So what did we think?

We always wanted to go on a river cruise!  We have been on 4 other ocean cruises throughout the years.

 

 

 

Let me first say AmaWaterways is top notch.  The service is outstanding, the food, while on the menu was 5 star looking, Denise and I agreed that taste is about a 3.9 on execution. If you like cruising....and want to get an overview of different cities.... than this is a great option.

 

Denise and I like to plop for a bit in locations.  Plop being ....to stay in the town for 2-4 days.  We like to dig into the history and the details of the places we visit.  The cruise process has you visit a new city/town each day.  Its exhausting and after the first few days it’s impossible to keep track where you have been and what you have seen....never mind differentiating them.  

Again, first world problems…..

 

Don't get me wrong...fantastic trip....but we like to take our time when visiting new locations.  So the next trips will be more about plopping!

 

 

Yeah baby... upgraded to business Class

 We flew from London to Chicago amd then to STL.  The frst leg we were bumped up to buisness class.  It was great.  The service was not as great as we had on the flight to Italy a few years ago.  Same airline....just different level of service....but don't cry for me Argentina.... at least I was not in coach!   LOl

I could get use to that typr of travel.

we left our hotel at 7:30 am  and arrived home at 2 am .....long day of travel. 19 hours  whew!

london day 3

We started the day with one of those crazy donuts....

So our third day we decided to hump back to Buckingham Palace to see the formal changing of the guard.  It's quite the process that included two little parades with their marching bands leading the replacements from the barracks to the palace.  After 45 minutes my feet were killing me and we needed to get to the tower of London ....that happened to be over an hour's walk....so we decided to take one of the famous London black cabs.  They are huge inside and it takes a driver 3 years of training and testing to get a license.  Well worth the experience....our driver Terry was a great source of local knowledge....of what we could understand....his accent was crazy hard!

 

The Tower of London (officially known as "His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London") was outstanding.  We started with an overall tour from a Beefeater.  Very fun and interesting.  We also took the audio tour and walked the place.  We saw where many beheadings happened and the crown jewels but the most beautiful part of the place was the private abbey/chapel.  

Then we wanted to take a look at London Bridge.  It was magnificent....until we realized we were looking at the Tower of London.....not London Bridge.  OK…… so where is the London Bridge? we asked.  Dumb Americans.....London Bridge is just some old bridge....nothing special.  Quite like us finding out the Golden State Bridge is not gold but red....we were humbled by our lack of basic London knowledge.

 

We took a long walk back on the river walk....it was really nice....we actually crossed back over to our side of the river on the London bridge....lol.

We needed to have a quick dinner.  We stopped in at Wagamama,  It was fine....not enough spices and flavor for an Asian bowl place,  We then walked back up Trafalgar Square to see Jersey Boys at the Trafalgar Theater.  It was a great show, a Small theater....just like Broadway.

 

We ended our day by getting a few more of those crazy donuts....they were for our trip the next day though!

 

 Last Day in London

Unfortunately, this day was just about a bust.  We went on a tour by bus.  We visited Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, and Bathe all on the same day.  We left at 7:30am and returned back about 7::30 pm.

If you look at a map and do the math you will see that we were traveling more than half the time.  It was a big disappointment on account that we could only spend 1 hour at each site.  An hour at Stonehenge is fine....but not for Bathe or Windsor Castle.....not!

In my Opinion

    Skip Stonehenge.....watch a documentary... it's really near nothing....takes a long time to get there....and it's a bunch of rocks.....

    Spend a day at least at Windsor Castle....you could even stay right in town at a little hotel they have.  This is fascinating and there is a ton to see.

    Skip Bathe...It was fine, but small and there is so much more to see in London.

Got back late

put in over 10 miles of walking

packed and went to bed

london Day two

Denise was in heaven. 

We found Stack and Still, Pancake Pioneers, on our walk to meeting spot for our tour.  Denise tells me that its a GF place....Im thinking, no worries, almost all breakfast places have eggs......Nope.  This place was not all GF but had GF pancakes......and nothing but pancakes.  Anyone who knows me knows....I have not touched a pancake since I was 10.  If you have a certain alcohol that you can no longer smell due to too much at some point in your life.....that is me with pancakes....the look and the small make we want to gack.  But since Denise has for years taken one for the team regarding menus....I decide to order a dish...worse case I could leave the pancake on the side.  I had one pancake stacked with bacon, sausage, hash browns, baked beans and a fried egg.  It was 5 inches tall.....it was delicious!!!  Of course Denise got the pancakes that were topped with Reece's peanut butter cups, chocolate syrup, apple strudel topping and caramel....just a bit of sugar!

We had the best tour of the vacation today.  It was a walking tour of Westminster....which is not London we are told.....seeing all the major sites.  We ended at Westminister Abbey, where Denise and I took the audio walking tour inside this magnificent building. Our walking tour guide, Thora, was originally from Denmark, but she sounded just like a brit.  No surprise she was a theater major with how this small girl could project her voice over the city noise.  Her breaking out into song also confirmed the theater background!

