Category Archives: Time flies when you’re globe trotting and river cruising

Reflections and memoirs on recent travels through Europe including Munich, Bad Gastein, The Austrian Alps, Hohenwerfen, Amsterdam, Keukenhof Gardens, European River Cruising, Windmills, UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Castles along the Rhine, Wurzburg Residence, Schonbrunn Palace, Melk Abbey, Budapest and a day with Hungarian cowboys and gypsy musicians.

The Sisterhood of the World Bloggers’ Award

16 Monday Dec 2013

Posted by in 2013, Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award, Time flies when you're globe trotting and river cruising, Uncategorized, WordPress

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Sisterhood of the World Bloggers' Award

Sisterhood of the World Bloggers’ Award
Champagne Glasses by D Sharon Pruitt on Flickr, Creative

Champagne Glasses by D Sharon Pruitt on Flickr, Creative

“Oh my golly goshes and golly ah gee”! No make that 2 “Oh my golly goshes and golly ah gees”!

I feel rather bubbly today indeed. Maybe I should crack open some early Christmas Bubbly!

Yeah! …two lovely people…Sweetness (Public Transit User) and  Dawny Hosking have both nominated me for the “The Sisterhood of the World Bloggers” Award over the past month or so.

Sadly Dawny (aka our wonderful Warrior Goddess) is not blogging at present due to difficulties she has been experiencing with her health. I certainly miss her very much and I’m sure many fellow bloggers out there do too. If you’re reading this Dawn, we all wish you a most wonderful Christmas together with your loved ones and also relief from the illness you suffer.

Sweetness6645 is still writing. She has a wonderfully entertaining blog as she Chronicles her day to day experiences on public transport. You should go on over and check out her site.

I myself would like to say a big thank you to both Sweetness and Dawn.

As always awards have their own set of rules and below are the rules for this prestigious award:

2 X Sisterhood of the World

2 X Sisterhood of the World

The rules for receiving the Sisterhood of the World bloggers award are as follows.

1. Provide a link and thank the blogger who nominated you for this award.
2. Answer 8-10 questions.
3. Nominate 10-12 blogs that you find a joy to read.
4. Provide links to these nominated blogs and kindly let the recipients know that they have been nominated.
5. Include the award logo within your blog post.

I myself am most grateful to have been considered as part of a sisterhood.

The Questions:

  1. Your favorite color – I think Rainbow is becaquse I happen to like of them!
  2. Your favorite animal – A Dog…..I’ve had so many wonderful dogs and they are always great companions.
  3.  Facebook or Twitter – Neither…Don’t really use either and I find Blogging takes up more than enough time
  4. Your favorite pattern – I think stripes but I’m a little changeable when it comes to design…whatever is new and fresh will attract me at the time and gain my attention
  5. Do you prefer getting or giving presents? –I love both. I find it exciting to give and exciting to receive…both are lovely experiences.
  6.  Your favorite number? – 1,000,000-if that were in dollars I’d be very overjoyed!
  7. Your favorite day of the week? – Friday…it always signals new adventures to me.
  8. Your favorite flower? – Many…Rose, tulip, camellia, orchid, azalea, bird of paradise, Bougainvillea, sunflower, crab’s claw and many many more.
  9. What is your passion? –  Photography of course and  travelling!

I’ll just keep the same questions for my own nominees

 

The Nominees I would like to present this award to are: (I’m ecstatic as I have 2 awards so that means 20 new nominees). I love all your blogs and thank you for all the hard work you put into making them creative, informative, entertaining and fun. 

Random Rose

Tina at Everyday Life in Vienna

Toni Andrukaitus

Margaret Lynette Sharp

Beth at Humbuzzwhistle

Mindful Magpie

Nia Simone

Arlene at Dreams and Escapes

Edith Levy Photography

Photogwriter

Lost in Expression

North West Frame of Mind

Patinspire

Itwasjudith

Heather Cote

Mary Robertson

Renee Johnson

GreeneyedChess

Dadirri7

Retired2Travel

Once again a very  big thank you to my own nominees, Dawn and Sweetness6645.

