The cruise went from Budapest, Hungary to Amsterdam, Netherlands and
included the Danube, Main and Rhine rivers.

Budapest

We arrived in Budapest a day before the cruise and stayed in a hotel on the Daunbe

We explored the nearby attractions - This is the Chain Bridge

The view from our hotel room was spectacular

We boarded our cruise ship the next afternoon
the Amadeus Silver is 135m long and has 89 cabins

The first night we took a cruise on the Danube to see the night time sights in Budapest.
This is the Hungarian Parliment building.

The next day we took a city tour

And then we began our cruise on the Danube passing the Hungarian Parliment again

Bratislava, Slovakia to Emersdorf, Austria

Our first stop was Bratislava, Slovakia. We found this interesting statue on our tour of the town.

Here's another interesting statue

This bridge built during the Soviet era has a revolving resturant on top

We cruised with members of various university alumni associations from around the country.
Represented were members from Mizzou, Purdue, Texas, UCLA, Washington and Wisconsin.
We traveled with Jim & Gloriann Duncan (3rd & 4th from the left).

Next stop was Vienna. OPEC was meeting in this building when we were there.
We didn't spend nearly enough time here. We will have to come back and spend several days.

Next stop was Durstein, Austria on June 4.
This was the day for the Feast of Corpus Christie an important holiday here.

They covered the streets with straw and paraded in traditional dress.

Then we went up river a bit and toured the Melk Abby in Emmersdorf, Austria

This is an example of many beautiful painted ceilings we saw here.

We also walked through the Melk Abbey Garden which had several interesting features.
Two are shown here.

Passau to Bamberg, Germany

We then went to Passau, Germany where we were treated to an
Organ recital on the largest church organ in the world.

Next stop was Regensburg where we had a walking tour of the city.
They don't decorate churches like this anymore.

The detail of the interior and exterior was breathtaking!

Next stop was Weltenburg Abbey with another painted ceiling.
Note the statues of angles and other things hanging over the edge.

After we toured the Abbey, we took a small boat cruise back down the Danube to Kelheim
where we boarded our cruise ship. This is where we left the Danube and entered a canal that
connects the Danube and Main rivers. The canal included over 30 locks the first few of which
were interesting and then we stopped noticing them.

The food on the trip was very good and well presented.

Next was Nuremburg where we toured Nuremburg Castle and this square with
an animated clock on the church on the left.

The guards lifted their trumpets and characters paraded around the king.

Next was a walking tour of Bamberg, Germany. This is the City Hall.

Note the 3D leg sticking out of the painting.

Rothenburg, Germany to Amsterdam, Netherlands

On Tuesday, June 9th it was Rothenburg, Germany.
This is another interesting animated clock.

We got lots of free time in most villages so we could spend our money in the
shops that were obviously there for the tourists.

It's Wednesday, June 10. It must be Miltenburg, Germany.
We had local tour guides in each village who took us through to the other end of town
where the tour ended so we could shop our way back to the ship.

This is a Miltenburg wine cellar that was dug 100 m back into a hill.
Here we got samples of the local wines.

Then we passed by Frankfurt (but didn't stop) and entered the Rhine River where there were many castles.

Here are a few of them.

Next we did a walking tour of Cologne. These statues were near where we docked.
We docked next to a Chocolate Factory/Museum.
I went out for a bottle of wine and stopped by the chocolate place first and came back with chocolate and no wine.

The highlite of the tour was the Cologne Cathedral.

The trip ended in Amsterdam where we had a boat tour of some of the many canals.
This is some of what we saw.

This is one of the oldest canal draw bridges in Amsterdam.

We got to spend some time in the Rijksmuseum - the main place for Dutch art and the Van Gogh Museum.

 

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