Saturday, 17 Dec 2022
Once we arrived by the river terminal, we were let off the bus and directed toward our ship, the Viking Gullweig. It was moored outboard the Viking Skadi, so we had to cross the inboard ship to get to ours. After getting onboard, we were waited on by an attentive staff who checked us in, took our bags and advised us we had plenty of time for dinner, which had just started.
We quickly went to our rooms, cleaned up a little bit and headed to the dining room for dinner. We were hungry, since we had been subsisting on airport and airplane sandwiches, bag lunches and imaginary foodstuffs, so we ordered a few things. There was something local for an entrée and I don’t remember what it was now, and there were other appetizers, salads and desserts. We each ordered an entrée, and Lynn and I split a ribeye steak after we had eaten the feature entrée just to top things off. John started with the steak, so that was that. Uncharacteristically, we enjoyed the steak the least. We had wine to wash it down with and felt a lot better.
We met our hostess and our tablemates for the week. There wasn’t any assigned seating, but we liked where we landed and stayed there all week, but for one diversion. Our hostess, Carmen, was a charming lady from Romania, and she was very attentive and friendly, advising on the menu, bringing us drinks and food effortlessly. We were completely at home with her all week, and wanted to bring her home with us at the end. Our two tablemates were Blair and Andreas, a married couple from California. At first we perceived a bit of caution from them, as they were gay men, and we were a bit cautious ourselves, but as things unfolded, they realized we were there to have fun and weren’t going to bite, and we realized they were also doing the same thing. We had a great week together and could hardly have wished for better companionship during meals.
After dinner we got our warm coats out and left the ship to explore the local area and Christmas markets as much as we were able to do. During dinner we discovered that we would not have the next afternoon to walk around Budapest on our own, as the ship would depart as soon as we all started our morning tour and we would meet it upriver in the early afternoon. So this was it! We hastily got directions, checked Google Maps and headed into town.
We proceeded across the big street by the river into town, seeking Váci utca (VAT-see OOT-saw, or Váci street) which would take us to the markets and through the most accessible shopping and sightseeing area. The street culminated at Vörösmarty Square where we found one of the Christmas markets. At first, we weren’t sure we were heading quite the right way, but soon it became obvious and we found what we were looking for. We puttered around and saw the pretty sights and all the knick-knackery for sale in the markets. The best comparison to anything American would be a night-time craft and food fair, with all sorts of craft and food vendors. There was plenty of hot mulled wine and hot chocolate to drink while you wander!
We had a late start, not really getting off the ship before 8pm, so we only saw a little bit of things before they started closing at 10pm. We took a little different route back to the ship and saw some more pretty architecture and green spaces. As we followed the river back down to the ship, we were able to have a more leisurely view of things across the river, like Buda Castle and The Liberty Statue at the Citadella. We were truly tired and ready for bed. We went back to our rooms and did our best to get some good sleep.
Sunday, 18 Dec 2022
I think we all might have been a little groggy getting up at 7am or so to have some breakfast before starting our 8:30 tour. Carmen got us fed and watered and we tidied up and headed out for the tour. Our guide directed us onto the right bus and advised us on how to use the electronic earpieces provided to make tour narration easier to hear, and off we went. We drove by many landmarks and sights, including Szent István Bazilika (Saint Stephen’s Basilica), the Dohány utcai Zsinagóga (Dohány Street Synagogue) and Heroes’ Square. We had a stop at Heroes’ Square and got to walk around a bit before finishing the tour on the Pest side of the river.
Once on the Buda side, we got some great views of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, the Liberty Statue, Buda Castle, Chain Bridge and then looking back over the river to the Pest side, the Parliament Building. We made our way down to the Buda Castle District and had views looking up the hill at the Fisherman’s Bastion and Matthias Church. The bus parked up near the top of the hill and we walked around the area, getting a close look at Matthias Church and then walking along the Fisherman’s Bastion. We were given free time to walk around on our own and find something for lunch, so we did. John and I bought some palinka in a souvenir shop. After getting home, John pronounced it unfit for drinking. We returned to the bus about 12:45pm for the ride to the ship.
During this time we heard from Halie that she had landed in Budapest about 10:45 and we were anticipating perhaps that they would send her over to join the tour, since we all had to catch the bus upriver to meet the ship. No plans emerged for that, and then we hoped they would put her in a van or cab to run up and meet the ship in Esztergom the same time we would. Once we started our ride to the ship, we kept checking with her, and she wasn’t moving; they were waiting to pick up two more people before dispatching them to the ship.
We sensed that the plan had broken, and soon we had confirmation. The other two people did not arrive, and Halie was now too far away to meet the ship at Esztergom with us. We received word that they were considering sending her ahead to Vienna by bus to join us in the morning, hotel to be footed by her. She informed them that wasn’t acceptable, and on our arrival to the ship we firmly informed them the same. By then, they had intimated that perhaps we weren’t pleased and had crafted another plan that involved a quick, unscheduled stop for the ship to pick her up a little farther upriver. We were all relieved, and just as we finished our dinner, we made the brief stop in Komárom and Halie and two other ladies (not the two originally being awaited at the airport), literally hopped on as we got underway again.
We were finally all together! Yaaaaay!
We brought Halie up to the dining room for dinner and hydration and brought her up to date on things. Carmen made sure she had some good food, Florin the bar runner brought her a margarita and we all began to relax and enjoy our vacation a lot more. We went to the port brief for the next day to get all the information on our arrival, location and the tours and events. We would be taking the Panoramic Vienna tour, which included a final stop at a Christmas market, and then that afternoon we were going to Schönbrunn Palace.
Our group now together and our day concluded, we all went in search of sleep.