Bill's Travels

BillB

Well-Known Member
Messages
633
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
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Impolite people, yobbish behaviour, pretentious people.
We boarded the train, first class reserved seats being part of the package. The train pulled out and we started chatting with the couple sitting in the adjacent seats.We were the objects of a certain degree of curiosity among our fellow travellers, having joined the group in Brussels rather than at St Pancras. We told them about ourselves and learned something about them in return. They seemed a likeable couple and we talked to them until the train pulled into Frankfurt where we had to change.

The new train took us all the way to Wuerzburg and we got to know more members of the group on the final leg of the journey. A bus was waiting to take us to the hotel when we disembarked and we were quickly installed in our room with our luggage. We had never stayed in a Maritim hotel before and we found this one to be excellent.

After a freshen up we adjourned to the restaurant where a buffet meal awaited us.We joined others of our group at a table for 6 for dinner and then stopped off in the bar for a digestif with them. Others from the group sat with us as they left the restaurant and we ended up with a very jolly group. By the time we collapsed into bed we decided that this group looked distinctly promising.

Next morning it was a buffet breakfast before the short bus journey to the station. Once again it was first class seats and once again we found ourselves sitting with a couple from our tour.We found them to be friendly and the kind of people we knew we would get on with.

We ordered sandwiches from the young lady who was taking orders for food and drinks, which would serve as our lunch. We travelled until mid afternoon when we arrived in Passau where we would join our ship. It was a very short drive to the dockside where our ship, the Amadeus Royal, was docked. We disembarked and identified our luggage which was being unloaded. A bright pink label was attached to each bag with an identification number. This turned out to be the number of our cabin and once our bags were duly marked we were free to board. In the reception area, which was entered directly from the gangplank, we were offered drinks, given our keys and joined by the ship’s cruise manager, who gave us a brief introduction to the ship and how to find our cabins. Once we had been issued with the keys to our cabin we were free to go, unpack our bags, freshen up and relax for a while before dinner was served.

Our cabin was on the top deck, port side, about a third of the way down the corridor. Nicely placed for both the dining room and the bar, we agreed. We had upgraded to a junior suite as Jackie couldn’t tolerate being below the waterline. The cabin itself was quite spacious with floor to ceiling windows which gave us a panoramic outlook. The bathroom was completely equipped with shower, sink and toilet. All in all, a pleasant enough space to spend most of the next 15 days.

After sticking my head under the tap and changing clothes we were ready to go out and explore our surroundings for the next couple of weeks. We turned left outside our cabin and made our way to the reception area and then a little further on we found the Panorama Bar where we ordered a couple of drinks and joined another couple from our group who had already ordered theirs. Then came a safety briefing in English. After that we studied a list of optional excursions along the way and decided which ones we fancied. The prices seemed reasonable to me and we decided to sign up for several of them. There were five excursions included in the initial cost of the cruise which took in the five capitals we came to as we moved down the river.

There were three national groupings on board: German, the largest group; British, the next largest, and French, who were the smallest.

Another couple came along and joined us and we all sat staring out of the windows as the ship got under way. Passau is where the river Inn joins the Danube. Anyone familiar with the Austrian skiing resort of Innsbruck will be familiar with the Inn, which flows through the town where the water, melted ice and snow from the mountains, is an icy green.

Just as we passed the mouth of the Inn dinner was announced and we headed towards the stern where the restaurant was situated. Each tour group had their own tables and we chose where we wanted to sit (by the window, naturally).

Our tour manager, Grahame, told us that we could sit at any of our designated tables but we had to remain at that table for the remaining meals that day. This was because at breakfast we ordered lunch and at lunch we ordered dinner. To keep changing tables during the course of the day would leave our poor waiters hopelessly confused. We accepted this as eminently sensible, not least because if you got stuck with someone you couldn’t stand on the first day your meals would be a misery for the rest of the cruise.

We found ourselves on a table with the couple we had met first on the train. We had a good meal and they're good company. The serving staff were friendly and willing, the wine flowed freely - the wine waiters circulated constantly, refilling any glasses that fell below the full mark.

After dinner we adjourned to the bar and after an hour or so we returned to our cabin and dropped into an exhausted sleep as the ship plowed onward.
 
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BillB

Well-Known Member
Messages
633
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Dislikes
Impolite people, yobbish behaviour, pretentious people.
When we woke up next morning we were still cruising along. We had a leisurely breakfast and passed the time in reading in the lounge and chatting with our fellow passengers. We watched the passing scenery and went up on deck when we passed through a lock,to watch the process. The Danube is a working river and there’s a lot of traffic - barges, river cruise ships and leisure craft. The barges are often towed along four at a time tethered together while others are tethered to each side of the boat that powers the whole kit and caboodle. They can be a fearsome sight when your ship moves into a lock and you look behind to see a collection of boats heading straight for you and they appear to be only slightly narrower than the lock itself, so when they enter the lock they really are only just narrower than the lock, only a foot or two of leeway to each side. It’s boat handling of the highest order.

We were due to arrive in Vienna during lunch (which was early at 11.30) and after that we would leave for a city tour. Neither Jackie nor I had ever been to Vienna before so we were looking forward to the visit.

Halfway through lunch I noticed that it had started to rain, just gently at first but it grew harder as the meal went on. By the time we were due to join our coaches it had set in to a regular downpour. Jackie and I had brought an umbrella with us, unfortunately just the one. I put on a rainproof jacket and my Tilley hat while Jackie had the umbrella.

We were given a useful little gadget which hangs around your neck and into which you plug a pair of earbuds. This allows the tour guide to talk to all of us simultaneously in English. For other languages you simply change the channel, and you don’t get distracted by guides speaking to their tourists in another language.

The first part of the afternoon was taken up with a bus ride around the city’s most outstanding buildings, most of which were built during the heyday of the Austro-Hungarian empire. There are so many that are outstanding, even by today’s standards that it’s impossible to decide where to begin. We passed the Prater fairground where Orson Welles and Joseph Cotten had a rendezvous on the big wheel in the film The Third Man. Then in the inner city we passed so many magnificent buildings built in classical style, many of them built by the Hapsburgs, that we felt we needed more time to explore them. Eventually the bus parked and we followed our guide out into the rain and walked through the streets until we reached St Stephen’s Cathedral with its magnificently coloured roof. I always feel that sharing an umbrella serves no purpose whatsoever - both of you get wet, whereas if one of you uses it at least the bearer is dry. Our guide left us to explore the cathedral on our own. She arranged to meet us in an hour and a half’s time outside, and when we emerged Jackie and I wondered how we could fill in the remaining period. By then we were soaked, my hat was saturated and my shoes were squelching so after looking around us we headed for one of those cafes for which Vienna is famous. It was pretty full but we managed to bag one of the few remaining tables and ordered coffees. I was so cold and wet that I threw my diabetic caution out of the window and ordered a slice of hazelnut cake to go with it. So did Jackie. And they were delicious.

