This post is part of a series called Main & Danube Rivers My last day in Vienna and I woke to beautiful sunny skies. I had nothing to do and all day to do it. I headed off to the subway to find Belvedere Palace, solely because I’d seen some nice pictures of it. The…
View MoreThis post is part of a series called Main & Danube Rivers I let myself sleep in today, I didn’t feel the need to be out taking pictures at 6 in the morning! To find out where things were I decided to take the Ring Tram; it does one lap of the RingStrasse with commentary….
View MoreThis post is part of a series called Main & Danube Rivers I’ll admit, I’m starting to lose track of what day I’m on. Up early again, this time to get pictures of the Chain Bridge just before dawn. I had to catch the 11:40 train, so enough time for a nap, breakfast and packing….
View MoreThis post is part of a series called Main & Danube Rivers My mission this morning was to get to a spot on the Buda side across from the Parliament Building half an hour before sunrise which meant setting an alarm for 5:30 am. I think it was worth it… Later that morning it was…
View MoreThis post is part of a series called Main & Danube Rivers Monday morning, departure day. Time to say goodbye to all the great people I’ve been living with the last 2 weeks, it really was an awesome group. We arrived in Budapest early, around 10:30 I think? Said my farewell’s and headed off to…
View MoreThis post is part of a series called Main & Danube Rivers Due to low water levels on the Danube, we were unable to sail directly into Budapest. This meant we had to dock in Komarom which is about 90 km away and go into Budapest by coach. Avalon was exceptionally good at getting everything…
View MoreThis post is part of a series called Main & Danube Rivers Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia and it’s largest city with just under 500,000 people. The city borders both Austria and Hungary, making it the only national capital that borders 2 independent countries. Our city tour took us up to the castle for…
View MoreThis post is part of a series called Main & Danube Rivers We were scheduled to be in Melk this morning and Durnstein this afternoon, but our itinerary was changed so that we could be in Vienna before New Years. Our tour in Melk was to the Melk Abbey, a Benedictine abbey sitting high on…
View MoreThis post is part of a series called Main & Danube Rivers We awoke in Passau, Germany, our last German stop. We were heading off straight away to the Czech Republic, so our bus took us up to the top of the hill so we could see the town of Passau below. Our trip…
View MoreThis post is part of a series called Main & Danube Rivers This was our first full day on land since Amsterdam, in the lovely city of Regensburg. Unlike Nuremburg, Regensburg didn’t sustain much damage in WWII so much of it’s medieval character has survived and the old city has been named a UNESCO world…
View MoreThis post is part of a series called Main & Danube Rivers We docked in Nuremberg early in the morning, and were off the ship by 8:30 for our city tour. It was the site of the Nazi party rallies and thus was heavily bombed during WWII. Not much remains of the old city, more…
View MoreThis post is part of a series called Main & Danube Rivers The day started with a nice relaxing morning cruising the Main River. There was a bit of frost overnight and it was quite still and calm as the sun starting coming up over the trees. Our next stop was Bamberg, a city of…
View MoreThis post is part of a series called Main & Danube Rivers Today was an early start, we were off the ship at 8:30 and bused to the Bishops Residenz in Wurzburg, a small city of about 130,000 people, also located on the Main River in Upper Franconia, Bavaria, Germany. The Bishops Residenz is an…
View MoreThis post is part of a series called Main & Danube Rivers Today’s stop was Miltenberg, a town of less than 10,000 people located on the Main River (pronounced “Mine”). It’s a very picturesque town, with many half timber houses that date back to the 16th century. The building on the right is the Hotel…
View MoreThis post is part of a series called Main & Danube Rivers We spent the morning cruising the Rhine Gorge en route to Rudesheim. Simply beautiful countryside with many castles and vineyards. The weather was pretty good, with a little fog, cloud and some sunshine. They served us some Gluwein and liquor filled chocolates on…
View MoreThis post is part of a series called Main & Danube Rivers This was a quiet day, we didn’t arrive in Cologne until about 4 pm, so most took the day to just relax. Once in Cologne, we were taken on a short walking tour of Cologne. We walked past several Christmas markets (their last…
View MoreThis post is part of a series called Main & Danube Rivers After sleeping like a baby and a good breakfast, I decided to skip the canal tour and go find Winkels cafe, where, I was told, they have the best apple pie in Amsterdam. This time I wrote down directions and found it no…
View MoreThis post is part of a series called Main & Danube Rivers Tired from all the walking the day before, I didn’t do too much today. After breakfast I walked over to the Movenpick (the staging hotel for the ship) to ask them a few questions about my afternoon tour to Zaanse Schans. On the…
View MoreThis post is part of a series called Main & Danube Rivers DAY 1 My flight landed about 30 minutes early, passport control was a breeze, my suitcase was one of the first off (another benefit of business class perhaps?). My pre-arranged driver had called me when I was waiting for passport control to let…
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