P.S. My computer is extremely slow at the moment. Sorry for anyone who has received their notices for this award a little late. Have a wonderful Christmas. Michelle D

Sisterhood Bloggers Award

Sisterhood Bloggers Award Thank you Dawn and Sweetness.

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Blog of the Year Award – Some More Stars Yeah!!

15 Sunday Dec 2013

Posted by in 2013, Blog of the Year 2013, Time flies when you're globe trotting and river cruising, Uncategorized

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1-Billy and Lilly 7-001

I’m over the moon as I’ve now been nominated for two more stars for my Blog of the Year Award.

I would like to thank wonderful Shaun and Jardin. They have both recently nominated me again for another star for this award. I guess that now also gives me two more stars to pass on to other wonderful bloggers out there in our blogosphere and I do just love passing them on.

The idea as always is that when you receive an extra star for your award is you can then choose some other blogs to nominate for a star as well. As I have been nominated twice so I would like to pass another star on to the following 20 deserving blogs.

Here are my nominees: (Please remember that while it is fun passing on another star it is also very difficult to chooses as there are such a plethora of most wonderful blogs to choose from. chose.)

Kaligrafi

The World’s Top 10 of Everything

Restless Jo

Anotherday2paradise

Janalines’ World Journey

Tails from Paris

Ajaytao

Dawny Hosking (even if she’s not blogging at the moment I believe she very much deserves lots of stars for all of her past contributions.)

Tracie Louise Photography

Heni’s Happy Paintings

Wiley Schmidt

Jardin

Sweetness

Pooky’s Poems

Bug Photo

Lynda Michele

Toni Andrukaitis

Brenda

Sharechair

Mindful Magpie

Instructions for my nominees accepting another star for their award are very simple:

1-Select the blogs you now think deserve the Blog Of The Year 2013 Award.

2-Write a short blog post and tell us about the blog(s) you have chosen- there are no minimum or maximum number of blogs required- and ‘present’ the blog(s) with their award.

3-Let the blog(s) that you have chosen know that you have given them this award and share the instructions with them- (please don’t alter the instructions or the badges!)

4-Come over and say hello to the originator of the Blog Of The Year 2013 Award via this link: http://thethoughtpalette.co.uk/blog-awards-2-/blog-of-the-year-2013-award/

5-You can now also join the Blog Of The Year Award Facebook Page.Click the link here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/BlogoftheYear

Share your blog posts with an even wider audience.

6-And as a winner of the award- please add a link back to the blog that presented you with this award-and then proudly display the award on your blog- and keep adding the stars.

There are a total of 6 stars altogether to collect.

You can find all the badges and banners and information you need via this link: ‘Blog of The Year 2013′ Award Badges.

Congratulations to all the nominees! Best of luck to every one!

And of course a very big thank-you once again to wonderful Shaun and Jardin for nominating my blog. Hugs to everyone.

Rainbow Lorikeets, Billy and Lilly

Rainbow Lorikeets, Billy and Lilly

Days in Budapest, Hungary – Puszta Day Tour and Kecskemet Visit

15 Sunday Dec 2013

Posted by in Budapest, Hungary, Kecskemet, Memoir, Photography, Puszta, Time flies when you're globe trotting and river cruising, Uncategorized

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The Hungarian cowboys with their amazing horses.

The Hungarian cowboys with their amazing horses.

We both really enjoyed our small bus tour out into the Hungarian Countryside. We went to visit the small city of Kecskemet and a Hungarian farm where we saw the most amazing horsemanship.

Kecskemet (pop about 100,000) is approximately 50 miles from Budapest.

Kecskemet (pop about 100,000) is approximately 50 miles from Budapest.

The entertaining Gypsy musicians that played for us during our traditional Hungarian three course lunch.

The entertaining Gypsy musicians that played for us during our traditional Hungarian three course lunch.

