Romantic Danube: Flying Home on Lufthansa

Romantic Danube: Overview
Romantic Danube: Flying United from Chicago to Brussels
Romantic Danube: Brussels and continuing to Prague
Romantic Danube: Marriott Courtyard Prague
Romantic Danube: Exploring Prague
Romantic Danube: Boscolo, Autograph Collection
Romantic Danube: Prague to Erlangen
Romantic Danube: Viking Longships
Romantic Danube: Nuremberg, Germany
Romantic Danube: Weltenberg Abbey and the Danube Narrows
Romantic Danube: Regensburg, Germany
Romantic Danube: Passau, Germany
Romantic Danube: Wachau Valley and Göttweig Abbey
Romantic Danube: Vienna, Austria
Romantic Danube: Budapest, Hungary
Romantic Danube: Hilton Castle District
Romantic Danube: Flying Home on Lufthansa

As I've mentioned before, the downside of using miles to fly is that sometimes the flights with available seats are not at the time of day you'd prefer to fly.  That was exactly the situation for this trip as my flight left Budapest at 0630.  But after nearly getting scalded in the shower I was actually fairly wide awake.

When we'd taken the taxi from the Bestla to the Hilton on Saturday, our driver offered to take us to the airport Monday morning, wrote it down in his notebook and gave us his card, promising to be at the hotel at 0400.  We were in the lobby in plenty of time, but he never showed.  We gave his number to the front desk staff member who called his house and woke him up!  Not a great start to the trip home.  But the front desk staff member was able to get another taxi for us in a matter of minutes, so all was well.

While my flight was quite early, C's was nearly 3 hours later on a different airline.  When we arrived, the counter for her airline wasn't even open yet so we had to say our goodbyes there in the check-in area.

Unsurprisingly, my check-in at the business counter for Lufthansa was quite efficient.  The business class seat got me through the priority security line and it didn't take long at all to wind my way through Duty Free and to the appropriate lounge.

Romantic Danube: Hilton Castle District

Romantic Danube: Overview
Romantic Danube: Flying United from Chicago to Brussels
Romantic Danube: Brussels and continuing to Prague
Romantic Danube: Marriott Courtyard Prague
Romantic Danube: Exploring Prague
Romantic Danube: Boscolo, Autograph Collection
Romantic Danube: Prague to Erlangen
Romantic Danube: Viking Longships
Romantic Danube: Nuremberg, Germany
Romantic Danube: Weltenberg Abbey and the Danube Narrows
Romantic Danube: Regensburg, Germany
Romantic Danube: Passau, Germany
Romantic Danube: Wachau Valley and Göttweig Abbey
Romantic Danube: Vienna, Austria
Romantic Danube: Budapest, Hungary
Romantic Danube: Hilton Castle District

As I mentioned in the prior post, we spent a good part of the day on Saturday exploring the flat Pest side of the city before collecting our bags from the concierge on the Bestla and taking a taxi up Castle Hill to our hotel.

We arrived in the late afternoon at the Hilton Castle District by taxi and made arrangements with the driver to pick us up early Monday morning for our trip to the airport.

This hotel has been remodeled within the last couple of years and a lot of the areas still looked quite fresh, including the lobby.  I like the marble floors and the stainless steel-and-wood interior of the lobby.  The bellman took care of our bags while the front desk staff assisted us and very soon we were on our way to our room.

Lobby of the Hilton Castle District
The front desk is at the far end

Romantic Danube: Budapest, Hungary

Romantic Danube: Overview
Romantic Danube: Flying United from Chicago to Brussels
Romantic Danube: Brussels and continuing to Prague
Romantic Danube: Marriott Courtyard Prague
Romantic Danube: Exploring Prague
Romantic Danube: Boscolo, Autograph Collection
Romantic Danube: Prague to Erlangen
Romantic Danube: Viking Longships
Romantic Danube: Nuremberg, Germany
Romantic Danube: Weltenberg Abbey and the Danube Narrows
Romantic Danube: Regensburg, Germany
Romantic Danube: Passau, Germany
Romantic Danube: Wachau Valley and Göttweig Abbey
Romantic Danube: Vienna, Austria
Romantic Danube: Budapest, Hungary

On Thursday evening after returning from the concert in Vienna we were notified that we would be late arriving into Budapest the next morning.  There are many locks and other types of traffic on the river and it all must be coordinated carefully so, as they say, "timing is everything".  While we were disappointed we wouldn't be able to sail into the city (which I had read was a glorious thing), Viking announced that in the morning we'd be stopping out in the middle of nowhere to board motorcoaches which would take us on a scenic drive into the city.  They indicated this situation had happened before and they were well-prepared to handle it.

