Austria to Germany cruising day

We decided to stay on the boat with about 13 others instead of a long bus trip to Salzburg or Czeccy. Lovely sunny day again and relaxing cruising along the attractive wooded river Danube.

 Still plenty of castles, villages, churches to admire with the excellent Scenic App giving us GPS prompted details of the sites we were passing.

There was an Apple Strudel cooking demo and tasting for those left on board.

We also went through 3 locks which was very interesting to see the manouvering skills of the crew.

Durnstein to Melk

We sailed overnight to a small village called Durnstein where we will wander around for an hour after breakfast. Very attractive, if touristy, Austrian village with ruins where Richard the Lionheart was imprisoned. Lots of apricot themed food and drink and a hotel frequented by Princess Diana and Dodi. 

Needed more time but had to sail at 10:45 through the Wassau valley, a very pretty part of the Danube. Lots of monasteries, castles and vine yards line the steep valley. Had prosecco on sun deck while taking in views.

We were bussed a short distance up the hill to Melk Abbey, a working abbey still and typically Baroque extravagance. The tour was a bit boring as usual, unless one is very religious, but the walk back to the boat through the old town gave us the opportunity for an ice cream and coffee.

Vienna

A full day in Vienna today starting with a Wine tour with a difference. After a comprehensive city tour we were taken to the cellars of a sparkling wine producer in the outskirts of Vienna called Schlumberger. 

They use the champagne method to produce 3 types of wine using grape juice from vineyards in Germany. So the cellars are full of racks of bottles in 4 stages of fermentation. No vineyard, no presses, vats or barrels! We tasted the wines and bought a 3 pack and some truffles.

After lunch back on the boat we returned to town on the shuttle and retraced our steps to St Stevens cathedral square for coffee and sachet tort cakes then walked up to the opera house.

After dinner we joined in the 'name that tune' quiz and came a creditable 4 place without cheating.

Arrive in Vienna for Concert

We arrived in Vienna after cruising all night and morning. It's been dull and cool but no rain so far. We were taken by bus to the Palais Lichtenstein, a grand privately owned palace, for a concert of music by Mozart and Strauss.

 Very grand reception area with golden coach and art collection for a welcome glass of bubbly followed by 1.5 hours concert with opera and ballet in grand hall. Very entertaining and memorable although the acoustics were terrible for enjoying the music.

Budapest to Vienna

We had previously booked a morning tour which was part coach upto the old castle in Buda, then walking around the square and church. Back on the bus and over the Danube to heroes square and then to a piano recital in Pest. Enjoyed a good informative guided tour and Budapest is lovely. We were back in time for lunch and sailed away at 4:00pm under the five bridges connecting Buda with Pest and past all the beautiful buildings on the river. The houses of Parliament are particularly impressive. Dinner was at 7:00 followed by a quiz.

Heathrow to Budapest

Good chauffeur transfer to Heathrow arriving at 6:00 in plenty of time and no delays going through checkon or security. However the flight was about 45 minutes late taking off and landing. We arrived in Budapest just after a long haul flight from Korea with national ice hockey team on board so took a long time to clear customs. It was 30 minutes transfer to the scenic Crystal which was moored on its own at eastern end of town.

The boat was only about 70% full as lots Americans had cancelled cruises because of the Russian conflict, so we had people from cancelled Rhine cruises.

Very Early Start

Can't believe I was showered by 3:15am ready to be picked up at 4:00am. Left in style in an E class Merc driven by a very interesting black guy, 50 years old, church goer, Waitrose shopper and about to be the father of triplets. Rosemary had many words of wisdom for him. Quickly through check in, security and having a rubbish breakfast in No1 lounge by 7:00am. Flight boarding at 9:00 ish.

Packing ready to go

We have an early start on Monday (4:00am) and we are packing nice and early too, so hopefully we will have a relaxing weekend.

First River cruise - Danube

Sure enough all 3 cruises we booked with Celebrity (Dubai > Athens, Caribean and Iceland) were cancelled. We playing safe, despite the Ukraine conflict, by taking our first river cruise up the Danube with Scenic's Gems of the Danube at the end of April.