Travel With Me Tuesday:Budapest Walk

Our rive cruise ended in Budapest and I found that after seeing so many little towns and cities, that I really didn't have the energy of enthusiasm to really explore Budapest as I'd hoped.  On our prior trip in 2008 the city still had the heaviness of a Soviet Block country. Buildings were drab and dirty and Budapest was no Prague by an means.  On this visit, 4 years later there was a lot of vibrancy in the people, especially the younger ones, many buildings has been sandblasted but there was more schlock present, a 'westernization' of the worst kind. Prices were higher and some were willing to talk about the local corruption that had replaced communism. It was a sad reminder of what could have been... Who knows, countries take time to evolve and where there's life there's hope.

However we did have an afternoon & evening that we enjoyed a lot.  Our first priority was lunch after we had been dropped back at our hotel. We were ready for walking and just looking around before we had an afternoon trip.

No tea for me this time but a nice looking teahouse.

A metro station we remembered from our earlier trip with the original tile work still in place and below some info on getting tickets.

While we didn't take the metro we walked under the Oktogon intersection to cross the street. Nice Christmas lights already up.

Aha! I spotted what I wanted to see. A food market, albeit small, it was a market. I wondered what would be available in winter. Hopefully not just potatoes and onions!

No, there was color in the market. Of course in a land where paprika chiles are a national heritage.

The grandma here had almost sold out which was good for her as she could get on home early.

Plums for homemade brandy as well as cracked and ready walnut. I could imagine Christmas desserts.

Just enough for a pot of soup. I love how the Europeans have long sold this kind of 'just enough' quantities.

No time for this museum but another trip, another year perhaps. Perhaps...

But finally Dick spotted a tiny place to eat. Really small and with a limited 'buffet' but just enough for two people who had eaten more than their share during this cruise.

A bowl of sturdy soup, a pickle & sauerkraut of course and some fried things. I was never really sure what we'd had but it was basic and good and we had time for just a siting down break which is always nice.

Then it was time to get back to our hotel for our afternoon trip out of town. We had a busy schedule on these three extra days.

Travel With Me Tuesday: Auf Wiederschaun Durnstein

The non visible sun was getting lower on the horizon so we headed back to our river cruise boat. We asked the boat tender to take our photo, and he took about 5 or so. First, he didn't get the name Durnstein in the image and then we weren't sure he was still taking pictures - thus my wondering look in the 2nd image - but in the end we had a couple of good ones.

Back on the boat, the afternoon tea had many a dessert for us. There would be no way to diet on a trip like this and I wasn't trying. But I did want to fit into my clothes for the trip home! It was getting  a bit iffy.

But of course, TWO chocolate fountains.

We DID have dinner that night as usual, mushroom soup made with real mushrooms &  a rack of lamb. I had the grace to pass on the apple strudel though. A bit of a cheese plate always sufficed. Later we stayed up for the entertainment, a tradition on most cruises with the Crew Show. It's always a lot of silly humor but when you add some of the German takes on that there were a lot of groans amidst the laughing. God bless 'em though they did clown it up!

Next day - a BIG city, Vienna.

Travel With Me Tuesday: Durnstein Austria

Back to the River Cruise we took in autumn of 2012. Sometimes, you just have to let the story settle and do it when you feel like doing it. I decided I'd do blog posts to remember as much as I could and then go back and do the layouts from those. That method has worked for me in the past even though my dh often says...but you didn't mention x, y or z.  So I say, Would you like to write your memories of the trip for me?   He then goes back to his reading...

This day started with a slow cruise from Germany into Austria through the Wachau Valley. It was a foggy morning with glimpses of buildings on both shores. From dawn we had this kind of view from our cabin. Overcast and gray and with a bit of rain early in the day.

There were, of course, the endless locks which took time to clear. Some of us found them fascinating; I had learned enough after seeing a couple of locks.

