SAYING GOODBYE

Last night we said our farewells to our travelling companions, with everyone leaving Prague. Some are heading to Paris, others to Berlin and London, and about half of us are calling it the end of a fabulous adventure. We all gathered in Rick and Karen's suite, they so graciously dared to hosts all 14 of us. They put on a great happy hour before we headed to a fabulous restaurant, Heretova Cihelna, just over the gorgeous Charles bridge. The meal was fabulous, the view extraordinary, and the company superb. Can't think of a better way to cap off this amazing vacation.

CREEPY COOL....THE BONE CHURCH OF KUTNA HORA

On Tuesday, we took an hour drive through the Czech countryside into central Bohemia, to a small town, Kutna Hora. The drive was pretty, and reminded us of the interior of B.C. The town has been mining silver for over 1000 years. The big attraction for us was the Sedlec Ossuary, a small Roman Catholic chapel better known as The Bone Church. After the Black Plague swept through the area in the mid 14th century, the cemetery had grown so large that the town needed some of the space back. They dug up over 40,000 bodies and and a half blind monk was told to stack the bones in the church. In the late 1800's a woodcarver was hired to " put the bones in order". The chandelier is made using every single bone found in the human body. The results are quite amazing.

PRAGUE

We disembarked from our ship, the Viking Var, yesterday, May 26, and took the train through Hungary and Slovakia into the Czech Republic and the beautiful city of Prague. Our hotel is located in Wenceslas Square, named after the king in the Christmas Carol. By the time we were settled in our room, it was dinner time, so we headed out for a stroll. We walked to the Astronomical Clock, about 10 minutes from our hotel. The clock was installed in 1410, and is beautiful to look at, but a bit difficult to tell time by. The four figures flanking the clock are set in motion at the hour, these represent four things that were despised at the time of the clock's making. the first is Vanity, represented by a figure admiring himself in a mirror. Next, the miser holding a bag of gold represents greed. Across the clock stands Death, a skeleton that strikes the time upon the hour. Finally, the Turk tells of pleasure and entertainment.

This morning we joined the gang for an amazing 3 hour Tour of the city, on segways. These are so much fun, and a great way to get around. There were 14 of us which made the experience even better. We visited the Prague Castle, the largest castle in the world, and also has some of the most amazing views of the city. We also visited David Cerny's sculpture...Pissing Men.....very interesting. We stopped at the "John Lennon" wall. This memorial was started the day after he was shot. The people painted pictures and messages of sympathy, and the next day the Communist government painted over it. The following day, the people again painted their messages to John Lennon, and again the government painted over it. Finally, someone realized that the wall was part of the Malta embassy, and so they applied to the government of Malta for permission to paint their tribute wall, and permission was granted. It has been here ever since.....someone else said the wall is owned by the Knights of Malta?? Regardless, the wall remains.
We walked the Charles bridge across the Vltava river. It is a beautiful pedestrian bridge that was constructed from 1357 until the early 15th century. There are 30 statues decorating it. Jane and the gang are staying in a gorgeous historic building just down the street from the bridge.
This afternoon, Tom and I wandered in and out of narrow cobblestone streets, admiring the old buildings, and window shopping. There is a lot of Bohemian crystal for sale here.
We have found an amazing food market, just down the street that has all sorts of barbecues and hot food. We sampled the grilled cheese sandwich, which is huge hunks of cheese cooked right on the grill over hot coals, then plopped onto a small piece of delicious bread....very tasty. They also make a traditional Czech sweet, a Trdlo...I can't pronounce it either, but it is dough that is strung onto a long wooden dowel, and grilled over hot coals, then coated in sugar, and what looks like almonds, might be trying that later.
We have one more day here, before heading home. We will be joining our travel buddies for a farewell dinner tomorrow night.....stay tuned

