May 2 - This afternoon late we flew from Raleigh-Durham Airport overnight to London.

May 3 - Arrived in London early in the morning, then flew on to Amsterdam, Schipol Airport.  From there we had arranged a car service to drive us into Amsterdam, and the IBIS Amsterdam Centre Hotel.  Tomorrow we board our Viking Longship, the Aegir.

May 4 - Onboard and love the ship and our stateroom!  We took the afternoon off to work on our Jet lag, had our frist day briefing, and departed to begin our journey up the Rhine River just before Midnight.

May 5 - Today we saw the picturesque Dutch countryside and the original technological marvels of historic Kinderdijk, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. we walked with our guide into the serene polder lands of South Holland. As you cross the dike to the windmills, you notice that they in fact are at a lower elevation than your ship, as much of this part of The Netherlands is below sea level. Built in the mid-18th century, these 19 windmills, the largest concentration in The Netherlands, stand like sentinels on a hushed landscape. We learned why they were built and saw firsthand how they work, even stepping into a working windmill to observe its mechanics and living quarters. Families who live in these mills are required to keep them in working order. This excursion gave us a close up look at these marvelous buildings that helped shape the legendary Dutch landscape.  We are now on the way to Koln, Germany for tomorrow.  We passed into Germany on the river during dinner.

May 6 - Today we left the ship at Zons, Germany for a 30 minute bus ride to Koln for a walking tour. The boat then continued on to Koln and docked across the Hohenzollern Bridge from the city center. No we do not know why we had to get off and ride the bus to where the ship was going anyway! The day was beautiful... our first peak at the sun! We got a chance to go inside the Gothic cathedral in Cologne (aka Koln.)  Construction of the cathedral began in 1248 and continued until 1840.  The cathedral largely escaped damages in WWII  After the two hour tour, we left the group and went in search of light bulbs for our European light in the family room.  Apparently they only sell the size bulbs we wanted during the Christmas season, so we bought a substitute and have the store name to order more in November.  After that we picked a cafe/bakery for lunch, great white asparagus or as it is known in Germany "spargel."  After lunch we went in search of an electric brush to help straighten hair... yes Terri brought one with her, but using it in a 220 outlet in the hotel killed it the first day.  Now we have 220 V one that can only be used in Europe and will have to buy a new one for home. We picked some yummy looking pastry for midnight snack.  The boat leaves Koln tonight at 11:00 PM to sail to our next stop Koblenz.

May 7 - ​Today we stopped in Koblenz and boarded a bus for a fifteen minute ride UPHILL to Marksburg Castle.  After we arrived at the parking lot for the castle it was another half mile of switch-back paths UPHILL to the entrance of the castle.  Marksburg Castle is the only castle in the Rhine valley that has never been destroyed. The castle has continued to overlook the village of Braubach since the 13th century. The castle has a distinct butter-churn tower, so called because the upper reaches have a smaller diameter than the lower ones.  After the castle tour we continued through the Rhine Valley Unesco World Heritage site.  We passed a lot castles along the way, and the tour director called them the ABC castles.  The first few you take pictures of, and after a while, it just becomes "Another Beautiful Castle."  We also passed the very narrow section of the river at the Lorelei Rock, named for the legendary Rhine maiden who lured sailors to the death against the rocks.  This area of the river has traffic signals allowing only one way traffic because of the narrow passage and heavy currents.  Near the Lorelei Rock we passed Castle Katz (Cat Castle.) During the night we will transition to the Main River as our trip continues. Tomorrow our destination is Miltenburg after lunch.

May 8 - This morning we continued our scenic cruising along the Main River.  The abbreviation of the day is ADL, (Another Damned Lock!)  We never knew there were so many locks in the Main River.  We has a glass blowing demonstration just before lunch with a famous glass blower from Wertheim, just a bit further down the river from  us.  This afternoon, we visited Miltenburg, a beautiful city with its own castle.  The walking tour took us to the far end of town, relative to the boat, so our "free time" consisted of  walking back to the dock.   Miltenburg boasts the world's oldest inn and claims Elvis Presely among its former guests.  They also had two lovely Christmas shops... yep more ornaments!  We continued with locks and vineyards  until well past dark and  tomorrow we will take a full day tour inland to Rothenburg ob Tauber!

