Post-cruise notes

We’ve loved this so we’re hoping there’s a next time!

Viking has been a great experience. We chose a Veranda Suite that included a lot of perks like mini-bar and wine included, fruit in the room each day as well as fresh flowers  and bottles of water. But all cabins have a window; no inside cabins on Viking ships.

Laundry service is available. We put some socks, underwear and tshirts in the bag; here’s how they came back:

We have definitely eaten too much but we’ve been happy that at least meal portions are very reasonable. Smaller than regular American restaurant portions (of course we could have ordered 2 entrees if we had wanted to!) but really good. There is an optional all-you-can-drink alcohol package that we did not select. The wine at meals and in the room was more than enough (no, we didn’t drink it all!), but I could see how the drink package would make sense for people that don’t like beer or wine. There were definitely some folks getting their moneys worth every afternoon and evening in the lounge. We could put drinks in the lounge on our account of course, and I think we only did that 3 times. 

If there is a next time we would opt for all of the walking tours of cities that are included. We loved the optional tours we chose but we missed seeing the port city in some cases. And we would ask how long the bus rides are! (That’s not in the trip descriptions.)

We have talked to many people who have taken river cruises from a number of different companies and all had great experiences. It’s definitely been great for us!

So about flying with souvenirs.... They asked us about "powder", which translated to Paprika, which is big in Hungary. No more than 12 oz in a carryon. I did not ask, and they did not tell, about preserves sealed in a jar, specifically apricot preserves made by monks! I did not do the math about how many milileters was 3 oz...so, lost all the preserves to TSA agents that were in the carry-on to prevent breakage in the bigger suitcase. Also note to self for next time: anything packed by Duty Free is not securely packed and may not make it, so stay with soft stuff!

Final selfie after our 9 hour flight from Munich to Chicago. They let us back into the States! One more flight for each of us this evening and we’re home in time for Halloween 🎃!

Ciao for now!

Munich

 Saturday October 29 - last day!

We planned to take the 1.5 hour bus ride to Munich today and even after the long bus ride yesterday, we were not dissuaded. Apparently others were because it was just the 4 of us on a smaller bus with a personal guide! 

Another beautiful day in the 70’s. Some shots of the city center. Saturday, warmer than usual weather, schools on break, soccer game in town it was busy!

First stop before city center was the BMW headquarters. Pretty cool. Harper has some cars that change color in hot and cold water…BMW was showing a model that changes color in hot or cold weather as well! 

We had not seen how hops grow before, and still haven’t! The harvest was in September (hence Oktoberfest!) but we saw the guides (sticks) in field after field. The Oktoberfest was first started as a celebration at King Ludwig’s wedding and has continued since.  

It is said to be good luck to rub this lion’s nose…so, here’s Pamela once again sucking up all the luck!

Hitler started the Nazi party in Munich. He called it the capital of the movement. 90% of Munich destroyed in WWII. Munich took that as an opportunity to rebuild a more modern city but keeping some of the baroque architecture. Munich became known for art and culture, a cosmopolitan city where people come to see and be seen. Lots of very high end and designer stores here. 

This Theatine church was built to celebrate the birth of a baby, but it wasn’t Jesus. This was built by King Ferdinand Maria and his wife as a gesture of thanks for the birth of their son and heir to the Bavarian crown, Max Emanuel in 1662. 

The Obelisk monument is to remember Bavarian soldiers lost in the Liberation wars from Napoleon.  30,000 soldiers went to war; 3000 came back.

This was the palace that is now a museum. The King thought the theatre in the palace wasn’t big enough so he had an opera house built next door. 

In the city square in the Town Hall building is this tower. At noon, the Glockenspiel comes to life (bells ring) and the figures in the higher window act out winning battles and the figures in the lower window dance in celebration. 

This is a poor shot (taken from the bus) of the top of the 1972 Olympic hall. Munich used this event also as an opportunity to modernize. Today it’s used for concerts and other events. There is a public pool and ice rink. 

