Luigi and Manly's 2001 trip
From Budapest to Amsterdam
Wednesday, October 17. Business class in United Air Lines 2:45 PM
flight to Frankfurt was sparsely occupied. Dinner was served shortly after takeoff; and
breakfast came 3 or 4 hours afterward, following a short period of darkness over the
Atlantic.
Thursday, October 18. We reached Frankfurt at 5:45 AM and transferred
to Lufthanza's 7:40 flight to Budapest. This flight was mostly full. I had prepared for arrival
in this city by checking out the Internet site of the Budapest airport, and determining the
location of an ATM machine so that we would not have to buy local currency from a cambio.
After immigration and customs we found, first the information booth, and then the ATM
where I used my credit card to buy 25,000 Hungarian Forints (about $90 worth).
Then we were able to pay 5,200 plus an 800 Forint tip for a wild cab ride on a modestly used
two-lane road into the City of Budapest and to the Budapest Marriott Hotel on the east bank
of the Danube. Budapest comprises two former cities, Buda on the west bank and Pest on the
east. Remember: Buda is farther from the land of Buddha and Pest is not west. We had a
splendid corner room with an excellent view of Danube in both directions. After naps we
walked north (upstream) along a promenade with trolley tracks on the left between us and the
river, to the Chain Bridge, where we crossed the trolley tracks and proceeded back along the
paved river bank toward the Freedom Bridge. We
located several almost hidden places where one could descend stairs
next to tracks and reach the bank by walking under tracks; we had not noticed any of them
on
our walk along the promenade.
An exceptionally good dinner was served us at Csarda Restaurant in the hotel: stuffed
cabbage with home made sausage and pork filet. It was called "Kolozsvzri tolto Kaposzta
stuffed cabbage Kolosvar Style - a ceremonial dish for the Princess of Transylvania Country
style." Kishegyi Merlot 1998 red Merlot (Marriott's private label house wine) Hungarian wine
went well with dinner.
Friday, October 19. We had a good continental breakfast in the executive
room on the top (tenth) floor, with excellent bread, cheese, sausage, fruit, yogurt, etc. After
checking out we went to the concierge desk for help in determining where we might find the
River Navigator, which we were to board later in the day. It was there that we first
encountered Nico, a Program Director of this ship. He advised us to join
a group of people who had booked their flights as part of a package tour on the River
Navigator in the Csarda Restaurant where we would get a sandwich and salad
lunch and
wait for the 2:00 motorcoach to take us to the ship We walked about a pedestrian mall lined
with booths to snare tourists. Sort of a cross between the Stroget in Copenhagen and the
Grand Bazaar in Istanbul. In addition to the usual handicrafts, crystal, leather, pottery, etc
there were many animal hides. including boar, cow
and deer (or perhaps small Brown Swiss Cow). The
weather was cloudy and cool both days. The fancy
manhole covers and some building details
impressed us even more than the
heroic statuary.
Saturday, October 20. A morning tour by bus took us and about 36
others first to the Parliament building: Gothic in form
but completed in the early 20th
Century. We observed the changing of Guard and the raising of the flag while waiting to
enter through security. After viewing several rooms, including the main chamber, in this impressive building we went to
Gellert Hill, a monument on a hillside in Buda that would have given a splendid view, across
the Danube, of Pest if the weather were clear; then we were taken to the Square of Heroes with statues of men in armor,
on horseback, or holding swords, and with huge mustaches.
After lunch on board, Luigi and I walked to the large covered market near where our ship,
the River Navigator,
was tied up with the River Explorer, another ship of Vantage Travel agency, tied
alongside. In this market many small shops carried
stuff that the natives buy, mostly pork
and sausages, but some fruit and vegetables. Here Luigi bought small packets of
paprika as gifts. We returned to the ship before she moved to a different dock about 5:00;
later she left for Vienna.
Sunday, October 21. We reached Vienna before dinner. Afterwards we
and most of rest of 130 +/- passengers were taken by bus to an unremarkable building in a
remote neighborhood called Grinzing, where we climbed a staircase to a restaurant/bar. There
we were seated on chairs and benches arranged throughout a large double room and
participated in tasting the new (2000) white wine. We got small steins, perhaps 1/4 liter, with
pleasant, light, refreshing white wine. A carafe of this wine was later placed on our table of 8
so that those who finished the first helping could have more. The carafe was still half full
when we left. Two men, one with an accordion and the other with a 12-string guitar (two
necks, one having five strings and other seven) furnished music that was mostly of the
German drinking-song type. Occasionally a woman who had operatic training sang very well
with them.
