Summer 2008

Chris and I are off tonight for another summer vacation. We are headed to Istanbul, followed by a Black Sea cruise, then Athens and finally a week in Croatia. Here's a map of the cruise route. As usual we are always happy to hear from home, so don't be shy with the comments.

Bread by the kilogram, seats on toilets

Certainly many things have stood out for me over the last few weeks Chris and I have spent in Europe. Many of these I've already mentioned and some that I haven't.



One that I haven't was a way we saw bread being sold in Germany - by the kilo! These loaves of bread were huge, at least 30 cm in diameter and very dark. They were sold as cheese would be - in wedges, by weight. I can't remember what the per kilo price was, but very interesting.



Another thing that needs to be mentioned given last year's blog is the WC/toilet situation. I didn't once have to hover due to an absent seat. Maybe this is a central Europe thing I don't know, but last year (especially in Spain) I was surprised if there was a seat!

Budapest

It's our last day in Europe. A city tour is organized for this morning. We did this tour last year so we decide to sleep in and do our own thing.

There is a market very close to where our ship is docked. The is anything you could imagine here. How about chicken feet? It took me a bit to figure out what these actually were. There was a lot of other meat like offerings that I wasn't ever able to identify.

We spend the rest of the morning window shopping and people watching. Lunch is back on the ship. In the afternoon we visit another market and a synagogue. The synagogue's cemetary has many unmarked graves from the war.

Bratislava

The ship staff got all of us ready for the potential of showing passposts as we got off the boat berfore our tour of Bratislava, but there was no one in the pasasport office. Apparently, the office is often empty - I guess they aren't too concerned.

It is too bad that we arrive so early in the morning - 8:30 - not exactly early, but before any of the shops and cafes are open. We take a walking tour of the city tour and are back on the boat by 11:00.

The rest of the day is spent sailing to Budapest. This is a bit too much sailing today. It wouldn't be too much if it was sun deck weather - the rain is back.

Vienna

Today begins with a city tour by coach under a blazing sun. Sprinkled among the old beautiful buildings are many statues and monuments of old muscians. Maybe someday there'll be one of my brother someplace.

We stop at Belevedere palace - no longer a palace but an art museum. Not huge, but quite a few pieces I recognize. I have to say, I could do without museums that aren't art museums. I could spend all day in an art museum.

During our own time in the city we get some take-away calamari from Nord See. This place seems prolific in Europe - like a European McDonald's. We've seen in a lot of these places on this trip and remember them from previous trips. - I Iove street food! If I wasn't so chicken to talk to people in a foreign language all I'd ever eat would be street food!

We quickly get back to the ship for lunch and off again in the afternoon to tour the Schonbrunn Palace. This is Vienna's version of the Versaille palace. It is smoking hot and quite crowed- needless to say, the palace is not air conditioned. It is even hotter when we tour the garden.

Before we get back on the bus we have a bit more street food. This time it is ice cream, but not an ordinary cone. You pick a flavor and the ice cream guy puts a tubular thing of the ice cream substance in a contraption with a handle that he then pulls down like a slot maching. This turns the 'stuff' in the tub into a soft-serve ice cream type substance. Not exactly fresh with no preservatives, but tasty and entertaining.

Pretzels in Melk

The morning is spent sailing, so we sleep in. The mid-morning pretzel, beer and sausage performance allows us to skip breakfast. I had to pass on the white sasuage - too white. Not appetizing at all! I did have a taste, but not an entire one. Chris didn't mind them and I'm pretty sure my dad would have been in heaven!

It is finally sun deck weather which is where we have lunch and sail to our next destination - Melk.

Melk's claim to fame is a working monistary which we tour in the afternoon. Then we spend a while in this very small town on a terrace with a glass of wine and buy a bit of Austrian chocolate.

Anchors aweigh - 4:00 we set sail again - the weather is perfect for the sun deck and a Margareta before dinner.

Passau/Linz

The weather seems to be a bit better today - not windy at least. We are at the confluence of the Danube, Ilz and Inn rivers. This puts a lot of boats in a tiny town.



