Viking Mimir Grand European Tour 7-1-22; "Live"

[StartrainDD]

Monday, July 11, The Wachau Valley, Austria

 

We woke at about 6:40 and I obtained tea and coffee. We met our friends for breakfast at about 7:40 and enjoyed the time in the dining room as the Eistla docked in Melk. We are on 'group C' for the Melk Abbey tour at 9:15.

 

About 9:00 we left the ship and walked down to the bus parking area. We connected our quiet vox receivers to the “C” channel and had a short bus ride to the Abbey. We waited for our guide while enjoying the courtyard. I especially liked the statue of St. Coloman, carved out of solid oak over 150 years ago. We toured through the Abbey's public areas but no photography was allowed inside. Someone tried to 'sneak' a photo in the church and someone else yelled “No photographs!” After arriving back on the Eistla, I found there are publicly available interior photos on several websites.

 

Along with quite a few others, we decided to walk back to the ship through the delightful town of Melk. Melk is a small town but it has everything anyone would need. We saw several ice cream shops, a number of cafes and restaurants, a small department store, and a few hotels. Every time I see the word “Zimmer” I think of the original Pink Panther movie, but that is off-topic! By looking carefully at the map I found for where the Eistla was docked there was a gravel pathway that saved us 10 minutes of walking, and we were back on the ship at 11:35.

 

I went directly to the Aquavit and grabbed the last large table for lunch with friends. We actually grew the table to five folks today. Lunch was very nice and we really enjoy the serving team in the Aquavit. Plenty of wine, soda, and cider was served along with a nice lunch. The grilled item today was lamb and that made DW very happy.

 

We just stayed in the aquavit for the scenic sailing down the Wachau valley. The entire valley is a UNESCO world heritage site for the two abbeys, the grape cultivation, and the scenery which is unspoiled and very pretty. There are a few castles along the way as well. At one point when the river turned and the Eistla headed straight into the wind all the doors were closed. We moved into the lounge at that time. The very end of the trip was really nice and all too soon we docked in Krems. During the last part of the transit, at 3:30 there was an Austrian tea offered along with a demonstration of the making of Apple Strudel. This was fun and of course everyone was offered a slice of strudel.

 

Viking provided a complimentary shuttle bus to the 'old town' of Krems. We hopped on the first bus, walked the main pedestrian street, and had a nice outing. Krems is nowhere near as old as the other places we've been to. Shopping seemed robust, with lots of cafes and ice cream places available. The main gate to Krems was certainly worth a photo. DW's knee was hurting just a bit so we returned to the bus stop for the first shuttle back to the ship.

 

Back on board we relaxed a little and then went up to get the last inside table at the Aquavit for dinner. Our friends joined us. We listened to the port talk on Vienna, our next stop, and enjoyed dinner. There was a huge crowd outdoors at the Aquavit in addition to the all full inside tables. The matire de was helping out the Aquavit waiters as were the bar staff. Still, we were done with dinner by 8:35, much faster than dinner in the dining room.

 

For entertainment this evening two dancers from Viennese opera houses came on board to demonstrate the history of the Viennese Waltz and then attempted to teach the basic step to any willing participants. They were very talented and the demonstration was appreciated. After this we called it a night as we have a very full day planned for the first day in Vienna.

[notamermaid]

23 hours ago, CastleCritic said:

Melk Abbey is a really really neat place...note however this is also a place where. you arent supposed to take pictures...they want you to buy them from the gift shop.

Oops... I took several photos. I seem to remember you were not supposed to photograph the displays in the library, so I did the floor. Do not recall about the other rooms. There was an exhibition and I think I took the photos in there. And in the courtyard.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[ural guy]

2 hours ago, CastleCritic said:

Amawaterways has them...kindof. there is a couch and a few chairs either before or aft of the wheel house on a lower level than the proper sun deck but its not as large as the one shown there on the 135M ships its in front, on the 110m France ships the couch is behind and there is a smaller area in front with a few tables.  Cant say for the Douro ships, haven't been on one yet 🙂

 

this is an odd picture of this ship taken before it was completed fitting out, but except right around the radar mast (which lowers you can kind of see the round "cage" they have blocking off its space) all that space in front of the wheel house stays open when the sun deck closes

 

and I shot I took in that area kind of showing why (thats the raised gate of a lock...though this one wasnt low enough to close the sun deck)

 

 

 

Thanks!  especially for the reminder of the faux plank deck carpet.  I guess a lot of lines use this!

