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There were two options for today:  free time in Prague or an optional trip to the town of Kutna Hora. I had seen an article that said Kutna Hora was really worth visiting so we signed up for that option, along with Bruce and Jan and our new friends met on the trip, Jim and Joan Mancini.  About half of the 42 people on this trip extension also joined us. Kutna Hora is about an hour outside of Prague and was an important city in the Middle Ages, as it was the site of significant silver mines.

Our first stop was at Sedlec, a suburb of Kutna Hora to visit a unique, bizarre site called the Sedlec Ossuary. Most people, including myself, are not familiar with ossuaries as they are not very common in the USA. In Europe however, they are more common. What they are, are a location where human bones are stored. In medieval times it was common to dig up the remains of burials to retrieve the bones which were then stored in ossuaries, to free up the land for more burials. I have seen examples in the underground catacombs in Paris and Rome but nothing like what is here. What makes the Sedlec Ossuary so unique is that the bones have been arranged to create works of art. This ossuary is located in a chapel beneath the Church of All Saints and contains the bones of some 40,000-70,000 people. It is truly bizarre, yet enthralling. Although the ossuary is a major Czechia tourist attraction it is still in use as a chapel where services are held.

From here we went to Kutna Hora itself to view its sights and hear about its place in history. It dates back to 1142 with the creation of the Sedlec Abbey and by 1240 silver was being mined here. From the 13th to 16th centuries, the city competed with Prague culturally and politically. The silver mines in the area were the largest in the world. The miners wanted to build a church as important as the cathedral in Prague and so the gothic St Barbara’s Church (patron saint of miners) was planned and started in 1388. Because the mining of silver eventually was abandoned in the 18th century the church was not completed until 1905 and even then it was only 1/3 of its planned length. Still it is a pretty dramatic structure given where it is.

The last site we visited in Kutna Hora was the “Italian Court” the name given to the building complex where the silver was refined and made into coins and acted as a palace for royalty. Originally, it was the seat of the Central Mint of Prague and was named after the Italian experts who were at the forefront of the minting reform. The main area of the mint consisted of coin-makers-workshops, or Smithies, which were located around the courtyard, and the minting chamber where the Prague “goschen” were struck. After its reconstruction at the end of the 14th century, it became a part time palace for the king when he came to check up on his silver mines. We were given a short tour of the facility and were shown how the coins were made.

After the tour we were given time to seek out lunch and shop before returning to our hotel in Prague.

Tonight was our last night on the tour and we were hosted at a champagne reception and dinner. People will be leaving for home in the morning and we are headed back to Seattle.

 

Cloudy and quite chilly this morning (45 degrees) requiring several layers of clothing as we are headed out for a walking tour of Prague this morning.

The two  most popular and must see sights in Prague are the Charles Bridge and the Astronomical clock in Old Town. Unfortunately, as we were crossing the Charles Bridge we had to break out the umbrellas as it started to sprinkle. So much for a weather forecast that said rain was not expected until late afternoon. We did arrive in time to see the hourly demonstration of the Astronomical Clock, along with hundreds of other tourists. It only lasts less than a minute so I must say it was a bit anticlimactic! I was amazed at how many tourists were here in old town at this off-peak time of the year.  I would hate to fight the anticipated crowds during the high season.

A bit about the clock: The clock was first installed in 1410, making it the third-oldest astronomical clock in the world and the oldest clock still operating. It has been repaired many times over the centuries, the last time in 2018. The four figures represent death (skeleton) who rings the bell at the top of the hour, calling for the other three figures: greed, vanity and lust. The 12 apostles appear in the two windows above the statues and the rooster lets out a sad sounding crow at the end of the short sequence. The rest of the clock shows the date, time and even the phases of the moon. It was and is a sophisticated piece of machinery.

A bit about the Charles Bridge: it was built between 1357-1402 and was an important connecting point between the Old Town and the Prague Castle across the Vitava River, which it spans. It was originally called the Stone Bridge but was renamed the Charles Bridge in 1870, after King Charles IV who ordered its construction. The bridge made Prague important as a trade route between Eastern and Western Europe. Interestingly it was patterned after the stone bridge in Regensburg that we saw earlier in our travels.

After the clock demonstration the walking tour offered an option to go see the former Jewish quarter. By this time we were chilled and somewhat wet and decided eating something hot would be a better option, so off we went to a nearby warm, inviting cafe where we all had bowls of soup, ample slices of bread and hot tea or coffee. We left refreshed and saw some more local sights on our way back to the bus meeting point at 12:30 where we were taken back to the hotel.

