Amy & Andy’s Adventure 2026 Part 1: In Search Of Tulips & Windmills: May 2 (Antwerp and Brussels)

Where We Have A Very Long Day, Experience the Joy Of Cobblestones (or not), And Successfully Buy A Haul Of Our Favorite Chocolate.

We needed to on the bus by 8:00 a.m., so it was a super early morning. Plus, the river Scheldt is a tidal river at it was low tide. We had to climb up to the sundeck (deck 4) by stairs, because the elevator is only between decks 2 and 3. Andy had to schlep my transport chair up that flight of stairs and down the ramp.

The drive from Antwerp to Brussels is about 45 minutes, and we had a lot to see. Fortunately, because it was Saturday the traffic was minimal.

The first part of the day was a panoramic driving tour of the city.

First we saw the surroundings of the Royal Family. Belgium declared its independence in 1830, followed by the establishment of its constitutional/parliamentary monarchy, when Leopold I became the first King of the Belgians.

Here are some photos of the area around the Royal residence.

This is the Cathedral to St Michael and St. Gudula, which is a mere 800 years old.

Cathedral to St Michael and St Gudula. We didn’t have the opportunity to go in

One thing I noted when we started our walking tour – frequently there will be a “leisure” option for people who need ot or like to take things more slowly. However, that doesn’t usually happen on the optional (paid for) excursions. This Brussels excursion was no exception. When we got off the bus, and the tour guide saw my transport chair, she immediately asked if we would be able to keep up. Yes, yes, we will.

We started walking towards the city center and the central square. There were modern sidewalks before we entered Gallery; the cobblestones started soon after on the other side.

We arrived at the Grand Place – Brussels’ central square. The buildings around the town square included the Town Hall and Guild houses.

Central Square – that’s our tour guide, Kristin, with the red lollipop

Before we had our free time, we went to see the most famous tourist site in all of Brussels: Manneken Pis. I’ve heard about this statue for many years. My expectations were very low. And yet, apparently, they were not low enough. This photo makes the little boy look way, way, way too big. He’s maybe 18″ tall. Apparently he’s sometimes dressed up in costumes, but not this day.

But we had a more important task to do: buy chocolate. We’ve known for many years that the best chocolate brand is Leonidas (pronounced lee-OOH-nee-dahs). We found the nearest Leonidas store and bought a LOT of chocolate.

Then, of course, right after that, a bathroom break was next up on the priority list. We were able to back track to the public bathroom we had stopped at on our way to the Grand Place. By now, it was getting close to the time to meet our tour guide. We figured that the group would have to pass by this particular spot on the way back to the bus. We tried texting the tour guide to let her know, but she didn’t respond. A couple of people from our group were there sharing a Belgian waffle, and they said they would let the tour guide know where we were. And then of course we had to have a Belgian waffle, too. Unfortunately, I didn’t take a photo of it before we pretty much inhaled it.

We saw a few more interesting buildings as we continued our panoramic drive around Brussels before we headed back to the ship.

This trash bin has the image of St Michael fighting a dragon

We drove by NATO; the last time Andy was there was over 35 years ago. Since then, a new building was built.

Before we returned to the ship, we did a short drive through Antwerp. This is the Antwerp Law Courts building. The structures on the roof represent the paper cones that French fries are served in – even though French fries were really invented in Belgium.

When we returned to the ship, the tide has started to rise, so we were able to board the ship on deck 3 and avoid the extra flight of stairs.

Because our tour of Brussels overlapped the included walking tour of Antwerp, a separate walking tour of Antwerp was set up just for us starting at 3:00 p.m. But – the cathedral would be closing for the day at 3:00 p.m. for mass. Emily said that people who wanted to see the inside of the cathedral could walk with her at 2:00 p.m. We arrived back at the ship at 1:30 p.m.

This extra walk would be too much for me, but Andy went. He spent about 15 minutes (tops) in the cathedral, taking as many photos as he could before he had to leave to come back to the ship to get me to start the walking tour. Apparently there are several paintings by Paul Rubens in the cathedral, but it doesn’t look like he took photos of any of them.

The original floor of the cathedral down in the basement

When Andy came back from the cathedral, we joined the tour guide to begin the walking tour of Antwerp. This was not a “leisurely” version – keeping up was quite a challenge.

It had been arranged to meet some people who went to see the cathedral at a building called The Stone. It’s a medeival fortress and the oldest building in Antwerp. It’s now a visitor center.

This guy is the Lange Wapper Statue, depicting a legendary giant and trickster from Flemish folklore.

As the tour continued, we were climbing up and down stairs and encountering cobblestones before we hardly went anywhere at all.

This is the Butcher’s Hall building. The Butcher’s guild was a very powerful one.

We continued along more cobblestone streets on the way to the city center’s main square. Our tour guide told us the story of how Antwerp got its name:

The myth says Silvius Brabo killed the nasty giant, cut off his hand and threw it into the Schedlt River. The name “Antwerp” is derived from the Dutch phrase “Hand werpen,” which means to throw a hand. So now you know. The statue in the photo below doesn’t look like it’s in very good shape.

There was another statue of Silvius Brabo throwing the giant’s hand into the river. This one made Brabo look like Lord Farquarh from Shrek.

The myth about the giant said that the only way to escape the giant was to run to stand under a statue of the Virgin Mary, of which there were many scattered on the sides of buildings all over Antwerp.

Antwerp doesn’t lack for churches. This is the Jesuit church.

I think our last stop was in front of the Cathedral of Our Lady, which we don’t seem to have a photo. Maybe this was one too many churches.

However, in front of the Cathedral of Our Lady was this statue in honor of a famous Belgian story, Nello & Patrasche. It’s a very sad story about a boy and his dog, and the boy dies. I’m not clear why this makes for a great story, but here’s the statue.