As today's entry suggests (Chris' spelling) our morning walking tour finishes at (what else??) a cathedral containing Europe's largest pipe organ - 17 774 pipes. We listen to a fabulous organ concert - loud, bombastic (you could feel the low notes) and we are actually familiar with the pieces.



We are back on board for lunch and sail through the afternoon.



In the evening we dock in Linz, and head out for dinner. Although the town seems quite big there isn't all that much action. We settle on a traditional Austrian dinner of calamari and Greek meatballs!

Regensburg - brrrrr

The sun is out, but summer temperatures are not. It is very windy as we start out on a walking tour and stays that way. When the sun is out it's warm, but when it's not - chilly.

This is a charming city of a fair size. We are here until the evening. We have lunch on our own on a terrace despite the weather.

Nuremburg

An early lunch today allows us to skip breakfast and sleep in. We board a bus and see the spots made famous by Hitler and the trials. Of course there is a castle to visit, but because of the rain we move on quickly.

This is the first town where a festival is occuring. We have left a couple just as their festivals were to begin. Although it is raining the streets are full of people. Nuremburg is famous for tiny sausages - they serve 3 a bun. Chris had a couple, but I opted for a giant piece (about the size of a dinner plate) of deep fried dough covered with garlic, sour cream and cheese! Very tasty. I regretted it a bit after I eating the last bite, but still very delicious.

Wurzburg and Rothenburg

Today is our frst full-day tour. We start off on coaches. We are the last 2 on the bus, and the only seats left are the very last row. This turned out to be the best place to be. We had 5 seats for the 2 of us - lots of room to nap.

We toured a palace in Wurzburg followed by a traditional German lunch of sausages, saurkrout and potatoes. Not my cup of tea, but not bad.

The afternoon was spent in Rothenburg - a small touristy town. First was a walking tour with a guide. Then we shopped a bit and finally settled in to a terrace where we watched the world go by. It was overcast all day and finally rained about half an hour before we got on the bus to go home. We just put up our umbrellas and finished our drinks on the terrace. We picked up a tiny bottle of wine and a couple of street pretzels for the ride home - good thing we had so much room at the back of the bus.

Mainz

The German idea of a moderate walk is quite different from the North American one. The small village of Mainz has a castle (as they pretty much all do) at the top of a high hill. The guide we get today (the ship is divided into 5 groups) surveyed us about going to the top of the hill to visit the castle. We are assured that the walk is moderate. Ha! It was great to make our way up there, but a few of us have mobility issues for whom the journey was tough. The guide was terrific despite this cultural misunderstanding.

The rest of the day was sailing. This means very little happens other than sleeping, reading, drinking and watching TV.

Mainz

Today is a very relaxing one. We start off with a walking tour of the city Mainz with stops at the city's cathedral and the Gutenburg printing press museum.

Although the rest of the day is spent sailing we cannot sit on the sun deck due to the many low bridges. The chairs have been removed and the side railings have been taken off. All there was left to do was nap!

I think I'm a princess (Rudesheim)

OK, I know I'm a princess, so nothing much has changed - I have always been able to feel the pea under my bed, but today there are castles everywhere! It is about 20 degrees and briliantlly sunny. This allows us to pass the morning sailing on the sun deck as we pass at least 20 castles.

A visit to a music museum is planned for the afternoon which we forego. Instead we take a chairlift to the top of a hill and hike up there. The landscape is very much like the mountains at home just on a much smaller scale. The breathtaking views are of the Rhine valley, the town and vineyards. At the other end of the hike is a second chairlift down.

The bottom of the chairlift places us in a new town of Assmanshausen - (big surprise...Chris couldn't get enough of that name.) The walk back to the town of Rudesheim where the boat is is not your ordinary strole through Europe. This is a hike through vineyards. I don't know what you know about vineyards, but they are not planted on flat ground! At one point we found ourselves playing mountain goat. The grade was about 75%! Chris must be more mountain goat than me as he scampered to the top in no time. Thankfully these were well established vines as I hauled myself up by hanging on to them. It is safe to say we won't be coming back home heavier than we left.