There was an optional walking tour of the Prague Castle complex later in the afternoon but it was still cold and raining so our entire group decided a nap was more important. We gathered for cocktails, then dinner at another nearby, local Czech restaurant that was owned by the previous personal chef to the President of Czechia. I had high hopes that it would be special but unfortunately it was not. It was good but we all enjoyed the dinner at last night’s restaurant more.

 

 

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Another cool and sunny morning for our 9 AM departure for Prague. There was a huge amount of truck traffic on the highways and we learned that is because trucks are not allowed to travel on the weekends. 

Around 11 AM we arrived at the city of Brno ( city of about 400,000, # 2 in Czechia) for our “Shakespeare Stop” and lunch. We walked around a bit looking at the sights and for a cafe, but no good options appeared and we finally decided to simply go to the local Starbucks on the main town square for a snack as none of us were really hungry yet.

I had my first ever pumpkin spice latte (at a cost of almost $6); a piece of pumpkin pie would have been better!  I had to laugh as the coffee of the day was Pike Place Market and here I am In Brno, Czechia. Did you catch my use of “Czechia”?  Since 2016 that has become the formal new name for the Czech Republic. Most people, however, still refer to it as the Czech Republic.

While on the road, Csaba gave us more information about life in this part of Eastern Europe. Hungary and Czechia are not using the euro yet although it is widely accepted there. It turns out that the European Union (EU) can keep you from using it as your currency if your economy is not healthy. The EU does not want another problem like Greece to deal with. Slovakia is on the Euro.

University studies are free if your grades are good enough. You earn points for grades while in high school and that determines what schools you can attend. If you do not have the necessary points you can still attend the school but you have to pay. After each semester it is re-evaluated and you can have situations where, depending on your grades compared to others, if you were attending free you might now have to pay and vice versa.

Healthcare is an issue here, as it seems to be everywhere in the world. As a doctor in Hungary you might make $1,000/month. In Austria you would earn $5-7,000/month, so everyone is interested in leaving. They have now instituted rules that If you leave you must pay back the tuition, plus a big fine. But rich countries are willing to pay the fines so it is a continuing problem for Hungary, Czechia and Slovakia.

Healthcare is free but in return you pay 38-50% of your salary in taxes. They attempted to implement a one euro/visit so the hospitals would have more money for equipment. People rebelled so it was retracted.

Amateur American rule football leagues are starting to crop up in Europe. Logos on jerseys do the advertising, rather than commercials on TV. Games attract 6,000-7,000 fans per game. Austria and Germany are the biggest leagues. Our tour director sometime plays defensive tackle for the Budapest Wolves; they use the UW Badgers “W” as their helmet logo. Wisconsin threatened to sue but learned their trademark was only good in the US. 

McDonald’s was the first franchise in Hungary after the communists left so it was really a big deal. Hungarians called McDonalds the “US Embassy” or the “Embassy of Freedom” after the fall of communism.  Fun fact:  In Austria, McDonalds is now an official extension of the US Embassy and you can contact it through them. And speaking of McDonalds at our Shakespeare stop I bought the new Snickers McFlurry as a snack and it was way better than I expected.

Gun laws are very strict.  It is hard to get a license to own a gun, only if you join a gun club, and even then there are tough restrictions. Guns must be broken down and locked in a safe if stored in the home. No automatic weapons are allowed and random house safety checks by police are common.

Fun Fact:  contrary to common belief, Budweiser beer is not an US invention. Budweiser beer is originally from a small town in Czechia and tastes totally different than what is sold in the U.S.  (Anheuser-Busch licensed the name and recipe from them).

As expected we arrived in “Praha” the Czech name for Prague around 4 PM. Our hotel is a Radisson Blu hotel across from the old town. Unfortunately it is a disappointment compared to the Kempinski and Hilton we used in Vienna and Budapest. It is hard to lower ones expectations! This is our home for the last three nights of our trip.

It had been a long travel day and we were not eager to wander around the city for dinner. I found a small Czech cafe across the street via TripAdvisor that got good reviews and we went there for a meal. It was traditional family style Czech cooking and everyone had a good meal, finishing with an apparently popular Czech dessert-cherries jubilee.

