We arrived in Passau early this morning. It’s a border town adjacent to Austria. The town has a population of 44,000 and we were able to tour the town in less than two hours.
Apparently, the town was in dire economic condition until a university was founded in town in 1973. It is the youngest university in the Bavarian region of Germany with a strong academic reputation. Today, it ranks in the top 30% of universities worldwide.
The real treat in town is the Baroque cathedral – Saint Stephen’s. The plaster workmanship inside the cathedral is impressive.
Before our visit, I knew nothing about Passau. John and I really enjoyed our brief time walking the cobblestone streets of this Bavarian town.
The Inn River View of Passau Original Salt TowerOur Group Walking Along the Inn River Bishop’s Residence Saint Stephen’s Exterior Adorable Pastry ShopHalloween Reaches PassauTypical Residential Housing Artist Section of PassauDas OberhausInformation Office with Water Flood Marks for Major FloodsOur new friends we met on our cruise Alter at Saint Stephen’s Cathedral Interior of Saint Stephen’s Cathedral Interior of Saint Stephen’s Cathedral Interior of Saint Stephen’s Cathedral Interior of Saint Stephen’s Cathedral This Cracked Us Up – A Texas Steak House in a tiny German Town
In the morning, we took a brief overview tour of Vienna via Viking. It is a wonderful city filled with beautiful buildings and traditions. It is also a dense city with quite a bit of traffic and graffiti. The graffiti surprised me. According to our guide, graffiti is a protected form of art.
I feel like a got a decent overview of Vienna but I probably need to go back. It has museums that are legendary. We did visit the absolutely stunning Saint Stephen’s Cathedral . It is gothic and powerful looking. It is also extremely crowded inside. Everyone wants to snap a few photos. Fortunately, the church charges $7 Euros per person if you want to see the center portion of the church. We did and it was a wise decision. Most people are too frugal to do so. We were were able to escape the feeling of being shoulder to shoulder.
For us, the highlight was seeing the famous ferris wheel that was used in the 1949 Orson Welles movie The Third Man. It’s located in an outer area of Vienna and still has the eerie feeling captured in the movie. No one in Vienna knows about the movie The Sound of Music (filmed in Prague for budget reasons) but everyone knows about The Third Man.
Empress Maria Theresa Standing in Front of Empress Maria Theresa Front of Sisi Museum Downtown Center Vienna Exterior of Saint Stephen’sExterior of Saint Stephen’s Interior of Saint Stephen’s Interior of Saint Stephen’s Interior of Saint Stephen’s Interior of Saint Stephen’s
For our second day in Austria, we spent a fun morning on the roof deck enjoying the scenery as we sailed the Danube. It was cold so we were all bundled up and the Viking staff served us shots of wonderful apricot snaps made locally.
Bundled Up Viking Serving Snaps Cheers Breathtaking Scenery 5-Star Hotel Where Princess Diana Frequented Grape Growing for Wine
In the afternoon, we had the opportunity to visit the Melk Abbey and it did not disappoint! It’s a Benedictine monastery that goes back to 1089. The architecture was beautiful as was the church. We were not allowed to photograph the interior of the church but it was exquisite. Our tour guide told us that there is over 11 pounds of gold inside and I have no doubt about this claim. The tour included both a museum as well as the opportunity to see some of the rooms the Hapsburg family occasionally used when visiting the area.
We ended our visit with a quick stop at the gift shop to purchase some amazing fruit-filled chocolate someone told me about as well a visit to the gardens. Others in our group used the opportunity to purchase some of the local wines produced in the area. The gift shops all had impressive displays of wine for sale.
Stairs between parking and Abbey Gift ShopGift Shop Second Floor Balcony
The only unfortunate part of my visit was that the palace is getting the site ready for the annual Christmas markets so the front area looked like it was partially under construction. That said, this is an amazing place to visit. My husband and I were totally enchanted. We have both visited many palaces, including Versailles, Buckingham and Windsor, this one really excited both of us.
The name of the palace translates to beautiful spring. Its location was chosen for access to fresh water when there were health concerns about the water near the winter palace. Both the location and look of the palace are impressive. This was the Habsburgs summer palace. When it was originally built, the location was in the remote countryside away from the city of Vienna and winter palace. Over the years, Vienna has expanded and the palace is in the city.
The Schonbrunn is Austria’s number one tourist destination and I understand why. It has something for everyone. It is popular with both Austrians and foreign visitors.
The palace itself is huge. In its heyday, it accommodated over 2,000 people. The royal apartment rooms are impressive. The palace even has the bed where Empress Maria Theresa delivered all of her 16 children. The Empress Elizabeth, known as Sisi, lived there, too. Lately, between recent books and the mini series about Sisi, there is a renewed interest in the Hapsburg dynasty.
Interestingly, the Austrian government actually rents out some of the apartments to people. Our tour guide knows someone who rents one of the apartments. In addition, we spotted a bride and groom with a photographer taking their wedding photos. As we were wrapping up our visit, people were getting one of the larger reception rooms ready for a music concert.
