herefordbimmspot

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Vienna, austria

Had a nice day in Vienna yesterday. We spent the morning on a scheduled excursion and saw much oF the historic areas in Vienna. We ended up in the center of the historic area in front of st. Stephens cathedral . It is incredibly big and beautiful, but crowded. The have tours throughout the church and you have to pay for each one. Entry to the church was free, but to go see the catacombs, 5 euro; to go up to the top of the tower and view Vienna , 4euro; have a guided tour through the sacristy, 5,50 euro; listen to a recording describing the art in the church 1,50 euro; light a candle, 0,80 euro! We wandered through, and Pete did light a candle but that's about it. Now, within Vienna the streets are lined with shops. The buildings are all old and architecturally beautiful, so it seems odd to see a McDonald's sign or H&M hanging outside the old structures. And so many people walking along the cobble-stone streets. You have to look out for cars and other vehicles driving on what appear to be walkways until around 10:00 am. They were making deliveries to the shops and restaurants and just drove down the cobblestones to the doorways! I really enjoyed hearing the stories of the past rulers and why the statues were constructed. After strolling around all day and having sacher torte and strudel with Viennese coffee, we rode the subway back to the ship. The weather was beautiful ( about 82 degrees) but the humidity made us hot and sweaty . We were glad to have time to shower before dinner. At 10:30 the group who attended the mozart concert returned and everyone was treated to the cooks specialty, Goulash soup. FYI: It is said to be a hangover cure! Although I was really only mildly tipsy from the wine at dinner. We left Vienna at 1:00 a.m. But the ship is very quiet so I heard nothing. In the morning, on the way to Melk, our cruise director Andrew has been giving short snippets of information about the scenery. There is much to see! Now we are in the valley area and are cruising past vineyards and very old castles on hillsides . Andrew has told some of the folklore about kings in castles throwing the non-taxpayers down the hillsides, and Catholics overtaking the Protestants castle and locking the kings and priests up.

Friday, June 29, 2012

Budapest

Alyssa Joy

Packing is becoming overwhelming cause I'm not sure what I want to wear. Ugh! Usually when I go on trips I figure whatever I forgot to pack, I can buy another one at Walmart. But I'm pretty sure there are no Walmarts in Europe (I have checked the internet). Anyway, it is not like I'm going to the moon; if I forget something I can go to the nearest market whose name I cannot pronounce and get it paying with monopoly-like money.

Magic Mike

Waiting on the dryer to finish the last of my shirts and clean sheets on the bed for the caregivers (a.k.a. Libbie and Shannon and Adam). Alyssa knows something is going on and we are sure she will be unhappy for a few days. She has been pretty clingy, too. But her sisters have some plans like going to PDCanyon and the lake and the movies. They want to see Magic Mike; hope they buy some popcorn cause Alyssa probably won't be interested in the show.

Ute Lake, NM

Ok, the dryer is finished. Back to packing and I still have to get some cash at the bank and memory cards.

We left Budapest last night and headed down the Danube river toward Bratislava. Was fun to watch the city disappear into the night with an incredible view from the middle of the river. We just arrived in Bratislava and will only dock here until 10:30 p.m. Bratislava seems like a newer, more modern city compared to Budapest, but we have not left for the excursion yet. Met some teachers from Kansas today on the upper deck. I know there are many people on board but apparently the sun was too much fo most and they stayed inside. The country-side was intriguing to see; every little town has a church with a tall steeple (usually the highest point in the village).