Walktober

On Sunday, we joined a Sheltie Walk organized by local members of the FB group Sheltie Lovers of Ontario. It's the third time that local area Sheltie owners have had a walk, but this was the first time I could join them.

I worried about what Teddy would do as he is reactive to other dogs on our normal walks, but he has been good at agility trials. Well, I needn't have worried he was just fine even with all the over excited young dogs and puppies. 

Liam wasn't the only big Sheltie in the group. There was a blue merle named Wilbur, who I think might have been a bit taller.  Liam and Wilbur had a good game of chase when we let them off leash. 

Since it was so close to Halloween, most dogs had costumes on. I forgot Liam's devil horns, but he fit in well with three bi black Sheltie Draculas. Teddy went as a wizard. 

We did more socializing than we did walking but, in the end, we did walk around the large field at the opening of the park.

It was the largest Sheltie meet up they've had so far with 17 Shelties. Lots of sables, quite a few bi blacks and merles but only one tri colour Sheltie. I hope there's another walk over the winter, perhaps a little closer to home. This was a 50-minute drive to the west end of Ottawa. 

It was fun to meet people and their dogs that you've only seen on Facebook.

Post Cruise - Vienna

Another reason for this cruise was that the post cruise extension was in Vienna, a place that I have always wanted to go to, largely because of the Spanish Riding School and the Lipizzaner Stallions. 

Following the tour of Budapest, it was a bus ride to our hotel in Vienna.  What a spectacular hotel! We stayed at the Palais Hansen Kempinski. Amawaterways always uses 4- or 5-star hotels. Some are very American but some are truly unique. It was late in the afternoon when we arrived so after settling in at the hotel, we asked our cruise director for some tips on where to eat nearby. 

Light switches - high tech hotel

Lobby

Our room

The bathroom

Our cruise manger recommended a beer garden at a restaurant close by. We actually walked by it because it looked so small, but we turned around after not finding anything else. We found out that you went through the restaurant into an inner courtyard. We had a delightful meal.

Courtyard garden

The next day in the morning there was a bus and walking tour of Vienna. Again, like many of the tours on this trip things seemed a bit rushed. It was still an interesting tour.  We visited a garden dedicated to Empress Elizabeth of Austria and St Stephan's cathedral.

Horse and carriage behind Peterskirche in Vienna

Stephanplatz and St Stephan's Cathedral

Empress Elisabeth of Austria (Princess Sisi)

Many in our group were going to a Mozart concert that evening. This was an optional excursion arranged by Amawaterways. We had decided not to go to the concert so we had the afternoon and evening on our own to explore. We took the transit out to Schönbrunn Palace. Once we arrived, we found a place to have lunch at the edge of the Palace grounds. We ate outside on the patio. The interior of this restaurant was amazing but except for one group there was no one inside. 

The Golden Throne

After lunch we headed over to walk the Palace Gardens. The grounds are free but you have to pay to go into the palace. The main gardens were very nice and we walked all the way to the top of the hill to get the view of the palace. We certainly got our steps in here. 

We walked all the way to the top.

Schönbrunn Palace

Fountain

View from the top.

Once back in Vienna we looked for a cafe but had a hard time finding anything that looked nice. Most places were just a couple tables right on the street. We finally found a place where most of us decided to have a Viennese coffee, at least that's what the waitress called it. It was so good. We probably should have gone back to this restaurant for dinner. Instead, after going back to the hotel for a while we walked back to see Stephanplatz at night. After having so many great meals, the restaurant Cafe Europe where we ate dinner that evening was quite a letdown. 

St Stephan's Cathedral at night

This was our last night in Vienna and the end of our Amawaterways journey but not the end of our vacation. We had booked train tickets to Prague on a train that left Vienna at 3:10 in the afternoon. This was so I could cross off my bucket list a visit to the Spanish Riding School to see the Lipizzaner Stallions. Ever since I saw the Disney movie Miracle of the White Stallions, I've always wanted to see them. Performances are only on Saturday and Sundays but there are training sessions on weekdays that you can go and watch. I had purchased tickets online before we even left for the trip. I'm certainly glad I did as mostly it is standing room; we had tickets for seats along the side of the menage. You're not allowed to take pictures or video once the riders and horses enter so all I have is the memory. I hope someday to go back to Vienna and see a performance and to have a piece of sachertorte.

After the training session, it was a short walk back to the hotel to finish up packing, put out our bags and take a taxi to the train station. Next post will be about our visit to Prague.