May 9 -  We rode by bus on the “Romantic Road” to one of Germany’s last remaining walled medieval towns.  This is one of Bavaria's prettiest roads to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, the “Red Fortress above the Tauber.” Centuries ago, Rothenburg was ruled by the Holy Roman Empire. It was a busy merchant city until the Thirty Years’ War and the plague threw it into poverty. This 17th-century stagnation froze Rothenburg in time, to be rediscovered by German Romantics in 1802. We saw the picturesque Plönlein square and the Kriminalmuseum (yawn.. we skipped this part, those who did not were not impressed!). We walked the Herrengasse, an inviting lane of old patrician houses. And see the 1466 High Altar of St. Jakob’s Church and the Gothic–Renaissance Town Hall. Upon return to Würzburg, we drove by the Bishops’ Residenz, one of Germany’s largest and most ornate palaces and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The palace is modeled after Versailles. it was a long tiring day, so we have decided not to take to tour in Bamberg tomorrow afternoon.

May 10 - Bamberg day.  Wow are we glad we had already decided to stay on board the ship in Bamberg.  News Flash!  the canal ahead of us is flooded and the ship is too tall to pass through the bridges to Nuremburg.  No problem, Viking has another ship, the Embla stuck for the same reason near Passau.  The plan is for us to all pack up our luggage and transfer off the Aegir tomorrow morning at 7:30 am.  The we will take a 2 hour bus ride to Nuremburg for our tours.  After the tours it will be another bus ride (3 hours) to the Embla.  Those passengers are doing the same in reverse. Yay... so much for packing and unpacking once on a cruise.  Viking promises (uh oh) that all our tours will be the same.  It turns out the Aegir is a twin of the Embla so the ships are identical... we shall see.  Fortunately we had all day to pack up without panic, unlike those who were on tours in Bamberg.  We had our last dinner on the Aegir tonight and tomorrow we will have a whole new crew to learn.  Fortunately they are sending our cruise director to the new ship with us.

May 11 - "ZERO Dark 30", 7:30 am.  All luggage has been moved to the hall for transfer to Vilshofen and the Embla.  Breakfast on the Aegir, bus to Nuremburg. We drove a little less than 2 hours to the Old Town, where we had a driving tour of the Nazi Coliseum and parade grounds. After seeing the grounds where Nazi rallies were staged and passing the Palace of Justice, home of the Nuremburg Trials we visted the Imperial Palace, one of Europe’s most formidable fortresses.  Nuremberg was the seen of a lot of destruction from carpet bombing in WWII. The medieval city is still surrounded by 13th-century walls, with many gates and watchtowers fully intact. Its large fortress also survived and the residents have restored most of the old city. It grew into a toy-making capital of Europe where craftsmen also shaped metal into inspiring sculpture and carved wood and other materials into decorative crafts.  After the fortress we walked down the castle hill past half-timbered houses to browse the stalls at the Market Square. Nuremburg is also famous for its gingerbread and its Gothic Schöner Brunnen, or Beautiful Fountain.  Following a bit of free time, we all met up with the cruise director (all 182 of us) and walked to a local restaurant for lunch.  How you like like to find a place to feed 182 people?  We could not go back to the ship because the Aegir is 2 hours north!  So... back on the bus we go for the 3 hour, oops make that 4 and a half hour trip to the Viking Embla.  Traffic and construction on the autobahn.  We had another welcome aboard briefing with the new captain only to learn we were not going to have to bus up to Regensburg for tours... the water was now low enough to sail back north. (Reading between lines, the whole ship swap was probably not needed! Sigh!) So after a later dinner off we went back up river to Regensburg.  We decided to skip the organized tour early tomorrow and sleep in.  LONG day to say the least!

May 12 - Welcome to Regensburg.  We are docked right beside the city and we will be here until 9:45 tonight.  We stayed aboard until after coffee and lunch, picked up a map and took our own tour.   We saw a true medieval city untouched by World War II bombing. Regensburg is one of Germany’s best preserved cities and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  We walked past the Old Town Hall and saw the 12th-century Old Stone Bridge, a 16-arch marvel of medieval engineering that still carries traffic today. We also saw the famous Alte Wurstküche (Old Sausage Kitchen), Germany’s oldest restaurant, and stopped for an ice cream along the way.  Franc went to a Golf Museum while Terri shopped.  She found some great Christmas gifts too!  Then it was back to the Embla for a rest before dinner tonight.  After dinner we will depart Regensburg and go back down stream to Passau for tomorrow's tours!