Monday, October 22.
A bus took us to St. Stephen's Cathedral (side and corner views and an
arched support detail) in the center
of Vienna. This is a splendid old gothic
cathedral with appropriate gargoyles that had suffered
during WWII when Russians drove out the Nazis, and is now
mostly restored.
Then on to the Palace of the Habsburgs: several
large buildings elaborately decorated and
furnished, with an elaborate gateway to (or from)
Josefs Platz. After lunch I stayed in our stateroom
and took a nap while Luigi took tour of Schonbrunn
Palace. There she saw the Pavilion, the garden in front, and the entrance, as well as part of the interior and some
reconstruction scaffolding. After my nap,
I took a walk in the neighborhood where our ship was tied up. There were one church and
many small shops and apartment buildings.
Tuesday, October 23. A 9:00 bus took us to St. Stephen's Square in the
middle of the city. I changed my remaining Hungarian Forints for Austrian Schillings, and
did not worry about what the exchange rate should have been. Hungary is not part of the
European Union, which is converting all its national currencies to Euros. The purser's office
on the ship cheerfully exchanged various EU currencies for each other and for dollars, but did
not want Forints. While others went to the Spanish Riding School or other attractions, Luigi
and I wandered up and down several streets looking in store windows and observing a booth
where chestnuts were roasting atop a stove that looked
like an oil drum. As in my walk the day
before, we saw a surprisingly large proportion of the windows displaying watches, mostly
very expensive.. I didn't see the word, "quartz" anywhere and wondered if all were spring
fed. An ice cream store window displayed its wares sculptured as ocean waves; we each
enjoyed a cone of non-diet ice cream. Further walking took us past a store (where we bought
a toy owl for our granddaughter Aurora) and around the magnificent opera house. Lunch was at
Fuhrich Restaurant near the opera: a Trumer Pils (.51 liter) each and bratwurst with
sauerkraut for me and pasta with little pieces of ham for Luigi. Both were very good. Then,
after spending several minutes watching others and pondering the German operating
instructions for the farecard system, we put coins in a machine and bought subway tickets to
Vorgardenstrasse, a modest walk from our ship. Once there we took naps and Luigi went for
a walk.
Wednesday, October 24. The ship reached Durnstein, Austria. Luigi and
I, as well as most of the other passengers, went on a walking tour (1, 2) of this
walled hill town (1, 2) It is
the sort of Alpine village through which might pass a youth who bears, mid snow and ice, a
banner with a strange device: Excelsior. The top of the hill bears the ruins of a castle where
Leopold V held Richard the Lion-hearted, captured in 1192, until ransomed. The castle was
ruined by the Swedes in 1645, but the town is in very good repair; its main industry is
tourism. The Hotel Schloss Durnstein, (member Schlosshotels, Castle Hotels and Mansions
in Austria and South Tyrol) which looks impressive from the outside and through the
sometimes-opened gate, was host to Princess Diana shortly before her death. More suited to
our budgets was wine sampling in the vaulted
basement of a local tavern: the first was light,
dry, like viognier; second was a medium 2000 Reisling; and the third was Tegernseerhof, von
den Terrassen, Dunestriner Reisling, 1999, 13% alcohol, 3 grams/liter free sugar, Trocken.
All were good, especially the last.
In the afternoon we reached Melk and went on a guided tour of the Abbey. Still holding
monks in one wing, it resembles a castle. One series of rooms contains a library, some of the
books in which were copied rather than printed. And some of the printed volumes dated from
the 15th century. Originally this was the castle-residence of the Babenberg rulers of Austria
from 976 to 1101 until Leopold III turned it over to the Benedictines for a monastery. Much
of
the wealth of the abbey was given by various Habsburgs who entertained guests here.
Thursday, October 25. This day was spent en route to Passau in
Germany. Locks are frequent, and long enough to
accommodate this 360 foot long ship and
another 37 foot broad ship like it, side by side, and several meters high.