[StartrainDD]

Tuesday, July 12 – Vienna, Austria (day 1)

 

We set the alarm for 6:00 to make sure we would be ready for the 8:45 departure of the included Vienna overview tour. We did our normal morning routine, and left the Eistla about 8:35 to board the bus. Due to construction projects it took the bus a while to get into the downtown area and we were dropped off on the inside ring road at the Natural History and Art Museums. From there the tour became a walking tour.

 

We walked past and through part of the Schonbrunn palace. I will say that we found this guide the weakest of the guides on this trip. He went down tangents and we ended up standing in the palace courtyard for a very long time talking about history. Then just outside the palace he went on for a very long time about beer, and how if you want to order a beer in Austria you order it by the place it was brewed. We finally moved on down Karntner Strafe past all the very high end designer stores. We were there at 10:00 when all the delivery trucks were still making deliveries (they are permitted until 10:30) in this pedestrian area.

 

We reached St. Stephens cathedral at 10:30 and we had one hour of free time. We were ready to sit a while so we found a coffeehouse and enjoyed some beverages and a slice of Apple Strudel. Afterwards we checked out a for shops but made no purchases. We walked completely around the cathedral and by then it was time to get back to meet the guide. He led us to the bus pick up point (not the same spot we were dropped off) and we headed back to the Eistla for lunch.

 

Arriving back at the Eistla we were surprised to find the Mimir was docked next to us! That was the ship we were supposed to be on. The Mimir is all repaired and will be following us to Budapest, where the crew will rejoin her and the next cruise will take place on the Mimir (at least the first part will...) While we were out the Viking ships also played musical chairs as they need to take turns being the “Outside ship” so they can get fuel from the fuel barge.

 

We enjoyed lunch on the Aquavit and then DW and I took off on our own to the subway station. Since we are docked in “Space 1” it is a little over a KM walk to the station. We purchased 24 hour passes from the ticket machine and validated them, then boarded the Red line and took it down to Karlsplatz station. There we activated the Rick Steve's AP on our phones and began Rick's audio tour of the ringstrasse and the sites along it.

 

We enjoyed the tour (which took about an hour) and then began Rick's audio walking tour of the old city, starting at the Opera House. We took the tour as far as St. Stephens as the stops after that were covered in the morning walk. We went into St. Stephens but did not take the time for the audio tour. To be honest, at this point we are rather “Cathedraled out” because at every single stop on this cruise a major church or cathedral is one of the main points of interest. I find the other buildings, parks, and scenic areas to be of more interest.

 

Upon returning back the hotel manager asked if we had a nice day. He knew I was not happy with being left on the dock the five times earlier in the trip. So we did have a pleasant conversation and I asked about the 'leapfrogging,' specifically if it occurs in both directions. He said that yes, it happens about as much in each direction. I also asked about their docking spots. He said that many of the spots are owned by Viking. In some cases, the docking spots are controlled by local authorities and then they pay docking fees like ocean vessels. He did specifically say that the last incident when the other cruise line's boat was docked at Viking's owned dock they did not have permission to use the dock and that 'management' was in communication with the other company. Apparently because the Danube is somewhat low the other company could not use their dock as the water there was too shallow. That still doesn't excuse them not moving to let the dock's owner's board their guests.

 

We boarded the red line back to near where the Eistla was docked and returned to the ship a little before 5:00. We enjoyed a chance to just relax. There are two 'seatings' for dinner tonight for the folks who are going to the Mozart and Schubert concert in the evening. We listened to Api in the lounge and at about 6:45 found a table ready for the normal dinner seating in the Aquavit. Our friends joined us and we had a nice meal, in fact, there was not much left on anyone's plate this evening.

