Why do trips always start at O'dark 30?
We were up Thursday morning at 4:45 am to get ready. We headed to the airport and caught our flight to Washington, DC. We arrived there at 3:30pm where we met our friends Bonnie and Pete who are traveling with us, then caught a flight to Zurich at 6pm. We landed in Zurich at about 8 am. It was about 46 degrees and cloudy. Took the train into the down town and walked around a little since we had a 5 hour layover until our flight to Prague. Saw some interesting buildings but most shops were closed until after 10 am. Laura did find a Teuscher chocolate shop and bought some of her favorite chocolates. Then it was back on the train and back to the airport.
We caught a smaller plane to Prague. It was only about a 70 minute flight. We arrived in the Prague airport about 2. Had a little difficulty finding the driver who was supposed to pick us up. He was at the other terminal. We arrived at our hotel about 3:30, met the cruise people and tottered off to our rooms. Laura has crashed on the bed, she has 15 minutes more to stretch out before we are off for a meeting with the cruise director.
So all being said, we are here, safe, semi sound and absolutely pooped. Next trip report should be a little more exciting.
For those of you who knew what happened before we left, every thing is fine. For those of you who didn't know - here is the skinny. At 8:30 pm Wednesday we got a call from the bankcard department of our credit union. They had seen some activity on our credit union debit/credit card that they had questions about. .It appears that someone got the card number and was using it at Wal-Mart. They made 6 purchases in 20 minutes amounting to about $1200. Of course that created a really big problem for us as that was money we were planning to use on the trip and the credit union said they had stopped our credit card but they did not know if the debit card would still work. This morning we called them from Washington, DC and they said that they had put the money back into our account and not to worry. The thief was using our number but another name. Our debit card is working so we can use ATM's here to draw local money from the balance in our account. You get a better rate of exchange when you can do that. So all well, that ends well. But it was sure more excitement than we really wanted to start the trip.
Talk to you again in a couple of days,. We have a day tour of Prague tomorrow and then I think the plan is to hit the Christmas Market opening at 6pm. Sunday they load us onto buses to take us to the ship.
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| Prague Christmas Market |
We did meet the tour director in the lobby at 5:30 pm and he took a group of us on a walking tour of the shopping area, down to the Old Town Square, and out onto the Charles Bridge. He also made sure we understood the signs and could find our way back to the hotel. Before cutting us loose, he made several recommendations for places were we might enjoy a meal.
We walked around for awhile and found a little no name restaurant. We decided that since we were here we should try their goulash. It was pretty good but a little plain. Pete and I tried their local beer. It was good. Learned that the original Budweiser beer was brewed in the area, immigrants to the US took the brewing recipe and techniques with them.
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| Prague Castle |
We had a very nice and filling buffet breakfast in the hotel before they took us for a walking tour of Prague Castle and Old Town’s Jewish section. The Castle overlooks the town from across the Charles Bridge. It is very picturesque. We were able to walk around the grounds of the castle but were only allowed to enter the back of St. Vitus Cathedral and the souvenir shops of Golden Alley.
We saw one of the hourly changing of the guards in front of the buildings which would have been the President’s offices. They wore very nice uniforms. We found out that they had been designed by the wardrobe designer from the movie “Amadeus”. So the presentation was much nicer that it would have been if they were in typical Army uniforms.
We then went back into town across the river and walked about a quarter mile and we were in the Jewish section. Most of it had been destroyed so it was very small. We saw an old synagogue, the old Jewish cemetery and the guide talked a little bit about the area while we stood on one street corner. She then started off for the Old Town Square. It took just a few minutes walking to arrive there and that was when the tour ended. Bonnie, Peter, Laura and I opted to walk around the Christmas market which was in the square. We each purchased a sausage for 25 K. The US dollar is worth roughly 20K. It was pretty good. I added a little brown mustard and a pepper/onion relish. After being recharged, the ladies were ready for the shopping.
We walked back down towards the Charles Bridge along the streets we had toured on Friday night with Gunther. I found the shop that had the beer mugs, so I was able to obtain a mug for the beer I drank Friday night, thus adding to my beer mug collection from around the world. Laura found a crystal Xmas ornament to add to her collection of Xmas ornaments from where ever we travel. She also picked up some Xmas presents but I will not spoil any surprises by saying what she bought in this report.
