Day 4, Tuesday, 18 July
Daisy and I spent this day on a leisurely cruise up the Danube River, which was a nice rest after a fairly hectic schedule of touring in Budapest. We have no guarantee that we will return to this old world city, so we packed Budapest’s sights and sounds to capacity in our minds.
Our home for 14 nights was the Viking Magi longship, which was built in 2013, is 443 feet long, and is registered in Switzerland. It carries 190 passengers and 50 crew members. The lower deck has rectangular portholes and our “stateroom” was on the second deck with a French balcony, which means we had a sliding glass door with a railing just outside it. The space wasn’t large, but was very well designed. And remember, we have traveled across the US and much of Canada in a truck camper!
We had the mandatory safety drill on Tuesday morning, which included donning the life vests (which were stored under our bed with the luggage) and learning where to report on the upper sundeck for a roll call. (The little white gadget on the vest is a blinking light that activates when immersed)
There were several passengers (what were they thinking?) who came to the deck with out their life vests and were sent back down to their cabins to retrieve them. On the sundeck we were told that due the rivers being shallow, there were no lifeboats on board. However there is one motorized craft that is used by the crew for maintenance from the water.
We didn't dock in Bratislava, Slovakia, but had a good view of it along the shore. This photo shows its two main landmarks. The Hrad Fortress, on the left, was begun in the early 1400s and assumed its final form in the 1600s. A fire gutted it in 1811 and it was renovated in the mid-1900s to house the Slovakian National Museum. On the right is the Cathedral of St Martin, which was constructed during the 15th and 16th centuries.
After the drill we returned to our cabin and put the life vest away in its handy location. It was a warm day so we returned to the sun deck to take some pictures and discovered we had it all to ourselves. The boxy structure that you see looking aft is the “bridge” of the ship and contains the ship’s maneuvering controls. When going under low bridges this control room is lowered into the deck to allow passage.
In the rural areas, we saw small houses, often on stilts for protection from flooding, and also numerous houseboats.
The riverside homes nearly all had this find of fishing net strung near the shore.
Often as we watched the water and shorelines the people and shore birds and other river traffic watched us.
As we approached larger cities, we saw other types of waterfront construction as well as walls of the many types of locks we encountered as we journeyed up the Danube.
Part of the afternoon’s entertainment was a demonstration of preparing Apple Strudel, which was conducted by the chefs with assistance from two of our new friends, Debbie and Brenda.
They made the pastry shell from scratch and here are showing how to roll the pastry and fillings using a table cloth. We received a copy of the recipe and also a tasty sample of the finished product.
The food on the ship was excellent and always presented beautifully.
Daisy’s selected Lime Marinated Poached Shrimp with Avocado Tartare for her dinner appetizer. For dessert she had Warm Apple Hazelnut Crumble with Malted Whiskey Ice Cream. Yummy!
Our ship docked that evening in Vienna, Austria.
We spent that night and the next day and night exploring this cultural and historical capital of Europe. Tuesday evening, we joined a busload of our fellow passengers on an optional excursion to hear a special Mozart and Strauss concert presented at an opera house by the Vienna Residence Orchestra.
Our group filled the opulent room, which had excellent acoustics.
We were told we could take non-flash photos before the performance, but not after it actually began. Daisy took this one just before the conductor signaled the beginning of the first selection, the Overture from the Marriage of Figaro. Two vocalists and two ballet dancers also participated later in the concert
This evening of classical music was a beautiful introduction to Vienna and a great way to end our first evening.
Day 5, Wednesday, July 19
Daisy and I took an optional 8-hour excursion called “Vienna Highlights.” We were among only 7 passengers selecting this tour, so had lots of personal attention from our guide. A primary reason for our choice (and the reason I believe it was not as popular with some of our shipmates) was that it included a one-hour lesson in the Viennese waltz at a dance studio with a professional instructor. We love to waltz, but our usual style is more free-flowing than the structured steps of the Viennese version. It was fun to learn a new style in the home of this famous dance.
We had a early breakfast to start our day, then met our local guide for a short walk from the docks to our limo van.
We observed the old mixed in with the new. And yes, Virginia, there is a McDonalds.
Our destination was a downtown dance studio and private waltz lessons.