In addition to the extensive gardens, there is even a zoo on the palace grounds that dates back to 1752 and is the world’s oldest.
We spent several hours at the palace and were able to see everything we wanted to. The only thing we missed was enjoying coffee and cake at the cafe on site.
I just attended my first Viking River cruise cooking demonstration. The chef and his assistant chef taught us to make apple strudel from scratch! Based on what I saw, I think I can do this at home.
Naturally, the staff served us Mozart coffee while we waited for the demonstration to begin.
The two big takeaways from our chef:
Use vinegar when combining the dry ingredients to make the dough elastic.
Place a cloth towel underneath the dough to keep it from sticking to the counter or other surface.
The best part was enjoying freshly baked apple strudel which the staff served with a delicious vanilla sauce.
The finished product The Baldur Ship Recipe The chef Teaching a Guest Mozart Coffee The Viking Cruise Recipe
The Front Exterior of the Grand Market Our amazing tour guide Anna Marie – a guide with 35 years experience One of Several Honey Stands
Our Viking tour of the Grand Market surpassed our expectations. It helped that our guide, Anna Marie, is a native of Budapest with 35 years experience as a tour guide. It was a small group of us from the ship on the tour. Instead of a tour bus, we walked a few blocks and took the tram several stops to the market. The tram cars were built in Prague and the system goes back to 1887.
Upon arriving in the market building, which is enormous and with multiple levels, Anna Marie walked us around the entire main floor – sharing cultural stories and local traditions as she explained various products. I knew going in that I was coming home with paprika but Anna Marie showed us variations that I was previously unaware of. The night before, our ship’s chef had made the most spectacular goulash; Ana Marie showed us a paste form sold in tubes that is specifically designed for goulash. Hungary is known for its sausages and our tour guide arranged for us to sample an extensive variety – including a delicious one with smoked paprika.
After walking the market with us, she gave us a half hour to shop before the next phase of our adventure. Naturally, John, my husband, and I bought lots of paprika. I spent an average of about $5 per container of Paprika. In addition, we bought an assortment of Hungarian chocolate bars, a few refrigerator magnets and hand painted wooden spoons. John saw a leather booth and picked out a really nice belt. The shop owner measured John’s waist and cut and finished the belt for John. He charged us 20 Euros for the belt – we were thrilled. The leather station was the only place where we paid cash. Just about every booth took credit cards.
We then met with our guide and fellow Viking tourists. Anna Marie escorted us upstairs to a large restaurant where we enjoyed a late lunch of local favorites. We started with small glasses of a plum alcohol that was very strong. I told John I felt like we were drinking rocket fuel; he nodded in agreement. The bread, cheeses, meats and salads were so fresh and delicious. I especially enjoyed a dark smoked ham and a local Brie. My husband hates pickles but I was in heaven. They served us a cheese spread that our waitress called cottage cheese but tasted and looked very different from what we call cottage cheese in the U.S. I normally hate cottage cheese but this was incredible!
For our final dinner in Budapest, the head chef of the Viking Baldur, and his team, prepared a great menu featuring paprika. The salad was served with a delicious dressing which showcased paprika. The showcased entree was chicken and homemade spaetzle noodles served with peppers and a creamy paprika sauce.
For dessert, most of the table ordered the chocolate lava cake which was fantastic. I am a cheese monger when not on vacation so I had to try the cheese plate. I enjoyed it except for one detail. The crackers appeared to be Ritz crackers – really? What a disappointment! My husband roared with laughter; the rest of our table chuckled, too.
On a positive note, during our nightly presentation in the lounge, the chef offered us an amazing smoked salmon mini cone. Both my husband and I loved it.
Early this evening, we started sailing towards Vienna. I cannot wait to see what our chef comes up with. Stay tuned for more!
Fun smoked salmon tidbits served in the lounge Dinner Menu for Second Day Farm Salad with Paprika Dressing Chicken with Paprika Chocolate Lava Cake Cheese Plate
Budapest Parliament building Nina and John in Budapest Budapest Parliament building Castle HillSculpture at Castle HillCastle Hill Fountain at Castle Hill FELIX Bar&RestaurantSparkling wine toast at FELIX
Last night we took a night time tour of the Buda section of Budapest with a local tour guide hired by Viking. It was amazing. The tour was two hours in length and included three stops with wonderful opportunities for photo taking. First, we enjoyed a sparkling wine toast at the restaurant Felix which is located in the historic section of town. Next, we enjoyed a thirty-minute walking tour of the castle neighborhood. This included the Sandor Palace where the President of Hungary lives.We then ended the evening with a stop at the embankment near the Parliament building area for some great photo taking.
I was advised by others to order from the international menu and I am so happy that I followed this advice tonight!
Tonight’s Dinner MenuVeal Salad Beat Goulash Hungarian Dessert with Walnuts
Our dinner was really delicious and interesting. John and I both ordered the identical items tonight and agreed that the goulash was the best version we ever tried. We sat at a table for 6 with two couples from Chicago.
NO time for boredom today 