Slovakia is one of the few countries in Europe that I have not yet visited so it is meaningful! Slovakia is the 92 UN member country I have visited, and the 110th country if I include territories.For the record I am still missing Andorra on the Spain/France border.

You do not hear much about Bratislava but our 2 night visit gave us a chance to check out this neat little city with a charming old town area. The city, which lies on the Danube River, has a population of 430,000 and is the only capital that borders on two countries, Hungary and Austria. It is only a one hour train ride to Vienna. The younger crowd calls Bratislava – “Partyslava” because of its vibrant night life.

We had a walking tour this morning with a local resident who told us about the history of the city and life here. One of the funniest stories was how they have named the bridges in the city. What they call the “New” bridge is really the oldest one and the bridge they call the “Old” bridge is in reality really the newest one. Go figure!

Early in its history, Bratislava was part of Hungary and its cathedral, St. Martin’s was the site for the coronation of 11 kings and queens between the 16th and 18th centuries. Maria Teresa was fond of the city and during her reign Bratislava was the largest and most important city in Hungary. Beethoven, Mozart and Haydn gave concerts here.

Bratislava became part of Czechoslovakia after WWI and in 1993 it separated from the Czech Republic and is now the Slovak Republic, I.e. Slovakia.

Our walking tour took us on the cobblestone streets of old town, finally ending up in the main square where we had the opportunity to ride the 75 minute small “train” tour through the town and up at the castle above the city. We chose to do it but the views from the castle area were not all that exciting and we did not have time to explore the castle itself.

The three couples then went their separate ways; we chose to have lunch in  local brew pub where I tried their traditional goulash plate that included potato dumplings and bread for dunking into the copious amount of gravy that accompanied the meal. Yvonne favored a bowl of hot chicken soup.

We walked back to the hotel for some R&R before joining our colleagues for drinks and dinner. Because of our big lunches we all were eager for “food court” food in the mall next door, and as much as I hate to admit it we went to McDonalds for some American junk food.

A leisurely 9 AM start for our journey to Bratislava, Slovakia. It is likely to be raining some so it is a good travel day. There are 42 of us in this “extension” which is commonly offered before and after the main trip. We have a new Tour Director, a young man named “Csaba (pronounced “Chabba”) which is a common Hungarian name. Ironically our bus driver is also named Csaba.

We drove about 1.5 hours before we made what Chabba called a “Shakespeare Stop”. What pray tell is that?  His response:  “to pee or not to pee” which drew a hearty laugh from our group on the bus.  Chabba spent most of the time talking to us, telling us about Hungary and its people which interrupted some people’s napping time. He did remain quiet after the Shakespeare stop.

The lunch stop was in a small village restaurant where we again were offered Palinka before several ladies and two young girls demonstrated how to make a poppyseed/sour cherry strudel from scratch. It was exactly how my grandmother made it-stretching out the dough to a paper thin consistency on a table cloth, adding the ingredients, then rolling the dough into a long, sausage-like tube. It brought back many fond memories. She used to make apple and cheese versions when I was young. After the demonstration three tables were set up for volunteers to make strudel, guided by the hosts, one of which was a 13 year old daughter. We watched and took pictures. These were then baked and ended up as our dessert after lunch. Lunch by the way, was goulash, which is served as a soup here, with a baked bread top (looked like a chicken pot pie). It was loaded with meat, potatoes, carrots and other root vegetables and was fabulous, especially when you dunked the bread into the soup! A marvelous lunch in all regards. Their 8 year old daughter made a killing selling us paprika as we left the restaurant; how could you say no?

After the delightful cooking demonstration and lunch we continued our drive to Bratislava, arriving around 4 PM as planned. Our group met for cocktails at 6 PM and then went to a local Italian restaurant near the hotel for our “pasta/pizza” fix.

 

Another sunny but cool day. The weather has been cooler than normal. Luckily we brought enough to “layer” and stay warm. We are off for a tour of Budapest with a local guide and then a group lunch in the “Pest” part of town.

Since the Fishermen’s Bastion is next to our hotel that we where we started the tour.  The area got its name because supposedly during medieval times fishermen who lived here protected this portion of the Buda castle walls. It is one of the most visited locations in Budapest because of its extraordinary views. A prominent statue is of St. Stephen I, the first King of Hungary. Although the highlight of the area are the views across the river, the nearby cobblestone streets with their tiny shops are also a delight to see and explore.

