Leaving Canada
Leaving behind the snow on our lawn and the ice on our sidewalk, we depart Canada.
Embattled Canada. We fly out on the very day that Trump sends a salvo of economic force intended to weaken our country. We will be visiting five European countries in the next two weeks, doing so as just a few Canadians in a cohort of Americans on a Viking River Cruise. But as Canadians we are not alone. European countries are also receiving salvos of tariffs from Trump’s America, too.
In Canada we’re in the midst of a federal election. While we have different political parties vying to lead the country, they are merely opponents in a electoral politics. One of two parties will lead our country for the next few years. While they have different approaches to the existential threat from Trump, there is no vile hatred, no demonization of the other between them. Well, almost none. Some of the tone of American electoral politics does ooze across our porous southern border. At the time of this election our country is becoming more united, exhibiting quite a different patriotism than we see in our southern neighbour.
And so, in the airport I look for Canada flags to pin to my clothes. And I wonder whether the Europeans will recognize that I am truly a Canadian. I hear that Americans are not above donning a symbol of Canada because the rest of the world treats Canadians better than Americans.
After this brief introduction to this travel blog, I hope to leave politics behind. We’ll see. Perhaps I will update you as we go.
Oh, and by the way, after 24 hours of travel we have arrived in Prague with daffodils and blossoms and huge forsythia bushes in full yellow bloom.
Prague - day one
So who is this guy?
Charles the Fourth had quite a role in the founding of the ancient city of Prague. Statued here close the Charles bridge circa 14th century he holds the chartering documents of the university. He was a King of Germany and Bohemia in the mid 14th century and established Prague as a capital of the Holy Roman Empire. Mid-14th century… translated into terms easier to grasp, just a mere 675 years ago!
During a five-hour walking tour today we traversed history from the time of the Romans to the present. Our uber-knowledgeable guide, Renata, moved us seamlessly back and forth through history as we viewed hundreds of years of differing architectural styles.
There is something fundamentally reassuring about the shifting political and cultural changes this city has survived. At this time for us of severe political and cultural change we can remember that even as regimes rise and fall, as domination of one sort or another takes hold, that ultimately the capacity of human nature to create, and build, and survive, persists.
In North America we struggle to extend our sense of history over a matter of decades. We find ourselves yearning for something that was just a few short years prior and worry what will happen in the weeks and months ahead. Here in Europe history spans centuries. The statue pictured here is older than the country I live in! Kind of mind-boggling, isn’t it?
Charles the Fourth had quite a role in the founding of the ancient city of Prague. Statued here close the Charles bridge circa 14th century he holds the chartering documents of the university. He was a King of Germany and Bohemia in the mid 14th century and established Prague as a capital of the Holy Roman Empire. Mid-14th century… translated into terms easier to grasp, just a mere 675 years ago!
During a five-hour walking tour today we traversed history from the time of the Romans to the present. Our uber-knowledgeable guide, Renata, moved us seamlessly back and forth through history as we viewed hundreds of years of differing architectural styles.
There is something fundamentally reassuring about the shifting political and cultural changes this city has survived. At this time for us of severe political and cultural change we can remember that even as regimes rise and fall, as domination of one sort or another takes hold, that ultimately the capacity of human nature to create, and build, and survive, persists.
In North America we struggle to extend our sense of history over a matter of decades. We find ourselves yearning for something that was just a few short years prior and worry what will happen in the weeks and months ahead. Here in Europe history spans centuries. The statue pictured here is older than the country I live in! Kind of mind-boggling, isn’t it?
Some images from Prague Castle.
Prague Day 2 - Kutná Hora.
Our excursion to Kutna Hora, a UNESCO heritage site 83 kilometres from Prague, was bookended by a matter we typically don’t work into everyday conversation: death.
