Wien. Day 4

     This entry was accidently deleted just before posting and had to be rewritten from memory. Memory? What's that?

     After our late afternoon arrival yesterday we had a Vienna orientation talk then dinner. We dined alone for the first time. We then went on a walk to a very large park (bigger than Central Park in NYC) with exciting amusement rides. We did not ride anything exciting (or scary). We did, however, ride the Ferris Wheel. The oldest in the world, built in 1897. It is no longer the largest.

     It was a late night (for us).

     

     We had an early bus departure, right after breakfast, to take us to the center of Wien (how Vienna is spelled in German), pronounced 'Veen'. Maybe with a hint of saying Vee - en. 

     We are taking a number of bus tours (combined with walking) on this river adventure. We once looked down on bus tourism but back in the 90s we went to England, exploring on our own for about a week. Our hotel offered a free bus tour of London and we joined mostly old people on the bus (we were not old then). Loved it. It was very informative, gave us a great overview and we learned a lot. It helped with our own personal explorations while in London. 5 or more days in a city or an area is much better but unless you have that kind of time a bus tour with an expert guide is the next best choice. We no longer disparage bus tours of cities. 

     Our tour of Wien was great. Vienna has a lot going for it. It is clean, vibrant, historic, well maintained, has wonderful public transportation and extensive bike lanes. There are also many no cars areas. We are not world travellers by any means but we have been to cities in foreign places like England, Spain, Belgium, Ecuador, Caribbean islands, Florida plus many cities in the United States. Vienna is number 1 so far. We would definitely want to come back here to spend a lot more time. Maybe even before going to other foreign (to us) countries. 

     Yes, a horse is playing the accordian. 

     Hitler gave a speech here after annexing Austria. Many supported him here. At the start. That changed rapidly. I wish that more could learn from this instead of believing fascist leaning politicians around the world. Near and far. 

    Above: scenes of central Vienna including cathedral of St. Steven. Also Hapsburg palaces.

     Swarovski's. Fancy sparkly stuff. Did not upgrade our tiaras.

     McDonald's menu. A bit different. And it had a coffee shop. Of course. It is Vienna. All automated ordering. 

     Above: street scenes.

     Across the river from us. The wavy building is meant to represent the waters of the Danube.

     After our tour, lunch and a nap, I went for a walk along the waterfront. Cleverly disguised as a walkway, a bike path and a linear park is a fairly high dike that has protected Vienna from flooding since the late 1970s. I walked below the dike along the riverside outbound and on it or on the inland side on the way back. It's called the bunny walk because of the many, many rabbits on the dike. Not quite tame, a little wary, but tolerant of people. Mostly. 

     Next was a talk on tomorrow's sailings and tours and the schedules and other things to be aware of. The ship sails at midnight tonight and arrives in Melk about noon. We disembark for a tour of a nearby abbey while the boat leaves and moves on. After the tour we drive to where the ship has moved to reboard and get underway immediately. Very complicated and more on that in my next posting. To wind up our 4th day, at 2100, we had a 45 minute lecture from a local professor on the 1000+ year history of Austria. From a tiny country to a huge empire to a tiny country again with its current regrowth only about 40 years old. A brilliant, interesting and skillfull presentation. 

    

     We hope the departure noises do not wake us. 

Danube River. Day 3.

      Engine noise overnight sounds like a hotel air conditioner with some minor water swishing sounds. Calming. Soothing. Something we're used to from living on our boat. We seen complaints about the sound level on Facebook but no issues for us down in our cabin in steerage with the other poor people. Some folks have balconies or verandas and elevators to change decks. Not us. Stairs for us for the 4 decks. And small windows just above eye level. Cabins at our level are small but comfortable. Not much time is spent lounging there. Mostly sleeping. Large deck space is up top for lounging/sightseeing with a little less space for that on deck 3. At some point we will be kept off the 4th deck as everything is lowered, including the bridge (helm station), to get under some low bridges. Clearance will be 10cm after rails, shade covers, radars and other poles are lowered. 

     We went on deck before breakfast while it was still cool and breezy, came in for breakfast and then went back on deck. We went by the city of Bratislava about 0930. It is the 3rd of 4 capital cities that are on the Danube. Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia. Budapest is the capital of Hungary and this evening we will get to Vienna, the capital of Austria. Belgrade of Serbia is the other capital on the river but that was well downriver from out start in Hungary. 

     Young kids waving to us at Bratislava.

     The Castle. (Another one)

     Just so you know where you are. 

This is a restaurant called the UFO. It wasn't originally called that but the locals called it that so the owner changed the name. I wonder why? 

 Very beautiful. We will have to get used to that.

