Some last minute packing sustenance.
Quick bon Voyage drinks in Club MCO
No entries have been mapped yet.
Share Danube River Cruise 2019
OR
Copy the link to @flrealtorgrl Journo below
Dec 13 2019
Relaxing in the lounge after showers and sleep thanks to the day rate at the Aerotel in the airport. Next stop, Budapest!
Reunited!! ❤️
Proper bacon roll with brown sauce! 😋
Share Danube River Cruise 2019
OR
Copy the link to @flrealtorgrl Journo below
Dec 14 2019
We checked into our hotel on the Danube and grabbed some late dinner. The next day was a 6 hour sightseeing tour. We saw some incredible sites and enjoyed fantastic views while learning about the history of Budapest. It was so sad to hear of how many beautiful irreplaceable things were lost during WWII and throughout the communist regime. The night ended with an amazing dinner of traditional Hungarian food. The walk to the restaurant was only 10 minutes and we walked through the Christmas market and saw some beautiful holiday displays.
Dinner in our hotel the first night.
Burrata salad
Asian platter
View from the M Club lounge at our hotel.
M Club breakfast spread.
Beautiful building with natural hot spring swimming pools and spas on the Buda side.
Floor at spa.
Lobby at spa.
☮️ statue
Liberty Bridge
View from the top where the citadel is and the peace statue.
St. Matthias Church
Beautiful and colorful architecture.
Incredible al frescoes.
Mason symbol
Coronation chairs
Queen Elizabeth of Hungary (lovingly called Sisi by her people.
Love the Nordic touches.
Beautiful room of roses
House of Parliament in Pest from the Buda side.
Ruins bar in the Jewish quarter. Very cool place.
We tried all 4, mine was the winner—the Tanqueray 10.
We each had one of the four types of signature gin & tonics.
Beef goulash soup.
Chicken paprikas with galuska.
Chicken paprikas with the most incredible mashed potatoes ever!
I love how all restaurants and businesses are decked out.
Such cool bathrooms. 😂
They had a museum in the first floor of the restaurant.
More 🐄 🔔
The castle at night.
I love the Nordic Christmas decor.
Share Danube River Cruise 2019
OR
Copy the link to @flrealtorgrl Journo below
Dec 17 2019
On the morning of the 15th we met our Adventure Guides from Adventures by Disney and dropped our luggage with them before heading out for a few more hours of sightseeing in Budapest. We toured the Dohány Street Synagogue and then grabbed a quick snack and cocktails at Nobu.
We boarded the bus that took us to our home for the next 7 nights, the riverboat the Ama Viola. They had a welcome reception for us when we boarded. We had a great dinner that night and then had our food walking tour of Budapest planned for the next morning.
The boat stayed docked in Budapest for the night. Before our walking food tour of the city, Andrea and I decided to get up at 5 am so we could visit the famous Budapest thermal baths “Szechenyi Spa” that open at 6 am in order to be back in time for our tour. After figuring out how to get off of our boat and to the dock by scaling the top of another boat, we figured out how to use Bolt (their version of Uber but it sends a taxi to you rather than a personal car) and made it to the spa. We enjoyed our time in the thermal pool and mineral baths outside in the pre-dawn darkness. We got our Bolt back to the pier and made it in plenty of time for our walking food tour of Budapest. The tour took us to the large food hall where we found out the basic diet of Budapest is meat and fried foods. 😂 We sampled something foods there then walked to a restaurant to sample some common foods from Budapest along with wine—most of us unfortunately didn’t care for the food or wine sadly. They did have some lovely musicians performing however. We then took a tram with the tour to a restaurant where we had goulash and watched them make apple and cheese strudel which we enjoyed after they baked. The tour ended near the Budapest Christmas market where we purchased a few things and then made our way back to our boat to get ready for dinner at the Chef’s Table.
Today we had a relaxing day as we traveled upstream to Vienna. We got to experience the boat going through a lock to be raised up to the next section of water. We watched from the front of the deck and it was pretty incredible. Tonight ended with a quick visit to one of the Christmas markets of Vienna.
Such a beautifully designed synagogue.
Weeping Willow sculpture at the synagogue.
Such a beautifully designed synagogue.
Local delicacy, chimney cake. It’s like a cone made out of a churro with a variety of fillings to choose from.
Here we go!
The most amazing views of Budapest at night.
The bath that Andrea and I visited.
Bridge designed by Eiffel.
The indoor food market.
We had a sample of this, whew!!
Nope, didn’t like most of it!
Where we had the strudels.
Best tour guide.
Mimosas on the Danube.
Abandoned castle that stands where the iron wall once was until not so many years ago.
Beautiful symbolic iron ❤️ sculpture.
Our boat going through the lock.
Look at that high water we are rising up to meet.
Nighttime arrival in Vienna.
Vienna Christmas market.
I had some fantastic punch with Apple schnapps and Lillet.
The guides and crew sang us holiday songs.
Share Danube River Cruise 2019
OR
Copy the link to @flrealtorgrl Journo below
Dec 19 2019
After a night of a few shots with Santa (the bartender from our ship) we journeyed out the next morning in Vienna to Schönbrunn Palace for a marionette show (they’ve been doing them there since the 18th century). Then we toured the palace but sadly they don’t allow pictures. We had a few minutes in the Christmas market and then we walked through the Spanish riding school to get to the shopping district and enjoyed walking around the area. In the evening Chase, Dad, and I went to a wine house while Andy and Andrea went to a classical concert at the palace.
Today we arrived in Dürnstein and took a tour of the village. Andy was the brave one who took the steep hike to the top of the hill to see the castle ruins.
This evening we took a tour of the Melk Abbey and cathedral, it was amazing and gilded everywhere but unfortunately again we were not allowed to take pictures.
One of our favorite adventure guides, Byron.
Schönbrunn Palace
Caipirinha Punsch
They serve the punsch in collectible mugs, if you decide you don’t want them you can return them and get part of your deposit back.
Maria Therese Plaza
We learned that the horse’s legs on a statue tells you how the person died. If the horse’s legs are on the ground they died of natural causes, if two are raised they died in battle, if one is raised they died from wounds from battle.
Share Danube River Cruise 2019
OR
Copy the link to @flrealtorgrl Journo below
Dec 22 2019
On the morning of our day in Saltzburg we received treats in our shoes from Sinterklaas. We each received either a St. Nicholas or a Krampus apparently depending on our behavior. Chase, Andrea, and I received the Krampus.
We headed off on a bus to the town of Mondsee and saw the church where the wedding in the Sound of Music was filmed and Moon Lake which was from the opening shots.
We then headed to Saltzburg, Austria and had an incredible lunch at a locals restaurant we found ourselves. It was amazing. After the meal we explored the town and it’s Christmas markets.
The lounge area of our boat.
The town of Linz.
The church from the Sound of Music.
Share Danube River Cruise 2019
OR
Copy the link to @flrealtorgrl Journo below
Share Danube River Cruise 2019
OR
Copy the link to @flrealtorgrl Journo below