I had taken my hat off and hung it over the back of the chair, hoping it would drip dry a little, but when it came time to join our guide again it seemed to be as wet as ever and was cold and clammy into the bargain.

On the way back to the bus we passed through the Spanish Riding School where we were at least out of the rain for a short while.

On our return to the boat Jackie and I returned to our cabin to strip off our sodden clothes and take a shower to warm up, then it was along to the bar for an aperitif before dinner.

After dinner we joined a group of our cruising companions for a drink before falling into bed and sleeping soundly as our ship steamed along during the night heading for Esztergom in Hungary.

We took a not particularly early breakfast and sat sipping our coffee as the ship docked in Esztergom. Those who had signed up for a tour of this town and Szentendre disembarked for their buses. Once they had left the ship departed for Budapest where we arrived around 11.30.

The cruise along the Budapest riverside buildings was amazing as I had never known how beautiful this city is.
 

BillB

Well-Known Member
Messages
633
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Dislikes
Impolite people, yobbish behaviour, pretentious people.
By day, the Hungarian parliament building is magnificent, another memorial to the time that Hungary was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire and the inheritance of the Hapsburgs. Shortly after we docked a number of us set off for the market which we were told was just behind the quayside where we were moored. A short walk brought us to it - an enormous, two-storied building, literally no more than 300 metres away. So large was it that we decided we would all split up and go our separate ways until it was time to return to the ship for lunch.

Being a keen cook I always like to amble around the food stalls - fruit and veg, meats and sausages - but keeping the bakery items for a quick look at the end. Bakeries are too tempting and their offerings too high-carb for a low-willpowered diabetic, so I like to leave those till last when I have only a short time left.

The main item to intrigue me was the radishes on sale at several stalls. I stopped dead when I caught sight of them as they were simply the largest radishes I had ever seen. A bunch of radishes would require two people to carry home. (Yes, I’m exaggerating - but not by much.) When we lived in Spain the radishes were large, but pygmies compared to the Hungarian ones. And they seemed to be quite normal as nobody else but the tourists thought they were out of the ordinary. Think of a nice, red radish, slightly larger than a tennis ball. Now you have an idea. One of my favourite snacks is a piece of blue cheese with a couple of radishes, but one of these radishes would have required a couple of pounds of gorgonzola to accompany it.

Another item different from those we were used to were the parsnips - long and thin with the top being no more than an inch in diameter. I’m still not sure how to cook them - probably give them a good wash, trim the foliage and the long, stringy root and cook them in boiling water with a little salt.

The variety of salami was also amazing, though I don’t like the taste of salami and never eat it. Nevertheless, the different varieties were probably as varied, if not more so, than in Italy.

Ham was another product that was available in numerous forms. There was, of course, the regular ham normally called York ham, but the other varieties seemed endless, from the dried hams to the Parma types, then those preserved by salting. Had we been at home I would have bought several types, just to try them out. They all looked delicious and their aromas were mouthwatering.

Pastry shops abounded, as did sweet shops but this time my willpower was strong and I was able to look without being consumed by longing.

It seemed no time at all that lunchtime was close at hand and we hadn’t had time to climb to the upper floor, but I wasn’t too downcast about that as it was mostly handbags and leather goods. Jackie isn’t a great one for shopping, not even for handbags (am I a lucky man, or what?) so we left the market and made our way back to the ship to freshen up and make our way to the restaurant.

We were both looking forward to the afternoon tour of Budapest that was on the schedule and we collected our cameras, jackets and umbrellas in case of rain soon after we had eaten and made our way to our bus.

For those who have never been to Budapest the city used to be two cities separated by the Danube. They were called, not surprisingly, Buda and Pest. They became one city in 1873 and it is known as Hungary’s Primate City. Here endeth the lesson.

Anyway, our bus took us on a tour of the city before dropping us off at Heroes’ Square, a monument to the Hungarians who lost their lives during the Hungarian Uprising in 1956. This is a beautiful memorial which attracts people from all over the world. We wandered around the square, listening to our guide over our little receivers and earbuds. We also saw a “beerbike”, one of the most comical vehicles I’ve ever seen. Passengers sit on each side, facing inwards and pedalling away while the vehicle goes ahead with the passengers travelling sideways. The price of the ticket includes glasses of beer for the pedallers. Thus the passengers get a tour of Budapest, a fair amount of exercise and numerous glasses of beer. Many people stopped and stared in astonishment as the first one they had ever seen passed by. If you want to see what a beer bike looks like have a look at www.beerbike.hu. You can find a version in English on the home page (just click on the Union Flag).

From Heroes’ Square we rejoined our bus which took us to several churches, then to the Citadel, which is an old fortress with a magnificent outlook over the city. We had time to wander around, take photos and even relax a little.

Our next stop was St Matthias Church, another spectacularly beautiful creation, which we reached after a stroll through a very pleasant area of streets lined with traditional shops. Close to the church we found Fisherman’s Bastion, another delightful building of elegantly curved turrets and battlements from which the visitor has an unparalleled view over the Danube and the city, with the parliament building inexorably drawing the eye.

After we had come back to earth from viewing this sublime view we stopped for a coffee where over the course of 20 minutes or so we were joined by many of our fellow travellers until it was time for the bus.The drive back to the boat took us past some of the great buildings that have gone up since the fall of communism. I had had no idea in advance just how remarkably beautiful Budapest is and we agreed that it should be on everyone’s bucket list.

We got back to the ship in time for a quick scrub up and then to adjourn to the bar for an aperitif before dinner. Boy, does a Glenfiddich taste good after an outing like that!
 
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BillB

Well-Known Member
Messages
633
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Dislikes
Impolite people, yobbish behaviour, pretentious people.
Our dinner that evening was as good as it always was on board and after that we adjourned to the bar to await darkness when the ship was going to cast off and cruise past the Budapest sights at a time when they were all illuminated.

I set my camera up for low light photography as the ship cast off and we climbed the exterior stairs to the sun deck where we would have the best views.

