The Castle District in Buda, or is it Pest?

Our first full day dawned chilly & foggy. We had a bus tour around the Pest area of the city (Or is it Buda?). We passed by Hero's Square, filled with monuments to Hungarian heroes, and one of their famous and beautiful spas, before we crossed the Chain Bridge, across the Danube, up the hill to the Castle District. We had a short walking tour, followed by free time. A highlight for me was two young men that had birds of prey (A Peregrine Falcon and  a Golden Eagle) that for a price, 5 euro for the Falcon, 8 euro for the eagle you could have your photo (Your camera) taken holding the bird.

Official Touring Begins

By time we had dinner, we were fairly exhausted by our very long day and half (Sleep is impossible when flying coach). So it was off to bed. While not large, our cabin was comfortable, and wonders of wonders, they had heated floors in the bathroom!

The next morning w were up with the sun to eat breakfast, and go out on the day's tour.

 Hero's Square

Along the banks of the Danube there are these bronze shoes. They commemorate Hungarian Jews who were forced to disrobe on the banks of the Danube and then shot by the Nazis, their bodies swept downstream.

Beautiful Budapest

Our plane from Frankfurt to Budapest appeared to be filled mostly with other travelers catching a Viking River Cruise boat in Budapest. Besides our boat, the Odin, there were three other longships in port that day. One other was doing the same itinerary as us, the other two were doing an itinerary called the Danube Waltz (We were on the Romantic Danube). Once we arrived in Budapest we collected our luggage, were waived through passport control, and met the Viking representatives there to greet us. In short order they had separated us by the boat we were sailing on, had us on the right bus and we were soon on our way.

Our boat was docked on the Danube, very close to the famous Chain Bridge. We had some free time before dinner so we walked to a nearby Christmas Market.

 The Budapest Christmas Market was very festive, but also so crowded that one could barely move through the crowds.

Budapest is beautifully illuminated at night. Across the Danube, in Buda was the impressive Castle District. 

A street vendor selling hot wine and strudel

The Chain Bridge

Christmas Markets Along the Danube and 10 Years Together to Boot!

Our next foray across the pond was about 16 months later when we decided to try a Viking River Cruise. Like so many others who watched Downton Abbey  I was mesmerized by the commercials for Viking. Those commercials made river cruising look very appealing. We were celebrating our tenth wedding anniversary in December 2014, and I wanted something special. Finding something special in December isn't always easy, but this was something I wanted to do, and convincing husband wasn't too hard. At first he resisted, but my ace in the hoe was "Christmas Markets." Marty LOVES Christmas, and the fact there were several stops in Germany, his other wish list destination in Europe made it a bit easier to get him to agree.

The itinerary was Budapest, Hungary to Nuremberg, Germany, with stops in Vienna (Austria), Melk (Austria), Passau (Germany), and Regensburg (Germany). I don't remember how far in advance I booked this trip. I do know that I got a special price on airfare that made if more affordable.

I was impressed with Viking from the very beginning. A few weeks before we were set to sail we received a box mailed overnight to our home with our travel documents. Included was a case that held our passports, information/guide books for our itinerary, stickers we were to put on our jackets when we arrived in Budapest so the Viking representative could find us. We also received two very nice red luggage tags. The information and instructions were easy to understand, only an idiot could possibly get mixed up.

To save $400 in airfare we drove up to Philadelphia to catch our plane there. We were fly from Philly to Frankfurt, Germany where we had a rather long layover, followed by another flight from Frankfurt to Budapest.

All smiles on our way to Philly

Waiting at the Philly airport for boarding to begin.

It was cloudy and dreary in Frankfurt during our Five hour layover.

Fly By Tour of London

Our cruise had come to an end, and we had a flight scheduled for about 4:00 PM to go back home, but fortunately the cruise line offered transfers to the airport that included a quick tour of London. I was truly amazed how much we got in, with just a few hours. We started with a nice vantage point in which to admire both Tower Bridge and the Tower of London, followed by a driving tour that took us by many famous sites. We had some free time in Covent Garden, and finally it was off to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guard.

This was a wonderful trip, even hubby enjoyed himself much more than he thought and was now open to going back to Europe.

Part of the original Roman wall

St. Paul's, where Prince Charles & Lady Diana were married

The Main Event-The Tattoo

After a very early supper we met the buses that were to take a large part of the ship to the Tattoo. The bus could only take us to the bottom of the hill of which Edinburgh Castle is perched on top of (I think it’s actually an extinct volcano). From there one must walk, uphill, over cobblestone streets. Once outside of Edinburgh Castle we queued, sort of, in a very tight, squished together mass of people. The doors finally opened, and we slowly made our way in.

Husband had a bit of an adventure, when for some unexplained reason he began to bleed from his ear. We stopped at the medic station and found he had a scab just inside the ear that he must had rubbed, and the scab came off. Causing it to bleed, in other words, not serious. The medics were very nice (And funny!), patched him up, and sent us on our way.

The Tattoo started at 9 PM on the dot. Mere words cannot describe what my eyes beheld, or the emotions I felt. I will just say the sight of Edinburgh Castle at night, with floodlights illuminating the façade, and bonfires in caldrons along the ramparts was impressive, and when the gate opened up, and 150 or so pipers and drummers in kilts came marching out, music playing, flags waving, I felt like I had died and gone to Heaven.  It is truly an impressive show. The funny thing was, my husband had grumbled about going, and had an unpleasant shock when I told him how much the tickets were, but after, he was impressed, and stated it was worth the cost.

When the show was over I was worried about finding our bus in the dark, the mass confusion of the twists and turns of Edinburgh’s streets, and the hordes of people, but it was actually quite easy. The tour company had people on every corner to point us in the right direction.

We didn’t get back to the ship until after midnight, but they had the buffet opened for a light supper.

The following day was our second sea day, which once again we enjoyed beautiful weather, so lovely for relaxing on a deck chair.

The crowds waiting to get in. We were stacked like sardines

Scones, clotted cream and strawberry jam, plus hot tea. Delightful way to spend an hour on board.