We started the excursion at the Bone Church, a Roman Catholic chapel decorated in human bones. In the 13th Century a monk brought soil from the Holy Land which he placed on a small plot of land. Thus, that plot became a sacred place where believers sought to be buried. That cemetery is pictured above, decorated for the coming Easter. Over time between 40,000 and 70,000 people were buried there, the bones of former burials unearthed to be placed in an ossuary to provide space for more burials on such a sacred site. In the 19th Century a decision was made to decorate the Chapel with those bones. As tourists, we were not allowed to photograph inside this bone church but you can Google the Sedlec Ossuary to see what it looks like. Our modern day sensibilities found this all to be quite macabre but this Chapel full of bones, sorted and fashioned decoratively, was a tribute to the devote people who lived on the land.
At the end of the tour we passed by a doorway of a home from which four Jewish family members had been taken to die in the camps of the Holocaust. Embedded in the cobblestone sidewalk were the Stumbling Stones (Stolpersteine), small brass plaques with the names of those family members. We can only imagine that their bones were not treated with the same degree of respect as the ones in the Sedlec Ossuary just a kilometre or so away.
I mentioned Easter. We got to visit these mementos of death in the season of rebirth. I share three other pictures of this centuries-old city showing the blooming of spring taking place around the ancient buildings.
We started the excursion at the Bone Church, a Roman Catholic chapel decorated in human bones. In the 13th Century a monk brought soil from the Holy Land which he placed on a small plot of land. Thus, that plot became a sacred place where believers sought to be buried. That cemetery is pictured above, decorated for the coming Easter. Over time between 40,000 and 70,000 people were buried there, the bones of former burials unearthed to be placed in an ossuary to provide space for more burials on such a sacred site. In the 19th Century a decision was made to decorate the Chapel with those bones. As tourists, we were not allowed to photograph inside this bone church but you can Google the Sedlec Ossuary to see what it looks like. Our modern day sensibilities found this all to be quite macabre but this Chapel full of bones, sorted and fashioned decoratively, was a tribute to the devote people who lived on the land.
At the end of the tour we passed by a doorway of a home from which four Jewish family members had been taken to die in the camps of the Holocaust. Embedded in the cobblestone sidewalk were the Stumbling Stones (Stolpersteine), small brass plaques with the names of those family members. We can only imagine that their bones were not treated with the same degree of respect as the ones in the Sedlec Ossuary just a kilometre or so away.
I mentioned Easter. We got to visit these mementos of death in the season of rebirth. I share three other pictures of this centuries-old city showing the blooming of spring taking place around the ancient buildings.
Prague at dawn - Day 3 (a slide show)
Passau
Look up. Look down. Look to the side. Look ahead. The experience of historic Passau Germany in a single photo.
The look up. Buttresses overhead span between centuries-old buildings on either side of this narrow street. During the walking tour we learned their purpose. The buildings on either side have walls a meter thick but rest on the sand of a narrow stretch of land between two converging rivers. The walls have a tendency to bulge or lean. The buttresses keep them from falling into each other while providing support for each other.
The look down. Painted cobblestones lead to artist studios and exhibition spaces along this narrow lane. This is a recent addition to this ancient city, but the decorative arts are not. The interior of the baroque style Church of Saint Steven we were awed by the many ceiling frescos intending to bring the glories of heaven down to the parishioners below.
The look to the sides. The stucco walls of the ancient buildings in Passau are historic and regulated to retain the character of the town. In preliterate days different colours designated different businesses, e.g. a blue house was designated a baker. The old city is alive with many hues.
The look ahead. At the end of the laneway stands the clock tower of the town hall. Zoom in and you will see it reads 7 o’clock, soon time for this photographer to make his way back to the Viking River Ship for breakfast after catching the early morning light. And while you are zoomed in, catch the figure of the pedestrian and the sense of being small in the midst of culture and history. That is a part of the Passau experience too.
The look up. Buttresses overhead span between centuries-old buildings on either side of this narrow street. During the walking tour we learned their purpose. The buildings on either side have walls a meter thick but rest on the sand of a narrow stretch of land between two converging rivers. The walls have a tendency to bulge or lean. The buttresses keep them from falling into each other while providing support for each other.
The look down. Painted cobblestones lead to artist studios and exhibition spaces along this narrow lane. This is a recent addition to this ancient city, but the decorative arts are not. The interior of the baroque style Church of Saint Steven we were awed by the many ceiling frescos intending to bring the glories of heaven down to the parishioners below.