 

After the meal the executive chef was making the rounds and when we told him we intended to visit the large Vienna farmer's market in the morning he was quite excited. He told us of a few things to look for and also said if we wanted to buy anything that needed to be sealed for transport he could help with that.

 

We called it a night at that point. There is a 10:00 late night snack planned of Goulash soup in the Aquavit open to anyone but intended for those on the concert outing.

[ural guy]

Funny that they still do the soup after concert.  It was pretty good.

[CastleCritic]

Im reasonably sure you didnt go to Schonbrunn its a bit further out of town (picture below from above schonbrunn looking back to town, you can see the cathedral).  Hofburg maybe walking from the loop area.

 

Schonbrunn is a good palace but per previous conversations...judging from my lack of interior pictures..probably doesn't allow internal photography,

 

Vienna is definitely a neat town.

 

I do have to take note of  one of your comments, on my fall trip last year my ship (an amawaterways ship) was docked in speyer at one of the docks with viking livery with a sign saying it was owned by viking tech gmbh.  As we left a viking ship arrived and headed to a further dock, I figured some of the passengers might have been less than pleased...it was raining that day and thats a walk to town port.  I have to imagine that time it was agreed upon.  I can say for sure viking ALMOST ALWAYS has a better docking place than anyone else.  Ive been bused to places where viking ships were docked (also have been rafted to viking ships at least 3 times).

 

 

 

Edited July 12, 2022 by CastleCritic

[Canal archive]

Castlecritic how spooky I’ve stood in exactly the same place but my pic is on film I must get round to more scanning. Im completely with you about Viking mooring but there are so very many of them so more chance of bumps and scrappes. 

[CastleCritic]

6 minutes ago, Canal archive said:

Castlecritic how spooky I’ve stood in exactly the same place but my pic is on film I must get round to more scanning. Im completely with you about Viking mooring but there are so very many of them so more chance of bumps and scrappes. 

That picture and moreso the ones in Budapest the next day (?) make me angry how bad my night photography abilities are. Those pictures just dont come out well.

 

If you've ever seen Budapest at night...you'll understand.

 

Funny story about that picture, they had given us X time to be back at the bus (down all that land around the other side out the front, across the street, big parking lot (because Schonbrunn is a huge draw) .

I walked as fast as I could the whole way. I heard the doors on the bus close and the bus go into gear as I was walking to my seat...I made it back with seconds to spare....and I'd do it again.

 

Viking is pretty dominant.  it was notable on my Main trip last year how RARELY we saw them or their groups....usually you see those numbered red lollipops everywhere you look in a port.

 

(ok this one...quite good)

 

 

Edited July 12, 2022 by CastleCritic

[StartrainDD]

7 hours ago, CastleCritic said:

Im reasonably sure you didnt go to Schonbrunn its a bit further out of town (picture below from above schonbrunn looking back to town, you can see the cathedral).  Hofburg maybe walking from the loop area.

 

I do have to take note of  one of your comments, on my fall trip last year my ship (an amawaterways ship) was docked in speyer at one of the docks with viking livery with a sign saying it was owned by viking tech gmbh.  As we left a viking ship arrived and headed to a further dock, I figured some of the passengers might have been less than pleased...it was raining that day and thats a walk to town port.  I have to imagine that time it was agreed upon.  I can say for sure viking ALMOST ALWAYS has a better docking place than anyone else.  Ive been bused to places where viking ships were docked (also have been rafted to viking ships at least 3 times).

Thank you, you are correct.  I get my palaces mixed up!  Hofburg is what we walked 'through.'  It is now broken up into many different uses.

 

As to docks, in Vienna, we are in spot #1.  That sounds good but it is actually the furthest from the U-Bann station.  In some places we have had good spots.

[Canal archive]

Castlecritic super atmospheric picture, your right that eternal search for the picture of all pictures. This one is during the Budapest evening cruise.

 

 

StartrainDD thank you for your insightful trip reviews it’s also so special to meet up with like minded cruisers on board. It doesn’t happen every trip but when it does it’s just that bit extra special.
 

