Day 3: Prage to the Danube

Day 3:   Monday December 13^th.

Happy 4^th birthday Lillian!

Three busloads boarded at 8.30 am for the road trip to  where our ship is moored.  We discovered that the reason the ship can’t get upstream as far as Nuremberg is that when the water level is too high, it can’t get under the bridges.  So we ended up joining the ship quite a few kilometers, I think about 150, away from Nuremberg and I understand the plan is for us to be bused there tomorrow. 

What a wonderful day we had, driving through the magical, fairytale countryside which was blanketed in snow. 

We stopped for lunch in the medieval town of Chesky Krumlov, nestled into the hills and on a bend in a river.  The walk into the town square led over the river and under a magnificent double-storeyed Roman aquaduct which has, in some century since the Romans built it, been topped with another double-storeyed structure.

I think Cinderella was the fairytale which most came to mind as we wound our way through the narrow cobbled streets of the town.  It was bitterly cold and we were glad to find a restaurant where we were adventurous enough  to order a totally unknown soup.  The waitress was the first person we have come across with whom we could not converse in English and so she was unable to tell us what the soup was.  It turned out to be a delicious creamy onion/celer/potato soup and was very good.  The restaurant had a very quaint feature – all the tables were on top of old treadle sewing machines.   Some nice upholstery on the seats instead of the yellow vinyl would have added to the atmosphere.

We were, at that point,  totally unaware of the treat which awaited us on our afternoon drive.  The route took us, not along a fast freeway, but along a smaller, quiet road which wound its way through quaint Czech villages and beautiful forests.  How glad we were to be sitting at the front of the bus and so were able to get some shots through the unfortunately rather dirty windscreen.   It was an unforgettable treat – a drive that will be etched into my memory for ever.

              

We boarded our ship, the Amalyra around 4.30pm.  It was good to unpack our things, knowing we are staying put for nearly a week.  It was while we were dressing for the welcome dinner that Roger discovered that although he had taken care to pack not one, but two pair of bathers – yes you have read correctly – bathers, for our winter holiday,  he has failed to include some dressy pants!!  I wonder if we can disguise track pants as slacks for the Mozart and Srauss concert in Vienna???

We were welcomed into the dinner by the captain, who presented each of the women with a long stemmed red rose.  The meal was sumptuous –a full a la carte menu.  We chose asparagus cappachino soup followed by linguini pasta and a compote of icecream and blackberries to finish.  The restaurant service was first class and we had a very nice American couple for company.

The passenger list of 100+ is mostly American or Canadian, with a few Aussies and I think one couple from Scotland.  Those we have chatted with have all been very nice.  We are amongst the younger people, but the majority would be in their sixties.   There is one family with two young girls – the little one only about 7. 

Well after dinner we went straight to bed, but I have now got up again and am the only one sitting in the lounge which is beautifully decked out for Christmas.  There are some crew still wandering through from time to time as I write my blog.  I am taking Marnie’s advice and am religiously writing my blog at the end of each day, no matter how tired I am, because I know that otherwise it will not be written.

I am hoping that now we have unlimited internet access, I will be able to successfully publish it daily (at least while we are on the cruise).   Apologies if you have been waiting to see the blog posts.  I had to send an SOS email to find out what the links at the top of blogspot are because when I had one precious hour of internet time at our Prague hotel (I say ‘precious’, because it cost $20 for that hour, so I was obviously not too keen to buy more than one hour), everything was written in Czech.  I am hoping that now when I get onto the blogspot page, I will be successful in posting not only this page but the two previous ones which are still waiting to be posted.