The look to the sides. The stucco walls of the ancient buildings in Passau are historic and regulated to retain the character of the town. In preliterate days different colours designated different businesses, e.g. a blue house was designated a baker. The old city is alive with many hues.
The look ahead. At the end of the laneway stands the clock tower of the town hall. Zoom in and you will see it reads 7 o’clock, soon time for this photographer to make his way back to the Viking River Ship for breakfast after catching the early morning light. And while you are zoomed in, catch the figure of the pedestrian and the sense of being small in the midst of culture and history. That is a part of the Passau experience too.
You can check out other photos of Passau taken a few years ago on the "Grand European River Cruise" page listed in the menu for my Travel Blogs.
Linz
Magnolia tree, Mozart death mask, the old city centre. (back on ship we had a superlative concert of violin and piano classics of Austrian music).
Mauthausen Work Camp
Recent patriotism has bloomed in Canada since Donald Trump vowed to use economic power to weaken Canada so that it can be annexed as a 51st State. We are proud of our country and wish it to be preserved as ours.
On our Viking tours we have had excellent guides who are also proud of their countries and the cities in which they live, rich in their own unique histories and cultures.
Within a country national pride and patriotism is a positive force. It is also a slippery slope. A next step can be a belief in the superiority of one’s own ethnic or racial identity, religious or sexual identification. Politics can make those the defining feature of the nation. Such a nationalism can designate others as not truly belonging, impose upon them a lesser status. Lesser status can lead to dehumanization. Language can deprive others of personhood, relegating human beings to being classed as vermin or animals.
We are fortunate to have a clear example in recent history of where all this leads.
On this tour I heard detainees in the Mauthausen camp had their clothes stripped from their bodies and all of their hair shaved off. This brought to mind the current events image of an American politician with hair extensions and a gold Rolex watch standing in front of American deportees detained in a camp in El Salvador. They too had their hair shaved and were naked from the waist up.
We heard of SS soldiers in the Mauthausen Camp killing for the show of it, wondering whatever could lead a human being to do that to another human being. What came to mind was Elon Musk’s Nazi salute to followers.
I can only hope that the patriotism blooming in Canada does not seduce us onto the slippery slope. On this tour we’ve been shoulder-to-shoulder with many from the USA and feel with them the fear of what is happening in their country. Together on this tour we had the chance to witness where it all can lead.
On our Viking tours we have had excellent guides who are also proud of their countries and the cities in which they live, rich in their own unique histories and cultures.
Within a country national pride and patriotism is a positive force. It is also a slippery slope. A next step can be a belief in the superiority of one’s own ethnic or racial identity, religious or sexual identification. Politics can make those the defining feature of the nation. Such a nationalism can designate others as not truly belonging, impose upon them a lesser status. Lesser status can lead to dehumanization. Language can deprive others of personhood, relegating human beings to being classed as vermin or animals.
We are fortunate to have a clear example in recent history of where all this leads.
On this tour I heard detainees in the Mauthausen camp had their clothes stripped from their bodies and all of their hair shaved off. This brought to mind the current events image of an American politician with hair extensions and a gold Rolex watch standing in front of American deportees detained in a camp in El Salvador. They too had their hair shaved and were naked from the waist up.
We heard of SS soldiers in the Mauthausen Camp killing for the show of it, wondering whatever could lead a human being to do that to another human being. What came to mind was Elon Musk’s Nazi salute to followers.
I can only hope that the patriotism blooming in Canada does not seduce us onto the slippery slope. On this tour we’ve been shoulder-to-shoulder with many from the USA and feel with them the fear of what is happening in their country. Together on this tour we had the chance to witness where it all can lead.
Krems and the Gottweig Abbey
Leaving our Viking River Ship Embla, this tour was clearly emblematic of all a tour could be. A short bus ride took us to a hilltop overlooking the river valley, to an abbey pushing close to its 1,000 years’ birthday celebration. Well, that anniversary is still about 60 years from now, but who’s counting when it gets to time frames that long?
