Good Bye Budapest and Hellooooo Prague

Planes, Boats, And Trains

This morning we were up and packed and ready to head to the train station. Our Ritz Carlton Bell Captain went to the train station and to assist with the heavier luggage. He also located the Business Lounge for us to wait until the train arrived, gave us history of the hotel and history of the station. AND Behold, we go into the Lounge and the “DCPF” Grumpy and her assistant tried to throw us out!!! “Grumble, growl, grumble”. Our “assistor”  straightened her out and we settled peacefully in the Lounge.

Becky wrote on the Ritz Carlton Budapest web site praising our “assistor”!

We are finally settled in our reserved First Class seats (thank God for small favors) departing 9:48am. We will be riding backwards for 7 hours (4pm ish arrival)! 

First border crossing: Slovakia 11:15 am

Bratislava

Second border crossing: Austria 12:45pm
Third border crossing: Czech Republic 1:15pm

We are getting closer and closer to Prague with Brno next. Arrived in Prague about 4:15 and were in the Marriott Old Town and in the bar by 5:15 with an "Extravaganza" drink special to Prague. Straight to our rooms and room service! 

Ah Happiness!!!!

Then the pouring rain came pounding down lasting about 15 minutes drenching all the people outside. We watched, smiled and settled in to watch Iceland celebrate their win over England...I am sure 50% of Iceland population is now in France!

We are on our own in Budapest

A Fond Farewell to all those departing today!

Monday, June 27, 2016

Good bye new friends, we are on our own for the next week as we finish off Budapest today, have dinner with friends tonight, get packed and prepare for a delightful train ride tomorrow. 

My friend, Janice Brevik posted this fabulous Washington sunset to make us feel homesick, however all it did was encourage us to enjoy every moment we have here in Eastern Europe.

This morning was a true sleep in! Finally at 7:30am I threw open the shades and began the coffee. We have played with the blog working toward perfection. We met with the concierge and reviewed our trip on the train. He has arranged to have a bellman go with us to the train and get our things loaded on the train. Blessings for a 5 Star hotel.

We then headed out to do our walking down Vaci Pedestrian Walking Street and Becky stared screaming.  There in font of us was BUDDHA BAR AND HOTEL. We immediately went in and introduced ourselves and got a grand tour of the place. And as we expected it was exactly what was promised; a giant Golden Buddha, Red walls, elaborate fringed chandeliers and very upscale bathrooms!!! We continued our walk and returned to Buddha Bar for lunch. The Asian Infusion lunch was Bento Box with bites...excellent!!!!!

Following our lunch we continued our walk down Kiraly Street crossing over near the Opera House and walking back via Andrassy Street to the Ritz Carlton. Just under our 10,000 steps for the day.

Our dinner tonight was at a great restaurant; Aszu Etterem (on Sas utca 4) just across Elizabeth Park from the Ritz Carlton (park named, of course, for the famous Elizabeth Willis!!!). Judy and Jeff Fosbrook made the reservations and we were pleased to join them. Beautiful ambiance, great food, and delightful company. A short walk back across the park and we achieved the 10,000+ steps we targeted for today. The park was full of folks watching the COPA games and football/soccer games on large screen TV’s.

Last Day Before We Are On our Own......Budapest

Ah a Look at the Other Side

Sunday, June 26, 2016

Yesterday, We visited the Pest side of Budapest, today we head to the Buda side. 

Most of the down time is spent watching the international news of BREXIT and t's impacts. Besides that we have a giant important soccer match tonight between Belgium and Hungary. Massive TV screens are being set up in the parks so everyone can watch the match!  (Hungary lost 4-0)

 We started out visiting the "Sziklakorhaz" Hospital in the Rock. This is a newly opened secret hospital used for the Hungarian and German armies during WWII. The visit took us far into the caves where we had the chance to see how the hospital was set up. Many original items were displayed.  Our guide remembered the days of the war, when as a child she and her friends noticed the German Shepherd dogs and soldiers guarding the then communist cave.  Up close and personal….

We went through the St. Mathias Church 

   

From the Fisherman's Bastion we were able to look back at Pest and see how beautiful the building shone on the Danube.

Fisherman's Bastion on Gellert Hill

 To get even higher on Buda side of the Danube we drove to Gellert Hill and enjoyed the vistas of both Buda and Pest. 

On the left:  Buda (largely residential.)
On the right:  Pest (more commercial.)

Also on Gellert Hill is a large monument is called Liberation Monument.

By noon the heat has returned after a lovely and pleasant morning. We are anxious to return to the Ritz Carlton and enjoy a quiet lunch and walk through the Sunday fun park which we have noticed is full of artisans offering their wares...ie..SHOPPING!  Later this park was filled with soccer/football supporters viewing the Hungary/Belgium game.

Tonight we celebrated our farewell to our travel mates by a smashing dinner at the Academia Club located in the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Lovely dinner, delightful dinner partners, local musicians who played throughout the dinner.  Two pictures showing some of the very elaborate interior of our 'dining' room.

