May 1 – Hello from Passau

Well, I made it to Passau without much stress, didn't get mugged, but barely made my connection in Frankfurt. The train from Amsterdam to Frankfurt was 24 minutes late. I ended up sharing a "cabin" with 2 very nice people on the Frankfurt-Passau leg, one from Istanbul and one from Vienna, who were very familiar with the German rail system and informed me it was a very wise choice for me to have taken the schedule with the 30 minute connection.

I arrived in Passau nearly on time at 5:32am and as expected the hotel was across the street from the train station. However, they were fully booked and unable to check me in that early and breakfast would not be served for another hour or so. I checked my big bag and copped a squat on the only love seat in the lobby. I started to read but quickly fell asleep. They came and woke me up about 9am, saying they had a room for me. How sweet was that? I think they just wanted the sleeping bear out of the lobby as I ended up with an executive suite. Sounds glamorous, but really it was just a big room with a reception area and enough room for a sofa and 3 king sized beds, but only had a queen bed and a table with 2 chairs.

The only English channel on TV here is CNN and a couple of music stations. Not that it mattered, as I was asleep as soon as my shoes were off. While looking for the restaurant this morning I noticed the "business center" had free internet access, so here I am, trying to type on this funny keyboard. Most of the letters are the same as ours, but Z and Y are switched, and nearly all the symbols are mixed up. Oh well, just one more adventure.

I walked around a bit last night before it got dark, armed with a map I could not read, but still visually workable. I ended up in old town for dinner at a little pizza place. Not the same Napoli pizza I had in Bruges, but still edible. I also had an orange coke, which turned out to be just what it sounds like...a coke with orange flavor (instead of lemon)...ok, that was odd. I grabbed a Powerade and a bag of what looked like Funyuns on the way back to the hotel and read until bedtime.

Coffee here is toxic at best, and the wait staff nearly dysfunctional, which was quite a contrast from the pampering of the last week.

Anyway, I need to go get ready to transfer to the ship.

May 3 – Hello from Salzburg

Today was Salzburg complete with rain most of the day, and very cold. Now I do wish I had taken my Alaska coat. Just glad I had brought a sweatshirt and layered that on top of my jacket. I looked like a big blue stay-puff marshmallow wandering down the street. We got to see a few places recognizable from the Sound of Music, so that was fun. Most of the stories concentrated around Mozart, since he was born and lived there until some bishop pissed him off and he moved to Vienna. We are docked in Linz and this town claims fame to Mozart for composing the Linz symphony while he was visiting some count for a few weeks. Yesterday we were still in Passau for the morning and listened to another organ concert. Then we sailed during the day to Linz, via the only German lock we were to see on this trip; that was kind of cool. 

The scenery along the river was just as I had imagined...so peaceful and green and beautiful. The weather was decent as well, with sunshine most of the day, so it was such a delightful day. The food on this ship is definitely a step up; not only more choices, but better quality...at least during breakfast and lunch. Dinner has been great as well. Last night was the Captain’s Welcome Dinner, one of 2 "formal-ish" nights we will have this week. We all got the same appetizers, soups, salads, and desserts, but got to select from a choice of entrees. The salad was...um...different. It had the long French green beans on a salad of various greens....and ox tail nuggets. Yes, it was real meat from an ox's tail. It was not horrible, but sort of tasted a bit like liver, only not so strong. Anyway, when included in a bite with the greens it wasn't so bad. The rest of dinner was uneventful and tasty.

Today, in Salzburg, I took the funicular up to the fortress (symbol of Salzburg). There were a few minutes of no rain...still no sunshine. I took some distance pictures from the fortress, went in to see the marionette displays, and then wandered around until I found the restaurant. 

