Budapest

Our cruise terminated at Budapest. Although, there were two nights on the ship we also opted for  two more nights in a hotel. This proved to be a good decision as the city has so much to see and do.

We started with the cruise tour which gave a great feel for the place and ended up on the Buda side in the castle area. (The flatter side of the river is Pest – hence Budapest – and you really need to emphasise the “ssssh” when pronouncing the name!)

This little alcove is a so called "mother in law" window as it allows someone to view what is happening in the street whilst being hidden. (You decide if it is aptly named.)

Mattthias Church within the “castle” walls is elaborate and colourful 

Inside the paintwork had a brown hue. This scene of water flowing down the window sill is rather unusual but captivating.

Much of the area was destroyed in the war and is slowly being renovated. Fisherman’s Bastion which adjoins the church has a Disneyland feel to it.

However, the views across the Danube are sensational. Here are the Houses of Parliament. Although built with two chambers (Lords to the right and Commons to the left) the government is now Unicameral (a one chamber government) so currently only uses a small part of the building.

Back from the river is the Military History Museum. The cannons may be old but the capping to the “castle” wall is new.

Back on the Pest side and away from the river is Heroes Square. The mix here is diverse with entrance gates:

Museums

Statues; (I am not sure this antler bridle would have been too comfortable for the horse)

and an ice rink.

A second trip arranged as part of the cruise was to a small village where the focus was shopping. Some interesting attractions included this dough roll roasted with caramalised sugar and cinnamon on the outside. The previous time we saw this was in Prague and the tempting smell was just as hard to walk past.

We did visit a marzipan “museum”. Although great skill was apparent from both watching the worker

and from the numerous exhibits, I think the description of a museum was somewhat misleading. Michael Jackson might comprise 62 Kg of marzipan and apparently took over 330 hours to make. However, the timeline suggests dedication rather than history.

Hungary is famous for its paprika dishes and this stall underpinned the variety including a first for me - cherry shaped peppers. Great colours.

Budapest is nothing if not photogenic. There are so many captivating views. Here is Mathias Church viewed from Pest side.

The “Chain” Bridge with Parliament in the background

and on the Buda side of the “Chain” bridge, the History museum and Library.

All of which are even more spectacular at night.

Our hotel was just next to the Chain bridge.

And this was the view from our hotel bedroom window.

Trams abound but only one really entered into the light show spirit….

The moon even played its part by helping to illuminate the church at the Pest end of the Erzebet bridge.

While the Szabadsag bridge was picturesque on its own

And even close up.

Traffic on the Danube was quite busy which was surprising given this was winter and at night. It must be quite a hive of activity in the summer.

Just behind our hotel (the Intercontinental) was a 2km pedestrian street lined with shops. One of the few outside eateries in Winter was well lit and with many heaters quite attractive. However, it was not exactly doing a roaring trade – drinking with gloves on somehow lacks appeal.

We were fortunate to have dry and largely sunny days and decided on a long walk to see some sites upstream. One of the first encountered and certainly the most moving is these shoes. The temporary addition of some red roses increased the poignancy. This is the location where, at the end of the war, many Jews were stripped and shot at close range so they fell into the river. A very moving reminder for all visitors to ensure there is no repeat performance of such atrocities.

After a walk past the Houses of Parliament (bookings essential and no times available during our visit)

we travelled further upstream to the colourful and unusual Margaret bridge. It has a kink in the middle and a 90 degree spur span to take you across to Margaret island.

After a brisk stroll (we were not really up to power walking) around part of the island and a return along the Buda bank we found ourselves at the base of the castle. We decided the funicular would do nothing for our fitness and walked up. The downstream end of the castle had some ruins which are being explored.

Our timing was impeccable as we heard a drum beat

and then proceeded to witness the changing of the guard. Although the changeover had some military precision, once in their huts their was a bit of relaxation and chatting between themselves and with passers by. Not quite the Coldstream Guards.

The day before leaving the boat, Ian popped into both our hotels (without our knowledge) to request an early arrival time. He was successful. When we arrived there was a bottle of champagne and a note from management congratulating us on our anniversary. As this was not the 11^th August this was a bit of a mystery until the penny dropped that someone, when they were asking for an early arrival time, may have exaggerated the reason for our trip.