Fortunately, the walk back to the ship was quick and without cobblestones, except for the very last yards back to the ship. It was amazing, but we had been able to stick with the tour the whole way.

We were exhausted.

Tomorrow: Middelburgh and Bruges

Amy & Andy’s Excellent Adventure 2026 Part 1: In Search of Tulips and Windmills In The Netherlands (April 24, 25, and 26)

Which All Could Have Been One Very, Very Long Day, As Far As My Brain Is Concerned

April 24 Getting Ourselves To Amsterdam

It was all going extremely well – we arrived at the airport, checked out bags, with plenty of time to spend in the Unite lounge. Scooted to the gate, picked up the tag for the gate check of my transport chair. We even made it as far as the door to the plane.

And then the crew came out of the plane and told us we needed to go back to the gate.

Yada, yada, yada, apparently the anti-skid brakes were not working and could not be fixed. Good news! United found us another plane. Not so good news! It was on its way back from Paris. Our flight was originally supposed to depart at 5:30 p.m. The new plane wasn’t even going to arrive at Dulles until 7:30 p.m.

Which it did, but then it had to be cleaned/serviced/checked out.

At one point we were taxiing around the tarmac so long, I thought we were going to drive all the way to Amsterdam. Yada, yada, yada, we finally took off somewhere around 11:00 p.m.

Fortunately, the flight itself was easy, and I managed to get a little sleep. We landed at about noon.

We were hoping to get a glimpse of tulip fields as we came in for landing, but no such luck.

April 25

We found the Viking rep, who found our driver to take us to the hotel.

Months ago I bought tickets to the Rijksmuseum with an entry time of 1:00 p.m. for the special exhibit. By the time we were ready to leave the hotel, it was 1:45 p.m. We arrived at the museum right after 2:00 p.m. So no special exhibit for us (it was free anyway), but we had 3 hours before the museum closed to wander around. I had also purchased the audio tour, which had a “highlights” version. Sounds like a plan.

The last time we were in the Rijksmuseum some eternity ago, everything had been under tarps and scaffolding for renovations. This time, everything was open and tarp-free. In the 3 hours before the staff started shooing us out of the building, we managed to see just about everything on the tour.

The photos below are not in any kind of order, other than whatever my macbook wanted to do.

Though possibly my favorite is this one. This guy saw me hold up my phone to take the photo and stepped right in front of me.

We had dinner in the museum’s coffee shop, for expediency more than anything else.

When we got back to the hotel, we knew we had to stay awake just a little longer, so we went downstairs to one of this hotel’s many restaurants and had some ice cream.

April 26

We got up Sunday morning feeling a lot better. We were scheduled for a walking tour with the Viking group. For long walks like this, Andy drives me around in a transport chair. The only time we have issues is when the streets and sidewalks are all cobblestones. We had already talked to the Viking rep about this, and she seemed to think we would not be able to go at all.

By 9:30 there were 4 groups set up. The first 3 tour guides said absolutely not, we could not come because of the transport chair. The fourth tour guide said, “Well, if it reaches the point where you can’t continue, you can always stop and take an uber back”. This sounded like a reasonable plan.

Spoiler alert! We made it all the way for the entire walking tour, because there were almost no cobblestones. I’m beginning to think that the tour guide and the Viking rep think “cobblestones” means something different from what we’re thinking. The sidewalks were no problem at all.

We walked along the streets of Amsterdam, noticing assorted interesting things along the way.

The tour ended at Museum Square behind the Rijks museum. Before heading back, there was the pre-requisite bathroom break in a public bathroom, which of course was down two flights of stairs.

Anybody who follows my blog knows there’s always a few stories about bathrooms in our travels. I didn’t think to take photos, but when I finally toddled down the last step and paid my way into the women’s bathroom, I noticed that the doors on all the stalls were crystal clear glass.

Though slightly alarmed, there wasn’t a choice anymore.

Good news! When I clicked the lock closed, the glass frosted over.

When we got back to the hotel, we asked the Viking rep about places for lunch near the Portuguese synagogue. She didn’t have much, so we decided to uber to the area and find something. Which turned out to be a little harder than we expected, but eventually we did find a cafe.

We bought tickets to enter the Portuguese Synagogue. The ticket lady was asking all the men to wear a kippah. Andy had his own with him – she then warned him not to wear it in public (not that he normally does) because of the rampant anti-semitism in the city. Kinda sad.

The Portuguese synagogue was built in the 17th century and is one of the oldest synagogues in Europe. There is no electricity or heating, yet it is still used on a regular basis. It is a Sfardi synagogue, which means the configuration of the sanctuary has the Torah reading table in the middle of the congregation, as opposed to up front like in Ashkenazi synagogues.

Downstairs were the Treasures that were hidden and saved from the Nazis during WWII

We were given free audio guides, but Andy’s wasn’t working and mine was talking to me in French, so both of us missed the descriptions of the treasures, and google wasn’t helpful.

These photos are of the sanctuary. Since there is no electricity, the room is lit with thousands of candles in huge candleabras.

There were more rooms to investigate around the perimeter of the main building.

This is the funeral room, where bodies were brought for the tahara (washing and dressing of the deceased). The sign says “No entry for Kohanim” – men who are a kohen (an inherited priest role) can’t come in contact with the dead, because there is currently no way for them to spiritually purify themselves without a Holy Temple

We sorta ran out of time, again – the synagogue was closing soon. For sure we didn’t have time to visit the Jewish Museum today.

For dinner we went to an Indonesian restaurant recommended by a friend of ours. Getting there and back was a challenge, because the King’s Day celebrations have begun.

Tomorrow: King’s Day and we board the ship.

Amy & Andy’s Excellent Adventure 2025: Alaska Revisited Edition – Day 1 and Some Of Day 2 (July 21/22 2025)

Where We Mostly Sat At Airports Or On Airplanes For 22 Hours

As is tradition, the first day of the current tradition is endless travel. To add to the fun this time, Alaska Air experienced a major IT network outage on July 20, grounding all of their planes for 3 hours.

