Christmas on the Danube Cruise on the Viking Egil
12/8/22 to 12/17/22

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Page 1 – Preface, Ship, Ports of Call:  Budapest, Hungary Days 1 & 2
Page 2 – Ports of Call:   Budapest, Hungary Days 2, 3 & 4; Vienna, Austria Day 1
Page 3 - Ports of Call: Vienna, Austria Day 2; Krems, Austria
Page 4 - Ports of Call:   Passau, Germany; Regensburg, Germany

Passau, Germany

When we woke up and looked outside, it looked like a winter wonderland. We were still on the Danube cruising toward Passau and would be until 9:00 AM. I went out and took some photos

I did the same routine as the previous day during breakfast, eat some, get up and go outside for pics and then return to eat some more. The girls were watching out the windows to tell me to go out and take some photos of scenery they liked.

As we came into Passau, we could see the three rivers that join there.

The smallest is on the right side. Just above it is a large hotel that I remembered being so beautifully illuminated when I was here the first time.

The other two rivers run parallel on the left side for a while.

Passau is such a gorgeous town. I would have preferred to stay there than to do the full day tour to Salzburg that we had booked. But the girls wanted to go to Salzburg, and we would miss seeing more of Passau. So, I enjoyed taking photos of what I could see from the Egil. We would not be returning to Passau after the tour, since the Egil would leave Passau at 2:15 PM on its way to Regensburg, Germany, our last port.

We would be taking the optional Salzburg Highlights tour. It was a 9-hour tour including just over two hour drives each way. Viking used their own busses for most of the tours and transfers. They were quite nice and roomier than many we have used. A real plus was that the aisle seat could be moved away a couple inches from the window seat using the handle at the base of the seat. It is very handy, especially when people are wearing heavy coats.

When we arrived in Salzburg, we met our guide, Elisabeth. She did a fine job in difficult conditions. It was overcast, slippery and temperature in the low 30’s.

Our first destination was to Mirabell Palace. I remembered how beautiful it was in the summer with the lush gardens and all the flowers blooming. A main attraction of visiting the Salzburg area is to see the filming locations used in the Sound of Music movie. The scenery in winter doesn’t look anything like it. Elisabeth pointed out areas on the palace grounds that were used in the movie, but there wasn’t much resemblance to what we remembered.

She pointed out the Salzburg Fortress on the hill. With the fog, we couldn’t see too much of.

After looking around a bit more, we left the palace grounds through the famous entrance gate that was also in the movie.

Elisabeth showed us some points of interest including the house Mozart lived in.

It is a beautiful town, but we weren’t there when we could see it at its best. If you take a Christmas markets cruise, I highly suggest passing on this excursion and just enjoying Passau. Wait to see Salzburg when it is so gorgeouos on a warm weather Danube cruise.

There are several bridges across the Danube. We crossed over what people call the Love Lock Bridge. Lovers put locks with their initials on the bridge and throw the key into the Danube to symbolize their unbreakable and eternal love.

I do enjoy walking down the narrow Salzburg streets, with their unique signage. The city has very strict laws about signage to maintain the right look.

Salzburg has many passageways between streets that make it easier to get around. That is if you know where you are and where you are going. I wasn’t sure about this one. Not a name I would have use for it.

The last time I was in Salzburg, I got terribly lost and almost did again this time. But it is a nice town to get lost in. As Elisabeth said, “if you get lost, just go downhill to the river where the boat is”.

We then came to another famous building, Mozart’s birthplace. It was certainly a popular photo opp.

We went by a small Christmas market near the Salzburg Cathedral, where we would return after the tour.

We passed through Chapter Square, where we saw the giant gold ball with a man on top of it. It is rather strange, but certainly an eye catcher.

It was 1:15 PM and we were getting hungry. We were glad that Elisabeth was taking us to a nice restaurant where we could sit down and relax for a bit. She took us to the St. Peter Restaurant, the oldest restaurant in Europe. It is over 1,200 years old. It was established in 803 AD. Now that is an old restaurant. Since it was closed during Napoleon’s invasion of Austria, it isn’t the longest continuously running restaurant, but it does have the oldest founding date.

