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.