Lunch was a delightful surprise. I had what turned out to be a beef soup. I wrote down the name, but it's in my cabin...forgot to bring it with me to the computer room. Anyway, the soup had small beef chunks, a variety of root vegetables (carrots, turnips, celery and several different types of onion) and a bacon dumpling (consistency of like a matza ball) and very yummy. Of course the waiter looked like a very young Jeremy Irons, so that wasn't bad either :o) I opted for the curd cheese strudel with vanilla sauce for desert. It was okay, similar to a warm cheesecake wrapped up in a thin pastry.

After our long bus ride back, the driver sort of looped us through the historic portion of Linz and I saw one of their Maypoles still up, with flowers and streamers. I had seen one yesterday along the river but all the flowers were gone; just a few streamers remaining. 

Evidently the mayor of Linz has to throw a beer party if the Maypole gets stolen, so it is being well protected. Not sure if that is true or not, but it makes for a funny story anyway.

May 6 – Hello from Vienna

Been having a fun time these past few days, just no internet service. Weather has been very cold, but full of sunshine, so no complaints there. We were in Vienna yesterday and today. Yesterday was the classic tour of Vienna to see all the main sights and hear of the history of the Hapsburg dynasty. Marie Antoinette was the daughter (one of 17 children) of Maria Theresia, the only female to rule Austria.

Last night we went to the Mozart and Strauss concert which was great. The orchestra was accompanied by a variety of opera singers on several of the songs, but I especially enjoyed the orchestra only songs. The percussionist was a hoot. He had several songs where he got to play with odd-ball instruments like a kazoo, something that sounded like one of the water bird whistles the kids get at a carnival, and he also had a battle of wits with the conductor during one song, where he was banging on anvils. He kind of stole the show even when he was not playing since he was very animated and making faces during the performances. It was fun. There was even one song where the main instruments were the flute and bassoon. It was beautiful. Our program was 1.5 hours long so I have no idea which song it was, but I did keep my program.

Today we went to the Schonbrunn Palace, which was the summer residence of the ruling family. It was pretty and opulent, as many palaces are in Europe, but I really enjoyed walking around the vast gardens. There is even a zoo in the gardens, although I did not have time to go in.

We are cruising now, on our way to Budapest later this evening. They will be having a strudel making presentation in a few minutes, so I'm guessing that will be our desert this evening. Personally, I don't care how they make it; I just want to eat it.

Around 5:00 pm we will be sailing through Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. I was originally signed up for the optional tour to Bratislava but not enough people signed up for it, so it got cancelled. At least I will still get to see it from the ship. Evidently the Danube flows through this capital.

We will be in Budapest tomorrow, which is a good thing I hear. They will have the street fair which takes place in the city and across the Chain Bridge, so that is probably where I will finally get to do some shopping. Many of the cities we've been in are so frightfully expensive and we don't usually have lolly-gagging time unless we want to get back to the ship on our own. For some places that would be fine, but other places alternative transportation would have been necessary.

I think if I had lots of money I would have come home with about 20 pairs of shoes. My goodness, the shoes in the windows are just marvelous! Of course I would probably be a cripple within a week, but it's fun to dream.

It took a bit longer on this cruise, but after a few days I had finally jelled with a group of ladies; we dine together most of the time, and frequently try to get on the same busses for the various tours. I still think this is by far the easiest way for someone to travel solo through Europe. So much has been included and it has the added plus of allowing me to eat well and avoid the pack/un-pack daily of the regular motorcoach tours like Mom and I did last year.

The other fun thing about the river cruises is the regional cuisine. A few days ago I had a sample of a white sausage and a red sausage. No idea what they were, but both turned out to be yummy. One night the entree choices were duck or salmon, which was not of interest to me at all, but the chef sent me a grilled chicken breast and I was a happy camper.  They do so much to accommodate us all. I just love it. Reality will be a tough adjustment in a few days.

Off to learn about strudel...

European River Cruise Vacation Part 1

European River Cruise Vacation Part 2

European River Cruise Vacation Part 4

For more information about river cruises, call 800-300-4567 or click HERE.