We awoke Friday morning and this was the view from our cabin.

What a view!
(or should that be "What? A view?")

Romantic Danube: Vienna, Austria

Romantic Danube: Overview
Romantic Danube: Flying United from Chicago to Brussels
Romantic Danube: Brussels and continuing to Prague
Romantic Danube: Marriott Courtyard Prague
Romantic Danube: Exploring Prague
Romantic Danube: Boscolo, Autograph Collection
Romantic Danube: Prague to Erlangen
Romantic Danube: Viking Longships
Romantic Danube: Nuremberg, Germany
Romantic Danube: Weltenberg Abbey and the Danube Narrows
Romantic Danube: Regensburg, Germany
Romantic Danube: Passau, Germany
Romantic Danube: Wachau Valley and Göttweig Abbey
Romantic Danube: Vienna, Austria

This was my fifth cruise of one sort or another and on each one there has been one stop where I wish we could have spent more time.  For this cruise that place was our next-to-last stop, Vienna.

Our trip included a city tour in the morning with optional tours in the afternoon and evening.  In the afternoon the tours included visiting the Schönbrunn Palace, the Fine Arts Museum or accompanying the chef, Marcus, to the Farmer’s Market.

Encircling Vienna is the Ringstraße (the ß is an abbreviation for a double-s in a word, unless it's at the end of the word), a wide boulevard that encompasses much of the older parts of the city.  We boarded motorcoaches that drove us along much of this avenue and soon fell in love with Viennese architecture.  Our route took us past the Opera House, the Parliament building as well as the Hotel Imperial, where foreign dignitaries typically stay when they visit.  Our own US presidents typically occupy the presidential suite though when George W. Bush came to town, the Rolling Stones were settled in the suite and would not leave, so he had to stay elsewhere!

The Parliament Building

A lovely old church

Gorgeous architecture everywhere

Romantic Danube: Wachau Valley and Göttweig Abbey

Romantic Danube: Overview
Romantic Danube: Flying United from Chicago to Brussels
Romantic Danube: Brussels and continuing to Prague
Romantic Danube: Marriott Courtyard Prague
Romantic Danube: Exploring Prague
Romantic Danube: Boscolo, Autograph Collection
Romantic Danube: Prague to Erlangen
Romantic Danube: Viking Longships
Romantic Danube: Nuremberg, Germany
Romantic Danube: Weltenberg Abbey and the Danube Narrows
Romantic Danube: Regensburg, Germany
Romantic Danube: Passau, Germany
Romantic Danube: Wachau Valley and Göttweig Abbey

If you've ever taken an ocean (or large sea) cruise chances are that it included at least one "day at sea" as the distance between ports was too far to reach in one day.  River cruises typically don't have a day without a port of call but having at least a morning or afternoon just spent cruising can be a welcome respite, especially if it's in the middle of a busy week.

While we didn't get to relax on our ship, after breakfast on Wednesday morning we packed up all our belongings and boarded motorcoaches.  The expert Viking staff would take care of transferring our luggage to our new longship, the Bestla.

Once again we had to ride about two hours to get to our next destination, which in this case was a sight-seeing boat on which we'd tour the scenic Austrian Wachau Valley, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  While we stood on deck for a little while, before long it was time for lunch and we enjoyed watching the scenery pass by as we ate.  Once we were refreshed we could better enjoy the sights of the Wachau Valley.