We cruised back the way we had come and once we were past the city the ship did an about-turn and headed downstream. What a sight! The parliament building, the bridges, the castles, the churches, the cathedrals, were all either illuminated from the interior or on the exterior by floodlights. Everything seemed to have been covered in gold for the night. This pass down the Danube was so enchanting that I missed several good shots because I was so distracted by the city’s sheer beauty.

Once Budapest was behind us Jackie and I set a course for the bar where we found a table and ordered drinks. All too soon a woman named Sally plonked herself down in the seat next to me and my stomach dropped. Her husband was one of those people I had developed a sharp dislike to as I had found him conceited and too full of himself.He had got on the wrong side of me early on as he heard me speaking German to one of the hotel staff in Wuerzburg at at the beginning of the holiday and then began to tell me how he had been a civil servant and had had to negotiate on behalf of the British government with his German counterparts. He then went on to tell me all the instances he had made what he thought were jokes to the German negotiators - vile things about the concentration camps. He then went on, “They just laughed and said, ‘You’re the only one who can get away with that, Terry.’ I didn’t believe a word of any of it - I’ve come across a few people in my time who try to enlarge their careers and work and I’ve developed a pretty good eye for them. Furthermore, it seemed to me that if you are going to negotiate it’s not the best policy to insult the people you are negotiating with. He certainly irritated me as I was impressed with how seriously the younger Germans took their democratic rights and obligations when I was living in Germany. Furthermore, Germany has faced up to its past, admitted the evils of the Hitler regime and got on with rebuilding their country and its institutions, as well as rebuilding its relations with other countries.. Let’s call this twerp Terry, because that was his name. I can’t stand the kind of British person who hasn’t realised the war ended over 70 years ago. I know what the Germans feel now at these jibes as I begin to feel the same whenever the politically correct idiots keep banging on about Britain’s involvement in the slave trade. I made a point of avoiding Terry whenever he came within range of me.

However, there I was stuck next to his wife and along he came and sat down next to her. At least I wasn’t trapped next to him! His wife started talking to me and I responded as politely as I could, even though she had a screeching voice that felt like having something sharp jabbed into my ear. She mentioned owning cats so, wishing to appear sympathetic, I got out my mobile phone and showed her a couple of pictures of my son’s kittens. That was a mistake. She set off on a long, long, extremely boring story about her sister adopting a stray cat in Egypt and the saga of bringing it back to Britain. Aren’t there enough stray cats in Britain, I wondered to myself. On and on she droned and then I called up one of my God-given gifts - the ability to switch off a person as boring as this while nodding and smiling in the right places - all the while letting my own thoughts roam free. Then she said something about a black and white cat that brought me up dead. I hadn’t heard anything about a black and white cat before this, so I came back to the conversation but it was just as boring as before. In desperation i turned to Jackie, winking furiously with my left eye while keeping the right side of my face calm. “I’m really tired after all that walking today,” I said to her. “It’s time for bed, I think.” Luckily, Jackie is a very perceptive person and she caught on immediately and agreed. I turned full face on to the owner of the screeching voice, pasted a smile as sincere as I could make it, got up and headed out of the bar.

“Thank God I’m away from that voice,” I said to Jackie as I closed our cabin door behind us. “Please promise me that if you see her within a couple of feet of me in future, you will rush to rescue me at once.”

Jackie laughed. “Bad as that, was it?” I rolled my eyes towards the ceiling. “Worse, far worse than you could ever imagine,” I assured her.
 
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BillB

Well-Known Member
Messages
633
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Dislikes
Impolite people, yobbish behaviour, pretentious people.
As we went to breakfast the following morning we could see the ship was coming in to moor up. The bank was a little higher here and there was a square-looking building up on top of the bank. A large sign proclaimed the word “Mohacs” along the front of the building. It turned out that this was the crossing point for the Croatian border and after breakfast some Croatian officials came on board to check that we didn’t have large quantities of cigarettes, alcohol or cash. The immigration people then checked our faces against the photos in our passports. All was well with all three national groupings and we were all able to relax in whatever way we fancied until lunch. Luckily, the sun was shining so we were able to go up on the upper deck and catch a few minutes of sunshine. We chatted with a group from our tour until it was 12.30 and time for lunch in the restaurant which was, as was customary, excellent.

After lunch was over the ship arrived in Vukovar, a small town in Croatia, where those of us who had signed up for the afternoon tour disembarked and joined our buses. Fortunately the ghastly Terry and Sally hadn’t chosen to join this tour (I later realised that they were on the tours that were included in the price of the cruise,but not the ones that you paid extra for. Tightwads!)

Our itinerary would take in Vukovar, Osijek and Kopacki Rit. Jackie and I had been to Croatia several times when it was part of Yugoslavia, but we’d stayed on the Adriatic coast - our boys were much younger then and loved the seaside so that’s where we went. We had made small daylong excursions inland and had taken in the Lipizaner horse breeding stables, the Postojna cave system and the glorious Plitvice lakes, where the higher lakes tumble down the hillsides filling the lower ones, creating a myriad of different colours in each body of water. We had never been in this part of the country before and were looking forward to seeing whether there was any cultural or social differences between the coast and the inland areas.

We didn’t actually stop in the riverside area of Vukovar which is still rebuilding from the brutal civil war which erupted when the Yugoslav federation collapsed in chaos. We drove slowly along the main street passing houses which were still ruined, whose owners would never be coming back. It was plain where the fighters had hidden in the houses - windows were surrounded by bullet holes in the brickwork, shell holes were visible still in the walls. But among these tragic sights were signs of new life where dwellings had been restored or new houses had already been built. The new homes had pretty gardens with flowers and vegetable patches and signs of greater prosperity such as new barbecues and petrol driven lawn mowers.

After about 20 minutes the bus pulled over and we disembarked to walk down through a short stretch of woodland to a fairly large body of water where a couple of flat bottomed boats lay awaiting us. Once on board we pulled out, the boat’s engine barely noticeable as it was so quiet. In this natural paradise it had to be, of course, as there were thousands upon thousands of birds in the trees which grew upon islands and along the shores.

One island seemed to have been taken over by cormorants as they covered virtually every visible part of the single tree which grew there. We passed several pairs of wild ducks whose plumage I had never seen before and who studiously ignored us to turn their backs and paddle away; a heron stood stock still in the shallows at the water’s edge: bright colours caught our eyes as small birds fluttered away from our boat. We even caught a flash of turquoise and gold as a Kingfisher, that shyest of birds, rocketed away from us.

