Xmas 2021

They say all good things must come to and end, and this is no exception. It’s time to head back home. We wake early and catch a cab from the hotel to the airport to begin what will be a 20 hour travel day. We have 2 Swiss airline flights today. The 1st one is […]

Today is our last full day in Budapest and we spent the morning awaiting the results of our COVID test. During the last 2 weeks of this trip we have been tested for COVID no less then 13 times (all negative) as we traveled from the US and through Europe. We have also had to […]

Today, Sunday, is the 2nd day of Christmas in Budapest. In most of Europe this would be St. Stephan’s Day, but in Hungary they celebrate St Stephan’s Day on August 20th, so today is officially the 2nd day of Christmas. We celebrated with a walk along the Danube to the shoes memorial, a visit to […]

What better way to unwind from a wonderful Christmas day then with a visit to one of the many thermal baths Budapest is famous for? For this evening we had tickets to one of the most popular baths in the are, the Széchenyi Thermal Bath and Spa. A quick bus ride from the ship, a […]

Christmas had arrived! and what better place to spend this day together then in the magical city of Budapest? The ship docked early in the morning on the Pest side of the Danube, just across from Castle Hill on the Buda side of the river. We spent the morning getting oriented on a city bus […]

What to do in Vienna, Austria, on Christmas Eve? While all of the locals are celebrating Christmas today (as is tradition in Europe), we went went for a nice 18 mile bike ride along the Danube River, the Old Danube Canal and the New Danube Canal. We rode from the ship, following various excellent bike […]

We FINALLY have an open Christmas Market! While there were some Cultural Market celebrations open in Prague, this is our first “official” European Christmas Market visit on this trip. In total we visited 3 markets in Vienna, We went first to the large market at Rathausplatz, and then 2 smaller markets, Karlsplatz and Stephansplatz, both […]

We docked in old town Vienna on this very cold Thursday morning. As we had posted before, our ability to do this cruise was in question due to the COVID lockdowns implemented in the various cities along our planned route. Vienna came out of lockdown about 3 days before our planned departure and we are […]

There are 19 major commercial locks along the course the Danube that allow shipping traffic to safely maneuver up and down the natural elevation changes of the river basin. From our start in Regensburg, Germany to our end in Budapest, Hungary we will traverse 16 of them. This trip sees us mostly cruising during the […]

The sun rose on December 22, 2021 to find us still cruising down the Danube through the rolling hills of the Wachau Valley. This Austrian region is famous for it’s wine vineyards (dormant this time of year), small quaint villages and hilltop fortresses. We bundled up against the 20 degree Fahrenheit chill, sat on our […]

After leaving Regensburg Germany last night, we traveled down the Danube to the City of Passau where the Danube, Ilz, and Inn rivers meet. It was a VERY chilly morning as we disembarked for our walking tour around the cobblestoned old town with it’s historic baroque architecture. We walked through the narrow alleyways from river […]

This morning we left the ship for a guided stroll around the medieval center of Regensburg Germany. The city is situated on the Danube and it’s historic center was in easy walking distance from our dock. The city was beautiful but deserted at this time of morning. We meandered through the streets ending up at […]

Today we drove from Prague, Czech Republic to Regensburg, Germany. The drive took us just over 3.5 hours, including a short stop right before the German border crossing. Once in Regensburg, we proceeded to the dock where we boarded our home for the next week, the Viking Riverboat, Jarl. This will be the first time […]

As we noted in our earlier posts, we’ve spent the day walking around Prague and in that journey we have come across many beautiful Christmas Trees. They deserve their own post.

After a brief respite at the hotel we went back out in search of Christmas Spirit. We strolled back across the river and found the old town square bustling with light and life. Locals and tourists, young and old, couples and families were out happily enjoying the brisk night air, the food stands of hot […]

‘This morning we left our hotel in Lesser Town Prague for an early morning private walking tour of Old Prague. We explored the city with the the help of our awesome local guide who showed us around the various “must see” sites of the area. The 3 of us spent about 4 hours traversing the […]

The day has arrived! After many months of planning, waiting, cancelations, re-bookings, changes, COVID testing and more changes, we are finally off to Europe in search of the elusive 2021 Christmas Markets! This morning we made the drive to San Francisco Airport were we boarded the upper deck of a Lufthansa 747-8 for the to […]