AMAWaterways Christmas Time Cruise - Passau, Day 5 and Regensburg, Day 6

Tuesday December 20th - Day 5
Cruising Day Linz/Passau
There was no big need to get up and going and although Dave did, I stayed in the room and watched the movie The Help. I've been wanting to see it ever since reading the book and it was just as good! 

Views along the Danube on cruising day.

We enjoyed a very picturesque cruise on the river with the mountains and castles popping up around the bend. It was very peaceful.  This cruise has been wonderful, it is really more than we expected. The ship only has about 60 passengers which is less than half full so it makes it easy to talk with everyone and really get to know people. It's really fun to talk with everyone about their travels and get advice and new ideas on own travels. I'm pretty sure this won't be our last river cruise, it is such an awesome way to see so many places. It was a nice relaxing afternoon, I visited the on board salon and the stylist was so sweet. She was just so certain that I was Reece Witherspoon and called me Mrs. Witherspoon the whole time. She was going to tell all of the crew that she did Reece Witherspoon's hair, lol! 

I told her that I get that alot, there is a little resemblance :)

    

We docked in Passau around 4:00 and met our guide, Eva, who was originally from Chicago but has lived in Passau for nearly 40 years. The town is 2,000 years old and is known as "The Town of the Three Rivers." those would be the Danube, Inn, Ilz. There are about 50,000 residents in the beautiful old town that is noted for its Gothic and Baroque architecture. We walked the narrow and crowded cobblestone streets on our tour as Eva told us history and about the floods that have affected the town for hundreds of years.    The levels are marked on the walls.

We stopped into the Rathaus to see some photos of all of the notable people that have visited Passau, including Neil Armstrong. There are many artists that have settled in town and it is also known for is amazing glass museum that has over 30,000 pieces which we didn't go into but Eva told us about. They work very closely with Corning Glass from Corning NY and have company representatives in Passau nearly every week. At was an interesting fact and hit pretty close to home for us! We visited the beautiful St. Stephens Cathedral which is home to the largest cathedral organ in the world. Unfortunately it was dark so I could not capture a good picture. We learned about the "hole" in the ceiling of the cathedral that in much former times, was for the Holy Ghost to enter the church. We ended our quick trip to Passau with a stroll through the Christkindlmarkt where I found a lovely wooden pyramid. Being in Bavaria, we were able to see many more handcrafted wooden items.

Back at the ship we met up with everyone in the lounge who had done the Salzburg tour. Jerry and Elissa were celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary so we joined them and Paul and Tracy for champagne toasts before dinner.  Earlier in the day I mentioned to Christian that it was their anniversary to see if a cake could be arranged as it was for our anniversary. Tracy had asked me to talk to him about ordering flowers or champagne but he said he could not without her consent.  I figured they couldn't to anything and would talk to Tracy when she got back.

So after dinner the crew didn't bring one, but two cakes to the table with the anniversary music blaring in the restaurant! One for Jerry and Elissa and one for Tracy and Paul...um apparently there was some miscommunication there about who's 25th it was! If Paul and Tracy were married for 25 years it would have been a childhood marriage! To make the mixup even more interesting, when Jerry and Elissa were walking to dinner that evening they walked by Paul and Tracy's room where a few girls from the staff were giggling as they were decorating the room with rose petals! Oh my goodness, major confusion! Well I think everyone laughed about it and hopefully wasn't too mad at me for mixing things up!   Apparently I still need to work on my German communication :)  We had a fun night with them in the lounge talking and laughing. 

Santa came on board and of course I had to sit on his lap to get my present, cute little wooden Christmas ornaments! We talked with others going to Prague and made plans for our time there. Another great day on this spectacular vacation!

LINK TO PASSAU PICTURES

Wednesday December 21st - Day 6
Cruising to Regensburg

We docked early afternoon after relaxing while cruising all morning. Regensburg is another magnificent medieval city on the banks of the Danube River. There are bout 150,000 residents in Regensburg and it is known for its high Gothic cathedral and famous stone arch bridge and right next to that is the oldest sausage kitchen in all of Germany (dating back to 1135) that of course we stopped into and had a bite.