Fish jumped clear out of the water a couple of times, and along the shore frogs who were basking in the sun took fright at our approach and splashed back into the lake.

Kopacki Rit is one of the most enchanting wetland nature reserves I have ever visited and Jackie and I both agreed that we were so glad we had chosen to come on this excursion.

A further drive after rejoining the bus brought us to the town of Osijek which is in the latter stages of its postwar restoration. We saw some of the most beautiful structures in this small town where it was plain that this work was as much a labour of love as it was a duty.

These buildings, although built in the style of earlier centuries, were clean and freshly painted, while gilded areas had been picked out in gold leaf. Wandering around the main square was an astonishing experience as it fills the onlooker with the feeling that he has been carried back to earlier centuries to a time when these buildings were all newly created.

We drifted along different streets, entering churches and marvelling at the skilled work that had gone into the rebuilding.

All too soon we were back on the bus and heading back towards the Danube and our ship. We had time before dinner for a freshen up and a drink in the bar with our fellow travellers.

After dinner, everybody who had been for a walk ashore returned to the ship as we cast off and headed downstream for our next stop - Belgrade.
 

BillB

Well-Known Member
Messages
633
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Dislikes
Impolite people, yobbish behaviour, pretentious people.
I’m afraid there’s going to be a short interlude in this narrative as we shall be leaving tomorrow for two weeks in New England. We have friends in Massachusetts and the husband has recently been diagnosed with throat cancer. He underwent treatment which was successful and he is now back at home after a gruelling time undergoing radiotherapy and chemotherapy so we thought we’d make a quick visit. We’re going to stay in a nearby hotel in Greenfield, Mass. for three nights then take off for a drive around Vermont, Maine and any other points that take our fancy. We’ve been to the New England states before so this time we’ll go a bit further afield. We’ve booked to stay for a night at the Von Trapp Family Lodge in Vermont (just out of curiosity - will Julie Andrews wake us up in the morning with “The hills are alive with the sound of music”?) I doubt it but we can live in hope.

So unless there is a rainy day when we’re trapped in a hotel, the next episode won’t appear for a couple of weeks. Apologies.
 
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BillB

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Messages
633
Type of diabetes
Type 2
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Tablets (oral)
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Impolite people, yobbish behaviour, pretentious people.
An early start this morning as we were to depart for a tour of Belgrade. We were delayed for 30 minutes because Serbian customs officers took their time checking our passports, so our early breakfast could have been taken at our usual time.

When we finally set off my impression of Belgrade was that it was somewhat shabby, although there were plenty of designer boutiques in evidence. We took a stroll through the central area and stopped for a coffee in a coffee shop attached to a hotel. We drank it in fin de siecle splendour as the hotel had been restored to its original glory.

From there we continued our walk , then moved on to the Kalemegdan Fortress which has an outstanding view over the Danube and the city. From there it was on to the St Sava cathedral which is in the process of an immense restoration project. St Sava’s is an Eastern Orthodox cathedral; its exterior is clad in white marble from Turkey, both striking and beautiful. The interior is only partially completed and is expected to be finished in 16 years’ time.

An interesting thing about Eastern Orthodox churches is that the congregation does not sit in pews during the services, but stand throughout. Standing for several hours is not something I would be capable of any more at my time of life.

From there it was back to the boat for lunch before we got underway for an all night cruise. We spent the rest of the day relaxing with our Kindles and socialising with our fellow passengers. We also were due to cruise into a different time zone so we had to put our watches forward by one hour. Oh, the excitement of a life afloat!

During the period after dinner I noticed a tickle feeling in my nose which I feared was the precursor of a cold. I took another whisky to chase off the virus.

The day following there were no stops planned as we had cruised all night and throughout the day. I got up early as we were going to pass through the Iron Gate at 7 a.m., but my enthusiasm was wasted as it was foggy when I emerged from under the duvet and there was little to be seen. I hoped that the view would be better on the return journey.

Luckily, however, the sun came out and the fog began to clear after breakfast and I was able to get some lovely shots of the Second Gorge - a lovely sight as great rocky cliffs reared up from the waters of the river.

Not long after the Second Gorge the river opened out in a couple of places and we could see villages snuggled in sizeable bays and backwaters. Within a short time we came to a double lock - two enormous chambers that were the longest and deepest I have ever seen.

It was nice to have a day of cruising without any excursions - a welcome chance to relax and generally goof off

My cold has developed and I am now sneezing and have a sore throat.

It is now 13 April and we arrived in Bulgaria this morning but first had to be checked out by the immigration service. This didn’t take too long and we were soon off for the town of Veliko Tarnova. The bus journey took just on 90 minutes. After leaving the bus we took a comfort stop in a hotel then walked to the Tsarevets, a fortress that played a large part in Bulgarian history. We didn’t enter as it was quite a long walk from the entrance gates to the fortress itself. We admired the fortress from the outside but walked on down to the 13th century church of St Peter and St Paul which has been beautifully restored with some beautiful frescoes which are incomplete, but nevertheless striking.

Following that we had a coffee stop at the hotel we had first visited and time to do a little shopping. I had noticed a little place nearby which sold beautiful glass vases so Jackie and I went inside to see if there was anything to buy as a small gift for the new lady in our son’s life. I shouldn’t really call her “new lady” as they have been together now for nearly a year. We were overwhelmed with choice, some of the glassware being extremely attractive so we had to make a decision. We finally settled on a pale blue vase in a classical design which the shopkeeper wrapped very carefully for us so that it wouldn’t get damaged before we got home.

We returned to the ship for lunch and to keep up on my notes. We have no excursions planned for tomorrow so I shall relax on the boat and nurse my cold, which now is in full flood - dammit.
 

Keesha

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,261
Type of diabetes
Type 2
What a beautiful write up about your vacation. I have enjoying reading your ever so descriptive experience, very knowledgeable and interesting. I read it because we are going to Europe for our vacation in a couple of day's time and will be covering Vienna and Budapest as well. We have been there before but it is nice to see what other tourists do. I do have a question for you, do you carry your test kit with you to monitor your blood sugar on a daily basis? Thanks.


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BillB

Well-Known Member
Messages
633
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Dislikes
Impolite people, yobbish behaviour, pretentious people.
What a beautiful write up about your vacation. I have enjoying reading your ever so descriptive experience, very knowledgeable and interesting. I read it because we are going to Europe for our vacation in a couple of day's time and will be covering Vienna and Budapest as well. We have been there before but it is nice to see what other tourists do. I do have a question for you, do you carry your test kit with you to monitor your blood sugar on a daily basis? Thanks.