And it probably would have made sense to check to see the status of our first flight on July 21, but we didn’t. So we got up at 4:30 a.m. to arrive at the airport by 7:45 a.m. for our 9:00 a.m. flight, to find out that our 9:00 a.m. flight was now 11:30.

Which turned out to be 12:15 p.m. The flight itself was a bit bumpy from all the storms in the atmosphere covering the eastern half of the US. It smoothed out a bit once we were over the western US. The pilot did their best to make up some of the time – the flight was 5 hours instead of 6 hours.

Fortunately, I had booked the two flights with an intentional 5 1/2 hour layover, so the 3 hour delay had no impact on our connecting flight at SeaTAC. When we walked off the plane, the Alaska Air app said our gate was D3. We had deplaned at gate N13. So we found our way to D3 – left-right-right-left-take a train-left-right-left – where we sat for a bit until we noticed the change to the departure time and the gate: now the flight was delayed an hour and the gate was N14, literally right where we had been when we landed!

So back we went. The N gates were a complete zoo. Nary an empty seat to be found and extremely noisy. We could not hear the announcements from the gate. Which is how we missed the start boarding announcement.

The second flight was a bit smoother than the first and we landed shortly after 10:00 p.m. Alaska Time.

An airport employee called our hotel to bring its shuttle to pick us up – something that the hotel’s website nor the cruise line mentioned.

We had booked a room for one night in this hotel, because it’s the same one where the land/cruise adventure will begin. This was the view from our window:

Our view of Fairbanks, AK. Notice how bright the sky was at 11:00 p.m.

In the morning (July 22), we checked out of the room and checked back in to the room assigned to us with the group. We have zero instructions as to what we’re supposed to do to find the group. Fortunately, the front desk staff was a little familiar with this drill. They suggested checking the common area around 3:00 p.m., which apparently is the typical time they are there.

The rest of today is a blank. Soon we’ll go to lunch and maybe we’ll check out the stores across the street.

Tomorrow: The Adventure Begins {whatever that means}

The official greeter at Fairbanks International Airport

Amy & Andy’s Excellent Adventure 2024 Part 3: Frozen Edition (Grand Finale)

Days 9 (12/24/2024) and 10 (12/25/2024)

Where We Have A Lazy Day In Linz And Then Freeze On A Short And A Bit Uninformative City Walk On Day 9

Followed By A Wonderful But Frozen Day In Salzberg

Day 9 Linz (December 25)

December 25 was a lazy day for us; other people went into Linz to attend church services at one of the two old churches. Spoiler alert: the services were in German, so the people who did attend didn’t necessarily get a whole lot out of it.

We had originally booked a private walking tour of Linz, because there was nothing offered by Viking. But just a few days before we sailed, suddenly there was an included (“free”) walking tour, so we decided to do that instead.

The challenge was: the tour started at 3:00 p.m., and it starts to get dark at about 3:30 with sunset at 4:15 p.m. The high for the day was around 35, and would soon start to plummet as the sun went down.

Ok the other challenge was getting off the ship: there was another ship between us and the dock, and it wasn’t a Viking ship. Therefore, we had to first climb up to Deck 4/sun deck via a flight of 13 outside steps (the elevator is only between Decks 2 and 3), and THEN walk across to the other ship and walk down 19 steps, and THEN walk down a steep ramp to the street. This was not fun at all.

But we did it, and met our tour guide on the pier. I don’t think we ever got his name. He was a little odd – his English was ok, but he spoke quickly and maybe a little mumbly. Even with the ear pieces he wasn’t 100% intelligible.

We were in the “leisure” group, so we were walking slowly. That was great, but we were also seeing not much of anything, mostly office buildings. I suspected that we were missing out on the actual interesting stuff because we were the “leisure” group. It looked like Linz was falling into the same situation as Bratislava: a 2-hour late-afternoon tour that did not do the city justice.

We stopped in the town square with the remnants of the Christmas Market:

In front of the Cafe Glockenshpiel, we were served mulled/heated wine in souvenir mugs – while standing outside. I had really hoped we’d be inside while doing this, but alas, no. The warm wine did little to defrost my toes; since I don’t like wine anyway, it basically went to waste. Janet had a better idea – to ask for the keepsake mug without the wine.

We now had “free time”, but considering everything was closed, it was getting dark, and we were all completely frozen, most people just headed back.

Side note: Tom sent me his photos of the Holocaust memorials that he saw in the not-leisure tour. In this photo you see a square delineated on the pavement. It’s the footprint of a house once owned by Jews who were murdered in the holocaust.

This is a memorial to the Linz Jews who were murdered.

Continuing on our way back to the ship, our tour guide did tell us that Linz was known for steel (manufacturing) and art:

Steel artwork along the road to the ship

Of course, we had to retrace our steps to get back onto the ship. It was even harder to climb the 19 steps up and 13 steps down while totally frozen.

We warmed up for a bit, and then it was time to get ready for dinner. Since it was also the first night of Hanukkah as well as Christmas Day, we wore our Hanukkah shirts/sweaters. Mine blinks! I had brought along a tiny electric hanukkiah. A couple of our new ship friends asked to be included when we lit it.

To our delight, our ship’s chef remembered our request for latkes for tonight’s dinner. We had asked about it back on Monday, and had no clue whether he’d actually do it or not. He did! and they were great latkes! We shared the 3 huge latkes between the 5 of us.

Day 10 Passau/Salzburg (December 26)

The Salzburg excursion originally was an optional (not-free) tour, that I don’t even remember seeing listed when we were signing up for excursions. For this cruise, Viking decided to convert the optional tour to an included tour (people will be refunded), because the Christmas market in Salzburg was still open.