The tour began with apricot blossoms in an orchard garden beside the Gottweig Abbey. It ended with the tasting of apricot wine in a brick cellar.
The Gottweig Abbey, a Benedictine monastery, is truly a people place as well as a spiritual hub. There are cloistered monks, about two thirds of them serve in the parishes of churches in the valley below. But its doors are open to visitors, sharing the beauty of the abbey church, providing welcoming retreats for instruction and reflection, and hosting a steady flow of Viking guests. Viking has exclusive access amongst the river cruise lines to this awe inspiring site (the introductory film hinted at some financial support for the Abbey from Viking). The hilltop abbey is pictured as seen from the upper deck of our Viking River ship.
The Gottweig Abbey is not just a place for spiritual contemplation. Without outside financial support from the government or the Vatican, it husbands and harvests the forest lands around, and produces wines. It has apricot orchards and all manner of apricot consumables are available in its gift shop from gummy bears to its wine and schnapps.
Upon our return we had a delightful, unguided wander in the ancient streets of Krems just steps from where the Embla was docked. All around, it was already a perfect Viking day but it’s not over as I write this blog. There is a lecture on the history of the Danube, a meal featuring local dishes, and a (comic? dramatic?) presentation on the life of Mozart still to come.
The tour began with apricot blossoms in an orchard garden beside the Gottweig Abbey. It ended with the tasting of apricot wine in a brick cellar.
The Gottweig Abbey, a Benedictine monastery, is truly a people place as well as a spiritual hub. There are cloistered monks, about two thirds of them serve in the parishes of churches in the valley below. But its doors are open to visitors, sharing the beauty of the abbey church, providing welcoming retreats for instruction and reflection, and hosting a steady flow of Viking guests. Viking has exclusive access amongst the river cruise lines to this awe inspiring site (the introductory film hinted at some financial support for the Abbey from Viking). The hilltop abbey is pictured as seen from the upper deck of our Viking River ship.
The Gottweig Abbey is not just a place for spiritual contemplation. Without outside financial support from the government or the Vatican, it husbands and harvests the forest lands around, and produces wines. It has apricot orchards and all manner of apricot consumables are available in its gift shop from gummy bears to its wine and schnapps.
Upon our return we had a delightful, unguided wander in the ancient streets of Krems just steps from where the Embla was docked. All around, it was already a perfect Viking day but it’s not over as I write this blog. There is a lecture on the history of the Danube, a meal featuring local dishes, and a (comic? dramatic?) presentation on the life of Mozart still to come.
Some images from the ancient cobblestone alleys of Krems
Vienna
It was a tale of two tours. Identical tours. Well, as identical as they could reasonably be. Both had excellent guides who not only could keep the historic information flowing into our Quiet-Walk earpieces but also keep the herd of us safe while navigating the Vienna streets.
The difference? Me.
Back in 2019 I took the Panoramic Vienna tour when we sailed the Grand European cruise. It was a warm autumn day. This time, it was colder and windy enough to take your hat. (For better photos of Vienna, check out the travel blog for that trip on this website).
Five and a half years ago I was still mentally exhausted from the ending of my career as a psychologist. In that exhaustion I remember looking at the modern building pictured above, looking and loathing it being there. It sits diagonally across the square from the 14th Century St. Stephen’s Cathedral, it’s modern steel and glass in striking contrast to the cathedral’s gothic architecture.
Now, five and a half years older, I can accept it being there, can see how it actually makes the gothic more gothic in its modernity. Walking toward St. Stephen’s Square our 2025 guide pointed out another instance, this one a multi-storeyed building without eyebrows, as an example of a modern building initially unaccepted, now appreciated for its largely unadorned beauty.
I’m glad that I'm different, less quick to judge, more capable of seeing beauty in its different forms.
But it’s all rather relative. As we walked from St. Stephen’s square to our bus we passed by another incongruity. Just a block or so from a McDonalds and Hard Rock Cafe we caught a glimpse of more humble buildings still standing from the old medieval city. I’m still struggling with the modern franchises being there and the likes of Starbucks standing astride with the Vienna coffeehouses. For some reason, I can't find the beauty in them, should it happen to exist.