We were given a walking tour of Passau, which used to be rich from the salt trade but is now
poor. It is at the Confluence of three rivers: the Danube, the Inn and the Ilz. The great
baroque cathedral holds the world's largest church organ, we were told. We listened to a
concert there for half an hour, and enjoyed its excellent tone and long reverberations. At the
first peal a small girl nearby covered her ears. After the concert, Luigi went back to the
ship, observing a detail of the door to the
dom on the way. I wandered west and north along the commercial Gr Messergasse street to Gassthaus zum
Hoffragner restaurant for lunch. I was its only customer. There were five tables in
the main
dining room; two other rooms I did not see fully. The waitress read a newspaper at
next table while the manager cooked. Peschl-Brau beer and duck chunks and mushrooms in
cream sauce with white rice were very good and cost 19 marks ($9) plus tip.
In the afternoon, while I napped, Luigi went to the famous glass museum that held all the
Bavarian glass she cared to look at and then some. She also observed supplies being loaded onto our ship
Friday, October 26. Dawn came during breakfast, revealing lots of scum
along the riverbank. Then we passed an industrial complex and the scum vanished. Later the
ship stopped at Regensburg and tied up to facility along the bank in residential - commercial
area.
An hour and a half bus ride took us to Nuremberg. This City was much destroyed in WWII
and is now rebuilt to look authentically medieval but
with subterranean sewers. First we
stopped near Zeppelin Field, where Hitler held many
of his rallies. Then we went on a
walking tour of the old city, where we noticed a
fine bank of dormer windows. Lunch was at
Bratwurst Roslein, purportedly the biggest
bratwurst restaurant in the world. The sausages were finger size -- a fashion reputedly started
by a merchant who wanted to sell sausages to those outside of the city after the gates were
locked each night; he made sausages small enough to fit through the keyhole. Tucher draft
beer (www.tucher.de) was good with the meal. On our own for two hours after lunch, we
walked through a local farmers' market. I bought package of lebkuchen, for which Nuremberg
is noted. Walking about town we noticed a dentist's shingle advertising his DDS from the
University of Iowa.
After dinner Luigi and I went for walk of part of Regensburg near where ship was tied up.
Many young people in outlandish garb may or may not have been headed to Halloween
parties. We had not anticipated the enthusiasm with which Halloween is celebrated in
Europe
with pumpkins carved as jack o'lanterns, witches' costumes, and all.
Saturday, October 27. After a group walking
tour of Regensberg, Luigi and I
walked over the old stone bridge that crosses the
Danube, and ascertained that the stores on
the far side of river catered more to locals than to tourists. Lunch with the rest of the
passengers was at
Salzstadel Restaurant, next to Historiche Wurstkuch'l and included beer, pea
soup with caraway
and spices, finger sausages and kraut with sweet mustard, and strudel. All were very good;
Luigi was particularly pleased by the combination of the sweet mustard and sauerkraut.
A bus then took us to Kelheim where we rendevoused with the ship on the Main - Danube
Canal about 1:40 PM. We entered a lock a few minutes later. Although the Danube had
many
groups of ducks, this canal has even more per mile. Most were mallards, but there were
some
cormorants on the Danube. After dinner there was a talk about Main -- Danube Canal by a
local expert. Great attention was paid to preserving or enhancing environment in its recent
completion. Such a canal, linking the Rhine and Danube Rivers, was first proposed and
started by Charlemagne in the 8th century,
and then by Napoleon in the early 19th century, and again, with modest success, by King
Ludwig of Bavaria in 1839, but it was not finished for modern use until 1992.
Ulla, the woman in charge of passenger affairs, announced that the ship had a problem
depressing the pilot house, and this precluded the ship's passing under bridges. When this was
fixed, we had missed our appointment at the next lock and had to wait until 5:00 next
morning for lock to open.
Sunday, October 28. Until now all the locks have lifted the ship to a
higher level. Now the down locks started, some over 60 feet deep. At 10:15 a glass blower
gave slick exposition of his trade, producing various items of more beauty than utility. He
brought aboard many boxes of art glass merchandise. Luigi bought a clear hollow glass
doughnut like those used in the ship's dining room to keep zinnia flowers floating at the top
of a vase.
