Saturday, October 3, 2015
So we seemed to get into higher water levels over night as
they were running all out most of the time. Occasionally, the engines slowing would
wake me up so I guess those were the low spots, but it was clear we were trying
to make up lost time for Bratislava in the morning. We also went through a very
tall lock and that woke me right up and I went and looked out. We were only
about 30 minutes late arriving in Bratislava. We docked during breakfast
instead of by 7:30am. That meant that we were up and had the curtains open about
7:10am when we entered a narrow debris and islet strewn section of the Danube
that was covered with birds! Mostly large white birds. We got out the
binoculars and they were mostly swans. It was amazing. We’ve only seen that
many swans in one place before during the overwintering near Lake Mattamuskeet.
We also saw a lot of ducks, a coot, seagulls and quite a few egrets. I took a
chocolate coffee from the Amadeus Club to breakfast because I like it a lot
better than the brew they serve in the restaurant. I also ordered a ham and
cheese omelet today. It was huge. I didn’t finish it. That would definitely
only be a weekend meal. Today’s special item on the buffet was sautéed
mushrooms. I will hope for something I like tomorrow!
Today’s tour started at 9am. We left at the first call to
exchange our giant key fobs for giant landing cards and to get our audio
devices and tour tickets. When we got to the lobby it was very chilly and
people were bundled up. I started to back up and ran into Clay. I said let’s go
back and get jackets. He said after and so we went on to the desk. Then we
started back down the hall again when we realized we didn’t have keys and
couldn’t get back in the cabin. So, we crossed on through the first 2 moored
boats and found our purple guide on the dock. He wanted us to stay there while
he rounded us all together. That was unfortunate because it was really windy
and a biting cold wind. Finally, he either called time or reached 33 and we
left and walked about a block to the bus. We are docked right under a bridge with
a restaurant called UFO atop it! We are right below Bratislava’s castle and
parliament as well. The bus tour drove us through the hill top ambassadors’
residences among other big view homes to a hill top monument to killed Soviet
liberators from the Nazis. There was a 15 minute or so photo stop there for the
views. Then we drove down to the Castle and had about 40 minutes there for photos
of the view again and restrooms for .70 Euro and some free time. I got a
Slovakia flag patch for 1 Euro and used the toilets. Then we drove on into
downtown’s pedestrian district. We got out there are walked for about 30
minutes and then had 30 minutes free time to make our own way back about 3
blocks to the boat. It was a nice morning. The sun shone brightly and it did
warm up to around 70F but the wind stayed chilly if you caught it. The guide
told us about their local cookies or pastries that were crescent shaped and
stuffed with either poppy seeds or walnuts. We found some and got one of each. They
were all right, but no chimney cakes! We got back onboard about 10 minutes to
noon which was all aboard and sailing time. We didn’t sail for at least another
20 minutes. I don’t know what the delay was. We had to get disengaged from the
other 2 boats. We went up top to watch. Then we went and checked the lunch menu
and decided to eat the light buffet in the lounge again and so did our table
mates again. I had the pesto linguine. Dessert was Black Forest cake and I hate
chocolate and cherries together. We could see that we were approaching a ruined
fortification and the CD said it was by a river that marked the entry into
Austria. So we went back up top and since it was chilly in the wind I got a hot
chocolate for my dessert from the Amadeus Club on the aft one floor down. The water
is very low!
Oh, I had asked about my name spelling and the train ticket.
They say they will correct my name but blame me for not providing it correctly.
I assured them that my final cruise documents had my name spelled correctly but
they don’t care. Simona told me the tickets came to her by email and there is
nothing she can (or will) do to change them. Clay and I understand that she did
nothing about it. She said it was an email from their home office and I guess
she can’t be bothered to contact them. OK. She and the receptionist both
assured us that no one would compare my name to my passport for the train which
gibes with our experiences this spring in Schengen. Simona told us to ask the
car attendant on the train to see if we could sit together. We figured that
already or ask someone sitting near one or the other of us if they’ll switch.
But, honestly for the money we paid Amras Cruises, we expected a lot better
effort.
We have the entire afternoon free. Basically the entire
evening too. There is a Viennese tea/coffee, which I will skip since I don’t
love either apple strudel or Sacher torte. This is followed by Simona’s talk on
Viennese coffee house culture. Since we spent hours in them in 2003 I think we
already get it so I’ll skip that. Dinner is supposed to be Austria. I expect
schnitzel. We should dock around 7:30pm. There is an optional pub hopping
evening tour that last we heard did not have the minimum 20 person enrollment.
We planned to stay in anyway. Tomorrow night is an included Viennese music
program after a day of touring. We need to rest today while we have the chance.
I haven’t had a nap since we got to Europe almost 3 weeks ago. I have a plan…