Oh yeah, about the identical twin ships... not exactly!  So far we have counted over a dozen little differences.  But... it is mostly the same <Smile>

May 13 - Today's tour took us to Passau and one of the most impressive churches we have seen, St. Stephens Cathedral, a Baroque masterpiece. Their organ is the largest cathedral organ in the world with over 17,974 pipes, 233 stops, and 4 carillions. All five parts of the organ can be played from the main keyboard, either all at once or separately.  We were lucky enough to be there for a 1 hour organ concert which gave us a great sampling of just what that organ can do. Its range was phenomenal. Passau is known as the city of three rivers and is the last major German city on the Danube near the border with Austria.

May 14 - Welcome to Melk, Austria!  This Benedictine Monastery is one of our fondest memories from our two years living in Europe.  It still holds up to our memories.  The abbey is a Unesco World Heritage site.  The two most impressive rooms are the Marble Hall (only the door frames are marble, the whole room looks marble!) and the Library. The library contains over 80,000 medieval manuscripts and books some of which are over 900 years old.  Also striking in its beauty is the Stiftkirche, Abbey Church.  We were there on Sunday morning and got to see the church during an active mass. After the visit in Melk we had scenic cruising in the Wachau Valley, a major wine producing area for Austria.  Tonight in the dining room we had a very festive dinner of Austrian specialties from sauerkraut to sauerbroten, pretzels, potato salad, ham knuckles, brats, Weinerschitzel, Sacher Torte, and beer!  We also had a father and son team playing accordion (father) and guitar (son) wandering the dining room.  They knew songs for almost every state, and created a jovial sing-along celebration.

May 15 - 16 - Vienna -Day 1:  Today, rather than taking the group city tour offered by the ship, we decided to go off on our own to explore.  We were in Vienna during our time living in Europe from 1999-2001 so we knew what we wanted to do!  We took a taxi to St. Stephansdom a huge Gothic cathedral near the city center.  After a quick refresh on the church, we went in search of a charm for Terri's Europe charm bracelet.  We finally found a wine   goblet shaped charm to fit the bill.  Franc was craving a Big Mac, so while he indulged, Terri bought a pizza to go from across the street.  After lunch we went in search of the horse drawn carriages.  We had take a great ride on our last trip and it seemed fitting to do it again.  We had a wonderful 40 minute tour of central Vienna!  After dinner, the ship had arranged a private concert with a small Vienna orchestra, complete with singers and ballet dancers.  It was all music from Mozart and Strauss and included the Blue Danube Waltz.  I am still trying to find the blue part of the river, but we must have polluted it to greenish brown since the music was written!  It was a long day, but a good one.

Day 2:  Today we slept in late and only took an afternoon tour to Schonbrunn Palace.  This huge Versailles like palace was the summer residence of the Hapsburgs. It began as a hunting lodge for Emperor Frederick Hapsburg, but significantly expanded by his daughter Empress Marie Theresa forty years later.  The palace contains 1,441 rooms.  We saw the famous hall of mirrors where a six year old Mozart performed for the Empress and met the seven year old Marie Antoinette. We viewed the sleeping quarters for Marie Theresa and several other formal rooms as well.

May 16 -  PM - Bratislava, Slovakia, scenic cruising.  We passed by just after sunset and the city has a wonderful castle that is well lit, and several beautiful bridges.  One of the bridge supports had a revolving restaurant on the top!  We can check Slovakia off of our list of countries visited. Tonight we sail on to Budapest, Hungary.  It is going to be a busy day tomorrow.

May 17-18 - Day 1 - Welcome to Hungary!  Budapest at last!  In the morning we toured the city by bus and walking tour including the state opera house, Heroes Square, the Castle district including the hilltop castle and the turreted Fisherman's Bastion and Matthias Church.  This church was named for one of Hungary's most popular medieval kings.  There were amazing views across to the Pest side of the famous Chain Bridge which was the first bridge to connect the Buda and Pest halves of Budapest when it first opened in 1849.  The afternoon tour took us to the old Jewish district of Vienna where we saw the second largest Jewish Temple in the world (by only a few square metres.)  The Dohany Street Synagogue is a 19th century Moorish-Revival (Great Synagogue) also has a museum of Jewish relics and is home to the Tree of Life Memorial to the over 400,000 Hungarian Jews killed by the Nazis.  During the was the synagogue was temporarily converted into a stable.  The exhibits were very stirring.  After the Synagogue we walked through the Jewish quarter and had a cake and tea (We had Coca Light, aka Diet Coke in the USA.)  We returned to the ship passing the "Shoes Memorial" where thousands of Jews were shot into the Danube.  This was a very sobering tour for all of us, Jews and Gentiles alike.