EXPLORING BUDAPEST

This morning we headed out to explore Budapest. We opted for the "up close and personal" tour, instead of getting on another bus. We were very glad we did. We are docked right beside the Chain bridge, so our tour started by walking over it into Buda. This gave us great views of Buda and Pest. We took the funicular up the hill to the Presidential offices, and got there just in time to see the changing of the guard. We toured the oldest part of the city before heading, by bus back across the bridge into Pest and walked through the shopping district into the Great Market Hall. This was an amazing multi level market with everything from paprika to sausage to linens and china and everything in between. It was very busy and appeared to be the place that all the locals go for lunch. On the way home we walked past our ship and headed a few minutes down the river to the Memorial dedicated to the victims in 1944-45 who were shot into the Danube. It was very moving.
We spent the remainder of the afternoon packing as we are leaving our ship early tomorrow to make our way to Prague......stay stunned

BRATISLAVA, SLOVAKIA

We toured the city of Bratislava this morning. It was very different from the other cities we have visited in that it is very obviously poorer than the other cities we have seen on this trip. It is evident that the people in Slovakia are struggling, but there is beauty here as well. We were only here for the morning, and shipped off at noon, scheduled to arrive in Budapest after our Captains Dinner....stay tuned

BEAUTIFUL! BEAUTIFUL BUDAPEST

We sailed into Budapest tonight under a full moon and I can honestly say I have never seen anything more beautiful. The bridges and buildings were all lit up and the sight was something I hope to remember all of my life. We are so looking forward to touring the city tomorrow.....stay tuned

VIENNA

Spent an incredible day exploring Vienna, the capital of Austria. We had a short tour this morning, viewing the riding school and stables of the Lipizzan Stallions. We also toured around the Ringstrasse, lined with palaces and summer grand residences. We visited the medieval inner city and saw St. Stephan's Cathedral ( built between 1263-1511).We sat in one of the oldest coffee houses and sampled the Viennese Sachertorte and fabulous coffee, all the time just soaking in the experience. We walked through a great shopping district, a beautiful park, and decided to walk back to the ship instead of taking the subway. On our way to the ship, we happened upon the Riesenrad...the historical Ferris Wheel originally built in the late 1890's. As Jane said, " when in Rome....." So we paid our 9 euro's and went for a ride. It is different than any other ferris wheel I have been on....not scary, nice and slow, and they had cars that take 12-15 people at a time. They also have cars decked out with dining tables and you can reserve for private parties. We had a great ride, and fabulous views of this beautiful city. Lots of trees, we were told 51% green.
This is a gorgeous city, with lots of horse drawn carriages clip clopping along the streets.
We returned to the ship for dinner and an early night. We leave Austria early tomorrow morning, spend the morning in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia and then sail into Hungary for our fall two days on board......stay tuned

MILK AND CREAM...OR AS THEY SAY IN AUSTRIA, MELK AND KREMS

This morning, after going through more locks, we docked n Melk, Austria. We toured the 900 year old baroque Melk Abbey, perched on a high cliff above the Danube. This is a massive abbey that has 30 monks. It is also used as a school. We toured the beautiful imperial rooms, which are now a museum showling the history of the abbey. It was rebuilt in the 18th century after a fire. The painted spiral staircase is amazing and the gardens were beautiful. Both Tom and I could feel the peacefulness as we walked the gardens, listening to the birds, and smelling the lilacs and wisteria in all their glory. This was one of the highlights for me.
After a traditional Austrian lunch of Bratwurst on the barbecue, Vienna sausage, European wieners, and just about any kind of sausage you think might be found here, we headed back down the Danube. The next 2 hours were absolutely breathtaking as we sailed through the Wachau Valley, the heart of Austria's wine country. We passed castle after castle, vineyards and stunning green hills, all while sipping complimentary apricot wine spritzers. The sun was shining and it just could not have been any better. So very grateful. We are now docked in Krems until midnight, when we leave for Vienna.....stay tuned
P.s. the last picture is the ruins of the castle Durnstein, where Richard the Lionheart was imprisoned.