This farewell meal was perhaps the best of the trip.  Tours and cruising are very much about food -- the menu of the Farewell Dinner won the award for "Classiest Menu."  Grapefruit and salad leaves with goose liver terrine.  Mushroom cream soup.  Filet of venison and farm style chicken breast with taters. Ganache cake with ice cream.  Wines were exceptional, truly fine, especially the dessert wine, a sour cherry distilled liquor.

Tears for MS Treasures

We Prepare to Disembark MS Treasures

Saturday, June 25, 2016

A very sad day in our lives. We are being forced to depart from our ship.

 Disembarkation was without chaos.  Bags out at the civilized hour of 8:30 am, to be trucked directly to the Ritz-Carlton in Budapest.

We ate our last spinach/mushroom omelet in the Compass Rose dining room, said farewell to those continuing on to Amsterdam, and boarded yet another bus for a city tour of the Pest side.

It's still hot and humid, very very of both.  Thankfully the coaches have a/c!

We visited the incredible Parliament building, walking up and down many, many stairs.  

Every surface is decorated.  The main domed area honors all the kings of Hungary and displays the crown jewels in a seismic-protected case. 

  

Back on the bus and down the Budapest version of Paris' Champs Elysses -- Andrassy Boulevard.  Here are incredible homes, upscale shopping, trees to shade everything, and views that kept us turning our heads from "on the left side" and "on the right side."

At the end of Andrassy Blvd, the Hero's Square, honoring Hungary's Hero's. Columns and statues amazingly, all in correct proportion. 

Obviously Hero's Square is a gathering place. We had the honor of getting to see an exhibit of "Stalin" Cars. Cars developed during Communist times that were not good to drive or to look at, and barely able to navigate.

Finally on to St. Stephen's Basilica/Cathedral.  Speechless!  The only Roman Catholic altar in the world that has a statue of the king/saint on the high altar. 

This case holds the hand of St Stephens.

Back on the bus to an indoor market.  This huge building (there are 3-4 of them in greater Budapest) has 3 floors of stalls.  From the vendors you can buy trashy trinkets, t-shirts, embroidered everything, food, beer, etc.  The ground floor is one large grocery story -- stalls with sausages, meats, veggies, sweets, paprika, etc.

By this time we've been on/off the (damn) bus too many times.  We've been adequately entertained and educated; we've seen and heard and walked and learned to stay out of the bike lanes that are well-marked on every major sidewalk.

It's now time for the hotel -- The Ritz Carlton.  

Nice hotels are the traveler's home/haven and we take advantage of the peace and quiet and shower and update on the US Stock Market and the Brexit stories. A quiet dinner en suite' from our Market shopping:Pate', and the famous Cream Cake.

Life is good -- even if it continues to be hot and humid. Thunderstorms predicted for tomorrow...ah for a good night's sleep.....

Hungary in Hungary? Or Is It the Wine?

Closing in on the End of This Adventure

Here it is June 24, another 90+ degree day and we have arrived in Hungary which will be our last country on the Danube River Cruise. We were disappointed in never seeing the Blue Danube nor the Green Danube. However, what we did have was a marvelous ride up the Danube, loving every moment of the trip. AND we cannot wait for the next part of our trip, on land!!!!

We have a very busy day today and a long river ride again overnight heading toward Budapest where we will spend a few days. We have arrived in Mohacs, Hungary as our port. We will be busing up to Pecs, Hungary where we will begin our tour.

This is the first country where we have had face to face Customs and Immigration issues. Each person had to present our passports, get them stamped and then our ship had to be moved to another location for disembarking and on to our day...thus a large delay. This cut our visit to Pecs down to a quick walk through the lovely little town, watched a graduation, visited the church, walked through the town and headed off to the winery.

The Cathedral of St Peter and St Paul in Pecs

 The grill of locks making commitment by lovers for lasting romance.

At the Polgar Winery

Crumb Cakes in Croatia

Sailing all night to exit Serbia heading for Croatia...for the rest of the story!

 Vukovar, Croatia forms Croatia's eastern border with Serbia. During the Yugoslav wars in the early 1990s, heavy fighting in the surrounding region resulted in the deaths of thousands and widespread destruction. Vukovar remains an extremely devastated place. As we walked we did not see so much destruction as we expected and certainly not what we saw in Belgrade. It appears that they have been rebuilding rapidly. The economy is is poor with 19% unemployment.

We had a short walk through the town of Vukovar.

This building houses the organization responsible for warning Vukovar

when the Danube will be overflowing its banks.

Last time the river rose, this building was under water.

Irony to the max.

After the walk, a ride to a small village with our guide telling us his story of the "Homeland Way" of the 90's. We walked to a small home and were entertained with cakes, not exactly the cream cakes but delicious chocolate cake and lemon cakes. We had our first try of the famous plum brandy that seems so popular in the region.

Beth and Becky had a brief moment as Rulers of the Ship -- visiting the bridge. 

Met Captain and 1st Officer

It's good luck to have a stork nest on your home.

With the Strawberry Moon shining, Some big event during the night.  Bumpy ride.  Flashing lights.  Other boats and barges near by.  Still no info about that.  Hope to update later.  Stay tuned.