The difference? Me.
Back in 2019 I took the Panoramic Vienna tour when we sailed the Grand European cruise. It was a warm autumn day. This time, it was colder and windy enough to take your hat. (For better photos of Vienna, check out the travel blog for that trip on this website).
Five and a half years ago I was still mentally exhausted from the ending of my career as a psychologist. In that exhaustion I remember looking at the modern building pictured above, looking and loathing it being there. It sits diagonally across the square from the 14th Century St. Stephen’s Cathedral, it’s modern steel and glass in striking contrast to the cathedral’s gothic architecture.
Now, five and a half years older, I can accept it being there, can see how it actually makes the gothic more gothic in its modernity. Walking toward St. Stephen’s Square our 2025 guide pointed out another instance, this one a multi-storeyed building without eyebrows, as an example of a modern building initially unaccepted, now appreciated for its largely unadorned beauty.
I’m glad that I'm different, less quick to judge, more capable of seeing beauty in its different forms.
But it’s all rather relative. As we walked from St. Stephen’s square to our bus we passed by another incongruity. Just a block or so from a McDonalds and Hard Rock Cafe we caught a glimpse of more humble buildings still standing from the old medieval city. I’m still struggling with the modern franchises being there and the likes of Starbucks standing astride with the Vienna coffeehouses. For some reason, I can't find the beauty in them, should it happen to exist.
You can actually see the 446 foot spire of St. Stephen's Cathedral in reflection of the curved windows of the Haas Haus building (the picture before the blog post). It is the vertical thin brown line spanning the two ranks of windows. Just above, to the left, notice the statues on top of the building, one staring down the street and the other is reading the map! To the right, Just over the cobblestone rise in the narrow alley, are the humbler medieval buildings. You can see the window eyebrows on the building along the left side of the alley.
Bratislava
There’s an ABC often referenced on Viking walking tours: Another B ____ (fill in your own adjective) Cathedral. The same expression applies to castles. As for statues, there always seems to be another one of those too. And then another, and another yet.
There gets to be a familiar rhythm to all this.
All of these go together to represent a succession of times. We stood on sites going back to Roman times, over a thousand years, saw some of the stone building blocks from that era. There were several centuries of the Hapsburg Empire. It had a family tree that looks more like a bush, with inbreeding leading to unattractive facial features (and heaven knows what else). Napoleon goes through from France, well, sort of. Austria is big, then it shrinks becoming several different countries. There was a Nazi occupation and then Russian liberation which ended up with bleak communist rule behind the Iron Curtain when buildings became ugly. Czechoslovakia is once all together and then it splits into the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
And we’re not even in Hungary yet!
OMG, will I ever get all this straight? It boggles a North American mind.
But every guide is from where we are standing and they are proud of their heritage in that place. They have their native-son composers. And they speak of others from neighbouring countries with a sense of sharing the same huge hunk of land. Languages and cultures are not the same but similar and each has a particular way their national dishes are prepared. It all seems very special, until my head feels like it is about to explode with information.
And then I realize that embedded in the 20th and 21st Centuries we get so accustomed to thinking the way we live our lives is the way life is lived. But it’s not, it’s just the current way of organizing society, and culture, and politics, and religion and managing to stay alive to have children who stay alive to take the whole thing into another generation.
And then I realize how beautiful all these remnants of the past are. The medieval cities, the blossoming of arts both musical and visual, the cobblestones and architecture and the uncovered facades from centuries ago. Maybe I’ll never keep it all straight, just look back on pictures of places that treasure their histories.
There gets to be a familiar rhythm to all this.
All of these go together to represent a succession of times. We stood on sites going back to Roman times, over a thousand years, saw some of the stone building blocks from that era. There were several centuries of the Hapsburg Empire. It had a family tree that looks more like a bush, with inbreeding leading to unattractive facial features (and heaven knows what else). Napoleon goes through from France, well, sort of. Austria is big, then it shrinks becoming several different countries. There was a Nazi occupation and then Russian liberation which ended up with bleak communist rule behind the Iron Curtain when buildings became ugly. Czechoslovakia is once all together and then it splits into the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
And we’re not even in Hungary yet!