About 2:30 pm, we returned to the hotel for a little nap and to add warmer clothing. It has been in the low to mid 40’s, the sky is gray and there is a pretty cold breeze blowing. It is enough to make both your eyes and nose run.
At 5:30, we joined up again and walked back to the Old Town Square to see the lighting of the Christmas tree and the official opening of the Christmas Market. What a mass of humanity! It seemed that everyone in town came down for it. We were packed like sardines and you moved with the flow of the crowd. Bonnie being the shortest in the group was at times caught and spun around like driftwood just trying to stay on her feet. We did survive the ordeal. Afterwards we found a restaurant placard which looked like it would have a good meal. The staff came out and escorted us through the building into a courtyard and down into the basement. It contained a very pretty restaurant. It was also the former home of Franz Kafka, the writer and in the 1300’s was a dungeon for disobedient students. Dinner was superb. Laura had a salmon dish and I had a chicken breast with a mustard sauce. Presentation of the meal was very nice as was the atmosphere. It turned out to be an excellent choice for dinner.
Afterwards we walked out onto Charles Bridge for photo opportunities and then retraced our tracks towards the hotel. It was 9:30 and the Christmas market was basically closed and many of the tourist shops along the route were also closing. So we returned to the hotel to repack our bags and ready ourselves for luggage pickup at 6:45 am.
That’s all for now. More adventures to come.
That’s all for now. More adventures to come.
This morning in Prague was another cool, gray, windy morning. We boarded the bus and started for Nuremberg at 8:30 am. We thought that it was a 2 hour bus trip but it turned out to be 4 ½ hours. The bus was comfortable and the ride through the countryside was interesting. But our body clocks are still running on California time so we found ourselves nodding off.
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| Nuremberg Christmas market |
We arrived in Nuremberg at the Christmas Market at about 1 pm. We had until 4 pm to shop. It was a much larger marketplace compared to Prague and the selection of goods was much greater. Many booths selling gingerbread, sausages, hot mulled wine and many different items of Christmas decoration or items to be used as gifts.
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| Our room aboard the MS Amadagio |
We joined Bonnie and Pete in the Aft Lounge for an after dinner drink of Becharnovka, a Czech digestive drink. We met a fellow traveler, also a travel agent, named Bob who joined us for a drink. Then it was off to bed to try to sleep.
Monday morning came early. Neither Laura nor I made it though the night. She was awake from about 4:30 am and so was I. Breakfast was buffet style starting at 6:30 am. We re-boarded the bus for a trip back into Nuremberg at 8:30. We toured the city stopping briefly at the Nazi Party Rally Grounds, driving past the prison and courthouse where the War Trials were held. We disembarked the bus at the Nuremberg Castle and walked through it and back down into the Christmas Market. We had about 1 ½ hours for shopping before we caught the bus and returned to the ship. We re-boarded and within 15 minutes after all were aboard, we were underway. So far we have passed through 2 locks, both about 85 feet high. About 4:30 pm, they expect us to reach the Continental Divide. Then we will be going down the locks instead of up them.
The afternoon has passed quietly. We had lunched, napped, read and watched the scenery glide past as we cruise along heading for Kelhiem where we will be dropped off tomorrow morning to bus to Regensburg and the next Christmas Market adventure.
More too come.
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| disembarking for Regensburg |
This morning we awoke at the landing in Kehlheim and boarded the bus for our tour of Regensburg. The bus dropped us in a parking lot next to the river where the ship was going to dock at 1 pm. We then departed on about a 1 ½ hour walking tour of old city. Regensburg was the home of Oskar Schindler who was portrayed in the movie “Schindler’s List”; it was also the home of the current pope, Pope Benedict XVI. Regensburg was spared bombing in WWII so it is very picturesque with cobbled streets, a large Gothic cathedral and the site of the oldest bratwurst kitchen. We visited the cathedral and then attacked the Christmas market.