From here we boarded buses to go to see the Freedom Statue on a nearby hill. Also known as the Liberty Statue it was erected in 1947 to commemorate the liberation of Hungary from Nazi Germany by Russia. The problem is the Russians did not leave for 50 years! There was the futile unsuccessful revolution in 1956 to oust the Russians. It was not until 1989 that Hungary gained its independence. The monument which originally had a statue of a Russian soldier has been modified; that statue was removed and moved to another less obvious location. Several viewing platforms in the area give visitors a great perspective of the all of Budapest.

We left the “Buda” portion of the city to see the more business/party side of “Pest” on a driving tour through the area. The one stop we made was at Heroes’ Square, where there are statues of the famous seven Magyar chieftains and other important Hungarian heroes. It is also the location for the Memorial Stone of Heroes, which is sometimes confused as a tomb of the unknown soldier. As it turns out while we were there a dignitary from Lithuania did lay a wreath at the Stone of Heroes.

Lunch was held in the old music hall in Pest. At this point people had three options; to stay in Pest and return to the hotel on their own, or return directly to the hotel, or go on the optional tour to see a Hungarian horse show. Our gang of six had signed up for the show which was held at a horse ranch outside the city. The Lazar Lovaspark ranch was quite an operation. We were greeted with more Palinka, the fruit brandy featured here, and puffed pastry snacks, before being led on a short tour of the stables to see some of the many horses they own. Then we toured a small farm animal zoo and a building dedicated to the trophies the family has won in horse related competitions. Next was a ride on horse-driven wagons through the nearby woods and finally to the viewing stands to view a horse show put on by Hungarian cowboys who demonstrated skills with whips and weapons used in past ages, as well as horse riding skills. I was surprised at how physically large the horses are; they seemed much larger than ones I have seen elsewhere. The show was interesting and everyone seemed pleased that they went.

Dinner was again at the hotel. Normally this would have been a big captain’s farewell dinner on the ship so it was a bit of a disappointment when we were simply at scattered tables in the hotel dining room. The official river cruise ends tonight; most people will be flying home tomorrow. Forty two of us are taking the optional 5 night extension that wil take us to Bratislava, Slovakia and Prague, Czech Republic. We leave in the morning.

 

 

Sunny and cool this morning but only a predicted high of 57 degrees, definitely autumn weather. There was also a “Chicago” style breeze, i.e. pretty windy, making it feel cooler than it was. At least it wasn’t raining, like yesterday.

Everyone was sad because we had to leave the posh accommodations at the Kempinski Hotel; it is probably the most elegant hotel we have stayed at. Our destination this morning was an escorted tour of the “modest” hunting lodge/summer palace of the Hapsburgs, Schonbrunn Palace. I used the word modest but it is anything but, as it has 1,441 rooms! When the royal family lived there a staff of 2,000 people saw to their needs.

We had an excellent tour of a few of the palace rooms which are decorated with original paintings and furnishings. Unfortunately this is one of those places where photography is not allowed inside. You will have to go the the internet to see what we saw.  Our tour guide gave us a great narrative about the people who lived here, one of the most famous might be Maria Teresa, the only female Hapsburg monarch (1745-1765) of the empire. Even though we are past the normal tourist season, the palace was crowded with people. After our tour we had about an hour of free time so we walked to the extensive gardens for some photos and a quick coffee before rejoining the coach to go to lunch.

It was then back to the city center for lunch, served in the basement restaurant of their city hall called “Wiener Rathauskeller”.  We were served a traditional Austrian lunch: soup, Weiner Schnitzel and apple strudel for dessert- with beer or wine, of course.

Around 2:15 PM we boarded buses for a three hour ride to the final stop of the base tour-Budapest, Hungary.  A bit of trivia:  Both Mozart and Beethoven lived and died in Vienna. Along the way we passed an area where there were hundreds of windmills dotting the landscape, the largest concentration of windmills I have seen in one place.  By 3:30 we entered Hungary and we immediately saw a sign advertising paprika.  This is paprika country!  The countryside is very flat now that we are in Hungary with a lot of corn fields evident. There are also windmills here but not as many as I saw in Austria. Obviously this is a windy region. Ten million people live in Hungary which is only slightly larger in size than Austria. They have their own currency (Forint) but euros and US dollars are readily accepted. Hungary was under communist rule until 1989 when they broke free and gained their independence.