It was a 2-hour drive through freezing fog:

The countryside and small towns were still scenic:

And then there were the Alps:

There was no “leisure” option for the 2 1/2 hour walk through Salzburg. Amazingly enough, this became a challenge for us to keep up.

First we walked through the Miriable gardens, where scenes from the Sound of Music were shot:

Down the street was the house where Mozart lived with his family until he moved to Vienna at the age of 25. This house was partially destroyed during WWII; it was carefully reconstructed after the war. The photo next to it is the house where Mozart was born. No surprise that Salzburg promotes itself basically as “Mozart-Central”.

If you look carefully, you can see the pale white vertical line just to the right of the door. To the left of that line is original house; to the right is reconstructed.

Salzburg also lays claim Christian Doppler (of the “Doppler Effect”)

Salzburg is just an incredibly scenic city. You could easily spend several days here to see everything.

Church with Christmas Market that we didn’t get to visit after all

Stumbling Stones commemorating Jews who were murdered in the Holocaust

The tour ended at the restaurant where we had lunch. The restaurant was located in the monastery, and reputed to be the oldest restaurant in Europe.

Of course, this meant that there was a full flight of stairs to climb, which was mighty painful after a couple of hours of toddling on cobblestones.

We were treated to a short review of Sound of Music songs – pretty much the same performance we saw on the ship the other night, even with a couple of same people.

After lunch, we had about an hour before our meeting time with our tour guide. First, we needed to buy more Euros, and then we were determined to buy original “Mozart {chocolate} balls”. We had to find our way back to the store that sold it. The store is so tiny, only a couple of people can fit in it at one time; therefore there’s a line. Luckily it moved quickly.

Any German readers out there, feel free to translate this.

At this point we knew we needed to get ourselves to the meeting point – Google maps to the rescue!

After another 2 hour drive back to the ship, it was time for our final cruise dinner, and pack up.

I don’t yet have the traditional photo of our table with our wonderful wait staff, but when I do, I’ll update this blog.

Thus concludes Amy & Andy’s Excellent Adventure 2024 Part 3: Frozen Edition. I am sitting across from our gate at the Frankfurt airport. Our flight doesn’t leave for another 2 1/2 hours. In retrospect, I don’t know why we didn’t have a non-stop back from Munich to Dulles. I booked these flights so long ago, I have no clue. There must have been some reason?

Anyway, hope you enjoyed this blog. I don’t always finish them, but this layover gave me a great opportunity.

G0d willing, there’ll be another Excellent Adventure on the Danube in May, 2025. Stay tuned!

Amy & Andy’s Excellent Adventure 2024 Part 3: Frozen Edition – A Bit Of Day 7 and All Of Day 8

December 23 and 24

Where We Heard A Wonderful Concert And Had No Issues With The Elevators At The Melk Abbey

Day 7 Part 2 December23

When we arrived at the concert venue, there was a bit of confusion. Mario told everybody who was taking the elevator up to hit the button with the biggest number. A bunch of us landed on the 4th floor, which was obviously wrong. At some point Mario appeared and apologized – he should have told us floor “2”.

We were still seated in plenty of time. Very nice program – a flute, piano, 3 violins, a bass, and a cello. The first half was Mozart, the second half, mostly Strauss waltzes.

I did manage to get lost after the program – I found a bathroom on the 2nd floor with no problem. It was all the way down the hall on the other side of the building. But when I came out of the bathroom, the hallway I came from was blocked by a closed door. I ended up taking the first elevator I found and exited the building – around the corner from the bus. Eventually Mario found me and the bus pulled around. Always something.

Day 8 December 24 Melk

The morning was scenic sailing until we arrived in Melk at about 11:00. Mario told me that the abbey had reported to him that the elevators were all working!

When we docked in Melk, we were ready to go – it was a 10 minute walk from the ship to the bus parking lot.

When we arrived at the Abbey, the elevator was indeed working – but there was still quite a bit of walking to get to the Abbey entrance. Most of the surface was either small cobblestone, which was not suitable for the transport chair, so I did my best to get myself there.

The Melk Abbey is about 1,000 years old – one of the first abbeys established in Europe. There are 21 monks still living in the abbey.

We were not allowed to take photos inside the abbey museum or the abbey itself. The museum exhibits showed items from baroque to modern times, including an example of a reusable coffin that Franz Joseph I instituted as a cost saving method. I found this photo out on the interwebs:

There was a 16-paneled painting – 8 on one side telling the story of the crucifixion, and the other 8 telling the story of Jesus childhood. Below is a post card of one of the baby-Jesus panels

A postcard image of one of the panels of the 16-paneled painting

At some point we were outside on a terrace, where we could take photos of the view.

The Abbey library is stunning. It’s still an active library. There is one book that is almost 1,000 years old.

The room where Maria Theresa did her entertaining had a trompe l’oeil ceiling that looked differently depending on where in the room you were standing and the angle.

In this postcard photo, if you follow the marble columns up into the ceiling, the painted columns on the ceiling appear foreshortened. When you stand in the middle of the room on the grating, the columns on the ceiling appear much taller

The Abbey’s sanctuary is beyond stunning. Here’s two postcard photos.

One of the side walls with the sarcophagus of Saint Coloman, the patron saint of Melk

Once we were done with the abbey, we retraced our steps back to the bus.

On the way out through the gift shop, I took a photo of this thing that I’ve not been able to identify. Looks like a clock.

We were back in time for lunch, where we were able to watch a lock go by.

We had more scenic sailing for the rest of the afternoon. The sun sets around 3:30 in this part of the world.

Dinner this evening was a celebration of Austria! Which meant: mostly pork. Fortunately, there were alternatives. I had the char (a salmon relative), and Andy had the “taste of Austria” minus the pork sausage.

After dinner, there were assorted Christmas Eve activities. The best part (for me) was Mario showing us his ventriloquist talents!