A local church with vineyards in the background

Romantic Danube: Passau, Germany

Romantic Danube: Overview
Romantic Danube: Flying United from Chicago to Brussels
Romantic Danube: Brussels and continuing to Prague
Romantic Danube: Marriott Courtyard Prague
Romantic Danube: Exploring Prague
Romantic Danube: Boscolo, Autograph Collection
Romantic Danube: Prague to Erlangen
Romantic Danube: Viking Longships
Romantic Danube: Nuremberg, Germany
Romantic Danube: Weltenberg Abbey and the Danube Narrows
Romantic Danube: Regensburg, Germany
Romantic Danube: Passau, Germany

With no significant rain thus far on our trip, our longship could travel no further than Regenburg so on Tuesday morning we boarded motorcoaches that took us to Passau, which was about two hours away and is the last major city in Germany before reaching Austria.

Passau has something in common with Pittsburgh and that is that both cities are situated at the confluence of three rivers, or Dreiflüssestadt in German.  In Passau's case it's the Danube, the Inn and the Ilz that all meet at the city's peninsula.  Instead of steel, Passau was known for "white gold" as salt was known in medieval times.  It was a hugely valuable commodity in those days before refrigeration.

While people have been living in this area since at least the second century BC, there are not many ancient buildings around due to a fire that struck the city in the 17th century.  Most of what was rebuilt is in the Baroque style, which was popular at the time.

On the highest point of Old Town sits St. Stephan's Cathedral.  While there have been many churches on this site since 730 AD, this version dates to the mid-17th century and major renovation was done on its interior in the 1972-1980 timeframe.

St. Stephan's Cathedral

One of the towers from a different angle

Romantic Danube: Regensburg, Germany

Romantic Danube: Overview
Romantic Danube: Flying United from Chicago to Brussels
Romantic Danube: Brussels and continuing to Prague
Romantic Danube: Marriott Courtyard Prague
Romantic Danube: Exploring Prague
Romantic Danube: Boscolo, Autograph Collection
Romantic Danube: Prague to Erlangen
Romantic Danube: Viking Longships
Romantic Danube: Nuremberg, Germany
Romantic Danube: Weltenberg Abbey and the Danube Narrows
Romantic Danube: Regensburg, Germany

Once our tour of the Danube Narrows and Weltenberg Abbey were complete, we returned to the Njord for lunch.  That tour was optional (read: extra $$$) so many guests did not choose to go along.  Instead they took the Regensburg city tour in the morning and had the afternoon free.  But for those of us who did take the optional morning tour, our city tour was in the afternoon.

I found it interesting that the locals pronounce the last syllable of the city name as "bourg" - which seems more French to me - rather than "burg" - which I would associate more with Germany.  No matter, we once again boarded the motor coaches which took us for the short drive to meet our guides.

Our tour was of the medieval city center, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and our guide was Hubert.  It was difficult to forget his name because he had a hat with his name on it.  He had a delightful personality and was a member of a local men's choir.  Every now and then he'd burst into song about something related to whatever we were viewing at the time.

The Old Stone Bridge

Romantic Danube: Weltenberg Abbey and the Danube Narrows

Romantic Danube: Overview
Romantic Danube: Flying United from Chicago to Brussels
Romantic Danube: Brussels and continuing to Prague
Romantic Danube: Marriott Courtyard Prague
Romantic Danube: Exploring Prague
Romantic Danube: Boscolo, Autograph Collection
Romantic Danube: Prague to Erlangen
Romantic Danube: Viking Longships
Romantic Danube: Nuremberg, Germany
Romantic Danube: Weltenberg Abbey and the Danube Narrows

Monday morning we docked in the town of Regensburg, Germany and boarded motor coaches that would take us through the countryside, past the retirement home of Pope Benedict XVI, to a dock where we'd board a sightseeing boat that would take through the scenic Danube Narrows to Weltenburg Abbey.

The abbey brews a number of different types of beer and they were available to sample during the first part of our cruise.  Since I don't imbibe it seemed a bit early to me (it was about 10 AM or so) but lots of folks did not think it was too early!  There were non-alcoholic beverages available as well and we all happily munched on some soft pretzels too.