Budapest has a population of about 2 million, with another million surrounding it. It lies on the Danube River and originally there was a town called “Buda” on one side of the river and “Pest” on the other side. They eventually became one city in 1893 and thus the name.  Buda is the hilly, residential part of the city and where our hotel is located. Pest is where most of the businesses, cafes and restaurants are located. Now you know the rest of the story! Budapest is an area with many hot thermal springs and spas.  It is currently the capital of Hungary. Called the “Paris on the Danube” Budapest never sleeps: “Good food, good dance and good drinks” is the Hungarian mantra.

We were delayed by an accident on the highway and the difficulty of our driver in finding the correct road to get us to our Hilton hotel.  It made our expected 3.5 hour drive more like 4.5 hours. We did not arrive until 7 PM. Luckily dinner was planned to be at the hotel and we were immediately able to partake in the buffet dinner. The hotel is located at Fisherman’s Bastion, overlooking the Danube River and Pest, and is one of the major tourist sights in Budapest because of the views it offers.  Major Budapest buildings are lit at night and we had spectacular viewing opportunities after dinner. It was worth the delay in getting there.

In all our travels over the years we have never had to make a major alteration to the trip because of equipment failure. This is a first for us. The ship “limped” overnight  to Linz from Passau where we left the ship. The ship will be going into dry dock for repairs to its blown engine. The remainder of our three night “cruise” will be spent in hotels. I am impressed with the ability of Vantage to quickly and efficiently pull together a contingency plan of this magnitude. They had to find buses and hotels in both Vienna and Budapest to accommodate the 140 plus passengers on a last minute basis. Some customers are grousing about the loss of three nights on the ship, but these things sometimes happen. We are lucky it happened at the end of the trip, not the beginning. In fact I wonder if they will be able to fix the problem before the next leg of the cruise (Budapest to the Black Sea) which is scheduled to leave in 3 days. 

Our luggage needed to be out of our rooms by 7:30 this morning and we were on buses by 8:30 for our approximate three hour ride to Vienna. The buses are brand new  “cruisers”, with lots of leg room and a bathroom;  no complaints from me. We will be stopping about half way for an extended comfort stop. Other good news is that we are staying at the 5 star Kempinski hotel in Vienna!  Because of availability some of the group will be staying at the LeMeridien, also a nice hotel. I am pleasantly surprised Vantage is putting us up in such nice hotels. Too bad it is only for one night, as we will be going to Budapest tomorrow. There will be a walking tour of the city this afternoon after lunch.

It is a cloudy morning with some light rain as we head to Vienna, the capitol of Austria. Vienna is the largest city with a population of 1.9 million people. Surprisingly the number two city is Graz with only 220,000 people. Linz is number three with 200,000.

The glory days for Austria was before WWI when the Hapsburgs oversaw the huge Austrian-Hungarian Empire for 600 years. The empire included much of Europe, with a population of some 44 million people. The empire was dissolved after WWI.

A much reduced-in-size Austria became part of the Nazi Germany before WWII. After WWII it was overseen by 4 countries until 1955 when it received its independence on the condition that it remain a neutral country. Their constitution requires the neutrality and they have been quite happy to do so. They are not a member of any alliance, e.g.  NATO.

Fun facts:  Vienna is noted for their coffee houses, but the credit for coffee is due to the Ottoman Turks who invaded (unsuccessfully) the region in the 16th and 17th century. They left behind coffee beans and the Austrians took over the coffee business.

More fun facts: Vienna also has been voted the best capital city in the world in which to live and work. By the way do you have trouble knowing when to use capital versus capitol? Capital is a city. Capitol is a building. Visualize the “o” as the dome on the top of a building. You are welcome!

The rain was not have supposed to start until 5 PM but obviously it did not read the forecast as by the  time we got to Vienna it was raining pretty steadily and I could not even take any pictures from our coach of this beautiful city. We arrived at our hotel, the Kempinski, for lunch which was superb, as expected.

Rooms were not all available before we went on a city tour that included a drive around the area followed by a walking tour. Because of the rain we were offered an opportunity to return to the hotel if we wished to skip the walking part. Yvonne and I have been to Vienna before and wisely (based on what we heard later ) decided to skip the walking part and return to the luxury of our hotel room. I later learned that our room was really a mini-suite that consisted of a living room and separate bedroom. There were plush oversized towels, heated bathroom floors, a humongous shower, fancy slippers and bathrobes, and high end toiletries. It was lovely!

