Szentendre

What we didn't know before we left is that Viking had a tour to Szentendre on Saturday morning.  They also had a walking tour that sounded really interesting, but because we didn't know that in advance, we arranged this tour with Gray Line Cityrama (a local, hired to do the local tours) through our travel agent at AAA.  Had we been better informed, we could have and would have done both Viking trips.  Oh well.  We were picked up at our hotel 15 minutes late.  We were taken to downtown Pest to meet another group (Spanish) going on the same tour and made the 1/2 hour drive to the little artist colony with occasional comments from our guide on sights along the way.  Szentendre sits right next to the Danube, but due to the floods, the flood wall was up and you couldn't see it.  After walking the main street with the tour guide, he said "You now have time to shop on your own."  We had 2 hours to return along the street he'd just led us down. There are lots and lots of shops and restaurants, but if you're not looking for embroidered blouses or porcelain vases, you're bored within 10 minutes.  It was hot.  At one point near the end, Ray and I stopped into a little bistro where I asked if they had iced coffee.  "Yes, yes," she nodded, and directed us to chairs on her shady patio.  Coffee and beer were ordered.  I got a shot of espresso (hot) and Ray got beer.  Probably the only two words she understood from us were 'coffee' and 'bier'. Two hours later, we got on the bus, went back to Pest, with occasional comments on sights we passed and he dropped us in downtown Pest.  We said, "Aren't you taking us back up to our hotel?"  He said "No, you can take the number 6 bus over there."  Can't recommend this tour group.  We made the best of it, walking through downtown Pest, along the river, crossing the Chain Bridge and taking the funicular up to the President's Residence.

 

Familiar with this area now, we wandered back toward the hotel, found a nice place to have dinner and completed our day of touring.  Just really can't recommend City Rama!!

Travel Day-and-a-Half

So, flying from Seattle at 1:30 in the afternoon is not so bad.  By 11:30, you're in Amsterdam.  Not a bad way to spend an afternoon.  Then, however, to get to Budapest, you have two hours in one of the worst airports and then 2 more hours of flight time.  I didn't feel bad at all.  We tried some stuff called No Jet Lag and it seemed to work.  Unfortunately, Ray got a headache, but aside from that we both felt pretty good.  He crashed for about 2 hours while I ran out and acquainted myself with the Castle District of Budapest.  Then I crashed.  Too bad we still needed to have dinner. We found Pierrot (a recommendation from our Viking River Cruise host), just about 3 blocks from the hotel.  They have this huge baroque architecture here that hides the fact that inside the massive door is a central terrace/garden, perfect for converting to a cozy little dining area with a piano player for ambience.  The weather couldn't have been better for dining alfresco.  The food was excellent, service impeccable, and we couldn't wait to get out of there and fall into bed.

Anticipation/Trepidation

Latest on the Viking website says we're still going, but we may not be on the Skadi, as originally planned.  We may be on one a sister ship, which they claim was built in 2013.  (That's quick!)  We're not sure we want to be on a ship that hasn't had the bugs worked out, yet, but apparently we have nothing to say on the matter.  It looks like the stop in Passau will be passed by and replaced by one in Munich.  Passau is at the confluence of three good sized rivers and is up to its windows in the Danube.  Hope everyone made it out OK.  Clean up will not be accomplished in one week.

Getting Ready

We will be cruising the Rhine, Main, and Danube rivers between Amsterdam and Budapest.  We have friends who have done this cruise.  A couple from Florida and another couple who share our home state of Washington.  We are all active people.  Both couples said they enjoyed this cruise very much.  We will start in Budapest and go to Amsterdam, apparently upriver.  We arranged this months ago in August of 2012.  Talked about doing some reading and research to prepare.  Then suddenly it was just two weeks out.  Then a 90th birthday in the family and then suddenly it's only one week out and then ... we start looking at the news about the area we will visit.  OK.  It's a river.  Yes, there has been river flooding in the U.S.  But nothing -- NOTHING -- like what is going on in Europe.  Forget 100 year floods.  These are the worst in 500 Years!!  Floods of biblical proportions.  Viking has canceled ten cruises.  Have they canceled ours?  No.  Not yet anyway.  The river is due to crest on Monday, four days before we arrive.  Apparently, we should happily schlep through towns that have been up to their necks in river sludge only days after the event. Should we pack muck boots?  What will it smell like?  Will there be poop floating in the blue Danube?  Ahhh.  How traveling broadens one...