Germany's oldest sausage kitchen

We joined our city tour where we walked along the charming cobblestone streets and admired the beautifully decorated buildings and streets. Unlike most German towns that we've toured so far, Regensburg was spared destruction by the bombs of WWII. We walked into the historical center by city hall where we passed so many quaint little alley ways and squares that were so festive!

There seemed to be Christmas Markets around every corner but one of the most interesting ones was that at the princely House of Thurn and Taxis. Since I didn't get any pictures of the Palace here is the website, in English, with a lot of information!

They are a well known German family that was a key player in the postal services of Europe in the 16th century. They are also known as owners of breweries and builders of many castles. It was the only Market that had an admittance fee because it is held in the grounds of the private palace. It was really beautiful, stalls aglow in light from a myriad Christmas lights, candles, lanterns and flaming torches as well as fire pits that helped me thaw out my frozen toes and fingers. It was another cold day, drizzling a bit so I was not feeling the need to take time browsing through all of the stalls. Regensburg is filled with great shops but unfortunately we were not in the mood to browse them all! We were cold and wanted to make sure we got back over to the ship. That evening we attended the Farewell Captains Dinner and sat at a big table with our new friends we made on the cruise, and then after...of course, retreating to the lounge where live entertainment was brought on board.  Valerie May was a beautiful singer, and even serenaded Dave a bit :) so we bought her souvenir CD.

It was another fun night chatting and laughing in the lounge, listening to the same 10 songs over and over by Krassi, the piano player with zero personality!  Last day on the cruise tomorrow, as we have departed for Nuremberg!

LINK TO REGENSBURG PICTURES

AMA Waterways Christmas Time Cruise - Melk/Maria Taferl/Linz, Austria Day 4

December 19th - Day 4
After a pretty good night's sleep we docked in the small town of Melk, Austria. Melk has been an important spiritual and cultural centre in Austria for over 1000 years.  It was first the residence of the Babenburg family and since 1089 it has been a Benedictine monastery founded by Leopold II.  For over 900 years the monks have lived and worked in the Abbey following the rules laid down by St. Benedict.  The busses took us up to the famous Benedictine Abbey which is one of Europe's largest Baroque Monasteries.  

At the Melk Abbey, Austria

We had a nice hour long guided tour through the Abbey seeing many of the Imperial rooms as well as the unbelievable world famous library that inspired Umberto Eco writing his book "The Name of the Rose."  There is a school at the Monastery for children ages 6-18 and we saw many of them as they tapped on the windows waving hello to us! It was a beautiful place and so very large.  

We had some free time to wander the town and stopped into Toms Cafe for some super tasty cappuccino and Apfel Strudel where we chatted with fellow passengers Waleska and Dr. Denis from Puerto Rico.   

Tom's Cafe in Melk for Apfel Strudel and Cappuccino's!

We made a pit stop in a beautiful little town called Maria Taferl where we went in another magnificent church.

Inside the baroque church in Maria Taferl

Maria Taferl is the most important pilgrimage destination in all of Austria. It was just a quick stop, long enough for pictures and a few snow balls to be thrown. It was quite icy in the little tourist town so all of the local people were wondering why two large busses made their way up there! The coaches took us back to the ship where we had lunch and the rest of the afternoon to relax. 

Enjoying the Danube as we cruise to Linz

We spent time in the lounge, reading, emailing, and chatting over cocktails before dinner.  After dinner a group of us headed into the city of Linz to get some fresh air and explore. 

Shopping street in Linz, Austria

Dave, myself, Jerry & Elissa from FL, Paul & Tracy from NY and Weleska & Denis from Puerto Rico walked up and down a main pedestrian/shopping area before finding our way into a local pub that served Stiegl Beer which we recognized from the brewery we went to in Salzburg.   We had such a fun time, enjoying the conversations, beer, and kind of enjoying the apricot schnapps that we drank too much of. 

Denis, Tracy, Waleska, Shawna & Elissa cozy around a table of beers and schnaaps!

We headed back to the ship lounge for a night cap that turned into a few more plus more laughs! The cruise director, Christian always seems to manage to sit with us and chat it up with his German sarcasm and funny sense of humor. 
Before we went to bed we had to put one of our shoes outside the door because the "Christkindt" was coming to visit us on board!  He is the European version of Santa that comes to the children on the 6th of December. 

Everyone puts shoes outside the door for the "Christkindt"

And when we woke up we found two very large chocolate figurines wrapped in foil, must be we've been good this year!