Durning the tour we saw Buckingham Palace, the changing of the guard.  St James Palace, Trafalgar Square,  Queen Victoria Fountain, the door on Downing street, the mounted guards and the horses and The Mall (Mel), a one mile road that led to Buckingham Palace....a tree lined beautiful walking path.  We also saw the best thing in my opinion....Big Ben.  It is a magnificent piece of architecture.

5 hours of touring.....thank god for the pancakes....but my feet were killing me and I need some self medication.....so we stopped at a little English pub for a beer.....or two.  Denise had a coffee and we sat at the bar chatting up Jack, our bartender.  Denise asked where in London she could get GF fish and chips and luckily for us....his place served it. Not only did he know all about GF....he even informed us that they have a separate fryer!   We told him we will be back and with my mild afternoon buzz, we headed off to China town.

I have been to many cities China towns....London's is the cleanest.  Mostly restaurants.  The streets are all decorated with paper ornaments criss-crossing the streets.  Its a 3-5 block area, worth the walk.

Went back to have dinner at the Old Shades and it did not disappoint.  Denise got her fish and chips I got the chicken/ham pie.  Denise absolutely loved it....It was huge....but we have been training for the past 3 weeks so she gobbled it down without a problem.

We put in over 20k of steps today....thats a lot of walking

London is beautiful....great city...once you get out of the slum we drove through!!  Lots of history and interesting facts.  It reminds me of NYC.....without all the dirt and smells.

Lastly, on our walk back I had to get donut from this little crazy donut shop....should not of done that right before bed....ugh

One other thing....what's up with Men's shops and barber shops.  There are so many suit stores here.....not like on the states anymore....and there is a barber shop on every corner....I do not mean a hair salon....nope..... barber shops for men.

London Day 1

 We had to say goodbye to Budapest....what a great city!  On to London!  We took Wizz Airlines...that's what we thought....Wizz?  In the end it was fine, the seats are not comfortable but its a 2 hour flight and all are luggage made it....so....It was fine.  What was funny was the directions they send before take off.  I received no less than 8 emails in the 2 days preceding the flight.  They wanted us to get to the airport 3 hours before the flight.  This is almost sacrilegious for Denise and I.  We normally get there as the plane boards.  However, we are in Budapest...we are flying Wizz....so we get there 2 hours before the flight.  Not only did we arrive to wait 15 minutes to find out what gate we would be at at.....when we went to the gate there was no one .....and I mean no one.....anywhere near this gate or the 10 gates surrounding us.  Within the hour it filled up.... again, we had an overall had a uneventful flight.

As we drove into London we went the back way....not many highways...Denise and I kept looking at each other....this is London?  It was dirty broken down and just a mess.  We now know that the guy basically brought us through a really crappy part of London.  

We are staying at Apex Temple Court Hotel in Central London.  Trying to find this place was like a going down memory lane to Vienna a few years ago.  It was not as bad as Vienna, but this place is hidden in a court....hard to access and had no signs.  The glass door was etched with Apex Temple...A Luxury Hotel.  The doors we so small, you had to open both of them to pull my suitcase through....the three people n the lobby were all yakking it up seeing me and Denise struggle with the bags....upstairs to the counter....One finally came over and helped Denise.  Then we checked in....turned around and there were our bags all ready form us to hump them to our room.....normally I would not have an issue ....but "Luxury". It should of said 'handle your own bags bitch'.

The Hotel is fine....luxury....no ....but very nice.

By the time we finally got settled, it was dinner time so we found Niche, a little Gluten Free restaurant in the Angel neighborhood.  There was absolutely nothing on the menu, including drinks, that was not gluten free.  Of course, the one thing Denise was most excited about was not available....deep fried onion rings....Denise figured it out.  We both enjoyed our dinners and surprisingly the GF bread they served was very good.

Long day and a 40 minute walk each way to the restaurant brought us back to the Apex earlier....

It rained during dinner (It's London) but we made it both ways without getting too wet.

A first few things In noticed on our walk to the restaurant./. The first is this cool things I noticed ...on the ground in each crosswalk in Big letters.....LOOK LEFT...or.....LOOK RIGHT.....the traffic is on the other side of the road and it is easy to look the wrong way for traffic.  The other thing I noticed are the amount on bicycles on the streets of London.. These people are crazy.  The city is not really set up for all these bikes...but the are zooming around.  You not only have to worry about cars but bikes.  I almost got clipped ...and the guy on the bike doing at least 15-20 mph in a curve never flinched....crazy

lots more on London to come.....

Lat Day in Budapest

 Today we took the parliament tour.  It costs about 50 bucks a person.  We had bought the tickets through a tour agency through Viator.  The first thing we notice....this building is HUGE and we only have a 45 minute tour.  Next, our "guides" collect our info and then go buy the tickets and then send us in without them.   We then take a prerecorded tour of the magnificent building.  It actually was a great tour......but the whole time Im thinking....what did we pay for tour guides for?????