So here we are  celebrating our mid year anniversary……The background is not a painting but the real view through the window.

After a delicious meal, at a justifiably recommended restaurant specialising in Hungarian food, we made our way to a “piano bar” for desert.

With that is was time to head back to our hotel for a good sleep before heading back to Oz.

A unique Christmas and New Year. I would certainly recommend Uniworld who ran the River Princess and just as certainly not Etihad – but that is another story. We saw so much in such a short time. It will be interesting to see some of these places in summer.... now when can we fit that in?

Vienna - Waltzing in the New Year

We had a couple of nights moored at Vienna and started with a quick tour of the older part of the city. The church we visited was Jesuit. Although plain on the outside, inside it was quite lavish, however it did set about to con the viewer. In the centre of the ceiling was this dome except when you looked closer from different angles it was a just an arch with some pretty clever painting. Helped to keep the construction costs down.

Mind you some of the inlay work was genuine and stunning. This is the end of one of the numerous pews.

Outside near the Museum Quarter was the usual triumphant rider and horse. However, this one is a little unusual as, although large, it is wholly supported by the rear (and relatively small) two feet. The centre of gravity of the sculpture must have been carefully worked to enable this. Most sculptures of this size have a tail or the like helping with support.

The square and surrounds are well serviced by horse and carriage. The challenge is getting a shot where pedestrians do not spoil the view.

We visited the Art History Museum. There was a Ruben exhibition on so it would have been easy to spend a day wondering around. Notwithstanding the thousands of pictures our guide carefully selected a few scenes relevant to the time of year. 

One gallery focused on Brugel and we were directed to the “Massacre of the innocents”. This is an updated Flemish village version of King Herod's infanticide. With carbon dating and other testing this is actually considered to have been painted by his son.

My preference (largely because I recognised it!) is the Peasant Wedding (1548).

All that study generated a bit of hunger so outside we were treated to some very tasty smoked meats and cheese in the remnants of the Christmas (now New Year) markets. A few passers by were quite put out when they couldn’t join in on our feast! 

The second day saw us tripping to the summer palace. Competition amongst the nobility was significant and the Schonbrunn Palace is modelled on the Palace of Versailles even down to the pale yellow paint. However, although the palace was magnificent it fell a little short and the gardens quite a bit short of Versailles. 

We visited some twenty of the palace rooms and our guide was excellent in picking out interesting detail. Unfortunately, unlike Versailles we were not allowed to take photos.

Given it was winter there were not too many flowers so in order to generate interest the lawns had had the flowerbeds cut to produce an interesting pattern. As our life aboard the cruise boat was somewhat sedentary we opted for a quick walk to the end of the gardens.

When viewed atop Schonbrunn Hill, the neat and clean lines of the palace were really emphasised by the city background of patchwork colours.

Mind you the view to Schonbrunn Hill is also quite imposing when viewed from the palace. Our visit ended with a visit to a Puppet Theatre. Photographs were not allowed but the half hour show we were treated to was an amazingly skilled performance. So saying I am not sure I could have handled the full 3 hour opera show that was on offer later in the day!

After an afternoon back on board for recovery, we dressed up and headed for town to welcome in the New Year. The lights transformed city streets into colourful tunnels.

The cruise had arranged for our own palace (Palais Ferstel) and here we are about to make an entrance. Originally it was not a palace but a stock exchange and bank. It was found to be too small for its intended use and became a “palace” for entertainment and then given the name of the Architect.

Ian and Shani – ready to party. (Nice jacket…)

The room was just magnificent with its coffered timber ceiling several floors high. The entertainment included a string quartet with piano alternating with a jazz quartet so we had a great and continuous musical mix. However, the underlying theme throughout Vienna was the waltz. Even outside the crowds were not madding but waltzing up and down the street. Inside we had four couples who really new what they were doing. 

Later in the evening for reasons best known to themseleves they sought to lower the quality of the dancing and get our crowd involved.

A really memorable way of bringing in, based on this start, what should be a brilliant New Year.

Degendorf to Durnstein

We sailed overnight to Degendorf where we were met by a glorious, albeit frosty, day.