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Days in Budapest, Hungary – Taken During our Night Bus Tour

14 Saturday Dec 2013

Posted by in Budapest, Hungary, Memoir, Photography, Time flies when you're globe trotting and river cruising, Uncategorized

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Photograph of Heroes' Square, Budapest, Hungary again taken from the bus when it was stopped.

Photograph of Heroes’ Square, Budapest, Hungary again taken from the bus when it was stopped.

We were totally charmed by Beautiful Budapest and especially Budapest at night. So we had to see it all again. While on our river cruise we’d viewed this beautiful city by night as we’d sailed in on the Danube. Now it was time to see it from the land on a “Green Bus” tour.

Hotel Astoria in Budapest, Hungary.

Hotel Astoria in Budapest, Hungary.

Up at the Citadella Restaurant in Budapest, Hungary.

Up at the Citadella Restaurant in Budapest, Hungary.

Another photo taken outside the Citadella in Budapest, Hungary.

Another photo taken outside the Citadella in Budapest, Hungary.

View fom up opposite the Citadella Restaurant in Budapest, Hungary.

View from up opposite the Citadella Restaurant in Budapest, Hungary.

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Days in Budapest, Hungary – Two more photos of the Amazing Parliament House.

13 Friday Dec 2013

Posted by in Budapest, Holidays, Hungary, Photography, Time flies when you're globe trotting and river cruising, Uncategorized

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Black and White Photo of Parliament House, Hungary.

Black and White Photo of Parliament House, Hungary.

I took this in a rush while we were stopped at the Lights on our Night “Green Bus” tour of Budapest. I was actually rather amazed they turned out as well as they did. I’m just interested in what you think i.e. whether you prefer the coloured version or the black and white the best.

Colour Version of Parliament House, Hungary.

Colour Version of Parliament House, Hungary.

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Days in Budapest, Hungary – Our Photographic Memoirs.

12 Thursday Dec 2013

Posted by in Budapest, Hungary, Memoir, Photography, Time flies when you're globe trotting and river cruising, Uncategorized

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We did a lot of sightseeing in and around around Budapest on these buses. This was outside the Palace of Art at Heroes' Square.

We did a lot of sightseeing in and around Budapest on these buses. This was outside the Palace of Art at Heroes’ Square.

Sorry everyone but the silly season is now beginning here in the land of Oz with lovely Christmas Parties and lots of other things to be accomplished. I hope you don’t mind but rather than write about the last few days of our European Holiday, I’ve decided to create a fairly simple Photographic Memoir instead of the usual longer stories.

I’ll just be posting a few photos each day for about a week or so. I do so want to have the opportunity to share our lovely last days in Budapest, Hungary. As you know it was an amazing surprise to me. There were so many interesting highlights. I do hope you enjoy them all as much as we did. After Christmas I’ll try to find some time to write the very last post about our somewhat eventful flight home to Australia.

I’d also like to wish you all a Very Happy Christmas and many happy times in the New Year. A big Thanks You to everyone who has been following our European River Cruising Memoirs in 2013. We’ve really enjoyed all of your encouragement along with your supportive and entertaining comments.

Michelle and D.B.

An interesting shop in the main centre of Budapest, Hungary. This photo was actually taken in May!

An interesting shop in the main centre of Budapest, Hungary. This photo was taken in May!

Another street performer with a marrionette puppet in Budapest, Hungary.

Another street performer with a marionette puppet in Budapest, Hungary.

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Day 15 – Budapest; Time to say Goodbye to the wonderful Viking Team

11 Wednesday Dec 2013

Posted by in Amsterdam to Budapest, Budapest, River Cruising, Time flies when you're globe trotting and river cruising, Uncategorized, Viking River Cruise

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Time to Say Goodbye

Time to Say Goodbye

The time had come to say our sad goodbyes……

Fifteen or so enchanting days spent river cruising had seemed to pass us by so quickly since that very first and oh so wonderful “Diamond Day”.