The 7 of us had the studio all to ourselves. The instructor explained the history of the waltz and the Viennese waltz in particular. He described the traditional News Year’s Eve event when the entire city gathers at the city center . That day, it is traditional for instructors from all the dance studios in the city to give free lesson in the parks and open spaces to all wanting to learn the waltz or brush up on their skills. At midnight, following a countdown to this magic hour, waltz music such as Strauss’s Blue Danube plays on and on. Partners change, the young dance with the old, kisses and best wishes are exchanged, and fireworks dazzle and leave traces in the early morning skies. Sounds like fun to me!
Daisy and I learned a few things about this Viennese waltz that makes it unique. The Viennese waltz is the originator of ballroom dancing with a fast beat that is 60 to 90 beats per minute with constant turning to the left or right of the lead partner. It is called a rotary dance. What that means is that you are constantly turning and subject to getting dizzy unless you employ certain techniques to keep yourself oriented as you travel counterclockwise around the floor.
As the designated leader, it required me to get out of my own way, but we got it done. It did get warm in that studio however as we started from 30 beats a minute to finally dance at 60 beats a minute. Our time was up, but we all learned to do the waltz and headed for lunch.
Our walking tour of the Innere Stradt (inner city) took us through some narrow passages lined with little shops.There were other touring groups in the city from other ships so we paid close attention to our guide’s “paddle” at the intersections.
One of the most recognizable landmarks of Vienna is Stephansdom, in English called St. Stephen’s Cathedral. It was constructed during the 14th and 15th centuries, and the damage that occurred near the end of WWII was fully repaired by 1952.
St Stephen’s is the most important religious building in Vienna and probably the finest Gothic church in Austria. The interior is like the other major churches, but if anything even more overwhelming. There are tombs, relics, multiple altars, chapels, and catacombs. Again, inside photography was not permitted.
Vienna is the home of the Hofburg palace, which was the main residence of the Habsburg (also spelled Hapsburg) emperors for centuries. This modest palace has 2600 rooms and about 25 of them were open to us for a tour. No photos were allowed inside, but the opulent collections, the ceiling and wall gold-leaf plating and paintings, with the secular jewelry treasures, makes it a dazzling delight. Some rooms in other parts of the palace can be rented for a special vacation.
The courtyard of the Habsburg palace is complete with a restaurant and bar.
Outside in the plaza, there are many horse-drawn carriages, complete with built-in poop catchers. We were also interested in the water stations where tourists could drink from a fountain or fill their water bottles.
Also located here is the permanent Spanish Riding School for the famous Lipizzaner horses that are bred and trained there. Unfortunately most of the horses, like the tourists, were on holiday, so no demonstrations were available.
The Trinity Column was completed in 1393 in the center of Vienna’s shopping area. It includes a tower of clouds, saints, angels, and depictions of the Habsburg rulers. It is the most famous and oldest of a genre of columns found in various cities in Austria, Bohemia, and Bavaria. They were built as part of counter-reformation efforts to impress and educate common people about the glory of the Catholic God and his linkage to the Habsburg monarchy.
We had an afternoon tour of the major public areas of the Schonbrunn Palace, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that is one of the most important architectural, cultural, and historical monuments in Austria.
This was the summer residence of the Habsburgs.
Why just summer? It only had 144 rooms.
Schonbrunn (“beautiful spring”) was an imperial summer residence dating from the 1500s, and was built in the present Baroque form in the mid-1700s during the reign of empress Maria Theresa. Photography was not allowed in the ornate interior, but it was truly impressive.
We had lunch out and went back to the boat to put our feet up and prepare for a “heurigen” dinner, about 30 minutes drive out of town. This term refers to the limited permission given in the late 18th century allowing vintners to sell food with their new wine to celebrate the harvest. We traveled to the Wolff winery in Newstift am Wade, on the outskirts of Vienna.
The leafy pine bough over the tavern door indicates that the owner is open and all is ready.
There was time for music, but the highlight was time in a more intimate environment to get to know some of our shipmates. Especially of note is this couple above left, George and Bobbie from near Hope, Arkansas. We spent lots of time with them and began calling each other cousin by the end of the tour. They have extended an invitation to come visit and we will.
Daisy and George showed the Germans how to polka, mountain style!
While waiting for the meal to be prepared, Debbie joined us for a walk in the vineyards before it got too dark for pictures.
Daisy has never met a cluster of grapes that she did not like.
We sampled several of the Wolff vintages, along with an ample meal of salad, a variety of meats, breads, vegetables, and pastries.
Back at the boat, we gathered in the lounge reflecting on this day. We looked forward to continuing to cruise the romantic Wachau Valley with good friends.
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