Cruising Life - on the Blue Danube?

I had planned to do a post about each place we visited on our cruise but decided in the end that could be pretty boring so I'm going to do a recap and let you all know a little about life onboard. This was our second cruise with Amawaterways. I think the first time we went with them it was because they were affiliated with CAA/AAA so we got a discount and because they have small pools on their ships; many other river cruise companies don't. Last time we cruised the Rhine River, this time we did the lower Danube River. 

This itinerary, Gems of Southeastern Europe, would see us visit locations in five countries in addition to Romania, we had stops in Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria and Hungary. The Lower Danube is not as populated along the shoreline as the Rhine so this meant we often had long bus rides for the excursions, as a result, the cruise sometimes felt a little rushed. On our Rhine cruise, we sometimes got back in time to enjoy tea before dinner, that never happened on this cruise. 

Our first two stops were in Bulgaria where we visited Veliko Tarnovo and Vidin. Amawaterways always has multiple excursions. Some for more active passengers include hikes and bike rides but usually there are walking tours that are divided by mobility, active, regular and gentle walkers. 

Baba Vida Fortress

Orthodox Chruch

Veliko Tarnovo

Tsarevets Fortress

Pronounced Vidin

The following day it was the scenic cruising day, most every itinerary has one day spent cruising the river. On this cruise we sailed through an area called the Iron Gates between the Balkan and Carpathian Mountains, we ended the day in Serbia at the Golubac Fortress. Unfortunately, this was the only chilly, rainy day we had on the cruise so sitting on deck with a cocktail was not really in the cards. 

King Decebalus, last king of Dacia

Golubac Fortress

Golubac Fortress is called the most preserved medieval fortress, actually I would say it is the most restored. The European Unition spent 8.5 million Euros to restore the fortress including rerouting the highway that use to run right through the ruins.

The next day we would be in Belgrade, Serbia. Amawaterways also offers cultural excursions. Here in addition to our walking tour, we visited the Nikola Tesla Musuem and went to a Serbian Brandy tasting.

Church of St Sava

Nikola Tesla

 

Danube and Sava Rivers

Amawaterways has added a Sip and Sail before dinner, during this time the cruise manager will brief on the activities for the next day. Some specialty drinks, a different selection each night, are included for free as are the wine and beer at meals. They also have what is known as the Chef's Table. It is a small restaurant, where a set wine pairing menu is served; you can book one evening dinner here. If there is availability, you might get a chance to go twice but it is the same menu throughout the cruise.  Following dinner, there are often entertainers brought onboard, usually folk groups, dancers, musicians or singers. There is also a piano player onboard to keep things lively in the evening.  Please ignore my singing in the dance party video.

Sip and sail Cocktails

Dance Party

The next day, we went on a tour of Novi Sad, Serbia and in the case of my sister and I to a Croatian wine tasting. The others in our group went on the tour of Novi Sad, Serbia and then on a tour of Vukovar, Croatia. In Novi Sad, the guide explained to us that all the bridges were relatively new. All the bridges had been bombed in 1999 by NATO during the Yugoslav war. NATO bombed this city without the concurrence of the UN Security Council, not that they needed it, but it was the first time that had happened.  I was in the military then, how quickly we forget our history.

Amaverde in Novi Sad, Serbia

The last full day saw the boat docked in Mochacs, Hungary. We visited Pecs (pronounced Pesh) a city founded by the Romans nearly 2000 years ago, where we saw St Peter's Basilica and the Christian catacombs. This was one of two occasions where the ship docked to drop us off on our excursions and then sailed to another location to pick is up.

St Peter's

Christian catacombs

Inside St Peter's

AmaVerde sailing in to pick us up.

The last day had us sailing into Budapest, Hungary where we would disembark; some passengers were on the Grand Danube cruise and so had another 7 days onboard. There's a Captain's Farewell Dinner on the last night, where they introduce all the staff and crew. After our luggage was loaded on our buses, we would have a bus and walking tour of Budapest with lunch in the busy Grand Market before heading off to our post cruise in Vienna.

View from Fisherman's Bastion

Hero's Square, Budapest

Grand Market

This post is longer than I had planned so we'll leave off here, except to say this was not a part of the world I was familiar with so getting to see it was quite interesting. I would love to go back to Belgrade as there was a beautiful waterfront and to Budapest as really, we only had a few hours there and there was so much to see. Next up, our post cruise in Vienna.