Romantic Danube: Nuremberg, Germany

Romantic Danube: Overview
Romantic Danube: Flying United from Chicago to Brussels
Romantic Danube: Brussels and continuing to Prague
Romantic Danube: Marriott Courtyard Prague
Romantic Danube: Exploring Prague
Romantic Danube: Boscolo, Autograph Collection
Romantic Danube: Prague to Erlangen
Romantic Danube: Viking Longships
Romantic Danube: Nuremberg, Germany

In a previous installment I detailed our journey from Prague to Nuremberg to Erlangen, where we boarded the Njord.  Since Erlangen was only about 20 minutes outside of Nuremberg by train, it seems a little odd to refer to Nuremberg as our first port-of-call, but that's how it's listed in the itinerary.  Once we docked in the city, most of the group went on the included city tour, but C and I had paid extra for the World War II tour.  Viking hires local tour companies to lead tours and fortunately we had no trouble finding our guide.  He did not even need to hold up the paddle to indicate which group he was leading because at 7' 6" this former Davidson College basketball player stood out.

Our first stop was the home of the former Nazi party rally grounds.  Between 1933 and 1938 six party rallies were held in this area.  The entire area is 11 square kilometers and includes both buildings and open space.  The bus let us out at the Zeppelinfeld, an open area that could be used for many purposes, including launching zeppelins, and it is in this area that the Reichsparteitag, or grandstand, still stands.  It was from the podium at the center of this structure that speakers - including Hitler - would rally the troops.  During those critical years a giant Nazi swastika was mounted atop the building behind the podium.  After the war, explosives were used to remove it.

The Reichsparteitag during the Nazi era
By Kurt Wittig (Privataufnahme) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

The Reichspartetiag as it is today

Romantic Danube: Viking Longships

Romantic Danube: Overview
Romantic Danube: Flying United from Chicago to Brussels
Romantic Danube: Brussels and continuing to Prague
Romantic Danube: Marriott Courtyard Prague
Romantic Danube: Exploring Prague
Romantic Danube: Boscolo, Autograph Collection
Romantic Danube: Prague to Erlangen
Romantic Danube: Viking Longships

When you hear the term "cruise" it's likely that conjures and image of a large ship with hundreds of people, partying all night, eating all day and into the midnight buffet.  A Viking European river cruise is nothing like that. There are only three decks with cabins and a sun deck on the top.  At maximum capacity the ships can sleep about 120 passengers.  While there is a bar and a lounge, it's not jumping all night.  I'd estimate the average age of guests to be in the mid-to-late 60s.  For most of us, once dinner is finished, we're done for the night!  Viking guests are typically interested in learning about their ports of call and sometimes in the afternoons or evenings there are lectures about places we're going or local artisans demonstrating their wares.  During our first evening on board, local singers entertained us with regional music including selections from Don Giovanni (enlisting one of our group to sit in for the title character - a non-verbal role) and a sing-along to Edelweiss.  Another night we had a Name That Tune-style contest with intervals of dancing.  (Want to see something to make you shudder, picture a bunch of 50+ers doing the YMCA.)  All in all there's plenty to entertain if that's your choice.

When we booked our trip, we were to sail on the Viking Freya but a few weeks before our cruise began, that ship was involved in a terrible accident that killed two crew members.  We were given notice that we'd sail on the Viking Bestla instead.  In 2014 many of us had taken our first Viking cruise, a trip down the Rhine, and our ship was the Bestla, which was on its maiden voyage.  To have the chance to sail it again was terrific - we'd know exactly what to expect!

But about two weeks before our trip Viking contacted us once again.  Due to low water levels the Bestla was unable to sail all the way to Nuremberg.  So we'd start our journey on the Viking Njord and at some point in the middle of the trip we'd switch over to the Bestla.  While this wasn't ideal, what could we do?  It beat taking the whole trip by bus, that was for sure.

Romantic Danube: Prague to Erlangen

Romantic Danube: Overview
Romantic Danube: Flying United from Chicago to Brussels
Romantic Danube: Brussels and continuing to Prague
Romantic Danube: Marriott Courtyard Prague
Romantic Danube: Exploring Prague
Romantic Danube: Boscolo, Autograph Collection
Romantic Danube: Prague to Erlangen

Since C and I weren't on Viking's official pre-trip tour, they wouldn't help us get from Prague to Nuremberg.  Seems a little silly to me that they won't sell us a bus ticket if we're just going to meet up with them once we arrive.  But that's their policy.