Our Motley Crew. Doe we look cold? We’re cold.

Tomorrow: Linz

Amy & Andy’s Excellent Adventure 2024 Part 3: Frozen Edition

Days 5, 6, and most of 7 (December 21, 22, & 23)

Where I Ended Up With An Accidental “Day At Sea” (But Still Had Strudel), We Froze In Bratislava, And Saw A Snippet Of Vienna

Day 5 (December 21) – last day in Budapest

Originally 4 of us were booked for the 8:00 a.m. Budapest city tour. Andy was booked on a castle hike excursion. When Susie, Janet, and I thought about it, we realized the Viking excursion was almost the same as the tuk-tuk tour we took the other day. So we decided to skip it to avoid having to get up at oh-dark-thirty. Plus, Susie and Janet had the thermal bath excursion scheduled for the afternoon, and we were all booked for the included 2 hour walking tour to the Christmas Market at 5:30 in the evening.

This was all fine. It was a nice relaxing day.

To make a long story short: when Andy and I were all bundled up and ready to go to the 5:30 Christmas Market tour, we found out that there were many, many steps involved, making it impossible for me to go. Would have been nice to know that.

So Day 5 for me wound up being an accidental day “at sea” (at river?). Not the end of the world, just a little annoying.

Janet and Susie enjoyed the baths.

Here are some highlight photos of excursions I did not go on (from Andy):

View of the Chain Bridge from the Buda side – the ship is our ship, the Viking Tor

View from Castle Hill/Fisherman’s bastion

Lady of our Buda Church / Matthias Church

The good news is that Mario, our Program Director, brought me back a cheese strudel that I would have gotten if I’d gone on the excursion. Sorry, no photo. It’s already long gone.

Day 6 December 22 Bratislava

Unfortunately for us and Bratislava, we had a weird time slot. We docked at 2:00 p.m. with all-aboard for 11:00 p.m. Considering the sun starts to set at 3:30, we had all of an hour of daylight.

The weather was already threatening when we started our walk into the old part of Bratislava – it was very cold and felt like rain.

Also unfortunately, none of us really remember much of what the tour guide said.

Bratislava is old
It’s had many names (it still does)
Earlier generations spoke multiple languages because Slovakia has been shuffled around assorted empires
There are some Jews left in the city, but not many (we couldn’t find the big menorah she talked about).

There was this guy:

We stopped by a church to listen to a Christmas organ concert. Somehow in our minds, we were picturing a huge pipe organ with magnificent sound. It was a small church with a small organ. I was on the wrong side of the sanctuary to get a photo of the organ.

Church Altar. The organist and singer were off to the right

The organist and singers performed for about 20 minutes maybe? Their CDs were available for sale for 10 Euros or $15 (the exchange rate Euro –> USD is not 50%). It was pleasant enough, but somehow not what we were expecting.

When we came out of the church, it started to rain – at first just a drizzle. We started our walk around the Christmas market.

As we walked around the market, it started snow/raining harder. Even with my umbrella, I was getting pretty wet.

It was raining hard enough that we just toddled as fast as we could back to the ship. Andy did go back out in the rain to do some (successful!) shopping. I’m sure Bratislava has a lot more to offer than 2 hours in the cold, rain, and dark.

In the evening on board ship after dinner, we watched a performance of a local (male) chorus singing Christmas carols – from traditional Slovak to modern/familiar tunes.

December 23 Vienna (part 1)

We still have a Mozart/Strauss concert this evening, but I figure I can tack that on to the next blog.

We were on the bus by 9:00 a.m. We were in the “Leisurely” group, which meant that we missed St Stephen’s cathedral. G0d willing we’ll be back in Vienna on our next cruise in May, so we started a list of things we know we need to see.

It was gloomy and cold, but at least it wasn’t raining!

We drove around “the ring” road that circles the inner city. Many impressive buildings, many of them built by Franz Josef, who ruled as emperor for 68 years (out done only by Queen Elizabeth II). A couple of his fun innovations: reusable coffins (bodies were put into a coffin, taken to a cemetery, then the body dumped out the bottom into a mass grave), which is why nobody really knows where Mozart is buried; and all plays had to have a happy ending – re-written as needed.

Truly impressive buildings:

We walked through the courtyard of the Hofburg Palace, originally the seat of the monarch, and still used as a seat of government.

We passed by the stables of the Lipizzaner stallions. A couple of them stuck their heads out to say hello!

Many impressive statues as well.

Our tour guid gave us a brief intro to Hitler’s early life, and showed us the balcony where he announced the completion of the Anshluss. An unsettling feeling, if there ever was one.

The statuary in Vienna is amazing. This is Maria Theresa, the last empress of Bavaria. She had 16 children, 10 lived to adulthood, all of them in arranged marriages for political purposes. I’m sure some of her children married some of Queen Victoria’s children.

Unfortunately, we didn’t take any photos of the market as we wandered around.

Originally we thought we might take the shuttle bus back, thinking there’s probably a shuttle every hour or so. So we walked back to a big square that had a souvenir shop where we could get the requisite items. It was about 12:20.

And then we looked at the shuttle schedule and saw that the next shuttle wasn’t until 2:45! Oh no, that was too much time to be wandering around in the cold.

In a mad dash, we “zipped” back to the bus that was literally pulling out as we caught up to it – luckily, Janet asked them to stop, and we were spotted by Mario and our tour guide. Phew! Leave it to the Austrians to be so prompt – it was exactly 12:30!

We came back to the ship and had lunch. We’ll be having an early dinner so we can attend the Mozart/Strauss concert at 7:30.

Good thing we have plans to be back in Vienna in May 2025. This was barely a glimpse!

Tomorrow is Krems/Melk. The issue of the 65 steps up to the abbey has not yet been resolved.