But eventually we arrived in Durnstein after a morning demonstration of strudel making. I didn't bother to take photos as I never intend to try and make a strudel. A wonderful dessert (but preferably with any fruit other than apple for me) that I happily leave to the pastry chefs.

Our reason for stopping at Durnstein was to have a walking tour, a wine tasting and then an organ concert. As non-drinkers, we passed on the wine tasting and continued to wander round the town. As it was mid-November, there were very few people about but it was a lovely little town and I could certainly imagine it as a special place to come to in nicer weather for the people of Vienna.

Our guide put his sign on his coat so he didn't have to carry it all the time. I thought that was a pretty clever idea. Yes, we were the orange group. While the sun never really came out, the day was foggy and misty but not real rain. That's November!

Since our house # is 12 we try to find buildings on our trips with the same #.  So this would be my home if I lived in Durnstein.  More later!

Travel With Me Tuesday - Rothenburg ob der Tauber

After our day going in different directions, we were set to go out together to Rothenberg. I think I had been there before but so long ago, 1972, that I couldn't be sure. No photos of that time and of course so much has changed in ..uh..40 years??? However, I do recall going to a medieval city center so...

Another gray overcast morning but hey...it was November. I think of overcast and drizzly as true late autumn weather.

There had been an option this day - Wurzburg and the Prince Bishops' Residenz and wine tasting or Rothenbur ob der Tauber.  We chose the latter and got on our bus at the late (!) hour of 9:30a.m. and soon got our first sight of the city. Before we departed, our guide Gary distributed our lunch money of 15euros per person. An extravagant lunch it wouldn't be!

Once the bus was parked, we got out bearings and headed off with our various guides. Remember, we were always color coded by group so that no area of the town was overwhelmed with us!

 

Up and down the various streets we went,  enjoying the lack of cars for the most part.

The colors of the buildings were delightful on the gray day but the town was pretty quiet aside from us. There were stores for shopping but we knew we didn't need or even want much. I thought this hat suited him but he didn't. Sadly, I had to see the tan cap for the rest of the trip.

After a bathroom break - important when you have a flock of seniors - we headed down to the outcrop to see the rest of Rothenberg below. The medieval part of town is located up on a plateau and the green valley was very peaceful looking.

It was about this time that it started to hit me that the route we were taking was close to the route my father had taken as a soldier during WWII. Here I was in Bavaria again, and from here, I knew his route had been on to Berchtesgarden after many battles in Germany. I had known this all my life but somehow I had the connection to what had happened in 1944 and 45 at this point. I've had these feelings at other battlefields but this was was personal, and colored my feeling about the rest of the trip.

We have our headsets on to listen to our guide, though at times it was nice to turn them off and just experience the trip. A bit of time inside the church felt good.

 

Unfortunately, while on a schedule, you miss things like this concert.

We love taking photos of doors, especially if they have our house number. This door would be a bit much for our house!

This chain seemed to be in every city in Germany. Beautiful Christmas items, but not for us. I'll bet they do a landmark business in the summer! But it was time for lunch, and we had walked past several restaurants. Some were the kind of place we would go if it was a special event and we had time, but being on a cruise you become less inclined to eat something 'special'. I knew I wanted spaetzle, and spaetzle I got.

Back to the town market square (sadly no market) where we would meet our bus. It wasn't quite time, and so we went off for a quick dessert.

Not this. The strange, dry dessert balls made of cake? or cookie bits and sugar icing I think, about the size of a baseball. Apparently they are quite popular. Imagine a very dry version of cake pops.

We had two espressos and shared a slice of cheesecake- quarkkuchen. More than I needed but just what I wanted.

A quiet afternoon, as we prepared to head back to our ship. Lots of pretties to see in this town but how would that fit in a suitcase!

So goodbye Rothenberg and back to our ship with glimpses of what type of building will be ahead. We are getting close to the vestiges of the Ottoman empire with our first sight of onion domes.