     We got a tour of the bridge and chatted with the helmsman. The captain came by to talk to groups in the later scheduled tours, not ours. Navigation is mostly a glass cockpit. No paper charts out. Several large GPS and one small one. The small one was in the format similar to paper charts, a substitute. Suposedly. I'm old school. The helm is just a small lever and the throttles are also very small. There are two engines and two bow thrusters. The bow thrusters are jet pumps as if they were large PWCs. A highly technical bridge with no manual backups visible. Since the ship was built in 2022 it is like most modern ships, very automated. 

All screen gauges and dials. Electronic. 

The helm (steering) is the lever in the helmsman's hand. 

     As the day warmed up we started removing clothing layers until we got down to shorts and tee shirt. Sightseeing on the river was interupted by lunch. I went light, skipping the entree. A salad and a soup. Oh, BTW, I didn't skip dessert. Wonder why?

Our next amazing castle. We could see the tourists walking about and climbing the battlements. 

     Our next river event was going through our 1st lock. Very long and narrow with about a 7 to 8 meter water level rise. It was a double lock with a separate lock besides us. We had plenty of room but the double wide barge in the adjacent lock barely squoze through. I have great videos but this format is best with still photos. 

We have to rise above that slime line. And we're already part way up.

Entering the lock. 

Approaching the lock.

     Most passengers had no experience with locks and had questions but no one to ask. I had plenty of lock experience with our boat but nothing this dramatic. Still didn't stop me from answering questions. After the lock we had to go under several very low bridges. So low that the crew lowered the sunshades aft and the whole bridge housing had to be lowered into the deck. The clearance was so limited a crewmember had to come up to us up forward to remind us to duck. Or sit down. While sitting I could have reached up and ripped down electrical wiring from under the bridges. In the future there will be bridges where we will not be allowed on deck. 

    These rails will have to come down for some future bridges. 

    The ship's bridge lowered into the deck to clear under the highway bridges.

     We tied up at Vienna (Wien in German) almost 2 hours before scheduled because our lock passage was quick. After dinner we went ashore and walked about 1.6 miles to the outer part of Vienna's inner ring. We went to an amusement park and went on the ferris wheel. About 65 meters in the air. Great view but Carol was not all that excited about it. Height and motion bothered her slightly. Some of the other rides looked pretty scary and we passed. The ferris wheel ride cost 14 Euro each so about $31 all together.

      The ferris wheel cars and great views.

     Some folks went to the opera. We went to bed. Early bus tour departure tomorrow. And more walking. Visiting the cities are wonderful but for me, so far, the river, the cruising and the views are the best. 

     Of course it's only the first full day underway. 

Budapest. Day 2

      At the end of our first (part) day aboard the Egdir we had an orientation session, a lifejacket muster and a great first dinner. It's open seating so you can sit with your group, if you have one, or just sit with random people an enjoy conversations with folks from all over the world (but mostly from the U.S.). Most people are at least in their 60s but more are significantly older. Some are experienced cruisers, some are first timers. Most are like us, some experience but not an extensive cruise ship lifestyle. After the U.S., the largest contingent seems to be Australians. 

     After breakfast at the start of our first full day we boarded a bus for a tour of Buda and Pest. BTW, Pest is pronounced Pesht. Say it that way and people will know you are a sophisticated traveler. We toured Pest first, on our side of the River (Danube). Shopping areas, historic areas, cultural areas and more. Several palaces of different eras and the synagogue. Interesting fact: a large section of the city was torn down and rebuilt in a more modern way in 1876 to celebrate 1000 years of their founding. Speaking of rebuilding, a lot of construction and reconstructing is going on. They are still undoing some of the effects of WW 2 but most of it seems to be undoing the effects of Soviet era construction. We then went over the river to Buda. The bridge closest to our boat is the Chain Bridge. It is the only one that is not known by its color and we could not use it as it is only open to city busses, taxis and pedestrians. No cars, no commercial busses or trucks. Castles and churches on the itinerary in Buda. Plus some walking and unstructured time (shopping). The inside of the RC church was beautiful and the views overlooking Budapest were amazing. 

The return trip, over the Yellow Bridge this time, took us past the Parliament Building, the 2nd largest in the world, and the iron shoes along the river. After the tour and after lunch and a nap, we walked back to this memorial to pay our respects. 

     My lunch.

      Carol's lunch.

At this location the Nazis would have the victims, too young, too old or too ill to be taken to the Concentration/Work Camps, remove their shoes before shooting them and allowing their bodies to fall in and be taken away by the river current. The iron shoes are a remembrance of those atrocities. There are modern remembrances of pebbles, yellow ribbons and photos of victims of current horrors around the permanent shoes.  

     In the evening there was a welcoming champagne toast and speeches from the Captain and some of the other officers then an outdoor dinner with some new Aussie friends, Peter and Wendy. We were also brought a special 50th Anniversary cake and had our wrists bound to each other as the maitre d sung love songs to us. Totally unexpected. Only slightly embarrassing. 

