Departing Calgary (hopefully)

We picked this day to travel because there was lots of open seats to London on the Air Canada flight. We are travelling standby, so lots of open seats gives you more confidence that we’ll be going.Read more
We crossed the pond

The trip over couldn’t have better. We arrived at Heathrow a few minutes early, cleared customs, picked up our bags then the trek to the hotel.
Our plan is to sleep a couple hours and head intoRead more
On to Budapest

Again an hours delay. This time to fix the toilet door! There seemed to be a lot of planning on what to do with a bathroom door that would just stay in the locked position; a no go item! The brainsRead more
HELLO BUDAPEST

We did a little research the night we arrived and talked about going to one of Budapest’s famous thermal spas. The Szèchenyi spa was the most popular and seemed easy to get to via subway. The priceRead more
Explorimg Budapest

Our afternoon consisted of dragging our butts along the Danube River and taking pictures. We are both still jet lagged but we hung on long enough to say we earned our supper.
The photos I includedRead more
Finding a taxi!

There is no Uber in Budapest. My preferred way of arranging transportation is useless here. We left our accommodation with an address for the boat we are about to board and have a location displayedRead more
Heroes Square

Today is the perfect day to visit Heroes Square. It is the National holiday commemorating all of the heroes involved facilitating Hungary’s failed revolutions.
Panoramic BUS tour!

Our first experience of a Viking provided bus tour. I would call it a slow moving geriatric crowd. The bus is slow, which must piss off the drivers who get stuck behind us!
Our 35 year old femaleRead more
First church of many…

We got off the bus finally after about 2 hours. The lineup for the loo was 15 minutes long. We decided we could wait. It was a nice church and we had time to look around the area.
Shopping!

One of the pictures is of Tom with his friend as I find the bargains at the central market. The kürtőskalács or chimney cake is a local favourite we enjoyed. It’s hollow, and can be filled withRead more
Buda Castle

In the afternoon we walked from the boat crossed the chain bridge and arrived at the Budavári Sikló. That is the Castle Hill Funicular. This is the Buda side of Budapest.
Fishermans Bastion

Fishermans Bastion is not about fishermen, but more about celebrating the millennial anniversary of the arrival of the 7 tribal chieftains who led their people to settle in present day Hungary. TheRead more
St Matthius

This church was refurbished at the same time as the renovations to the Fishermans Bastion. It got a more gothic look than it had before.
Bridges

There are a few bridges that join the Buda side to the Pest side of Budapest. To us the most remarkable is the Chain bridge; suspension bridge opened in 1849. It was the first bridge to join the twoRead more
Leaving Budapest

Passing thru Slovakia

The capital of Slovakia
BRATISLAVA
Evening walk-a-bout

The boat arrived in Venice at 7pm. Everyone had an early supper, so we were free to walk around. The church is much nicer from the back than the front. The front was hardly lit up at all and didn’tRead more
Panoramic Vienna (Wein)

Another bus ride with old people. The guide is knowledgeable but we can hardly wait to make our own way. Walking in group of more than thirty on a sunny day just makes you want to ditch your newRead more
On our own!

Dianne found an expensive place to have coffee. It is the pinkest place I’ve ever seen, and I took some time to adjust my attitude about Aida, the pink coffee house. We had Apple Strudel withRead more
Metro to the Palace

Our research has paid off. We got the seniors rate to ride the subway.
Schőnbrunn Palace

It took us about 2 hours to explore the palace. Along with the ticket for entry, you get an audio guide to give context to what you see. Reminds us of Versailles but smaller. There is so much historyRead more
Palace Gardens

The palace gardens are incredible. We are here a little early in the season as the trees are just budding and flowers just being planted. The gardens are lined with 32 life sized Greek and RomanRead more
Cruising to MELK

Stunning scenery all morning as we made our way to MELK.
MELK ABBEY

The entrance to the Abbey is welcoming. There are about 800 students here instructed by 90 teachers. Only two of the teachers are monks.
Inside the Abbey

Melk Abbey is a Benedictine order abbey that opened in 1089. You can imagine they have collected lots of church related stuff over 1000 years but the place is surprisingly uncluttered. What they doRead more
TravelerNothing like a stress free trip.
TravelerAnother West Jet cancellation! Definitely not dependable! Glad you and your luggage made the flight.