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Hi there, Keesha, nice to hear from you. Yes I carry my test kit with me wherever I go. On a cruise like the one on the Danube the food was quite low carb, which I find helps me keep my BS within reasonable limits. I hope you have a great vacation in Vienna and Budapest and that the weather stays warm and dry for you.
PS. Love your doggy picture.
 
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BillB

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Type 2
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Forgot a couple of points as we're juggling Skype with two people - friends in California and my cousin in Whitstable. First, thank you for your very kind comments, they meant a lot to me when I read them, and secondly, where else are you travelling to on your holiday?
 

Keesha

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,261
Type of diabetes
Type 2
I thank you very much for your reply. We are going to many places you would not believe it all within a short span of 26 days. Here is the list: Maastricht, Paris, Bordeaux, Pamplona, San Sebastián, Bilbao, Lisbon, Porto, Bratislava, Budapest, Vienna and finally Amsterdam. We spend mostly one or two days at the most in each city. We fly to Frankfurt first then take trains most of the time to different places. It is so much easier by trains than to fly. Never been on a cruise before but will contemplate doing it one day.


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BillB

Well-Known Member
Messages
633
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
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Impolite people, yobbish behaviour, pretentious people.
I thank you very much for your reply. We are going to many places you would not believe it all within a short span of 26 days. Here is the list: Maastricht, Paris, Bordeaux, Pamplona, San Sebastián, Bilbao, Lisbon, Porto, Bratislava, Budapest, Vienna and finally Amsterdam. We spend mostly one or two days at the most in each city. We fly to Frankfurt first then take trains most of the time to different places. It is so much easier by trains than to fly. Never been on a cruise before but will contemplate doing it one day.


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Now that, Keesha, is one heck of a round-Europe trip. We are due to go to Maastricht on the 15th as our son bought us tickets for the Andre Rieu open air concerts in Freedom Square on Saturday night. Jackie's getting nervous at the moment as our tickets haven't arrived yet. Fingers crossed.
Like you we both love train journeys, especially overnight ones in private compartments, which we did on our Across America by Train journey a couple of years ago. Loved every minute of it.
We've never been on an ocean cruise as it doesn't really appeal to us, but our river cruise on the Danube was really enjoyable.
Now enjoy your travels around Europe. There's several places in your itinerary we haven't been to yet, so I'd like to hear your impressions.
 

Keesha

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Thanks for your reply, appreciate it. Europe is so well connected by rail and it is reliable, punctual and user friendly. We always travel first class as it is less crowded and sometimes they serve meals if it is over four hours trips. We prefer to stay in hotels very close to the main railway stations to make it easer to catch the trains. Europe although small has so much history, culture and diversity. That is the reason why we go there so often. You could write a book on your travels and maybe start a blog. I am not as descriptive as you are but do take a lot of pictures to remind me of the places I have been to. Tons of pictures.


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BillB

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Enjoyed your reply, Keesha. Jackie and I feel exactly the same way about rail travel. We always travel first class if we can as I'm getting just too old and miserable to cope with the crowding in second class. Have a wonderful time on your journey. And our tickets for the concert arrived this morning - by email.
Anyway, on with the Danube cruise.

In the afternoon of 13 April the ship had moved on to Rousse, which is where we rejoined her. We then crossed the Danube and tied up in Giurgiu to go through the Romanian immigration process. After that we just loafed, took tea in the bar, went up on deck to shoot off some shots of the passing countryside.

Later that evening, after another excellent dinner, I was in a mellow mood, treating my viruses to a little more whisky in the bar. I looked up and to my horror saw Screechy Sally and the ghastly Terry bearing down on us. For a moment I froze, and then I had a stroke of genius (not a frequent experience, I confess). Jumping up, I gave her a big smile and said, “There you are. Not many spare seats. Have mine.” And I pulled my chair out, a gesture she couldn’t possibly refuse. She thanked me and sat down. I looked around, as if seeking another seat, nudged Jackie in the ankle and pointed to two empty seats at a table on the other side of the bar. “I thought I was going to be stuck with her for the rest of the evening,” I sighed to Jackie. “Yes,” she replied dryly, “you did that very discreetly.”

After breakfast the following day we made way to the sun deck to view the ultimate part of the cruise - passing the 0 kilometre mark on the Danube and sailing onto the Black Sea. We cruised up and down the coast for a while, just so we could all say we had cruised the Black Sea, then steered back into the Danube’s delta.

We moored in Sf. Gheorghe, a small fishing village which has no roads leading to or from it. Everything comes in by boat - this is a fishing village, after all! Jackie and I grabbed our cameras and made our way down the gangplank and walked towards the village. It wasn’t exactly picturesque, as the pavements were concrete slabs and the roads within the village completely unpaved. They had clearly been chewed up by farm vehicles and then the ruts had dried and hardened when the spring came. Jackie took a look around and decided to return to the ship. I felt a degree of sympathy with her as the village looked particularly decrepit and run down. However, I continued on and was amused to see a hand-painted sign in a garden that began “FOR SAIL”.

There wasn’t much more of interest in the village except a bar and a general store so I, too, returned to the ship.

At lunch two seats at our table remained empty. Puzzled, we asked where our missing voyagers had got to. Nobody seemed to know. But the missing couple were people who enjoyed a joke and were perpetually surrounded by laughter. As we were tucking into our main course they joined us. In answer to our questions the husband, let’s call him A, told us how they had gone on a delta wildlife trip. Their guide and helmsman switched off the outboard engine at one point so they wouldn’t scare off the birds. They drifted along happily, viewing the birds and smaller animals but when it came time to return disaster struck - the engine refused to start. The boatman pulled and pulled on the starting cord but the engine refused to kick in.

At this point A had us in fits as he described all the passengers moving up to the bows and singing Abide With Me before they were lost forever. He then went on to tell us how they were on the verge of drawing lots to see who would be eaten first. I suggested that instead of eating one person they should have started by amputating one leg in turn from each passenger. That way nobody would have to die. He acknowledged that that would have been a better choice, but then went on to regale us with the story of how Screechy Sally and the ghastly Terry had begun to panic. I felt a touch of schadenfreude (well, to be honest I felt a lot of schadenfreude).