For the evening we had signed up for an optional dinner at one of the Vienna Austrian wine houses called “heuriger” where you experience young wine, simple food and often music. Vienna is unique in that there are actually vineyards in the city proper and these establishments make and sell their own wine. What started as a wine bar gradually grew into what it is today-a restaurant the sells wine, offers food and many provide entertainment, like the one we attended. About 1/2 of our group opted for this activity while the rest stayed at the hotel for a set plated dinner. Upon arrival at the restaurant we were greeted by the owner who took us through a taste testing of his wines, followed by an accordionist/singer who entertained us with song and music we all recognized. He was darn good, with a great voice. As liters of wine were liberally poured the patrons soon joined in song. Dinner was a buffet of typical Austrian meat, potatoes, salad and vegetable dishes followed by warm apple strudel and ice cream.  Before the dessert was served we were all up on our feet participating in some group dancing.

Two hours later we were taken back to the hotel for a well earned rest.

So today is a detour in our tour as they attempt to complete repairs on our ship’s engine. We are being bused to Salzburg, Austria for an all day excursion. The bad news is it is a two hour drive each way, but the good news is Salzburg is a fabulous destination. We were there years ago so a revisit is welcome. Most other people on the trip have never been there so there has been very little grumbling from the passengers. Yvonne is still recovering from the 24 hour flu we both suffered this past week and decided a day of rest on the ship was a better choice for her. The weather forecast for Salzburg is marvelous-sunny and 74.  Normally it rains in Salzburg 180 days/year so we are in for a real treat.

Vantage arranged for local guides to accompany us on the buses to Salzburg where local guides will lead us on a walking tour of the city. The ride through the countryside was pleasant-small villages, rolling farm fields with corn (for animal feed and biofuel), sunflowers, trees and forests.

Maya (another Maya who is a local tour guide) entertained us with stories about the people and area. Austria is a small country, with only 8.8 million people, whereas Germany has 88 million people.

Salzburg is the home of the Porsche Family and the richest man in Austria, who owns Red Bull. Fun fact: Cappuccino was invented in Austria, not Italy. However, weinerschnitzel is always attributed to being an Austrian creation; however, it came from Milan, Italy. Obviously a bit of tit for tat.

As we approached a highway sign saying “Ausfarht” she said she is sometimes asked by tourists if they will be visiting that town and she has to tell them that it is not the name of a town; it is the German word for exit.

Near the Austria-Germany border there is a lot of traffic in both directions. Germans come to Austria for its cheaper gas and Austrians come to Germany for its cheaper groceries. Thank God for open borders!

Germany plans to be free of nuclear power by 2022, reactors are all being shut down. Germany is betting big on solar. There are photovoltaic panels everywhere we looked- in farm fields, on commercial buildings and homes. Bavaria is leading Europe in the introduction of solar to replace fossil fuel systems.

As we got closer to Salzburg real mountains began to appear on the horizon, the beginning of the Alps. As expected we arrived in Salzburg in exactly two hours, another sign of German efficiency!  Once there we were met by local tour guides who took us through the old town part of Salzburg. We saw the home of Salzburg’s most famous son, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. We were told stories about the filming of sound of Music including where some scenes were shot. By the way, most Austrians know nothing about the Sound of Music movie. Furthermore, the music in the movie is not Austrian; and was certainly not sung by the von Trapp Family. The songs were written in Hollywood. We walked through the local market, saw the Bishop-Prince’s mansion, the cathedral, and the landmark statue of Mozart, which was to be our meeting point later in the day. Trivia: It is not known where Mozart is buried; he spent most of his latter years in Vienna, not Salzburg. Also, Mozart died at the age of 35, but In that short time he wrote over 600 songs and operas.  He was a musical genius.

After the 1.5 hour tour we were given three hours of free time for lunch and more sightseeing on our own. By the way, Vantage gave each of us 20 Euros to buy lunch, which I thought was pretty considerate. Our new found friends, Jim and Joan Mancini from MA joined us and we sat at a recommended outdoor cafe for lunch. We chose the classical Austrian dish, weinerschnitzel, which came with parsley boiled potatoes and cranberry sauce. The schnitzel was delicious but was more than I could consume at one setting. After lunch several of us went in search of the graveyard that was also part of the Sound of Music movie, plus a stop in the city cathedral, which turned out to be pretty dramatic. I stopped at the small store that was the only one to sell the renowned Mozart Chocolate ball and bought a few to take back to the ship. A bit of window shopping down small cobblestone streets followed by a late afternoon ice cream sundae finished the afternoon. It was then time to meet the rest of the passengers and head back to the buses for a return trip to our ship.