OMG, will I ever get all this straight? It boggles a North American mind.
But every guide is from where we are standing and they are proud of their heritage in that place. They have their native-son composers. And they speak of others from neighbouring countries with a sense of sharing the same huge hunk of land. Languages and cultures are not the same but similar and each has a particular way their national dishes are prepared. It all seems very special, until my head feels like it is about to explode with information.
And then I realize that embedded in the 20th and 21st Centuries we get so accustomed to thinking the way we live our lives is the way life is lived. But it’s not, it’s just the current way of organizing society, and culture, and politics, and religion and managing to stay alive to have children who stay alive to take the whole thing into another generation.
And then I realize how beautiful all these remnants of the past are. The medieval cities, the blossoming of arts both musical and visual, the cobblestones and architecture and the uncovered facades from centuries ago. Maybe I’ll never keep it all straight, just look back on pictures of places that treasure their histories.
Up at dawn
It’s empty here now.
On Viking walking tours we are a gaggle of a couple of dozen or so. One of several coming off our ship. But we’re not the only gaggle. Our river ship might very well be rafted together with two other Viking ships at the same docking point. They too are putting out their gaggles. But Viking guests are not the only ones here. There are other ships, other tour groups, and many folk who make their way to the same historic places.
Particularly in iconic places like the Castle District of Budapest or in front of the Astronomical clock in Prague the flow of humanity and history can be overwhelming. Staying in well placed hotels on pre and post extensions, I’ve been able to be out at dawn when the streets are quiet to take photographs.
Take a look at the difference.
On Viking walking tours we are a gaggle of a couple of dozen or so. One of several coming off our ship. But we’re not the only gaggle. Our river ship might very well be rafted together with two other Viking ships at the same docking point. They too are putting out their gaggles. But Viking guests are not the only ones here. There are other ships, other tour groups, and many folk who make their way to the same historic places.
Particularly in iconic places like the Castle District of Budapest or in front of the Astronomical clock in Prague the flow of humanity and history can be overwhelming. Staying in well placed hotels on pre and post extensions, I’ve been able to be out at dawn when the streets are quiet to take photographs.
Take a look at the difference.
Dawn and mid-day in Prague
Dawn and mid-day at Matthias Square in Budapest
About being on board the Viking Embla.
Behind what’s on the surface.
Walking the Castle Hill of Budapest we see many buildings looking centuries old. Occasionally, an opening in the stucco reveals the story of the building.
In the second World War this part of the city was heavily bombed. Buildings are still in the process of being reconstructed true to historic architectural styles. A diagram of the new facade cloaks the scaffolding, revealing the building will look much the same as it was before it was bombed. The attention to detail and the ethos of the place is impressive.
But there is another behind the facades we see. Historic European streets are lined with buildings of several stories, all looking very solid, each building attached to the next. Occasionally though you get a glimpse of what’s in the middle. Within the inner courtyards are the signs of folk living there, creating their own quiet life separate from the legion of tourists walking the streets.
(You can check out some pictures below that provide a hint of what's in behind. In one you can see a part of the wall left standing after the bombing, used to anchor the reconstructed building)
On a Viking cruise something else exists behind the surface. On the surface we are yet another cohort of guests: sometimes befuddled, typically saturated with historical information and tired from hours of walking on cobblestones. Logistical management, care and feeding of the cohort requires consistent diligence. But there’s another level to the professionalism of Viking staff. On board a Viking ship guests are known by name. Our presence is wrapped in an embrace of goodwill. We have a constant sense of every crew member looking out for our safety, eager for our wellbeing, doing their absolute best to provide one moment of delight after another. Here the polite is seasoned with the personable, the eye contact is genuine. It is consistent in every facet of the cruise experience.
What is beneath this? It can only be hours of training and corporate culture around diligence and leadership. We watched as the heads of the various departments lead by example. The head of food and beverage service was consistently in the dining room during our meals. If she noticed something needed to be done, something like clearing a plate from the table or bringing a fresh platter of food to the buffet, she did it. The head of housekeeping services was spotted vacuuming the stairwell. It’s not that the other staff were shirking their duties, we only saw constant diligence from them. It was that those in a leadership role lead by example as well as through their formal management duties.