Their helmsman got on his mobile phone and called his office to have a replacement come out to tow them back. They sat and waited and then, the helmsman giving the cord one last despairing tug, the engine burst into life. The boat was turned around and steered for the main channel. On the way they passed the boat that was coming out to rescue them and they gave it a cheer.

We also got through a lot of wine that lunchtime.

Amazingly, my cold began to subside and I thought the worst was over.
 

BillB

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We cruised the rest of the afternoon and all that night. Around 10 a.m. the next morning we went through the mooring process at Chiciu for those of us going on the tour to Bucharest to disembark and join our buses. It was a long drive to Romania’s capital, one and a half hours, but there was much of interest along the way so the journey wasn’t boring.

Having visited Romania in 1969 when Ceausescu was running the country both Jackie and I were curious to see the changes that had been wrought after the overthrow of communism. Our first impressions as we drove through the outer districts of Bucharest were how much better dressed the people were and how lively and colourful the shops appeared. The cars, trucks and buses were newer, smarter, cleaner and the drab, downtrodden air that prevails in most communist-run countries had dissipated.

We drove along the wide boulevards which Ceausescu planned and started but didn’t finish. We stopped outside the Parliament building which is the second biggest building in the world after the Pentagon in Washington, DC. Originally known as the House of the People, it is now the Romanian Parliament housing 1,000 rooms, but it still reminds the people of Romania what Communist rule meant - self-aggrandising projects begun by a megalomaniac who thought he was untouchable., until he and his wife were shot by the people who rose up because they had had enough of his excesses.

We stopped for lunch in a pleasant restaurant just outside the city centre which served us a set meal, which was nicely cooked and presented and accompanied by Romanian wine. There were some interesting pieces dotted around the restaurant, some of them antiques and some of them not quite so old; in addition there were old photos of Romanian life and some old movie posters dating back to the 1930s. I could have spent more time than we had examining some of these treasures.

After lunch we continued our tour of the city and at one point we passed the Hotel Ambassador. I was absolutely astonished. This was the hotel where we had spent our first night in Romania back in 1969. Jackie had been suffering from the flu when we arrived and around 7 pm her throat began to close up and she couldn’t swallow. I was immensely worried and went down to reception to ask if they could call a doctor, who arrived in short order. He examined Jackie thoroughly, pulling a face when he got around to her throat. It was very inflamed and he gave me a prescription which I went trotting along to the nearby pharmacy to get filled. It was the dead of winter and the snow had been cleared from the streets and piled up in the gutters, so high that I couldn’t see over the top. It was over six feet high in places but fortunately the pharmacy was fairly close. I rushed back to the hotel with the medicines the doc had prescribed and started dosing Jackie. That night we slept in separate rooms, Jackie and our youngest son in one and myself and older son in the other.

As we drove past the Hotel Ambassador I kept a lookout and sure enough, there was the pharmacy - still there after all the turmoil of the fall of communism and still dispensing medicines to the local population. Jackie and I exchanged glances and smiles. We were sharing our memories.

We continued our drive around Bucharest, stopping here and there to walk around and take in some of the historic buildings and monuments that still stand.

Mid-afternoon saw the bus head back to the ship at Giurgiu. It had been cruising all day to reach the rendezvous point further west.

We cruised on all night, with us taking dinner in the restaurant as we moved along. My cold had now become very mild and I was absolutely delighted. Until that night when I woke about 2 a.m. feeling absolutely terrible. My nose had become so blocked that I had been breathing through my mouth while sleeping. My mouth felt like the Sahara, my head ached, my nose was sore, my throat was sore and I was coughing madly. Can a cold be as bad as this?, I asked myself.

Next morning, feeling as wretched as I have ever felt in my life I learned that I wasn’t going to see the Iron Gates as we had passed them during the night. After discovering that there’s nothing else to say except. “C’est la vie”.

We cruised all day, passing through some huge locks, relaxing. There was a programme of activities for those so inclined. I was quite tempted to attend the cookery lesson on how to bake Apfel strudel, but my cold just didn’t allow me to it had now added frequent sneezing attacks to its other symptoms.
 
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BillB

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As Jackie and I made our way to our table for breakfast the next day a German lady to whom we had chatted fairly often jumped up and planted a smacker on my cheek and wished me a happy birthday in German. This is something that doesn’t happen often when you reach my age, so I enjoyed the experience before explaining that today was Sunday the 17th and my birthday was on Tuesday the 19th.She was so embarrassed, and after I went up to the buffet she asked Jackie if I was angry. Jackie told her that it would take a lot more than that to get me angry, but I had to rack my brains to find a way of making light of the mix-up. Finally I hit on a ploy. On the way back to my table I smiled at her, told her that although it was the wrong day I would be back for another kiss on Tuesday. She seemed to be mollified and we continued our friendly chats now and then in the bar.

Around 11.30 a.m. we moored in Belgrade to pass through the required border controls. We cruised on a little further until the time arrived for those of us who had signed up for an excursion to Novi Sad to disembark and board our buses.

We stopped first at Sremski Karlovci to visit the monastery that has quite a bit of historical interest. It’s set in a walled estate and has stained glass windows and paintings that date back several hundred years.

From there it was a comparatively short drive to Novi Sad, the capital of the Serbian province of Vojvodina. Following the First World War it was incorporated into the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, which later morphed into Yugoslavia. After Yugoslavia broke apart it became part of the new nation of Serbia and Montenegro. During the brutal Kosovo conflict in 1999 Novi Sad was bombed by NATO and significantly damaged. All the bridges crossing the Danube were destroyed.

Today the rebuilding programme can be seen to have restored much of the damaged buildings and the bridges have all been rebuilt.

Beside the Danube is a memorial to the Jews of the city who perished in the camps during World War II. Beside the memorial there runs a series of plaques listing the names of all those who became victims of the Nazis. It is an emotional experience to walk along, reading the names and seeing members of the same family all listed.

A few moments later we came upon a square which has been carefully restored where we were entertained by watching a Serb who had filled a bucket with water to which he had added some detergent. He had a fairly long length of rope which he had fashioned into a loop and after dipping the entire loop in the bucket he swung it round and round, creating giant bubbles which a crowd of kids were noisily chasing. Serbs sat around, watching the fun, sipping their drinks on a sunny Sunday afternoon. It was a fun way to end our tour of Novi Sad and make our way back to the ship for a late dinner.