Michelle in the Viking Tor Lounge Area

Michelle in the Viking Tor Lounge Area

We still clearly remembered the magic of that first morning, when we’d excitedly boarded this extremely new and ultra modern, yet comfortable home-away-from-home, “Viking Tor”.

Viking Tor

Viking Tor

Amazingly the past 15 days had flurried by in their own whirly-wind of delicious buffet breakfasts, interesting info-walks, convivial dining room and/or alfresco lunches, rather testing trivia quizzes, classical music concerts, informative cooking demonstrations, extravagant multi-course dinners (made only from the freshest of local produce of course) and an ever-changing kaleidoscope of European adventures and cultural events.

Flower on Viking Tor

Flower on Viking Tor

We’d been able to explore medieval castles, stunning palaces, ornate cathedrals, timeless, ethereal abbeys, historical cobble-stoned streets. We’d seen some very pretty spring landscapes, engineering marvels (such as the Danube’s modern locks) and, of course, so many different and wonderful countries along with their beautiful picturesque cities and towns.

But sadly yes….now the time had come…. it truly was our TIME TO SAY GOODBYE.

Once again we were filled with a strange churning…. a really mixed-bag-of-emotional feeling.

On the one hand, we were very excited to still have a few days up our sleeve; some time to explore this blossoming city called Budapest in Eastern Europe.

We knew our neighbours back home in Australia had actually come from this area (Budapest and surrounding districts) so many years ago. I was really looking forward to seeing more of their homeland.

We were also looking forward to travelling home ourselves ….well perhaps D.B. was looking forward to this just a tad more than me!

I was really just looking forward to further exploring.

I now realised that Budapest was going to be far more enchanting than I’d initially thought.

We would soon be staying in the Jewish corner of the city, in an area I believed to be  a reasonably short distance from transport to and from the central areas of Budapest. We were booked into a charming hotel called the Palazzo Zichy. The Palazzo had actually been rating rather highly in many of the recent tourist reviews. I loved the fact that it already had a wonderful history of its own, having once been called “home” by a very famous nobleman , Count Nándor Zichy, back  in the 19th century.

Inside the Palazzo Zichy, Budapest, Hungary

Inside the Palazzo Zichy, Budapest, Hungary

I was, of course, also looking forward to taking many, many more photos of Budapest by night and also to exploring the Jewish area and synagogue by day.

You know, I am actually most thankful to all of the wonderful age-old religions in this extremely complex world of ours; for I believe they have all added some gems of wisdom to the mix as well as some most amazing architecture to the rich and eclectic fabric of this brilliant, sapphire-blue planet we happen to live on.

The Jewish Synagogue, Budapest, Hungary

The Jewish Synagogue, Budapest, Hungary

For good or bad, I know that many of our life’s experiences are strengthened, for some even perhaps fortified, by the  raging and fierce debates. Despite all of these amazing religious dichotomies, I myself believe they continue to speak the same ONE but at times, slightly different language. That is to love and respect one another and care for our world.

Viking Tor Longship Bell

Viking Tor Longship Bell

So it was very heavy hearts, that we eventually decided to disembark on this rather sad morning. I believe we were among the last to go.

After a most delicious buffet breakfast and some further exchanging of Email addresses and phone contacts, it truly was our ……. “Time to say Goodbye”.

I think the song below says it so well. And you know, I don’t actually really even know what they are saying, yet I can certainly sense the powerful emotion!  It was indeed  a sad goodbye.

Spring 2013, Globe Trotting and River Cruising.

Spring 2013, Globe Trotting and River Cruising.

Another Viking River Cruise Boat in Budapest, Hungary.

Another Viking River Cruise Boat in Budapest, Hungary.

If you love this song as much as I do you may also like to listen to the earlier version which is just below.

Lastly, we would both like to say a very big thank-you to the Viking Team for all of their dedicated care and mindful attention to detail. We absolutely loved this Grand European Tour. We can’t wait to travel with them again.

Day 14 – Budapest; Becoming acquainted with the Main Shopping Precinct.