We were scheduled to be in Vienna this evening but at this point we still did not know if the ship has been repaired and we might resume our trip via ship. We are scheduled to have an update meeting at 6:30 to hear our fate. Everyone eagerly awaited the 6:30 meeting with fingers crossed. There was bad news. The repairs made the past day did not solve the problem; the ship was going to have to go into dry dock for more extensive repairs. We are going to have to leave the ship and continue our trip via land. All the arrangements have been made to find us accommodations in both Vienna and Budapest. We need to pack this evening after dinner and be prepared to leave the ship tomorrow after breakfast. Activities in the two cities will still be held, we simply will not have the ship as a base of operations. Disappointing, but certainly not disastrous news. 

This was our “last supper” but we were able to celebrate Jim & Joan Mancini’s 50th wedding anniversary with cake and some fireworks before leaving the ship.

 

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At our daily orientation meeting last night we were alerted to the possibility of a problem traversing the next portion of the Danube River from Regensburg to Passau, our next destination. In fact when we were out and about yesterday Bruce and Jan ran into a lady who was on the Viking ship and was upset because those passengers had to pack up their luggage, leave the boat and be bussed downriver to another boat!  I had heard this was a common problem with Viking ships because of their boat designs. Would this be our fate? As it turned out, no, but we did have to empty much of our water tanks to lighten up the boat to have enough clearance to pass through some low water conditions on this stretch of the Danube. During our night passage Yvonne was awakened (I slept through it) by the boat shuddering and later felt that is where we managed to pass over the sand bars in the shallow water. Needless to say we happily arrived in Passau this morning to another bright, sunny day but with a breeze that made it feel cooler than it was.

As usual Vantage arranged for a walking tour covering city highlights, including a noon organ concert at St. Stephen’s Cathedral on one of the world ’s largest church organs. We walked along the waterfront and saw the records of floods that devastated the area over the last 500 years. Several buildings had markings on the wall showing the levels to which water rose during those floods. We walked through the artist alley where there are numerous galleries, ending up on the central square where the church and Bishop’s house are located.

After the tour we were given tickets to a 30 minute organ concert at St. Stephen’s Cathedral so we could hear the famous organ that the church contains. The baroque church is over the top when it comes to decor. It takes your breath away when you see all the stark white interior with paintings everywhere. The current church was completed in 1693. The organ has 17,794 pipes and 233 registers. The concert was interesting but I did not think this organ sounded any different than other church organs I have heard.

We went back to the ship for lunch because it it was a Bavarian buffet, featuring popular German dishes. As we walked into the dining room we were handed a pretzel to start the meal. There were dozens of various dishes, highlighted by a whole roasted pig! We all consumed way too much food that meal because we were eager to try the various dishes.

Both Jan and Yvonne wanted to rest in the afternoon and Bruce and I wanted to visit the castle on the hill to see the views and go through the museum that focused on what life was like living in that medieval castle. They offered a shuttle to take you there and back so we did not have to hike up that steep hill. The views were spectacular and one could see why they built the castle there. And the museum was well done with plenty of English descriptions of life in the castle. We had way too little time to fully explore all that the museum offered as we had to return to the ship which was scheduled to leave that evening for Vienna, Austria.

At the daily orientation meeting we learned that we would NOT be leaving that night as one of the ship’s engines blew up its supercharger during the transit last night/this morning. We could not sail with only one functioning engine. Parts had been ordered and extra technical personnel were on the way to work 24/7 in an attempt to rectify the problem. So the immediate question of everyone in the room was:  what are we going to do tomorrow?  To their credit Vantage had already made arrangements for us to take an all day trip to Salzburg, Austria.  Now that is a neat alternative, and although it involves a 2 hour bus ride each way I did not hear anyone complaining. We all simply hoped that the repairs on the engine could be made in the next 24 hours so we could continue our journey.

Tonight’s entertainment was a showing of the “Sound of Music” movie, which was quite appropriate since we will be going to where it takes place. Since we have seen it multiple times we passed and simply relaxed in our room after eating a very light dinner as we were hardly hungry after the big Bavarian lunch.