[CastleCritic]

7 hours ago, StartrainDD said:

Thank you, you are correct.  I get my palaces mixed up!  Hofburg is what we walked 'through.'  It is now broken up into many different uses.

 

As to docks, in Vienna, we are in spot #1.  That sounds good but it is actually the furthest from the U-Bann station.  In some places we have had good spots.

all good, if you asked me the name of any of the various cathedrals/churches or even most of  the castles Ive seen I probably couldn't tell you 🙂 at the end of a trip like that it becomes ABC "another bloody church."  Just in case, I wasnt trying to be pedantic, Schonbrunn is one of the major sightseeing  draws, if you really wanted to see it I wanted to point that out while you still had time to get over there.

 

And yep I remember where that u-bahn station is and how spread out the docks are thats a walk for everyone but more so if you're at the end.

 

Glad you seem to be having fun and even more fun now that the port days are longer.

Edited July 13, 2022 by CastleCritic

[StartrainDD]

Here are a few photos of one of our lock passages.  This one surprised me as the lock gate sank into the water to go under the ship as we passed.  This lock was between Bamberg & Nuremburg.

[StartrainDD]

Oddly enough, in port with us today is the Viking Skadi, on which we sailed the "Tulips & Windmills" in 2013.  She was brand new back then.  I think we were on her third ever cruise.

Edited July 13, 2022 by StartrainDD

[StartrainDD]

A few photos from the WW2 history tour in Nuremburg.  Zeppelin field in 1940 versus today.

 

[StartrainDD]

Wednesday, July 13; Vienna day 2

 

Vienna is the only spot we are staying for two days during this trip. Last night the hotel manager said “If you like Vienna, you will love Budapest.” It's a shame we only have one day in Budapest followed by a (very) early departure the following morning.

 

We woke a little before 7:00 and enjoyed our typical morning routine. We met our friends for breakfast and then headed back into Vienna with our destination being the large market. We rode the very busy (crowded) U-Bahn to the Karlsplatz station. From there it was just a couple of blocks and we were at the beginning (or end) or the market. Many of the vendors were still setting up for the day as we began touring, but any that were not ready for us we would see on the way back.

 

We did come across a wine shop selling only local Austrian wines. DW told the proprietor what she liked and he offered a taste. It's only 9:30 but we are on vacation, right? She really liked it so we bought a bottle to enjoy later in the afternoon. I also bought a soda and we were invited to sit at one of the tables so I wouldn't have to carry the bottle with me. We also came across a vendor with some unique, nut-filled dates. We bought some of those and some macadamia nuts to enjoy with the wine during our sail away from Vienna.

 

We enjoyed a coffee and tea from one of the vendors and I really like the Vienna “Pots of tea in a cup.” We just have no need for any additional tea mugs or pots in our cabinets or I would have bought a few. After this we headed back to the Karlsplatz station to catch the U-Bahn. We wanted to go to Millennium City and the tower before headed back to the ship. Google maps told us how to do it by U-Bahn and train, but when we got to the train station the names did not match. So we ended up returning to the U-Bahn and getting back to the Eistla for lunch on the very popular Aquavit.

 

After lunch we decided to talk to Millennium City. It ended up being about a mile and a quarter each way. I could not get the tower's website to translate and it talked about views of the city so we thought there was an observation deck. That ended up being inaccurate so we had no chance for overview shots of Vienna. We did walk the mall, checked out a few shops, bought some waters, and then headed back. As we relaxed on a park bench on the walk back we met our friends also walking back from Millennium City. We then finished the rest of the walk with them.

 

It was now nearly 4:00 so we relaxed and got ready for the evening. We arranged to meet our friends at 5:00 in the Aquavit for wine and snacks (from the market) and we would just stay there until dinner. We have never seen the lounge so busy at 5:00. The lone bartender was soon joined by co-workers. It seemed everyone wanted to be out and about for the sail away. Perhaps 30 minutes after leaving dock we came into a large lock and I took some photos. Four river ships fit into the lock together.