After lunch the ship stopped at the outskirts of Nuremberg to enable those who chose to go
on bus/walking tour of Bamberg. Luigi went while
I stayed aboard and took a nap. While there she saw some people in kayaks on the local river. In
mid-afternoon the ship tied up across the canal from a power plant, next to several gravel elevators (part of a
facility devoted to
paving materials) instead of proceeding to Hassfurt where the busses full of passengers were
to meet us. About 3:30 came the announcement that an accident in the lock ahead had
damaged the door, so the lock was no longer operating. The driver of the bus bringing Luigi
and the others back to the ship had to try several times to locate us. Later we were advised
that another lock we were going to pass through was undergoing maintenance that would not
be finished when we would need to pass in order to reach Amsterdan on time. Vantage
Travel Service arranged to take us to Munich instead of Heidelberg, made appropriate hotel
arrangements for us, chartered a boat to take us down the scenic part of the Rhine, and got us
to Amsterdam on time.
Monday, October 29. A bus took us first to Wurzburg where we saw the
Residence of the Prince-Bishop. It was largely destroyed in WWII but now is lavishly
restored. It is a very grand palace indeed, and would seem even more so if I didn't keep
comparing it to the Hermitage. We saw no more of Wurzburg, and were taken to
Rothenburg, a well-restored medieval city. Lunch was at Glocke Restaurant, and
included
tomato soup and crisp fried rooster parts, (legs) as well as pleasant local dry white wine from
the restaurant's own vineyard. Those of us who chose were taken on a walking tour of the
town for most of an hour and then we were on our own. We stayed in the main square until 3:00
when the clock struck and windows opened in
either side to reveal figures of a man in a top
hat on the left and a man apparently drinking a large quantity of wine on the right. This
celebrates the legend of the mayor who saved this Protestant town from annihilation by a
Catholic army that captured it. After giving the commanding general a liberal dose of the
local wine, the Mayor persuaded the general to agree not to destroy the town and its
inhabitants if the mayor consumed three and a half liters of wine in one draught. The mayor
succeeded, and the town survived, which is more than the legend says about the mayor.
Afterward we wandered about the winding cobblestone
streets, finding an open air market and
a carnival in which the ponies etc of the carousel were replaced by a fire engine, racing car,
and other modern vehicles. The remainder of the daylight was spent passing through autumnal Germany on our bus, pausing at a rest stop
that catered to dogs as well as people.
Tuesday, October 30. Instead of the originally intended voyage by ship,
we were taken by bus to Munich where we were first given a tour of Nymphenburg Palace that served as the summer
residence of the Wittelsbach family who comprised the dynasty of dukes, princes,
electors, and kings who ruled Bavaria from 1180 until 1918. The palace was
originally given by Ludwig I to his wife when, after several years of marriage, she finally
presented him with a boy. After a bus tour of the area near the center of the city
(Marienplatz) lunch was at Bayerische Donisl
Marienplatz, Munich. Pork in gravy with crisp
fat and dumplings and Hacker-Pshorr beer were followed by cake in custard sauce.
Afterward we wandered about the center of town on our own, seeing the Church of St.
Michael with a splendid statue of St Michael, and a nice bronze statue of a boar with a young woman leaning against it talking on a
cell phone, oblivious to being photographed.
The group re-assembled at the foot of the column bearing the gilded statue of the Virgin Mary. From there one can see five different
clocks in towers, one tower containing two. The drive (about 100 miles) back to the ship
took over two hours because of heavy traffic.
A couple of days earlier than expected, we had the Captain's farewell cocktail party and
dinner. The latter included unlimited wine and baked Alaska.
Wednesday, October 31. A bus took us to Rudesheim where we were to
board a cruise boat. It was well that this was not the height of the tourist season, as there
seemed more tourists here than space to put them. We had lunch at Rudesheimer
Schloss Restaurant. It included Mittlewin - partially fermented white grape juice, a light,
dry beverage
from a large, unlabelled, brown bottle. Good "Grape-pickers" vegetable soup, with
some meat and ice cream cake completed the meal. Music was furnished by a jovial man on
an electronic keyboard who played a splendid version of St. Louis Blues. We
boarded the cruise vessel St Nicolaus at 2:15 and reached Koblenz at dark after
sailing down the
castle-strewn banks of the Rhine (1, 2, 3, 4, and 5).
