The Hills are Alive
Our ship docked in Linz this morning, but many of us hopped on a coach this morning heading on a full-day “Sound of Music” tour. Our first stop on this full day was the small town of Mondsee to visit the The Basilica of St. Michael, the church where the wedding scene of Maria and Baron von Trapp was...
Wachau Valley & Melk Abbey
Over lunch we set sail toward Melk, passing through the scenic Wachau Valley. I myself crashed for a power nap, but some others stay on the top deck to catch the site passing by. We docked at the Melk and took a short bus ride to the Abbey. While we waited for our entry into the exhibits, library, a...
Precious Saffron and Divine Providence
This morning we awoke in the most picturesque river valley on the shore of the storybook town of Dürnstien. A very quick coach ride took us to an old train station that had been converted into a workshop space by the local farmer and his family who together grow the world's most valuable spices: saf...
Composers and Palaces
As we hopped on the coach this morning headed toward the Vienna Art History museum, our guide Gabriella gave us some background on the city and some things we were passing by. Nearly a third of Austrian’s population of 9 million live in and around Vienna. The total population of the country crossed...
Sailing to Vienna, Incredible Concert in the City
The afternoon brought a relaxing sail from Bratislava to Vienna, during which we heard a lecture on the Austrian nobility. The highlight for many of us was observing the crew navigate through the boat lock just before Vienna, passing just literal inches from the outer lock wall on the port side and...
"Small but Precious" Bratsliavia
The ship sailed while we slept, and we woke up just a few miles away from the docking at Bratislava, the capital city of Slovakia. We disembarked and walked to the center of this small, charming city. Several groups began the hike up to the castle. While the site has had various settlements since 35...
Final Budapest Exploration
Morning: For our final day in Budapest, we hit the ground running to take in more sights before our departure in the late afternoon. The guide for my group, Vincent, had been the guide for the other morning tour group the day before, and he gave us great local insights into the personality and polit...
Embarking on the S.S. Maria Theresa
Happy Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity! To begin our celebration of the Lord's Day, I seized the opportunity to at last enter St. Stephen's Bascillia and attended the early morning Mass (said in Hungarian). The beauty of it all moved me to tears. Stepping back to the hotel, we enjoyed breakfast, p...
Our First Proper Date with Budapest
After another proper Hungarian breakfast, our group of about twenty travelers split into two for morning walking tours. Separated by the Danube River, the cities Buda and Pest came together to form Hungary's capital city. Our hotel is located in the heart of Pest, and so we stepped directly out the...
Greeting Our Weary Travelers
I arose a new creation this morning after a full night's sleep and popped down for the hotel breakfast. We were greeted by an extensive selection of delicious offerings, of which I partook in many. Included on my plate were local Hungarian sausages and a wonderful stew of tomato, sweet peppers, onio...
Here. We. Go!
Well, folks, I've survived my first-ever transatlantic flight in exemplary fashion, thanks be to God! I departed Charleston on Wednesday around 12noon, arriving in Newark for my overseas connection. In classic New Jersey fashion, my layover included a nice long walk through a crowded terminal, a ste...