 

At 6:30 the program manager gave a brief talk on our day in Budapest and then a longer talk on disembarkation. Mich to our surprise when we received our documents later in the evening our transfer is 4:30 AM on Friday, so we get an hour more rest than we expected. Even though every table in the Aquavit and the outdoor bow was occupied, dinner was finished with dessert at about 8:35. Later in the evening someone in the dining room mentioned their dinner didn't finish until 9:00.

 

Our program director grew up in Bulgaria and offered a talk at 9:00 “Growing up behind the iron curtain.” I stayed for 45 minutes and appreciated the information he shared. After that I called it a night.

[rizello]

StartrainDD:  would love to know the name of the wine shop that you found in Vienna.  We are always on the lookout for wine shops/wine bars where I can taste local wines.

[CastleCritic]

The Eastern European guides and experts definitely have some experiences that are Worrh listening to. Between the Budapest guide who grew up in Soviet times to the Prague guide who was my age who took part in the demonstrations that ended communism to the much younger Serbian cruise director who had grown up during the milosevich era. Very different stories than those of us in the west. 

[Canal archive]

Castlecritic I couldn’t agree more.

[GTarrant]

I have really enjoyed your summaries; we were on the Vali, which did the same tour but left one day earlier, and so it was fun reading "What we did, a day later" and seeing how the experiences matched up.

 

Get home safely!

[CPT Trips]

2 hours ago, CastleCritic said:

The Eastern European guides and experts definitely have some experiences that are Worrh listening to. Between the Budapest guide who grew up in Soviet times to the Prague guide who was my age who took part in the demonstrations that ended communism to the much younger Serbian cruise director who had grown up during the milosevich era. Very different stories than those of us in the west. 

Absolutely! We had the privilege of talking with a father and son about their shared experiences during Prague Spring and The Velvet Revolution. “It took a while. We prevailed.”

 

[hihandycap]

57 minutes ago, CastleCritic said:

The Eastern European guides and experts definitely have some experiences that are Worrh listening to. 

We also found the Budapest to Bucharest itinerary on Emerald last October to be a fascinating learning experience about the region's history (both during the Middle Ages and the post WWII era.)  Growing up in the USA during the Cold War, our "world" geography and history courses had considerable content about western Europe, but the "eastern bloc" was rarely mentioned and hence an enigma to us.  Both Budapest (using Rick Steves) and Bucharest are striking venues, well worth extra days pre/post cruise.  We scheduled a small group tour to Transylvania, which became exclusive to us because of Covid.  Our guide, who was a generation or so younger than us, and having experienced as a child both communism and Ceausescu's oppression, had no use for those in the naive generation behind him that apparently pines for the return of socialism. 

 

After multiple ocean cruises that visited many western European ports throughout the Med, Adriatic, Aegean, North and Baltic Seas and job-related travel to major capitals, we felt fortunate for having selected the B to B itinerary for our initial river cruise.  Emerald's local guides were uniformly excellent, and the small group in-home luncheon with local Serbian hostesses probably the highlight.  Although we had watched "Behind Enemy Lines" when it was released, we were largely oblivious of the human suffering and turmoil caused by Tito's failure to "succession plan."  The stops between Budapest and Bucharest are a much different experience than castles and cathedrals on other itineraries but one that can't help but make you grateful for your good fortune

[CastleCritic]

Ive scheduled Budapest to Bucharest 4 times now and never made it on the first 3.(to be fair the last one I changed to rhine/main because Romania became covid central last fall the other 2 were involuntary)

 

Hopefully the current one for next May on the Amamagna comes off.

[StartrainDD]

Thursday, July 14; Budapest Hungary

 

The sun woke me up at about 4:30 in the morning! I pulled the curtains tighter and went back to sleep before rising at about 6:30. We did our normal morning routine and met our friend for breakfast. Right after breakfast I went up to the forward deck as we were arriving in Budapest.

 

Why do these things happen? The camera I had with me froze up. So I had to use my I-phone to take photos of the major sites along the river until we docked. I charged up the battery but it didn't need much charge. Later in the day, it is working fine. Crazy. I used my larger camera on our excursion.