LINK TO MELK, MARIA TAFERL & LINZ PICTURES



AMA Waterways Christmas Time Cruise - Wien, Austria Day 3

December 18th - Day 3
What a beautiful day, no rain!  We hadn't quite sailed into Vienna by the morning which was ok because it's fun to be in the restaurant in daylight watching everything go by.  We went through another lock which was again cool to see, this time in the day.  We boarded the busses for a city tour of Vienna and oh what an elegant and grand city it is.  The monumental buildings literally look like they've all been plucked out of a museum. The architecture is just beyond awesome, even for all those that were built post WWII, they still have that the same grandeur as any that were constructed 100's of years ago.  The city center is known as "1st District" and is in the shape of a circle.  The middle of the circle holds the city's focal point, St. Stephens Cathedral and the main pedestrian street, Kärntnerstraße.



St. Stephen's Cathedral - Vienna

The other pedestrian/ shopping streets were decorated so beautifully for Christmas which was unlike anything we've seen in Germany so far!

Surrounding the 1st District is the Ringstraße that encircles the city on 3 sides, like a horseshoe and the fourth side is the Danube Canal.  Our city tour walked us through the old part of town and the beautiful pedestrian streets, including the Rodeo Drive of Vienna.  Since it was Sunday all stores were closed.  We were even able to catch a glimpse of The famous Lipizzan horses.  We were so impressed by all of the buildings and architecture, especially the Parliament Building (like in Budapest!)  with an enormous statue of the Greek Goddess Wisdom out front.  

Vienna's Parliament

There is a famous Pastry shop called Demel (who was the pastry chef for the Hapsburgs-more on them later) that we had a very expensive cup of coffee and soup in.  But it was worth it because it was good!  I bought some of their delicious chocolate too.  Here is info on Demel's awesome window display's.

Inside Demel

Our last visit in the city was the largest Christkindlmarkt at Rathausplatz. 

Christmas Markt at the Rathaus

It was so festive and fun with tons and tons of neat stands.  We got our Glühwein to keep warm as well as some candied almonds and pistachios.  There are so many delicious looking pastries and wonderful smells at the Markt but we are eating like pigs on the cruise with so much good food that I just can't seem to bring myself to buy it at the markets too.  I think it's because we live close to the markets and it won't be the last time we'll be going to them!

Our next stop was the Palace of Schönbrunn. 

Palace of Schönbrunn

This is the 1000+ room Palace that was originally built as the summer residence of the Habsburg Emperors, the family who ruled Austria for many years.  We had a guided tour through the Imperial apartments with original finishings, the living quarters of the Emporers but we were unable to take pictures inside.  It reminded us much of Hellbrunn Palace that we saw in Salzburg.  It was beautiful and grand, all in Baroque style.  Outside on the grounds was another Christkindlmarkt with about 60 stalls of wonderful smells and handcrafted gifts.  We purchased our souvenier Glühwein mugs, still to keep warm of course, and headed back to the ship to prepare for dinner which was another wonderful feast.  We were finishing up, chatting with our table mates and suddenly the music changes and the staff started singing and they carried a cake with a sparkler lit to our table. We thought for sure they had the wrong table but they brought a celebration cake for our anniversary! 

It was so nice and thoughtful!  We shared cake with everyone and then watched as the staff did the same thing for a passenger who's birthday was that day.  This is such a great cruise!

After dinner we went back into Vienna for a Mozart and Strauss Concert that was held in one of the formal concert houses in Imperial Vienna.  It was a beautiful venue and the concert was so small and intimate and much more than I had anticipated.  There were 2 opera singers as well as 2 dancers that acted during the Waltz and Polka songs. It was a must do in the "Music Capital of the World!"

LINK TO VIENNA'S PICTURES

AMA Waterways Christmas Time Cruise - Budapest, Hungary Day 1 & 2

December 16th - Day 1
Did we really think that our trip would start out without a seamless journey to the airport?   After the 2 hour ride through stau's on the autobahn we ran to the check in counter because we missed our bag drop....but luckily they took them on.  Then we flew through security to where I got felt up and down and wanded and all that good stuff then finally made it to the gate with time to spare, yippee! We got into Budapest a little late but all went fine.  We took the minibus shuttle to the Wiking Dock where our boat was supposed to be docked only to see the boat drifting away! 