Oftentimes when transiting Europe it's very easy and convenient just to take a train between cities but in this case there are no direct connections between these two cities via rail so we purchased Deutsche Bahn tickets (which I think of as a rail company) on their bus.

South entrance of the Prague Train Station, which faces the Boscolo
 (Photo credit: CC BY 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=718104)

Romantic Danube: Boscolo, Autograph Collection

Romantic Danube: Overview
Romantic Danube: Flying United from Chicago to Brussels
Romantic Danube: Brussels and continuing to Prague
Romantic Danube: Marriott Courtyard Prague
Romantic Danube: Exploring Prague
Romantic Danube: Boscolo, Autograph Collection

While our first two nights in Prague were spent at the Marriott Courtyard because we could each use the free night certificate that came with our Chase Marriott Visa cards (don't have one? I'll be happy to refer you!), we had one more night to spend.  We could, of course, have stayed where we were.  That certainly would have made things convenient. But while we were looking at Prague hotels on the Marriott website we ran across the Boscolo, which is part of Marriott's Autograph Collection.  Our free night certificates are valid on category 1-4 hotels and the Boscolo is a category 8 so we couldn't use the certificates there but while looking at the photos on their website, we just fell in love with the place.  You know that old commercial with the line "don't hate me because I'm beautiful"? Yeah, that's why we picked this hotel, just because it was beautiful.

Not owning a camera with a wide-angle lens, I couldn't figure out how to shoot the front of the building.  Fortunately I was able to "borrow" this photo from the Marriott website.

Boscolo Prague, Autograph Collection

Romantic Danube: Exploring Prague

Romantic Danube: Overview
Romantic Danube: Flying United from Chicago to Brussels
Romantic Danube: Brussels and continuing to Prague
Romantic Danube: Marriott Courtyard Prague
Romantic Danube: Exploring Prague

The primary purpose of our trip to Europe was a cruise that Viking calls the Romantic Danube.  But since we were going that far from home, C and I looked to extend our trip a bit.  Viking offered a pre-trip stay in Prague and a few extra days in Budapest as their official extensions.  While there were some nice things included, C and I decided we'd be fine on our own for a couple of days on either side of the tour.  We knew there was enough English spoken in each city that we'd be OK and it's always kinda cool to be able to go your own way.

The first morning our first challenge was getting to Old Town, where the touring companies are centered.  We exchanged a little money at the mall across the street from the hotel and followed the tram tracks to the nearest stop.  Unless you're at a major station, it's not unusual for there to be no instructions on how to get bus/tram tickets and this stop was no exception.  So I held up some money to the driver in a "how much" gesture and he just waved me off.  Thinking that meant it was free (which was surprising, but not unheard of) we hopped on and rode several blocks towards our destination.  After awhile though we realized that people getting on the tram had tickets in their hand and were validating them on one of the on-board machines.  Oops!  We hopped off pretty quickly so we wouldn't get fined.  Fortunately we weren't too far from our destination.

We found ourselves in Republic Square, a large plaza that was both a transportation hub and a shopping district. Still unable to find exactly where we needed to be, we popped into a hotel where the concierge told us exactly what we needed to know.  Kudos to him for not giving us the "duh, you dumb Americans" look because the street we needed was right in front of our faces!

Republic Square

Romantic Danube: Marriott Courtyard Prague

Romantic Danube: Overview
Romantic Danube: Flying United from Chicago to Brussels
Romantic Danube: Brussels and continuing to Prague
Romantic Danube: Marriott Courtyard Prague

One of the benefits of holding the Chase Marriott Visa is that each year you get a free night at a category 1-4 hotel, just for paying your annual fee.  Or, to look at it another way, you get a discounted rate of $85 for any category 1-4 hotel in the Marriott chain.  Since C and I each own the card, we chose to use our free nights at the only category 1-4 Marriott in Prague, which was a Courtyard.  For our final night in the city we chose to splurge on the Boscolo, which is part of Marriott's Autograph Collection.

We were told that the hotel was completely full for the night though our room had a connecting door and we never heard a peep out of anyone on the other side, which was nice.  We'd reserved a room with two beds and were pleased that they weren't twins but something larger, perhaps double beds.