During the night, as we cruised along, my wretched cold awoke me. As I remember it was between 2 a.m. and 3. I climbed out of bed and quietly pulled the curtains apart. With no light pollution the sky was crystal clear, not a cloud to be seen and the stars blazed in the darkness. I could make out The Plough clearly, just above the horizon. It was a magical moment and one I shall treasure in my memory.
 
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BillB

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Monday morning and after breakfast we moored up in Mohacs for border controls as we were passing from Serbia into Hungary. Once the border officials had checked all our passports we had enough free time to walk into the town and have a look around.

Like many middle-European towns this was a nicely kept area with wide streets and avenues, clean squares lined by churches and many trees. We strolled down the main street, meeting up with our fellow Brits and exchanging notes on spots to see. We ambled around a square with two churches which we duly visited. It’s interesting that despite 45 years of Communist attempts to eradicate religion from daily life, it sprang up once freedom arrived and now thrives - even in Russia, the leader in the persecution of the church and its members.

I needed to buy some medication for my cold which was not improving in any way whatsoever. I tried a pharmacy and asked if they accepted Euros, but the answer was no. As this was going to be our last day in Hungary I didn’t want to buy any more forints than I needed or I would be stuck with them, in view of the fact that tomorrow we would be in Slovakia. Fortunately, after enquiring at a bank I was directed to a private exchange office who would change small notes. The indicated exchange agent willingly changed 20 or so euros and I made my way back to the pharmacy. As we passed the bank where I had been given directions, the man who had directed me came out of the bank and asked if the exchange had gone well, I assured him it had and thanked him profusely. What friendly people, I thought, and my opinion of Hungarians went even higher than it had been.

We joined up with another couple and took a table at a pavement cafe for coffee. The weather was pleasantly warm without being too hot, the coffee was good, the service was friendly and welcoming. There can be few better ways to pass a memorable morning than this, we agreed..

Lunch was earlier than usual as there was an excursion to Puszta and Kalocsa. We had chosen not to take this excursion so we had lunch and lazed about on deck and in the lounge, reading and drinking the free tea and coffee which was always available in the lounge.

Jackie has now come down with my cold, so it looks as if I am not only sharing my worldly goods with her but my worldly viruses as well. I knew she hadn’t married me just for my money. So I shared my medication with her.

Dinner that night was excellent and we adjourned afterwards to the lounge, where we enjoyed the entertainment that was a nightly event. I even managed to avoid contact with Screechy and Ghastly. i went to bed as happy as my cold would allow, and the medication gave me a decent night’s sleep.

The next morning was my birthday, and I duly presented myself at our German friends’ table for my celebratory kiss. I enjoyed breakfast with some of the friends we had made.

We spent the morning on the sun deck, taking photos and chatting with anybody who passed by our deck chairs.

Lunch was early at 11.15 as there was an afternoon excursion to Bratislava in Slovakia. There was a later lunch for those who had chosen not to take the tour. We took the early lunch.

Bratislava was a lovely place to visit. We drove around the city at first, learning something of its history, then the bus climbed up to an area which gave a magnificent overview of it. This was a great photo opportunity and most of us took advantage of it. Looking down over the river we could see the bridges and some of the city’s key buildings.

Behind us was a church with magnificent stained glass windows. We explored it a little and read its history after which we made our way slowly through the streets to a little cafe close to where the bus was to pick us up. We sat inside, ordering cappuccinos, which we sipped while chatting with other passengers from our ship.

The journey back to the Danube took in some of the new buildings that have grown up in the years since the Soviet Union collapsed and the previously stultified economy has grown vibrantly since joining the EU.

Dinner that night was Pirate Night, with the staff dressed in various forms of maritime gangsterism. About the only well known pirate who seemed to be missing was Captain Jack Sparrow. After the main course a birthday cake was brought to me, candles of the wax and the Roman variety adorned my cake and all the passengers and crew sang Happy Birthday.

Later we all adjourned to the bar where I jitterbugged with our German lady friend until my legs began to let me down. Well, I had to celebrate my 79th birthday in style.

That’s me - the oldest swinger in town!
 
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BillB

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Thank you, Galja, I'm intending to live as long as possible. There's still an awful lot of places I have yet to see, even taking out the ones I can no longer visit because of their altitude and my inability to adjust to the lower oxygen levels in the atmosphere. My cousin has taken to calling us the Duracells because he says we just keep on going.
 
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BillB

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We cruised all night and during breakfast the ship moored in Dürnstein in Austria. What a beautiful spot this was, sitting on the Danube, surrounded by mountains. The day was clear, the sunlight dazzling on the small clouds that drifted above us occasionally and sparkling on the waters of the river. Vineyards climbed the slopes on both sides of the river in each direction. Their history goes back as far as Roman times when the Romans were the first to bring vines to more northern regions of Europe. There were apricot orchards spread along the river - I was told there are 160,000 trees.

Above us, on a mountain peak, were the spectacular remains of Dürnstein Castle, the very castle where King Richard the Lionheart was held hostage by Duke Leopold of Austria after they fell out during the 3rd Crusade. The castle didn’t look as if it was visitable as I couldn’t see any roads leading up to it, and walking up would have been a horrendous climb.

As it was, our group walked along the riverside until we came to a minibus that was waiting to take us up to the village. On the way, one of our number tripped on the edge of the road and fell. Unfortunately, in trying to protect his glasses he ended up landing facedown on his nose. When we got him on his feet again his nose had quite a cut so it was bleeding inside and out. Our tour manager took him back to the ship to be treated. He rejoined us later in the village with a huge plaster on the damaged proboscis.

Dürnstein was a beautiful little place of narrow, cobbled streets and old, timbered buildings. The bus dropped us off at the top of the high street so that we could make our way through the village on a downhill trajectory.

There were so many products made out of apricots on sale that I was quite befuddled. I didn’t know that the humble apricot could be put to so many uses - apricot brandy, soap, perfumes, dried fruit mixtures and so on and so on. In one shop I bought a small bottle of malt whisky which had been aged in pinot noir barrels.

Further down the hill we bumped into our tour manager who had rejoined our group with the injured one and his wife. They had happily gone off to do some exploring and Jackie and I treated our tour manager to a cup of coffee and a pastry in a little Konditorei we found.

From there it was but a short walk to Dürnstein Abbey which had been established in1410. We weren’t able to enter that day but a walk around its walls gave us a feel for its dimensions.