There was another couple waiting outside (Dawn and Ken from Utah) so at least we weren't stuck there alone and clueless.  A bus of 4 others arrived shortly after and finally someone from AMA came to get us in a shuttle to take us to the Sofitol Hotel to wait for the ship because it was being cleaned.  They had a complimentary room set up with tea, coffee and snacks so we went there for a bit then hit the beautiful Christmas market in Budapest on the Pest side of the river.  The market was so pretty with tons of great little stands but it started to rain so we headed to the Hard Rock Cafe for some beers.  It was a brand new HRC opened 2 days before and was really nice inside.  The bar tender was super nice and took our picture!  We had a few beers and a snack then back to the hotel to be bussed to the ship. 
The AMALegro is a fantastic ship!  We really didn't know what to expect but were very impressed upon arrival.  Everything was decorated so nice for Christmas and all of the staff were so welcoming and friendly.  We were showed our room which is larger than I imagined it would be and with the French balcony I was instantly in heaven! 

The bathroom is bigger than I thought too.  The view from our balcony was of the Buda Castle area and was just beautiful! We unpacked, and went to the lounge for a briefing of the ship, safety, itinerary, etc and then went downstairs to the restaurant for a fabulous dinner where we had beef from Nebraska! It was good!  We stuffed ourselves full and never had to ask for a refill on wine. 
After dinner we wanted to take a walk up the castle hill but just as we were about to leave the boat they said that we were going for a small cruise.  We went to the top deck, in the rain, but we're just in awe at the beauty of the city at night. 

The Chain Bridge - first bridge connecting Buda and Pest

We came back downstairs and talked with our fellow travelers for quite a while before tucking into our comfy bed. 


December 17th - Day 2
We started the day with quite a nice breakfast then boarded busses for the city tour.  All of the passengers don't quite fill up 2 coaches so it's a pretty small group and we're getting to know a lot of the people.  We first drove up the castle hill to the Buda Castle.  It was very windy and cold but the views were spectacular from the Fisherman Bastion and the Royal Palace.  We had a little free time to wander around the Castle Distric but gladly climbed back on the bus because it was so chilly!  We went to the Pest side of the river for a bit more of a city tour.  We were unable to stop at the Heroes' Square due to the lack of space for the bus, but at least got some pictures. 


The bus dropped us at the same Market we were at yesterday on Vörösmarty Square.  We tried to stay warm by grabbing a cappuccino at a nearby McD's then went into the market to seek out a "Budapest" souvenir.  We found a beautiful hand painted porcelain ball ornament as well as roasted chestnuts and mulled hot wine.  Dave has been talking about getting the chestnuts forever and was not impressed with them after all the rave!  They tasted like mushy walnuts but the glühwein was pretty good!


The bus ride to Esztergom, where our ship was now docked, was through the Hungarian countryside and the tour guide told us tons of tid bits about the country and area.  We waited at a port in the country of Slovakia, which used to be a part of Hungary, for the ship but it was running late.  We finally got on board around 2:30 and immediately headed to lunch, we were tired and hungry! The rest of the afternoon we cruised, rested, read, Dave ran on the treadmill and got ready for our dinner at the captains table!

Christian, Adriene, Linda, Artur, Tom, Pat, Captain, Shawna, Dave

Dinner was so fun at the captains table.  We sat between the captain Andras, and the cruise director, Christian who both are German speakers!  There was Adriene from LA who has no luggage, Linda from TX who's on board with her extended family for Christmas, Pat and Ken from LA who are retired seasoned travelers and have been on the same boat in June and finally Artur the Hotel Manager a.k.a. Speedy Gonzales.  It was fun conversation, great food and too much wine.  They truly treat you like gold, it's so not normal life! After dinner we went to the lounge where Krassi is always playing the piano, and had some drinks and chat with Paul and Tracy from NYC and their travel friends, Jerry and Elissa who live very near my Dad in FL!  We had a lot of laughs and great conversation with them all while we are just sailing away!  We got to experience our first lock too with was pretty neat to see, and a little weird with the walls of it being right at the window! After extremely too much wine we headed to bed because we had a full day on Sunday in Vienna!

LINK TO BUDAPEST PICTURES