Romantic Danube: Brussels and continuing to Prague

Romantic Danube: Overview
Romantic Danube: Flying United from Chicago to Brussels
Romantic Danube: Brussels and continuing to Prague

We arrived in Brussels and made our way downstairs and outside to the luggage storage lockers so we could stow our carry-ons while we went into town.  Due to the bombing that had occurred in March 2016, there was an extra security check such that we had to go out to the lockers then re-clear security to come back inside to get to the train platform.

But we found our way to the ticket office, picked up our tickets and did not have to wait long at all for the next train.  Before too long we were in the city center.  C and I walked around the area, just to get our bearings.  Since this is Europe, of course there was an old church nearby so we stopped to take a look around, despite the on-again/off-again mist that was falling.

Romantic Danube: Flying United from Chicago to Brussels

Romantic Danube: Overview
Romantic Danube: Flying United from Chicago to Brussels

One truism that occurs when booking award seats is that you need to be flexible.  That may mean long layovers, indirect routing or not flying on your preferred dates.  But when there are just a couple of people involved, we can usually find flights to suit our purposes.

The trick when booking international award flights is to find award space on the longest legs first and then build connections around them.  We knew we wanted to fly out of Chicago, where my friend C lives, and we found award space on a flight that connected in Brussels.  The flexibility part meant my flight from Memphis to Chicago was before 8 AM while the flight to Brussels didn't leave until nearly 6 PM.  And we landed in Brussels around 9 AM but our flight to Prague wasn't until after 4 PM.  But with a little planning, things worked out.

In Chicago, C picked me up and we drove halfway to Milwaukee to meet another friend of ours for lunch.  It was great fun to catch up and we enjoyed a leisurely meal with a lot of laughs.  In Brussels, as I'll mention later, a Twitter friend drove down to have lunch with us and lead us on a brief walking tour.

Romantic Danube: Overview

Last fall several of us took a Viking River cruise down the Danube.  The cruise officially started in Nuremberg, Germany and ended in Budapest, Hungary.  While my friend C and I considered doing Viking's official pre-trip extension in Prague, Czech Republic and the post-trip extension in Budapest, when we compared what was offered to what we could piece together on our own, using hotel points to offset the cost, we decided to do our own thing before and after the cruise.

As we looked at flights to Prague using our United miles, we had a couple of options: one with a long layover in Brussels and another 2-stop flight.  Not wanting to risk our luggage being transferred any more than was necessary, we went with the stop in Brussels.  It just so happens that I have a Twitter friend who lives in Belgium and she agreed to drive down to meet with us for a few hours.

Later that afternoon we caught our flight to Prague and spent a couple of days there walking the cobblestones of Old Town.  On Saturday we boarded a bus for Nuremberg and we timed it right because it was during the bus ride that we experienced the worst weather of the trip.  Once we arrived in Nuremberg we caught a train for the 20-minute ride to Erlangen, which is the small town where our longship was docked.

Overnight our longship moved into Nuremberg itself and we had our choice of a couple of different tours available.  Over the next several days we had stops at ports in Germany and Hungary and had to change longships mid-trip because the water was so low in some places that our longship could not pass through.

We sailed into Budapest on Friday and had a front-row view to the spectacular lights along the river that night.  When the rest of our group left on Saturday we checked into the Hilton in the Castle District and enjoyed a couple more nights of Hungarian hospitality.

For our return trip, C and went our separate ways.  She used her United miles to return in Business Class on Turkish Airlines via Istanbul while I used my Lufthansa Miles and More points for their Business Class cabin.  Lufthansa is known for opening up first class seats within a couple of weeks of the flight so I had hoped that I'd be able to upgrade as my date approached.  Why was flying first class such a big deal?  Because in Frankfurt, Lufthansa has an entire first class terminal and you get driven directly to your plane in a luxury car.  I'd hoped to be able to try this out but unfortunately had chosen to return home on a Monday, when there are loads of business travelers, so no first class spaced opened up.  Poor me, was "stuck" in business class.

Our flights. Mine in Red, C's in Cyan, joint flights in Pink
Map made at gcmap.com

We had a terrific time and I hope to get this posted fairly quickly.  If you'd like to see Viking's official video ad for the cruise you can see it here.