To Amsterdam and finish

The final day was spent sailing through the flatlands of the Netherlands, with windmills as the main attraction. At Kinderdijk, a World Heritage site, there are 19 historic windmills. TSH went on a walking tour of some of the windmills, including visiting one that at one time had housed a family of 15 people.

The word amongst the Embla passengers is that the Danube below Budapest is still closed to help with the search for the bodies of the people drowned in the recent collision. Hence ships such as the Viking Lif cannot go south and also cannot go north because of the high water. It is rumoured that passengers have decided to abandon their cruises and return home.

The infrastructure of the Danube/Main/canal/Rhine is not really capable of supporting the amount of traffic it has attracted. A victim of its own success.


The holiday was completed with the KLM flight from Amsterdam to Manchester.

A Day on the Danube

The cruise continues to pass by a bewildering array of countries – Hungary, Slovakia and into Austria today. The Viking Lif passed right through the centre of Bratislava, which is a mostly modern city. The surrounding countryside is mostly flat and covered with trees but there have been glimpses of distant mountains.

The entry into Vienna involved locks and a number of extremely low bridges. The Captain arranged for most of the infrastructure on the top deck – including his wheelhouse – to be folded down to pass under them. TSH stayed on the top but made sure he stood on the lowest section. The hope is that the river does not rise further, or there will be real trouble with the voyage.

TSH and Diva have been asked about ‘the royal baby’ by a number of people from the US, who seem far more interested than are most Brits. They were more surprised to be asked about the British experience with crop circles, which may (or may not) be of alien origin. Linked to a question about whether they saw aliens in South America near the Nazca lines.

Budapest

This long-awaited city does not disappoint. In spite of heavy WW2 bombing, there are many neo-classical late 19^th century buildings in excellent condition. These are mostly on the Pest side of the Danube. The older, Buda, side has a magnificent cathedral and a good look-out point over Pest. The buildings around the river are all illuminated at night, providing a magnificent spectacle.

The guide seemed to be very supportive of Hungary’s right-wing government. ‘It is a good feeling that there are no immigrants, so we have no crime problems’. ‘The immigrants are all illegal and uneducated so we cannot take them here’. The arabs/turks were not creative people’. etc. etc.

Despite the lack of immigrant crime, there are many armed police, and in the evening there was a fast motorcade with many many blue flashing lights. This is all probably because there is a Chinese delegation in the city.

For the first time on this voyage, the rain started in earnest and TSH and Diva got very wet. Fortunately TSH has his water-proof trousers. Diva took the opportunity of a free afternoon to have her nails done at a Trip Advisor recommended salon – they did an excellent job.

There was also a free day in Budapest. In the morning, TSH and Diva walked along the bank of the Danube to the market Hall, which is a mixture of fresh produce for local people and souvenirs for the many tourists. Lots of paprika – some still on stalks. In the afternoon, they walked to the very grand Parliament building.

Viking has an annoying ritual of playing ‘Good morning, good morning, we’ve slept the whole night through …….’ (Doris Day??) as the first tour of the day departs. It is a sign of how much the plot has been lost that Diva found TSH singing along!!

About half of the passengers disembarked in Budapest and a new group has joined the Viking Lif. There are several Viking ships in the city, so during tours we are more like 1000 tourists rather than the 200 from the Lif.