Day 2:   Franc stayed on board to do ABET work  while Terri visited the three story City Market Hall.  One floor was a large ALDI supermarket, while the next floor up was more of a farmer's market.  The market level offered meats, vegetables, fruits, nuts, and unlimited Paprika.  Hungary is known for its paprika and it was there in all forms... fresh, dried, and ground.  The three types available were mild (the type you would buy in the grocery stores at home,) hot, more like Cayenne pepper, and smoked.  Of course Terri bought all three to bring home to make goulash with!  The top floor of the Market Hall was about 50% Hungarian fast food stands, and cafes.  The other half was wall to wall souvenirs and local handcrafts.  It was a true shopper's paradise, probably the reason Franc stayed on the ship.  Today we said good-bye to all but 38 of our shipmates who were ending their cruises in Budapest.  Not a worry though because we boarded 138 new shipmates for the cruise from Budapest to Giurgiu, Romania.  This where we will leave the ship and transfer into Bucharest.  Large groups of British and Canadians joined us for the second cruise.  Unknown to us, we are actually taking two cruises back to back.  Amsterdam to Budapest for two weeks, and then 1 week Budapest to Bucharest.  Tonight as we sail out past the lights of Budapest we have 4 countries to go:  Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Romania.  

May 19 - Today we woke up in Kalocsa, Hungary our last stop in Hungary.  This morning we toured Kalocsa, Hungary's capital of paprika.  We visited the Holy Trinity Square to visit St. Joseph church.  Here we had an excellent organ concert.  After the concert we re-boarded the buses to the Bakodpuszta equestrian center.  Many Hungarians worry that their country's equestrian connection is being lost to the motorized world, so they hold fast to their rural ways and four legged friends.  We were welcomed by traditionally costumed riders with whips cracking.  Did you know that each crack of the whip creates a mini sonic boom? There was a wonderful show of traditional riding skills long practiced by these people. Afterwards, of course there was a souvenir stand where you could purchase items from horse whips to (but of course) paprika.  We arrived back at the ship in time for lunch, and immediately departed Kalocsa for Mohacs, Hungary.  Here we stopped for a customs and immigration check which will take from one and a half to three hours, and may require a "face check" where everyone on board will be compared to their passport photo.  We have been docked for and hour and a half and as yet, no calls for face check.  We just hope that they are done by our dinner time at 7:00 PM.  We have been warned that the customs people have NO sense of humor and we are to appear happy and communicate only when addressed.  Oops... they just called for the crew, so I suppose we are next! More later!

May 20 - Happy Birthday Etta! Well we passed our face check, and were allowed to leave Hungary and travel to Croatia.  Today we docked in Vukovar on the Danube, but the city we visited on our tour was Osijek.  There were two parts to today's tour.  First we visited, in groups of 10-12 a local family. From the reports we have heard, our group got the best family.  We were invited in for coffee, elderberry water, and homemade cake. Here comes the lucky part.  The wife of our family was a professional baker, making cakes for all occasions.   We had a delightful strawberry and whipped cream cake, and the elderberry juice was wonderful.  This family seemed fairly well to do, with two teen-aged daughters, 9 cherry trees and two cats!  Franc  sampled the sour cherry liquor, but Terri thought 9:30 am was a bit early!  After the home visit we traveled on to the old Osijek fortified city.  Much of the area of the old city was in pretty bad shape since the wars with Serbia, Yugoslavia, etc.  We visited a small old church where we were treated to a wonderful small concert... piano and soprano singer only!  She was really talented.  After a walk through the city square we returned to the ship.  As we drove through the countryside Franc noticed that there were no power poles along the streets.  Instead each house had a power pole on its roof and the wires ran from house to house.  Poles were used only in fields.  A unique power distribution system.  Franc calls this part of our tour the "Wild, Wild East."  Most of the places we have seen have been sparsely populated.  Tonight during dinner we had another immigration check as we left Croatia for Serbia.  No face check was required this time.  Tomorrow we will tour Belgrade, Serbia and see the largest Orthodox Church in the world.  It will hold ten to twelve thousand people!