At the end of the tour I went to the ticket line inside of the Building and asked how I could get tickets for the tour I was just on.....yup...on-line at the Parliament website....25 bucks.  Trip Viator will be getting a horrible review for these shenanigans.

After the tour the Prices and us split up.  Denise and I went over to the Jewish Quarter and saw the largest synagogue in Europe.  It was Huge....it was magnificent.  It was also closed for a jewish holiday so we could not go in.  Had a beer across the street while Denise rested her feet.  We then walked around the quarter.....not much to see.  Really was kinda the seedy side of town.  Lots of the crazy night clubs are located in this area.

We then went to Mass at Saint Stevens Basilica.  Absolutely beautiful.  The place is really big and was totally full for the english 4pm mass.

We then hoofed back to the Marriott and had our last happy hour with our Friends, Sherrie and Mike.  We all toasted to this crazy good friendship we have shared for nearly 40 years.  To have not only close friends, but travel buddies for that long is a blessing.....of course it only took a few minutes into the conversation for Mike to ask....When are you guys visiting us in Florida?  !!

We went to dinner at Goulash Alley.....I had veal paprikash with this crazy good potato dish.  It was a flat/round of mashed potatoes and goat cheese, encircled with a piece of bacon....and the top and bottom were crusted over....oh my.

Denise and Sherrie shared a bowl of cold plum soup....they loved it.  I had the potato soup....really good....Mike had a steak!   lol. Mike is not an adventurer in the food department....but he is a good sport about all the crazy places we go.

After dinner we agin strolled back through this beautiful city....back to the Marriot to Pack. 

Budapest Day 1

 Lets start off with.....great city.  Lots of walking Danube...friendly people...unbelievable architecture.

We left our ship to travel to the Budapest Marriott.  I could see the hotel from the boat.  It would of taken me no more than 5 minutes to walk.  Of course we took the shuttle with all the luggage....bingo...only a 30 minute drive.   LOL. Throughout the drive everyone is looking at each other like.....where are we going?

We walked the 16k steps today starting in Buda.  We went to a bathe house.   Hot soak 50 seconds, freezing soak 10 seconds ...repeat.  The cold took your breath away the first time but after few plunges....it was not the worst....close but not the worse.  We were not really impressed with the bathe house at first.....looked like the local YMCA.....then we went downstairs into the very old....very steamy...very musty bathe house .  Crazy cool.  The Hungarians go these places all the time for medicinal purposes we atre told.

We then had a late lunch at Arany Hordo.  I had the best meal since I have left home.  It was a leg of duck with purple cabbage and onion mashed potatoes.  Unfortunately Denise and I share the dish along with some awesome cucumber salad.  Should of ordered the whole thing!

We then went over the the Hospital in the Cave Museum.  This could of been interesting if it was not for the 25 people on the tour and the guide that spoke faster english then me and most of it was under his breath.....never mind the fact he spoke with a heavy Hungarian accent....at times when he was rambling on...I would actually think he was speaking a foreign language.

I am not sure, but falling asleep during the 15 minute introductory film was probably not a great start.  The museum was a bust.

In the evening we went to The Strudel House for dinner.  Since the duck was so good for lunch....and they had the exact offering at dinner....yes you guessed it.... I ordered it again.  I also ordered a vegetable strudel with leek sauce.  Both were excellent....the lunch duck was better.  

The Prices are with us throughout these two days....so there is of course a lot of laughter and conversation.

After dinner we went up to the roof top lounge.  The view was beautiful.  With the Castles, Parliament and all the ships lit up....just beautiful.

Of course when I went back to the room I snuck in the second half of the Michigan game....GO BLUE

Arrive In Buda Pest

 We sailed into Budapest this morning.....just a fantastic way to enter the city.  The parliament is right on the banks of the river and it is such a sight to see.  We took a walking/bus tour in the afternoon.  We had an excellent tour guide.  She was very knowledgable, her english was excellent and she was a native.

A few things about Budapest

It''s the capitol of Hungary and its actually two cites with the river running in between them.

There is Buda on one side and Pest on the other

Pest is pronounced Pescht

1.8 million people....most all of the building and bridges have needed to be rebuilt due to the many wars and insurgencies their country has endured.  Once part of the largest empire in the wold,  Hungary is now a small country with less than 10 million people.  The history of this country is fascinating....but since this is a travel blog and not igh school European history....I will forgo the lesson.

The thing is that most of the rebuilding was done in the style of the original buildings.  They have drawings from when these buildings were built in the 1600/1700/1800.   Not all Hungarians are happy with this.....it costs huge sums of money and the country is lacking in many things.  They have high taxes and a sales tax of 27%.  Their health care and education is lousy....this is per our guide.  For a city of 1.8 million the architecture is that of a city 5-6 times it's size.  

We visited Matthias Church.  It is one of the most unique and beautiful churches you will never see.

We will be here for a few days.....so more to come as we visit this capitol.