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.