 

We left the Eistla just at 9:00 for our included Budapest highlights excursion. The A/C on the bus worked well, which is good as the temperature will exceed 90 (F) later in the day. We were driven past many of the sites near the ship, including the market, said to be the “Highest rated city market in the world.” We also passed the inner city church and the waterfront. We stopped at Hero's Square for a necessary stop and photo opportunity. There was a long line of folks queued up for the Art Museum as a traveling exhibit was leaving after this weekend.

 

Back on the bus we crossed over the river. One thing I would have loved to do with a little more time would be to ride the historic funicular. We were dropped off the bus at the Sheraton and walked to the inner city church. This was an interesting stop. This is still an active church reaching out to the community, but in addition during a renovation in 2010 Roman ruins from the second century were found under the church's floor. So part of the floor is now glass and the excavated ruins can be seen from the church.

 

From the church we walked to the main shopping street, a pedestrian zone. We walked a good way down the street as our guide told us about the locally produced items that could be purchased. The spice Paprika is from Hungary. They do a lot a lace work, and grow grapes from which various wines are produced. There is also a good amount of leather work and much hand-painted artsy things. We had a choice now to return to the Eistla with our guide or break off on our own. We decided to return to the Eistla for lunch and that afterwards we would visit the market, just a few blocks from our docking space.

 

In the meantime I have gotten frustrated with British Airways as I have not been able to check in for our flight the next morning. It keeps saying I need to provide “Covid data.” Their VeriFly connection says we are ready to go. I spoke with the front desk who insisted everything will be fine at the airport. Sure hope so!

 

We went to the dining room for lunch due to the outdoor heat. That was a mistake as service was pretty poor. Seemed like they kept passing by our table. Our friends were getting nervous as they were on the “Horsemen” tour at 1:45. We finally received some attention, beverages, and lunch, although DW never received the salmon she was supposed to get with her salad.

 

After lunch we ventured over to the market. Well, I will say this is among the nicest markets we have ever seen. Everything seemed very clean and the vendors quite friendly. I bought a locally made leather belt. DW bought a cap. We also bought some paprika followed by a purchase of a bottle of locally produced Shiraz and locally produced dark chocolate. That will be our pre-dinner party later!

 

We then returned to the Eistla to clean up for dinner and get the chore of packing for our trip home completed. Once done, we took our local wine and chocolate to the Aquavit enjoying watching Budapest traffic go by. We were joined by our friends who went on the Hungarian Horsemen tour and they thought it was terrific.

 

We stayed in the Aquavit during the end of the cruise toasts and enjoyed dinner. After dinner we called it a night.

 

[StartrainDD]

Friday, July 15; Budapest – Home ?

 

I woke up at 2:50 and just thought I would check the British Airways Ap. Sure enough, our flight from Budapest – Heathrow is delayed by five hours, meaning (of course) our connections are toast. I grabbed the “Viking emergency hot line” paper and went to the front desk, who were busy getting the 3:30 group off to the airport. The fellow there kept saying “Wait for the hotel manager.” I went on the internet and could find no alternatives on British Air / American.

 

The hotel manager returned from getting the 3:30 folks off and said I should call the emergency number using the house phone. They got me an outside line and the recording said the “Wait will be less than five minutes.” It was actually nine minutes. I spoke to Robin and after 45 minutes we were confirmed on Air France from Budapest – Paris – Miami. We will find a way from Miami to our car at Palm Beach International. Hope that all works with our flight leaving Budapest at 12:15. In the meantime others on that flight asked to talk to Robin when I was done, but by then the 4:30 shuttle (and those guests) had left for the airport.

[GTarrant]

Oh no! I'm betting we were on the same Budapest-Heathrow flight one day earlier. It had some mechanical issues but took off perhaps 45 minutes late. Then the "connecting flight security" at Heathrow was an absolute disaster (it was practically an exercise in "Wait in a slow moving long line for an indeterminate amount of time until you are nearly late for your flight, then get bumped to the front"). The fact that the London-Boston flight was itself delayed was the only reason we made it.

Hope your new flight gets out OK.