This start was complemented by a trip up into the Bavarian mountains so we could be guaranteed snow. Our first visit was to Theresienthal glass works. (We were advised this was world famous but as Helen had not heard of them I question this claim.) The snow made for a picturesque setting.

Although we thought it cold it was warm enough for some thawing.

The glassworks has won many awards but is largely kept afloat by benefactors and those with a love of the trade. This display looks like porcelain but is in fact glass with some bone mixed in.

We were given a demonstration which was a wonderfully skilled although quite repetitive process. Here one of three “legs” is being shaped.

The finished article didn't last for long. As this was a quick demonstration there was not enough time for annealing and after a few minutes the glass work began to crack up which started with a piece falling off.

Our second stop was in a small village where we were given some bread, smoked ham and Stollen all washed down with eldeberry tea. This was fortification prior to us hopping up onto a horse and cart for a wonderful trip through the snow. There were three carts – the one I was on was towed by Rominic and Stellar who were remarkably playful for such big animals.

Our arrival the next day in Passau was even frostier.

We had met a young couple (Ian and Shanni) who had worked on cruise boats for some 10 years and now run their own travel agent business. Ian used to manage the photography section of the cruises and his talents for composition are clear. This is a great shot notwithstanding the dubious subject.

Passau is a lovely little town with a cathedral at the top of a small hill.

It houses an organ built in 1928 which, with 208 stops makes it the largest in the world. It comprises some 5 separate organs each with their own sound. We were fortunate to be walking by just as a recital was about to start. The music was carefully selected to show off the range of each organ. The setting was particularly colourful. 

The cruise days were nicely planned so that there was a morning and evening activity which allowed for an afternoon siesta enabling the batteries to be re-charged. Our evening meal was at “Rupert’s farm” which had a great atmosphere (helped by the compulsory Gluhvine on arrival).

Here are some of the starving hoard enjoying some unique Bavarian entertainment (banging nails into a log using a pickaxe, a table bowls game using a nail filled stein and some of the group giving a modelling display flaunting locally made Lederhausen.)

The evening moorings amongst the town lights helped to offset the downside of short days.

After Passau we stopped at Linz where the day’s activity was a trip to Salzburg. Our en-route comfort stop was considerably upmarket from those found in UK or Australia. Here we had mouth watering food set in a beautiful restaurant with magnificent views.

Our brief tour of Salzburg gave an insight to its history while the numerous stalls enabled an insight into the occupants diet. I have never seen such a range of pretzels.

There is also quite a mix of old and new – not surprising given the war's impact. However, some contrasts were a bit too much. This gold ball with its graffiti on the reachable underside did nothing to enhance the square and view of the castle.

By contrast the nearby pharmacy was like stepping back in time. Numerous little draws and cupboards made for a neat shop with everything in its place – now where are the Strepsils… (A sign on the door forbade photography but once a purchase had been made this rule was waived.)

The following day saw us in Durnstein on a beautiful clear and sunny morning. The (relatively) freshly painted church was a great contrast to the dilapidated fort at the top of the hill. 

The area is famous for white wine, apricots and more recently the re-introduction of saffron farming. In some cases these were combined such as “Drunken apricots” and “Saffron liqueur”. Helen could not pass up the idea of the former with some ice cream as a summer desert, hence a jar is in the suitcase.

Although the vines were all bare there were some flowers. This heather had an amazing array of colours

Inside the local church we were once more treated to an organ recital. The decoration once more flaunted the churches wealth. What was unusual was these balconies which enabled light from the high level windows to beam onto the floor level alcoves. A bit more suave than your average Muppet balcony.

The final visit of the day (and a major highlight for someone) was a visit to nobility to meet Princess Anita von Hohenberg. The castle with its snow white gardens and blue onion towers gave the feel of entering a fairy-tale.

However, once we had met the Princess that feeling quickly changed as she was well grounded, highly entertaining and quite definitely of nobility. After a fascinating outline of her family and the castle’s history she fielded a diverse range of questions from our mob. Only Ian floored her by wanting to know how many windows were in the castle.

So saying the real question on everyone’s lips was whether Helen would find nobility an easy mantle. You be the judge.

As we left the village, the enchanting lighting of the church, fort and adjoining path once more returned the mind to magical, spell binding times.