Oh and one more thing. The planning of the whole cruise experience kept including delights over and above what might be expected. Our cruise director made a very comic and entertaining Mozart-come-back-from-the-dead one evening. Twice on board we had live music, classical and ethnic, from professional musicians and then two of the tours we had included live classical music as well. We had one very enthusiastic and knowledgeable lecture on the history of the river. All of this showed generosity and doing more than what was necessary to make each day memorable.
So on the surface, it was smooth and sophisticated. Underneath it was just as impressive.
Walking the Castle Hill of Budapest we see many buildings looking centuries old. Occasionally, an opening in the stucco reveals the story of the building.
In the second World War this part of the city was heavily bombed. Buildings are still in the process of being reconstructed true to historic architectural styles. A diagram of the new facade cloaks the scaffolding, revealing the building will look much the same as it was before it was bombed. The attention to detail and the ethos of the place is impressive.
But there is another behind the facades we see. Historic European streets are lined with buildings of several stories, all looking very solid, each building attached to the next. Occasionally though you get a glimpse of what’s in the middle. Within the inner courtyards are the signs of folk living there, creating their own quiet life separate from the legion of tourists walking the streets.
(You can check out some pictures below that provide a hint of what's in behind. In one you can see a part of the wall left standing after the bombing, used to anchor the reconstructed building)
On a Viking cruise something else exists behind the surface. On the surface we are yet another cohort of guests: sometimes befuddled, typically saturated with historical information and tired from hours of walking on cobblestones. Logistical management, care and feeding of the cohort requires consistent diligence. But there’s another level to the professionalism of Viking staff. On board a Viking ship guests are known by name. Our presence is wrapped in an embrace of goodwill. We have a constant sense of every crew member looking out for our safety, eager for our wellbeing, doing their absolute best to provide one moment of delight after another. Here the polite is seasoned with the personable, the eye contact is genuine. It is consistent in every facet of the cruise experience.
What is beneath this? It can only be hours of training and corporate culture around diligence and leadership. We watched as the heads of the various departments lead by example. The head of food and beverage service was consistently in the dining room during our meals. If she noticed something needed to be done, something like clearing a plate from the table or bringing a fresh platter of food to the buffet, she did it. The head of housekeeping services was spotted vacuuming the stairwell. It’s not that the other staff were shirking their duties, we only saw constant diligence from them. It was that those in a leadership role lead by example as well as through their formal management duties.
Oh and one more thing. The planning of the whole cruise experience kept including delights over and above what might be expected. Our cruise director made a very comic and entertaining Mozart-come-back-from-the-dead one evening. Twice on board we had live music, classical and ethnic, from professional musicians and then two of the tours we had included live classical music as well. We had one very enthusiastic and knowledgeable lecture on the history of the river. All of this showed generosity and doing more than what was necessary to make each day memorable.
So on the surface, it was smooth and sophisticated. Underneath it was just as impressive.
Our final day in Budapest
We were not sure we were up for more tours. On the ship there'd been a lot. But we had a chance to tour our unique hotel and then, be off to an opera house and a basilica. Okay, let's give it a go.
The Hilton Budapest is situated on Castle hill, right beside Matthias Church. It was built on the site of a bombed out 13th century Dominican monastery. We got to smell the wine cellar, walk the cloister and then were toured up onto the roof of the Hilton to look down on the Fisherman's Bastion.
That afternoon the gold and mosaic interior of the Basilica was beyond beautiful and the opera house most suitably operatic.
The Hilton Budapest is situated on Castle hill, right beside Matthias Church. It was built on the site of a bombed out 13th century Dominican monastery. We got to smell the wine cellar, walk the cloister and then were toured up onto the roof of the Hilton to look down on the Fisherman's Bastion.
That afternoon the gold and mosaic interior of the Basilica was beyond beautiful and the opera house most suitably operatic.