Amy & Andy’s Excellent Adventure 2024 Part 3: Frozen Edition

Day 4: Where We Head Out Of The City To A Small Town, An Art Museum, Christmas Market And Chocolate Cake.

Many Cobblestones Are Involved

December 20

Today is the day we transfer to the ship, the Viking Tor (or Thor). After we had breakfast made sure our bags were out in the hallway before 10:00 a.m., all 5 of us in our group boarded a van for the same excursion to Szentendre (Saint Andrew), a town about 40 minutes from Budapest. The group was pretty small, so we had a van instead of a big tour bus. These vans are great, because they are easy for me to climb up and climb down.

The town seems to have one main street. Our tour guide told us all we had to do was follow the cobblestone road to find our way back to the bus.

Szentandre is a classic small town in Hungary. Some of the population is actually Serbian in origin (Eastern Orthodox) and some Hungarian (Catholic). We wouldn’t know the difference, that’s for sure.

The little booth is the beginning of the Christmas Market. More cobblestones.

We slowly made our way towards the Magrit Kovacs museum. I know I had never heard of her. She was famous in Europe in the first half of the 20th Century for ceramic art, at a time when the concept of “ceramic art” wasn’t a thing.

There actually is a remnant of the Jewish community still in Szentandre. This street is the entrance to the Jewish quarter.

When we arrived at the museum, we discovered that it was actually a house converted into a museum; therefore there were a bunch of steps and no elevator. I’m always at a loss when cruise ship excursion descriptions can’t seem to include this kind of info.

But our tour guide, Nickie, was able to talk to the museum staff, and they opened up a back door for us so we could enter without steps.

Here’s a link to some detailed info on her life. Magrit Kovacs was an artist who decided to turn ceramics (normally considered “just pottery” and therefore not “art”) into a true art form. Her work is amazing! Her bio says she was “born into a Jewish family” (I never really know what that means), but many of her works have a strong Christian theme. By the time the Nazis came to power, she was so famous that somehow they dared not murder her. This is pretty amazing, since that never stopped the Nazis before (e.g. they were after Einstein). She was essentially under house arrest for the duration of the war with a big yellow Star of David on her front door.

These are some of her works that we saw in the museum:

The people she portrays almost always have a little smile

The smiles disappear after her mother dies. This is a portrayal of Magrit and her sister with their mother on her deathbed

During the Soviet occupation of Hungary, she was instructed to create this map of the world that is missing the US.

After the museum, we went to a coffee shop and had a drink and some cake, which turned out to be “lunch”. We had time to wander around the town for a bit giving us the opportunity to contribute to the local economy, which we did. We walked back to the bus along the smoother-surfaced street down by the embankment of the Danube.

Now it was time to head to the ship. We made good time until the last mile, where it was backed up a bit.

It’s great to back on board a Viking ship!

We unpacked and tried to figure out what was going on with the excursions via the TV app. Nothing made sense. We went to the front desk and started asking questions of the young guy waiting there. He immediately sensed he was over his head and called for the Program Director Mario.

We’re guessing that because this is supposed to be a Christmas Market cruise, and many of the markets close by December 24, Viking did their best to rearranged things to maximize the Christmas experience. The end result is massive confusion.

The day we’re in Krems (12/24), we’re not doing anything in Krems, but going to a cathedral in Melk. Mario said there’s 65 steps to walk down to get from the parking lot to the church. We thought he was joking. He was not. We predict that about 1/3 to 1/2 the ship will not be walking down 65 steps (and then have to walk back up). Though Mario mentioned there is a path down, but it’s all cobblestones. And then the church itself has steps, though *maybe* the elevator will be working. This does not sound hopeful.

The day we’re supposed to be in Passau we will be going to Salzberg, because the Christmas market in Salzberg is still open.

Linz now has an included walking tour that wasn’t listed a month ago, and definitely not over the summer when we were deciding on our excursions. We had booked a private walking tour in Linz (though Viator still hadn’t confirmed they were actually providing a tour guide while happily taking my money). We all agreed there was no point in doing both, so we canceled the private tour.

Also, a new Budapest Christmas Market and St Stephen’s church walking tour was added for Saturday afternoon. Since the morning “Panoramic Budapest” tour in the morning is pretty much the same as what we saw on the tuk-tuk tour AND it starts at 8:00 a.m., Janet, Susie, and I opted to not go on that one. Andy had a castle hill hike scheduled anyway, and Tom said he was going on the panoramic tour so he could go into the church at the top of that hill. Many hills, many churches!

I think we have it figured out? It remains to be seen.

Tomorrow: last day in Budapest

Amy & Andy’s Excellent Adventure 2024, Part 3: Frozen Edition (a/k/a Blue Danube Part 1)

Days 1, 2, and 3 (Though Days 1 and 2 Are Actually Just One Very Long Day (As Is Tradition))

Where We Have A Relatively Easy Time Getting to Budapest (A Pretzel Is Involved)

And I’ve Already Given Up Trying To Pronounce Anything In Hungarian

Days 1 and 2 (12/17 and 12/18)

Our flights to Budapest were relatively uneventful. Something stupid always happens, but luckily the stupidity was relatively minor. We had booked oodles of time for the layover in Munich, so when the stupidity manifested itself (eg. Lufthansa changed the gate 3 times, each time sending me an email (G0d forbid, why not a text) in *German*, which, alas, I cannot read with any kind of proficiency), there was plenty of time to fix or work around it.

Good news! We were able check the box for “German pretzel”.

(Note: the following is my growing list of must-have foods in assorted countries).

Italy = gelato
Spain = paella
France = chocolate crepes, onion soup
Germany = pretzels
Hungary = ?
Austria = ?

Anyway, we arrived right on time and were promptly picked up by the Viking rep. Once at the hotel, we received the usual Viking briefing for their location extensions.