We returned to the ship at about 4 pm. They met us with hot Gluhwein on the quarterdeck. We were entertained by the Spitzweg Quartet which was comprised of four former members of the Cathedral’s All Boy A-capella choir. Dinner was at 7:30 pm. They serve very good meals but too much good food is going to cause some pain in the wardrobe.
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| Eating pretzels at the Salzburg market |
Wednesday was St. Nicholas day. We were up early to catch the bus at 8 am for Salzburg. We took a walking tour of parts of the new and old city. We visited a former home of Mozart which is now a museum and then walked past his birth place. Our guide wandered through various marketplaces to visit various tourist sites. We dropped out of the tour when it reached an area near the cable car to the top of the hill where the old fortress can be visited. We rode up so we could get good photos of the city. We ate a bratwurst sandwich and drank a hot Gluhwein. Bonnie and Laura insured that the tax receipts of the city would remain in the black for the month. Pete and I carried the bags.
Trouble has hit the tour. Repairs on a railway bridge have forced the ship to cancel out visit to Linz. Our bus just drove through and when we arrived at the ship we were underway within 15 minutes.
Santa came aboard and distributed presents to all the good little boys and girls. We were also instructed to place a shoe outside our door before we went to sleep.
When we awoke Thursday morning, we found large chocolate Saint Nichols or chocolate Devils in our shoes. You received Saint Nick if you were judged to have been good and the Devil if you had not been so good. Guess which one, I got.
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| Melk Abbey |
After the tour of the Abbey we stopped in a little town of Durnstein which has a population of only 600 people. It is the city where Richard the Lionhearted was imprisoned. We had not been scheduled to stop here, but because we missed Linz due to the bridge problems, they substituted this. It was very picturesque. However, only two shops were open. It seemed that the majority of the population was in Italy on their annual holiday.
We then returned to the ship for lunch and started our journey down river to Vienna. Stay tuned for details of our continued adventures.
We arrived in Vienna and moored about 5 pm, we had an early dinner because many of the tour had signed up to attend a concert. We opted to take the subway into town and walk around the streets looking at all the brightly lit storefronts and watching the people. We also visited several small Christmas markets. As our legs were getting tired, we took the trolley for a ride around the center of the city. That was interesting but we did not have a clue as to what we were seeing or exactly where we were. We did find our way back into the city center, once there we located the Hotel Sacher where we ordered a world famous Sacher Torte and something to drink. We all decided that the Torte was greatly overrated. It was dry and not really that tasty. Another tourist legend that does not stand up to reality. We then took a taxi to return to the ship
Friday was a little more relaxed day with departure for the bus/walking tour at 9 am. We were driven around the Ring Road for a visit to the Christmas Market near the City Hall. We saw the former Ministry of War, the Vienna State Opera House, Museum of Fine Arts and the Museum of Natural History to name a few. Of course, it is “on the right we have a pink building and now on the left there is a pink building.” We then trooped on foot from St. Stephen’s Cathedral through the heart of the city to the New Christmas Market at Maria Theresien Platz. We had signed up for a carriage ride and a visit to a coffee shop and a ride on the famous and oldest ferris wheel in the world but there were not enough people wishing to take the tour so it was canceled.
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| Cruising into Budapest |
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| Looking down on Budapest for Fishermans Bastion |
We were fortunate. Our plane did not leave until 11 am on Sunday, so we did not have the rush that many had. We ate breakfast and at 8:15 am, we were informed that our cab was there to take us to the airport. Minor problems at the airport in Budapest, they had to handwrite our baggage tags as the computer system was having problems. So we were worried that we might not get our dirty clothes home. In the airport in Frankfurt, an overly efficient security guard had his hand in George’s underwear. It would not have been so bad but he was wearing them at the time. Our arrival in San Francisco was smooth and uneventful. The last leg of the trip had us arriving at San Diego a little after 8 pm. So 14 hours of airtime and about 4 hours of waiting in airports made for two very tired travelers.
We are home now, rested and sorting out our laundry. Laura is sorting and making plans for Christmas with the treasures that she purchased. Schnauzers were delighted with our arrival home. We hope you enjoyed our little letters describing our trip.