     The cake was on this plate. Writing is in chocolate.

     We got had gotten underway just a little while before the evening activities so we were on our way upriver by the time bedtime came along. 

                  Parliment Building. 

                First bridge. The Yellow Bridge. 

50th Anniversary. The start of the cruise.

      We started our 50th Wedding Anniversary cruise on Labor Day with a drive to Heather's home in Massapequa. We left before 0900 as planned, to beat any holiday traffic. The plan worked. Surprisingly. Just a couple of brief slow-downs with no stops at all. We think it was our best drive to Long Island ever. The Cross Bronx AND the Southern were without issue. Amazing. After a night and an afternoon there we took the LIRR from Massapequa to Jamaica and then the shuttle to JFK. We had a 2145 flight on Austrian Air to Vienna. 

     The train trip started with walking into an elevator at the Massapequa station with a lot of semi-fresh blood on the floor. A lot. Enough that it was difficult to avoid getting some on our luggage wheels. Large elevator - two people - a struggle to stay out of the blood puddles and footprints. An inauspicious start to our journey. The balance of ride went smoothly. All the way to the AirTrain and JFK. Security was mostly easy and quick and we were in. At the gate. To wait. Since it was an international flight, we were advised to arrive 3 hours early. We did not get to the airport quite that early but we knew we had a wait coming. This let us relax and not have any worries. Yet. Of course, with less than hour before departure, that departure was delayed. We could see the B-787 was waiting for us, the crew was waiting to board and the passengers were lining up. Yet we waited. They said the plane was late in arriving but we could see it there very shortly after its planned arrival. Sigh. 

     We got aboard with assurances we would still get to Vienna ahead of schedule because of tailwinds. Hah! We pushed back from the gate only 40 minutes late. Fine. No issues. Hah! We travelled about 50 meters away from the terminal and stopped. Missing your departure window at JFK does not go unpunished. We waited. And waited. And waited. We eventually got moving again only to find we had just moved enough to get in the line of aircraft waiting to depart. What fun. Miles of taxiing to get to our actual runway. A scenic tour of JFK taxiways. Well, it would have been if it wasn't dark. We finally took off about an hour after we pushed away from the ramp. And for some reason we would not now be making up the time lost.  Flying faster or something wasn't going to work. Go figure. Meeting our connecting flight was getting to be a bit questionable, too. But, that was so long into the future there was no point in worrying about it. Nothing to be done. 

     7.5 hours of flight time. What fun. A 787 is a large aircraft but people are stuffed in. Canned sardines have more room. The food was reasonably good. It had been a long time since we had gotten meal service on a flight and were pleasantly surprised. Of course, our breakfast was a bit boring and flavorless but, hey, low expectations. 

     The flight was a little lumpy but the seatbelt sign stayed off. A domestic flight would have had it on most if the time but a transatlantic flight, on a foreign airline (Austrian Air), well, different guidelines I guess. It wasn't airsickness inducing just bumpy. Like driving on New York State highways and Parkways at speed. Not uncomfortable but not sleep inducing either.  

     Getting off the plane with about 20 minutes before our scheduled boarding time for the next flight was interesting. Walk to the gate. Up stairways. Down stairways. Around corners. And most importantly, past restrooms. No time. We get to our gate only to find it's a bus stop. An airport loop every 10 minutes. We wait 8 minutes for it. We take a scenic tour (not!) about the airport and are dropped off at our gate. Uh, no. We walk up stairs, down stairs, around corners, up stairs, though passport control/customs to get to our gate where we check in. Then go down a hall, around a corner and downstairs again to find... another bus. We board this bus, take another scenic tour of the airport, come as close as possible to running over as many airport workers as possible to finally arrive at our aircraft. A small(ish) regional jet, an Embraurer 195. We squeeze in for the 25 minute flight to Hungary. We did, however, receive a bottle of water each and a Lindor chocolate. Our bladders didn't need the water but our throats did.

 A quick and easy flight at relatively low altitude so we got to see the countryside. Somewhat. At the Budapest airport it was the usual hike and wait to get our luggage. But time enough to use the restrooms. Whew. Once luggage was in hand we exited to look for our Viking Cruise representative. No problem. And no customs or passport control. Just walk out into the world. It was a 45 minute drive to and around Buda and Pest to get to our ship. Several times over the Danube and back for no known reason. Not a scam. Nothing at all in it for the driver. Just seemed a bit weird but the quickest route through a busy city. We arrive on the ship. Look around at the scenery in the middle of the city. Unpack and then get oriented to our home for two weeks and finally start our cruise. 

     Overall, with all this complaining, not a bad trip. Long but not bad. About 12 hours plus the 6 hour time difference but we are ready to go. After an orientation talk. A lifejacket/emergency drill with local firefighters aboard. Dinner and a well earned nights sleep. Ready to go.