And then there was this😂:

Munich fun facts:

• Salt industry built the region
• 19% VAT (sales) tax
• 7% tax on food and service (they count beer as “liquid bread” 😂 so 7%! Must be the wheat and barley….
• There is even a tax on dogs! A mid-size dog would cost €70/yr and it’s a law that all dogs must go for training and be registered. We saw several dogs not on leashes in town that were very well behaved. 
• Car sharing is common as cars are taxed as well. 
• There are Green Zones in the city that don’t allow emissions /gas cars
• Germany has pledged no more combustion engines by 2035

Todays selfie:

We have to have our luggage out at 5 am. We’ll be on the way to the airport at 6:30. 🤯

As Benne, the Cruise Director says, Ciao for now!

Passau and Salzburg

Friday October 28

(If you’re following along, I forgot a good story about monks trying to kill St. Benedict that I added to the Krems/Abbey post…check back to yesterday’s post for details.)

Who made our schedule?! (We did….)  We were  not that excited when we learned that it would be a 2.5 hour bus trip back into Austria (and 2.5 hours back to the ship…) to visit Salzburg, but we left very foggy weather and found it sunny and near 70 in Salzburg so we were all good! They keep reminding us that this is very unusual for October. Global warming working in our favor again (at least temporarily).  Spectacular day today!

Today we visited some sites where The Sound of Music was filmed. The outdoor shots were filmed in Salzburg; the indoor shots in Hollywood. It was scheduled for 6 weeks but took 11 because it rains so much in Salzburg (120 days/year). FYI the gazebo scene (16 going on 17) was actually fake rain!

Here is Pamela reinacting the Do Re Me song at this fountain. The rest of the song was between the statues (too crowded!) 

Some trivia: when the Von Trapp family escaped over that mountain in the distance in the movie, they DID cross a border…but the border beyond that mountain is Germany! Not far from Hitlers’s Eagles Nest. Dramatic license. 

This is the home of Christian Doppler who developed the Doppler Effect that we know from the weather channel. 

This is known as the Bridge of Locks but the actual name is the Marko Feingold bridge, named after a Holocaust survivor of 3 concentration camps. Lovers come to place their initials on a lock, lock it on the bridge and throw the key into the river to ensure everlasting love. It’s not exactly everlasting because they have to remove approx 1 ton of locks each year from the bridge or it would weigh down the fences. 😂

This coffee shop, Cafe Tomassino, is 300 years old; they are said to have 150 kinds of cake! A married couple inherited the coffee shop decades ago when women were not allowed in coffee houses. The wife decided that wouldn’t do and opened the second floor of the shop for women. Many other coffee houses followed suit. (One woman CAN make a difference! 💪)

And of course, then we saw this:

This is the birthplace of Mozart. His father Leopold was also a talented musician but a better teacher. He literally wrote the book on learning the violin which is still used in Universities today. Both Wolfgang and his sister had talent. Leopold wanted them to be famous. This was before TicToc and You Tube so his option was to travel with them so they could be heard. We learned that Wolfgang’s first concert was in Vienna at age 6 for the Empress. I’d say Dad was also good at PR and marketing. The rest is history. They sell everything Mozart here!

The streets are lined with lots of shops and restaurants and statues and monuments. 

 

Maria’s “I have Confidence” song was filmed here. The real Maria von Trapp had a cameo appearance in that scene.

 

We had lunch and were treated to several selections from The Sound of Music from this group.

Many of the mountains are dirt because they used all the stones to build the town. 

Some more shots from the town. 

Our guide, David, complete with Lederhosen. 

We met back by the Lock bridge before getting back on the bus and Dave had a brief brush with power. He did not let it go to his head!

We passed Canola flowers on our drive to be made into Canola oil. Who knew?

German night for dinner on the ship. 

Tomorrow is our last day: Munich