One couple who was with us on the ride from the airport seemed to be getting off on the wrong foot, by declaring that so far on this trip their interaction with Viking had been a disaster (they were picked up and the airport on time and arrived at the hotel?). Our observation was that this couple was just not really hearing what the Viking rep was saying (possibly an artifact of sleep deprivation and looming jet lag). They had told us this was their first ever river cruise, so perhaps that added to the mix. Stuff always happens (this time, some excursions on the cruise itself were rearranged generating a bit of confusion), Viking always fixes it, and you go with the flow and have a great time.

Anyway, eventually the rest of our group of 5 arrived. Three of us went on the 4:30 “orientation walk” provided by the Viking rep. It was pretty helpful.

We had dinner at the hotel – our first taste of Hungarian food, which I already knew I liked. The chicken paprikas sealed the deal.

I did have to deal with the issue of the “pillow top” bed before I could pass out. Apparently now all hotels in the immediate universe have these beds that come to my waist, making it physically impossible for me to climb into them. However, this time I had brought with me a tiny folding step, which works like a charm. Just way too much work to be able to go to sleep.

Day 3 December 19

Janet had booked a private 1/2 day “tuk-tuk” tour of Budapest for today. A tuk-tuk is basically a motorized rick-shaw. It looks like a motorcycle with some seats stuck onto it. It’s open air, so we were all bundled up.

If we look like we’re a little bundled up, it’s because we are. I’m wearing many layers.

Our guides were Gabriel and Gabriella.

First we went to Hero’s Square, built at the end of the 19th century with monuments and statues representing Hungary’s long history. New fun fact: “Hun” in Hungary comes from the Huns invasion over 1000 years ago (as in Atila, the Hun).

Millennium Monument/Hero’s Square – 7 Hungarian kings (St Stephen on the left)

Seven Tribal Chiefs (Millennium Monument/Hero’s Square

Gabriel our tour guide said that during the Communist era, the Soviets replaced some of the statues with Soviet “heroes”. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the original statues were put back.

Continuing on our way, we drove by the Széchenyi thermal baths. Apparently, Hungary is second only to Iceland as a capital for thermal baths (and without the volcanoes and earthquakes).

Our next stop was the Vajdahunyad Castle, built for an expo at the end of the 19th century. It does absolutely nothing other than look amazing. We did contribute to the Hungarian economy in the Castle’s gift shop.

Onward to the Hungarian State Opera House! We were able to go inside to the lobby, where we looked up at the fantastic ceilings.

From this angle you can see up to the 2nd floor

Our tour guide said that if we took the official Opera House tour, the last 10 minutes is a mini-opera performance. We figure that would be about as long as we could stand (not opera fans here, sorry not sorry).

Up until now, we had been touring Pest (where our hotel is located). Pest is very flat. Now we were heading into Buda, which is the 180 degree opposite of “flat”. On the way to the bridge, we passed by the Dohány Street Synagogue, one of the largest in Europe. Not sure we’ll have time to tour the inside during this visit, but it’s on The List.

We drove across the Liberty Bridge. It was originally named the “Franz Joseph” bridge, but at some point the name was changed. It was built as a part of the Millennium expo at the end of the 19th century. Our guide, Gabriel told us he really doesn’t like the name “liberty”, as it has nothing to do with anything.

Eagles perched with golden apples, and the royal crown insignia in the middle of the span

Immediately on the other side of the bride is this fabulous church built into the rock – the Gellért Hill Cave Catholic Church. An extraordinarily unique church, it first opened in 1250. It has survived conquering armies, wars, you name it. It reopened as a functioning church in 1989 after the fall of the Soviet Union. The temperature stays at about 72 degrees F all year round with no active heating or cooling.

I think that’s Saint Stephen on the right

Most modern addition to the church – look at the intricate carvings!

Our last stop was the Buda Castle grounds/Fisherman’s Bastion in the Castle District.

Buda Castle/Fisherman’s bastion – good thing we drove up to the top.

The tower that’s all that is left of the Church of Saint Mary Magdalene destroyed during WWII

By now it was getting pretty late. We were all both frozen solid and hungry. We headed back to Pest over the Széchanyi Chain Bridge, the oldest bridge connecting Buda and Pest.

Széchenyi chain bridge Budapest Hungary. Opened in 1849 – the first connection between Buda and Pest.

What a fantastic tour! We have Gabriel’s card with his info for future reference.

After we defrosted a bit, we went for a late lunch at a restaurant recommended by the Viking host. A hot bowl of Hungarian beef goulash soup did the trick!

Though we had to make sure we tried a chimney cake – there was a little vendor across the street from our hotel, so Andy got one (chocolate sprinkles) for us to share. It was huge!

This evening we went on a Viking excursion for a Folklore dinner/performance. The folklore performance was very good, but as usual, the food provided at a mass-meal event was not that great. But the streets at night are beautiful.

Time to pack up, so we can leave our bags outside our door before 10:00 a.m. tomorrow -.

Tomorrow: More Budapest and Transfer To The Ship

Day 10 – Florence

Where Some Of Us Have A Restful Day Off

And Others Choose To Climb Towers

This is going to be pretty short, as nothing much happened.

It was great to have the day “off”. The four of us spent the day hanging out by the pool. I caught up on some blogs. My knee was feeling much better – I was able to walk a bit, albeit still very slowly.

There really wasn’t much of anything to do in Livorno (the port city) anyway. Every time we looked up “things to do in Livorno”, the results pointed to “go to Florence.”

Andy went off on his “Climb The Tower Of Pisa” excursion. The first/last time we were in Pisa in 1999, the tower was closed. I remember there had been cables holding it up, and sand packed into its base to keep it from falling faster than it already was. Since then, the source of the falling was determined and rectified, and the tower fortified.

The bell tower on the right, the church, and the bapistery (round building) on the left

He walked all the way up to these great views.

And of course, the requisite Tower Pose

After he came back to the ship, we spent some time by the pool.