We were put up at the Dorint Hotel Rhein-Lahn, Lahnstein near Koblenz, where we had a
nice view of the lower Rhine. The hotel is a fancy
fifteen story health spa hotel with excellent food, especially the bread, but badly
under-elevatored for
groups. We happened to be sitting at the same table with a couple from Florida named
Dufek, and Luigi got to talking with them. It turned out that they originally came from
Marathon County, Wisconsin, and owned Dufek Sand and Gravel Company. This company
was the predecessor in title of the people from whom we bought our land at Hogarty. The
Dufeks had been well acquainted with our neighbors, the Wedens.
A good men's choir from Cologne sang sea chantries after dinner, having rehearsed for
singing on our ship.
Thursday, November 1. Our shipload were bussed from Lahnstein to
Cologne where we saw the Romisch Germanisches museum next to the Cathedral. The
museum is established to hold and display items unearthed in or near the city that were left
from the time of Roman occupation. These included various artifacts, sculptures, tile floors
etc. and demonstrated that some of the Romans in Cologne lived pretty lavishly. When our
stay at this museum ended we were given free time until lunch. This was about enough time
to look at the outside of the Cathedral (1, 2, 3), which is
one of the largest in Europe. Lunch was in a gigantic restaurant with long unvarnished
wooden tables, and included Colner Hofbrau Fruh beer (.51L) and excellent sauerbraten and
mashed potatoes. Then came several hours on a bus along Rhine to the Netherlands, through
very slow dense traffic to the Dorint Hotel at Amsterdam-Schipiol Airport.
Friday, November 2. Luigi and I bade farewell to our travelling
companions and took a taxi to the Park Hotel in Amsterdam for 75 Guilders ($30) including
tip. Lunch at Brasserie van Gogh near this hotel included Heineken's draft (1/2 liter)
for each,
a tuna sandwich for Luigi, and fish and chips for me. -- 68 guilders with tip. The
establishment seemed like a good restaurant for rich students. Luigi went to Rijksmuseum
while I took nap and did laundry. Dinner was in the hotel restaurant and included Santorcal
Vino della Tierra de Castilla y Leon 1999 Spanish red wine. Luigi had wolf fish, I had
guinea fowl.
Saturday, November 3. Buffet breakfast in the hotel included the usual
fruits and juices, scrambled eggs, sausages, bacon, breadstuffs, cheeses and also both smoked
and pickled herring, the latter wrapped around pickled onions. Also currant buns so large that
we shared one. Then we walked to the Van Gogh museum and took the elevator to third
floor, which holds some van Goghs and many works by his contemporary artists. One item
that attracted my attention was a sculptured head (only) of Charles I of England. There were
more van Goghs on the second floor but the crowds were so dense that they diminished our
enjoyment.
We were not very impressed by a current show (in the museum's new wing) of photographs
of the United States from 1860 to 1940 or thereabouts. Lunch in the museum cafeteria
included Belgian Trappist beer for me and Heineken for Luigi plus a ham sandwich for her
and a herring and onion sandwich for me.
Following our naps we walked about the art and antiques district of Amsterdam, and were
surprised at how many antique stores there were. We also walked along another street on
which the principal products displayed were garments of fashion of one sort or
another.
Dinner was at Sama Sebo Indonesian Restaurant, which we remembered favorably
from four years ago. It is at P.C. Hoofdstraat 27, 1071 BL Amsterdam (020 6628146). We
had Reijstoffel, the dish for which the restaurant is best known. In addition to the usual
dinnerware, our table was set with four trivets each holding 2 candles. Small oval serving
dishes were placed on these; some were stacked on the rims of the two below; there
were over a dozen items to be ladled or scooped onto the rice that came in a huge bowl. The
meal seemed to be an Indonesian version of a fancy Indian Curry.
Sunday, November 4. We checked out of the hotel, took a taxi to the
airport and caught a United Airlines flight to Dulles and another to O'Hare. This time the
business class on the trans-Atlantic flight was nearly full.