Viking Grand European River Cruise

On May 18,2022 we flew from Seattle to London and onto Budapest, Hungary where we did a two-day pre-extension at the Hilton in Budapest. Below is the parliament building at sunset. On May 21 we boarded the long boat, SKADI.  Our friends, Sue and Rich, joined us the cruise.

 Our itinerary was:

Vienna and Melk, Austria,

Passau, Nuremburg, Bamberg, Wurzburg, Wertheim, Koblenz, and Cologne all in Germany,

Kinderdijk, The Netherlands, Disembark in Amsterdam

After leaving Budapest we travelled to Viena, Austria.  We did a walking tour where we caught a glimpse of the Lipizzaner stallions and saw St. Stephens Church.

Passau was a small walkable beautiful town.  In the afternoon we hiked up to Veste Oberhaus and had some amazing views.  The church has a pipe organ and we were able to hear it for a few minutes after mass let out.

We did a day trip to Rothenburg.  We had seen this lovely walled city when we did the best of Europe tour in 2007, but it was fun to see it again.  We toured the town, had lunch, and then some free time to explore.

In Wertheim Connie did the castle hike while Bob did the town walking tour.  The hike was lots of fun.  In the spring they bring goats to keep the grass mowed and have a huge festival.

On the Rhine we had a day where we saw oodles of castles.  Here are a few pictures.

In Cologne we did a walking tour and enjoyed the sight of the Cathedral at night.

The last day on the river was a visit to the windmills at Kinderdijk, The Netherlands. We visited a windmill and were able to climb up inside. The story of the cradle is that a cat was found rocking the cradle from side to side to keep it from tipping over during a flood.

And we saw lots of swans.  We so much enjoyed them.