It’s now the time to begin preparations for leaving the ship and going home. We had all received our luggage tags for disembarkation on Sunday; though we’re all on the same flight to NY from Barcelona, somehow we were in two time frames. A visit to Guest Services straightened it out – we’re now all in the same group.

Tomorrow: Cannes {Andy and Tom are going on two different excursions. Janet, Susie, and Stefania will be taking the tender into Cannes to have lunch. Because there are steps involved with boarding the tender (13 to be exact), and my knee isn’t up for any kind of distance walking, I’ll be spending another “day at sea in port”. I’ve been to Cannes twice before, so I’m fine with not visiting this time.}

Day 9 Amy & Andy’s Excellent Adventure Part 1: Roma

Where We Have An Amazing Whirlwind Day In Rome

And Then The Second Thing Went Wrong

Just A Little Bit

Five of us were on a private tour for Rome today – a whirlwind “see all the important things” day. Our driver and tour guide, Paolo, picked us up right on time outside the gate. And he had a step stool to help us get into the van.

Once again a black Mercedes van, this one had the six seats facing each other. Andy and I faced backwards; this was occasionaly annoying when he pointed to things that were behind our heads.

It’s about 90 minutes from Civitavecchia to Rome, and a little further to downtown. First stop: the Trevi Fountain. Even before that: gelato! We have fallen way behind in our gelato quota for this trip.

A couple of us threw the required three coins, to make sure we come back some day and spend a little more time. We had just enough time to finish our gelato.

Next stop: Spanish Steps

Only ten minutes at the Spanish steps – we were on a tight time table. Next stop: the Colosseum. I didn’t realize this tour would include time to go in and walk around.

Titus’ arch greets us as we approach the Colosseum. Somewhere on here is the depiction of Romans carrying the Jerusalem menorah into Rome. We checked both broad sides and didn’t see that scene. It might have been on one of the short sides. We didn’t have the time to figure it out.

Titus’ Arch depicting the ransacking of Jerusalem in 70 CE after the fall of Masada

This is what we were looking for:

The confusion around where we were supposed to go were colossal (see what I did there?). Andy and I were separated from the others for a bit, but we eventually found them.

Andy and I went up to the second level

Next was lunch. Paolo took us to a restaurant obviously known to him, and more confusion ensued. We didn’t realize lunch was included. The servers wanted to bring us a “tasting” menu, but we all knew that wouldn’t work. We all had specific food requirements that we knew a tasting menu would fail (no pork, shellfish, olives, yada yada). We ordered off the regular menu instead – everything was excellent!

After lunch – the real biggies – the Vatican Museum (unfortunately, not enough time for the cathedral).

Our Vatican tour guide was a little weird. He obviously knew his stuff, but seemed oddly indifferent to the mobility issues a couple of us have. He would say: “This is the last elevator, but after this it’s flat”. And then there would be steps. He would insist we do the steps, even when there was an elevator. At one point, the museum staff insisted we take an elevator, even as the guide dashed up and down steps. Even after that particular elevator, there were still more steps down.

In 20/20 hindsight, if I had had an accurate and clear understanding of the path to the Sistine Chapel, I most likely would have made a completely different decision from following the guide blindly up and down steps. But every time I asked about more steps, the guide would say, “Just a few more, just a few more”.

There was one statue that had actual glass eyes. Our guide explained that some statues did have eyes – typically the statues we see and think of don’t, possibly because the glass cracked and broke over the centuries.

Apparently one eye is blue and one eye is brown, but we couldn’t get close enough to see that. Fun that the guy’s head and hand covers just the right spot.

Here’s an interesting tapestry. See if you can see the effect in the photos. As you walk past it, it seems like Jesus’ eyes are following you. The first photo is from the left of the tapestry:

I think the optical illusion only works in person, IMO.

This is the point where things go just a bit awry. The guide had mentioned that we had to go down to the Sistine Chapel – we were on a one way path leading to it. So I asked – is there an elevator. He said, “No, not on this end.” So how many steps are we talking about? “Just a few, just a few”. I said, “Are we talking 5 or 6, or a couple of flights?” “Just a few steps more, just a few”.

Well, “Just a few” turned out to be 3 full flights of steps, a looong way down. I took it very slowly, but I knew my knee was unhappy.

I made it to the chapel; no photographs are allowed, so take my word for it that’s amazing. The guide had spent some time outside explaining the different sections. Here’s a photo of the sign:

After a few minutes, it was time to go. That’s when I realized I couldn’t put weight on my left knee. And we weren’t allowed to use the rented wheelchair in the chapel. With a great deal of help, I hobbled to the other end of the chapel and plopped myself into the chair.

And there was an elevator! Which either he had decided not to tell me about or had been so confusing in his description of things that I hadn’t figured out what he was saying.

The elevator took us straight back up to the main lobby of the museum. I *think* possibly that if I had wanted to use the elevator to see the chapel, I would not have been able to go through the rest of the museum. HOWEVER, *if* I had clearly understood exactly how many steps would be involved (going through the museum and down to the chapel), I might have opted to just do the chapel.

Unfortunately, it was too late.

As I managed to climb into the van for the ride back, the guide said, “I so sorry if I brought this on you!”. Too little, too late.

Note: I had looked up the Vatican museum’s accessibility options. The museum’s website said that most of the museum was accessible, though not all of it. Unfortunately, there had been nothing specific as to the location of elevators or any description of the stairs down to the chapel.

The day had been going soooo well!

The lack of a Florence excursion was now looking like a blessing in disguise. The four ladies would have “a day at sea in port”, while the guys went off on their excursions. We all needed a break, and my knee would have an opportunity to recuperate a bit, leveraging all my doctor proscribed meds.

{Final note: by bedtime, I was able to stand again and walk very, very, very slowly}

Tomorrow: Florence