09 Monday Dec 2013

Posted by in Amsterdam to Budapest, Budapest, Time flies when you're globe trotting and river cruising, Uncategorized

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A door studded with Swarovski Crystals in the main city area in Budapest, Hungary.

A door studded with Swarovski Crystals in the main city area in Budapest, Hungary.

Just after lunch on day 14 we excitedly joined our ever-obliging young tour guide, Valerie, for the very last info-walk of our Viking holiday. We were going to stroll through the main shopping precinct in Budapest, which is on the flat “Pest” bank of the Danube.

For D.B. and I this was going to be a rather important afternoon stroll, as we took in the various landmarks of the main commercial areas and hastily acquainted ourselves with the new city.

D.B. and I considered ourselves rather lucky, for we still had a further 5 full days ahead of us in which to explore this beautiful city of Budapest, before flying out towards the end of the week. These last two info tours on Day 14 (both the a.m. and p.m. tours) would later prove most beneficial in helping us to identify, and also prioritise, the important areas we would like to return to in the coming days.

Cafe in Budapest, Hungary.

Cafe in Budapest, Hungary.

We found the city streets were absolutely bustling. There were little cafes and souvenir shops selling many different traditional Hungarian products and handicrafts. There were many western chain hotels and charming little alfresco establishments. One of my favourite shops in Budapest was a smallish store that sold the most exquisite coloured-crystal glassware. Had I lived closer to Budapest I may well have been tempted to buy some of it. Well maybe just one piece…..as it was quite expensive.

As we explored the main street we saw several pretty young girls dressed in beautifully embroidered Hungarian folk costumes.

Pretty girl in traditional Hungarian costume in Budapest.

Pretty girl in traditional Hungarian costume in Budapest.

Another pretty girl in traditional dress, Budapest, Hungary.

Another pretty girl in traditional dress, Budapest, Hungary.

There were also several interesting street performers eking out a living by performing for tourists on Budapest’s streets. All of it of this was of course just wonderful to photograph.

One of the street performers was dressed in a fine silvery witch’s costume. In fact she was painted silver from head to toe and accompanied by a rather fine looking silver cat which also played a part. The witch was particularly intriguing, as she had meticulously refined her rather bewitching characterture. She could really be quite eerie…no make that quite scary to watch.

The silver witch, Budapest, Hungary

The silver witch, Budapest, Hungary

One young fellow was trying very hard to encourage his anxious girlfriend to have her photo taken with the wicked old witch but it all seemed more than the young girl could handle….she was just so absolutely terrified by this scary old witch’s persona and her sinister witching movements! The young girl would invariably take two or three steps towards the old witch and then run…obviously terrified back in the direction of her boyfriend. I myself even thought I could hear witch’s gleeful cackle as the young girl ran!

I’m still not sure whether they actually ended up getting that photo or not as our group was again moving on.  And you know…..by now this rather sweet but “not so young” Viking River Tourist wasn’t taking any chances of getting lost or even separated from her group again. For more on that story you might like to read my story on Lost in Regensberg!

A Modern Day Fairy Tale

A Modern Day Fairy Tale

She now always made sure she dutifully followed her Viking River Cruise tour guide! After all she’d already learnt her own scary lesson when she’d got lost in Regensberg just a few short info-walks ago!

Vase at Crystalacarte.com

Vase at Crystalacarte.com

Budapest city area, Hungary

Budapest city area, Hungary

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A Second Liebster Award: These are a Few of my Favourite Things!

04 Wednesday Dec 2013

Posted by in Liebster Award, Time flies when you're globe trotting and river cruising, Uncategorized, Viking River Cruise

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The Austrian Alps

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things

Cream colored ponies and crisp apple streudels
 Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings
These are a few of my favorite things

Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes
Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes
Silver white winters that melt into springs
These are a few of my favorite things

I’d like to send a very big thank you to Sweetness6645 over at The Chronicles of a Public Transit User’s  Blogsite for nominating my Memoirs for a Liebster Award. Please everyone, do go on over and visit her wonderful blog. She has interesting tales and wonderful Black and White photos. Her own Liebster Award page can be found at:

http://publictransituser.wordpress.com/2013/11/02/liebster-award/

So what is a Liebster Award you may well ask?