We carried on down the hillside until we found the bus that was waiting to take us to Melk Abbey. This fortified abbey has been raided, sacked and burnt several times over the centuries, but it was rebuilt in the 18th century and is now regarded as a supreme example of the Baroque style. It’s the home of a number of art treasures and has an extensive library of 85,000 books, all bound in the same decorated golden leather. Melk Abbey is a gloriously beautiful building and the view from atop its outer walls is amazing, taking in the Danube on one side, the village on the other and distant hills and valleys. On the way out of the complex we happened upon a spiral staircase that was so amazingly decorated that we stared awestruck at its baroque complexity.

As we stood in an outside courtyard I was lining up a shot with my camera when I realised that the same scenario I had experienced many times was occurring again. As I gazed through the viewfinder, trying to sort out the best shot and trying to apply the rule of thirds to my composition the Ghastly Terry strutted into my field of view, stopping to take a shot, just at the moment i pressed the shutter. I looked at the resulting picture and there was his unbeautiful presence dominating my carefully composed picture. Sighing, I deleted the shot, waited until he was too far away to ruin my next attempt, then pressed the shutter again. Then it struck me - this was a scenario that occurred often when he was around and I was amazed how often it had happened and how many shots I had to delete. I turned to one of my companions and remarked that the next time he marched in front of my camera I was going to extend my zoom lens to its fullest extent and insert it roughly into one of his orifices so sharply that it would more than bring tears to his eyes. Most people who see somebody taking a picture will politely wait a second or so. And then, as I watched him walk away I realised that he had a peculiar way of walking. He bent forward from the waist and walked with his feet quite a way apart. “Do you know,” I remarked to the nearest person. “He always walks as if he’s filled his pants.” There was a lot of laughter and the general consensus was that he did and that he probably had.

Jackie and I walked from the Abbey down to the Danube where we were due to reboard our ship. We stood on the quayside for a couple of minutes and then the familiar outline of the Amadeus Royal in her blue and white livery appeared around the nearest bend.

That evening there was a gala farewell dinner. The food was first class, our servers were even more affable and obliging than before, if that was possible, although there was an unspoken air of sadness at the prospect of leaving the ship tomorrow and making our way home.
 
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BillB

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Jackie and I slept soundly that night and in the morning we only had to pack our toilet accessories, lock our bags and we were ready for the journey home as soon as we had finished breakfast.

We wheeled our bags up to the gangway and stacked them with the other bags that were going to Passau railway station. When our bus arrived I wheeled them to the luggage compartment, then gave a couple of our companions a hand with theirs. As I stood waiting for the driver to load them I received a buffeting in the legs, hard enough to make me stagger. I turned round and saw, to my disbelief that it was His Ghastliness, thinking of no one but himself, as usual, trying to jump the queue. I bit my tongue and satisfied myself with giving him a furious glare.

At the railway station we had a short wait for our train to Frankfurt. Continental trains have a step which is higher than the platform so there is a step up for passengers which is even more difficult if you have luggage. Jackie and I have worked out a system for loading our cases which involves her climbing aboard first and I then pass up the first case to her which she only has to push on its wheels behind her. I can then almost immediately pass up the next one, following it myself with our little carry on bag thus leaving the doorway clear for the following passenger in a fairly quick manner. Once on board I only have to stack our cases in the area created for them and we are free to go and find our seat. This time Jackie climbed aboard and as I prepared to pass up the first case I was hit quite violently in the legs. When I turned it was, of course, the Ghastly One, pushing his suitcase in front of him and using it as a bulldozer to push everyone out of the way. “What do you think you’re doing?” I snarled at him. “Getting on the train,” he answered. I arranged my wrinkles as menacingly as I could. “Well, wait your turn,” I snarled at him. “And don’t hit me again with that suitcase.” He looked dumbfounded. He seemed to believe that his behaviour was totally normal. I turned around and continued passing up our cases. I didn’t realise how much I could dislike someone. Everybody else in our group were pleasant, sociable and considerate. I resolved to avoid him as much as possible between then and our heading for home.

On the train we discovered that an elderly German couple were occupying our seats. I pointed out that we had tickets for those seats. She insisted that they had reserved them. Our tour manager saw what was happening and went to get the ticket inspector. When the inspector examined their tickets it became clear that they had reserved those seats for only the first part of their journey. At Passau they should have vacated them. He told them they had to move. And they did - very grudgingly. We shared the 4-seat berth with another couple from our trip with whom we had chatted frequently, had pre-dinner drinks with in the bar and generally had found to be very pleasant company. Thus the rest of the journey to Frankfurt passed amiably.

We had a wait of around 30 minutes when we changed trains in Frankfurt so I took the chance to leave the station building and take a look at the adjoining streets to see if there had been any big changes since the period when we had lived only about 30 miles away. Directly opposite was Kaiserstrasse, notorious in those days as the centre of the red light district.

As time was limited I couldn’t walk too far and I soon headed back to our platform. There were no further problems with our seats and the journey to Cologne passed pleasantly enough. At Cologne we found our hotel was close to the main station and only a short walk to Cologne Cathedral. Once we had checked in several of those in our group decided that they would drop their cases in their rooms and then take a walk to see it. After travelling all day with occasional suitcase humping interludes I was feeling quite tired and in any case I had seen the cathedral a couple of times in the past. Jackie and I put our feet up and had a quiet read for a while, then we freshened up and went down to the bar for a drink before dinner.

We were the only people in there for a while, then a couple from our group came in and joined us, then another, then another. Before long we had become a rather talkative group who filled about a quarter of the bar area.

When we decided it was time eat we moved up to the restaurant on the 1st floor. We were in the Hotel Maritim and I was surprised how big the mezzanine area was. The hotel was clearly newly constructed and I wondered how they had managed to find such a large plot in the centre of a bustling city like Cologne. We lingered over dinner and coffee, both excellent, before making our way back to our room and falling into bed.

We shared our breakfast table with another couple next morning before gathering in the lobby for the bus to the station. Our journey from Cologne to Brussels went smoothly and fairly quickly. After we all left the train, we said goodbye to our fellow travellers (with one exception, naturally). We waved them off as they vanished into the Eurostar section and then went to find out the next train to Luxembourg. To our pleasant surprise there was one leaving in 9 minutes so we hared off to the correct platform and climbed aboard the train when it arrived. The journey to Luxembourg was a bit of a drag as it stopped at every little village we came to.

As we drew near our destination I called our son and let him know what time the train would be arriving. Great lad that he is, he was there to meet us, load our cases into his car and drive us home.

After checking the house to see that no disasters had occurred while we were away, we went out to a local Italian restaurant for a meal.
 
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