May 21 - Welcome to Belgrade, Serbia!  Our tour of Belgrade was quite thorough today.  First we went up hill to tour the Belgrade Fortress (more about this later.) The fortress is completely surrounded by two rivers, the Sava and the Danube.  The other sides are a large forested parkland call Kalemegdan Park.  This site is set high above the old city of Belgrade.  The fortress has been fought over at least 115 times and razed to the ground 44 times.  A fortified settlement here has existed back to the Celtic times, but the curre

nt fortress dates back to the 18th century.  After the fortress visit we drove through the old city of Belgrade.  Here we visited a Serbian Orthodox church which will be the largest in the world.  Orthodox services are conducted with the attendees standing.  This church will handle 12,000 people inside, plus 3000 in the chapel and 700+ choir members.  The out6side of the church is complete, but the estimate is that it will take another 12 years to complete the mosaics on the domes and wall inside. Apparently the Serbians have very few trained craftsmen in mosaics, and to avoid Roman Catholic influences into the motifs they will only allow orthodox craftsmen to do this work.  That leaves them with predominantly Russian artisans will not train the local Serbians. (We gather they don't share well.)

     After the church we drove across the Sava River to the new city which is a mix of Soviet era block housing and many other styles.  Finally were were given 37 minutes of free time for shopping if we did not want to walk back to the boat (30 minutes away.) Yes, they are VERY precise with directions! Belgrade has had at least 10 names over the centuries.  As each conquerer claimed it, he would immediately change its name.  Some of the names have been Belgrad,  Bello Grado, Alba Urbs, Alba Graeca, Griechisch Weissenburg, Nandor Fehervar, Nandor Alba, and Castelbianco.  Each of these names described the beauty and whiteness of the city based upon the stone from which it was carved.  Pope John Paul VIII first recorded the name Beldrade on April 16, 878 in a letter to the Bulgarian Emperor Mihail Boris.  

     Given all the upheaval these people have experienced we felt a bit sorry for them, and quite frankly wondered just how effective the Belgrade Fortress has been at protecting them!  Tonight on board we had a Serbian/Balkan buffet and a folklore performance of music and dance.

May 22 - A full day of cruising on the Danube through a very narrow channel known as the Iron Gate.  Here we passed through the narrowest gorge on the Danube known as the Iron Gate.  On the Romanian side is a carved face of King Dacius of Dacia, now known as Romania.  We also went through the largest lock on the Danube.  Now back to sailing towards Vidin in Bulgaria, the site of tomorrows tours.

​May 23 - TBD

May 24 - TBD

May 25 - ​Arrived in Giurgui, our last port.  We left the ship for our first day in Bucharest.  LONG, LONG DAY!!!  We drove in circles in Bucharest, supposedly sight seeing by bus.  Translation, let's drive these people around in circles until hotel check-in time at 4:30.  We are sure passed several parts of Bucharest multiple times.  Apparently they thought we were all idiots and would not notice.  Traffic in Bucharest was very heavy because it was "Different Week" for the school children.  They get to go on field trips all week, and gum up all the tourist sites!  We finally arrived at the Budapest Sheraton at precisely 4:30 pm!  Those bus drivers are good!

May 26 - Bram Castle (AKA Dracula's Castle) in Brasov! More later.

May 27 - Peles Castle, Sinaia! More later.

May 28 - Long day trip today to the Black Sea and Constanta. Romania.  Part of the major highway to Constanta was built during communist times, so the road sections are made of prefabricated concrete section laid end to end.  To say this 31 km section was rough is an understatement!  After the first 31 km the road completely like a normal highway... much smoother.  Our first order of business upon arrival in Constanta was to stick our fingers in the Black Sea and collect a couple of shells.  Then we had a walking tour through the old City including he old Casino Building on the Black Sea,(gorgeous )the Archeological and History Museum. Constanta is a beautiful city complete with Roman ruins, Catholic Church, Romanian Orthodox Church and Bishopric, and Jewish Church.  Not to mention the Black Sea.  Constanta is the busiest seaport on the Black Sea. After lunch in the town square we drove to Marmaia which is the high end seaside resort with 17 km beach.  Three hour drive back to Bucharest to learn of the British Air IT fiasco.

May 29 - Yes we are supposed to be on an airplane home today, but that was before the big British Air IT failure.  Our flights for today, along with those of several others were cancelled  by British Air.  Not to worry, Viking re-booked us flights for tomorrow (OK, so it is EARLY tomorrow am, 2:15 AM departure from the hotel.) We are now booked through Madrid on Iberia Airlines, then to JFK and home to RDU.  Oops... watch this space.  Apparently the Romania Air Traffic Controllers are planning an indefinite strike starting tomorrow.  We are told the strike starts at 9:00 am local time.  Theoretically we should be OK since out flight leaves Romania at 4:50 AM tomorrow.  Cross your fingers folks.  With a departure to the airport time of 2:15 AM we are planning no sleep tonight.  We have  been napping all day.  Showers done, now it is all wait and see!