Basically, a Liebster Award is like a “favorite blog award”. It’s given to writers of other blogs that you enjoy reading or looking at.

Liebster is the German word for favorite, beloved, or dearest. It’s mainly meant for the smaller blogs with less than two hundred followers to help expose them to the world and help them discover other new and upcoming bloggers. You can find a lot of further information regarding the Liebster Awards by clicking here on Lorraine Reguly’s Life. Lorraine also has some wonderful stories on her blog.

Liebster Award

A Liebster Award

What are the Liebster Award Rules?

Just briefly, in order to formally accept this award, the nominee must do several things

  1. Link back and recognize the blogger who nominated them
  2. Answer ten questions given to them by their nominee
  3. Nominate ten or so other bloggers for the award.
  4. Create ten questions for their own 10 nominees to answer.
  5. Notify your new nominees for the award

 So here are my responses to the 10 sizzling questions that Sweetness6645 has asked me to answer:

1. Who is your favorite superhero? Cat Woman-now how does she squeeze into that amazing suit of hers? Somehow I don’t really think it would actually be in my best interests to even try! Seems to look pretty good on her though.

2. How long have you been blogging? About four and a half months now

3. What did you want to be when you grew up? An Air hostess – it looked glamorous and worldly!

4. What is your dream vacation? To Travel around the this magical world on a one way ticket and have at least 12 months to explore the many corners of the Earth. I’d love to live in Vienna for a few months on this journey.

5. What would your kids be surprised to know about you? hmmm, since I don’t have kids …

6. Do you think your handwriting reveals anything? That I’m always rushing…it can be rather messy a lot of the time unless I consciously remember to slow down.

7. Are you scared of anything?( i.e. heights, spiders) I don’t like spiders and snakes! Crocodiles aren’t my favourite creatures either.

8. Has there been a catalyst in your life that changed your game plan? Travelling on Viking…now I just want to travel all the time!

9. Star Wars or Star Trek? I’d have to say Doctor Who….not sure if you’re allowed to do that but ah well!

10. Is there anything simple that you can’t figure out? I can never remember how to add the widgets for these awards. I always have to go back and read the instructions again!

And here are my ten very challenge questions for all you LUCKY newly nominated bloggers I’ve just nominated! You’re all so amazing and I do so love your blogs: (I’m afraid I’ve made these questions nearly all travel related. I hope you don’t mind! (It sort of fits with my Memoirs travel theme!)

What is your favourite thing to do when you have time to yourself at home on holidays?

What is your favourite wild animal and what country is it native to?

Do you prefer to stay home, visit family or travel overseas when you holiday?

What was the absolute best family holiday you remember having as a child?

What’s the most outstanding holiday you’ve ever had as an adult?

Where did you go on your last holiday?

What activities/entertainment do you look for when you start planning for a holiday period (i.e. time at home, markets, beaches, sightseeing, cultural pursuits etc?

What are your two favourite overseas countries?

Where would you go if you had about $1000 to plan a holiday right now?

If you had a Fairy God Mother who could grant you the holiday of a life time….whatever you wanted to do, wherever you wanted to go, however much it cost…what do you think you would choose?

WELL NOW DRUM ROLL PLEASE!!

My new Nominees for the Liebster Award are:

Random Rose – http://randomrose.wordpress.com/2013/11/26/birds-and-carving/

Nena Rebel – http://nenarebelshop.wordpress.com/2013/11/21/yarn-bomb-mushrooms/

Bound 4 Escape – http://bound4escape.com/

The Transplanted Gardener – http://elenawil.wordpress.com/2013/11/30/exploring-the-world-of-fuchsias-2/

Beautiful Botanicals – http://maryzworld.wordpress.com/2013/12/03/december-caterpillar/

Today was a Fairy Tale- http://todaywasafairytalex.wordpress.com/category/travel/

Royal Hats – http://royalhats.wordpress.com/

RV John – https://rvjohn.wordpress.com/2013/12/02/when/

Wide Bay High Desert – http://widebayhighdesert.wordpress.com/

Bright Ideas for Writers – http://brunsamanda3.wordpress.com/

Dreams and Escapes – http://arlene1956.wordpress.com/

A very big congratulations to you all. 

