting and the guides are very good.
We seem to be immersed in chocolate here with little boxes appearing in our room every time we go out for a minute.
2014 is obviously going to have to be the year of the diet!
As we have been warned, the internet connection is dubious at times - and this seems to be one of them.
It is proving very difficult to upload pictures, so I will save them for a later date when  it is easier. It's a pity as they would have added a Christmassy touch.