Once again thanks to Sweetness6645 for my nomination.

Austrian Alps

Austrian Alps

Day 13 – Budapest; Like a Fairy Tale Kingdom after Dark

04 Wednesday Dec 2013

Posted by in Hungary, Sailing into Budapest, Time flies when you're globe trotting and river cruising, Uncategorized, Viking River Cruise

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Sailing into the Fairy Tale Kingdom of Budapest, Hungary.

Sailing into the Fairy Tale Kingdom of Budapest, Hungary.

Some six months have now passed since our first magical Viking River Cruise, yet it can still be a little difficult to determine whether Day 13 was actually the grandest or perhaps even the most dismal of days.

On the one hand we’d been relaxing, yes we’d actually been socialising and partying whilst sailing on towards what can only be described as the a most Spectacular Panorama…. “Budapest by Night”.

But on the other we were now beginning our sad farewells. We’d actually spent time today catching up with other guests to discuss their plans for post-cruise journeys and of course to wish them well as they made their way back home.

Day 13 was going to be our very last day of sailing along the mighty Danube. By tomorrow we would have just one more day of precious luxury to enjoy.

By early evening we would be dressing in our glittering finery….attending the Captain’s elegant Farewell Reception and Formal Dinner.

Amazingly D.B. and I had managed to spend some time during the early afternoon hours just lazing in the Viking Longship’s main lounge, enjoying the comforts and, at times. soaking up the gentle Spring Breeze out on the lovely alfresco Aquavit Terrace.

Later in the afternoon our Longship Tor had passed by the famous Danube Bend along with the notable Eszgertom Basilica which is said to be the largest catholic cathedral in Hungary.

Esztergom Catholic Cathedral on the Danube

Esztergom Catholic Cathedral on the Danube

Esztergom Cathedral from a different perspective.

Esztergom Cathedral from a different perspective.

We’d been cocktailed, we’d been champagned, we’d been wined and dined, and YES….all in a most convivial atmosphere right throughout the evening.

Many guests  were now starting to trade Email addresses and contact information with their new found friends.

But I will never forget…..it was some time shortly after 10.00pm that the real magic began to crescendo as Viking Tor started it’s culminating cruise into the sparkling city of Budapest.

I don’t think very many of us were actually expecting the level of fairy tale enchantment that was soon infusing the night’s atmosphere. We drank it all in….the sparkling architectural wonder. There was the stately parliament building, there were so many historical bridges, there was an ABSOLUTELY GLISTENING display of city lights, and a very romantic…… almost magical castle. There were many beautiful old buildings lining the banks of the Danube. They all seemed to add their own aura to the breathtaking vista of this evening. Yes Budapest was just like a fairy tale kingdom after dark.

Parliament throught one of the Bridges. Budapest, Hungary.

Parliament and one of the Bridges. Budapest, Hungary.

An Architectural Wonder, Parliament House, Budapest, Hungary.

An Architectural Wonder, Parliament House, Budapest, Hungary.

More of Parliment House, Budapest, Hungary.

More of Parliment House, Budapest, Hungary.

The Castle, Budapest, Hungary.

The Castle, Budapest, Hungary.

One more shot of the Castle, Budapest, Hungary.

One more shot of the Castle, Budapest, Hungary.

Stateroom, Day 13, a small visitor, Budapest, Hungary.

Stateroom, Day 13, a small visitor, Budapest, Hungary.

The Chain Bridge, Budapest, Hungary.

The Chain Bridge, Budapest, Hungary.

It was all a most amazing and satisfying climax to our truly remarkable cruise.

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