There are eleven dining rooms in the restaurant. We were in a dark green one. The meal was just OK with a piece of chicken and some vegetable. What was special was the Sound of Music presentation they put on for us. They had four singers who would sing Sound of Music songs while dancing around as was done in the movies. They even donned costumes. It did make up for the less than stellar meal.

Barbara told me that I needed to take some photos of the dining room down the hall near the restrooms. So, when appropriate, I did. It was a very nice room.

After lunch, I wanted to take some photos and the girls wanted to do some shopping, so we went our separate ways. Next door to the restaurant was the St. Peter’s Cemetery. It is one of those places well remembered from the Sound of Music where the Von Trapp family went before escaping. It is a very pretty and peaceful area, especially in the snow.

I wish I could have gone into the catacomb area. The tombs on the exterior of it were quite pretty and interesting to look at.

I then walked around to the other side of the cathedral passing by a different Christmas market.

I then entered the cathedral. It was a pretty one. White and gold just looks so good in a church. Of course, so does gold and gold.

The altar has a black box under it. It is the body of St. Rupert who lived in the 8th century AD. Statues of him with a barrel of salt are in every Salzburg church. He established the salt mining industry in the city, for which the city is named.

In front of one of the chapels is the Bronze baptismal font where Mozart was baptized in 1756. It is the only object remaining from the 12th century Romanesque version of the building.

This is another of their lovely chapels.

The domes were most impressive.

The church has five non-mobile organs. Mozart played them all but had a favorite, this one.

I also went into this church’s crypt but didn’t stay long. There wasn’t too much to see there.

I headed back to where we were going to meet the Elisabeth to walk back to the bus near the Love Lock Bridge. I found the girls. While we were waiting, we saw a roasted chestnut stand. We had talked earlier in the cruise about wanting to get some. They loved chestnuts but I had never had them. There was a stand roasting them right where we were waiting. Claudia bought a bag, and we all tried them. I was surprised at how sweet they were. I didn’t care for the consistency of them. Cathy said that they had been overcooked and weren’t that good. I will look forward to trying some good ones one of these days.

Elisabeth rounded up the group and we headed for the bus. We then had a 2+ hour drive to Vilshofen, Germany where we would meet the Egil that had been cruising upriver since midafternoon. It felt good to stop walking and warm up.

That evening the ship had a special Taste of Germany dinner. I can’t believe how many different meats and other food items they served. Unlike how we normally ordered, they had lots of appetizers already on the table including large pretzels. They also brought us a plate filled two kinds of sausage, sauerbraten, pork schnitzel, sauerkraut, red cabbage and a dumpling. We could have gone up and just picked what we wanted, but this was easier. We were able to go up and choose the various desserts that were offered. Way too many good ones. It was quite a feast. There are photos of some of it in the menu section of the review.

After dinner, they had entertainment titled Germans are not Funny. We didn’t go but heard that it was a wonderful show. Hotel Director Michael was hilarious, and he even sang. We slept like babies.

Regensburg, Germany

We were supposed to arrive in Regensburg at 8:30 AM. Once again, we were running late. It did give us some more scenic cruising time, but we really wanted to spend the time in Regensburg more.

As we were cruising the Danube, I thought it was strange that the engine seemed to slow down regularly. I later found out that the captain had to do that since the water level in some areas was low. He also had to maneuver around the lower areas. It was starting to make more sense why we had been coming into ports later than expected. I had thought that the Danube levels were high enough.

We had booked the included 1.5-hour Regensburg walking tour. We were instead going to have a 45-minute organ concert also included. It was supposed to be at the end of the tour at around 10:30, but since we were almost two hours late arriving, they had us do the concert first. That way the organist was doing his thing at about the same time.

We stepped out of the Egil with pretty heavy snow falling all around us. Our guide, Natalie, was waiting for us.

We walked to the Niedermünster Abbey where the concert was taking place. We passed by a very cute shop sign on the way there.

The current building was built in 1152 AD after a fire destroyed the previous one. The church was modernized a little in the 17th and 18th centuries, but it hasn’t changed much in almost 900 years.

The interior was very nice. I am fond of the white arched ceilings.

The organ that would be the star of the performance was in the back of the church.

After leaving, Natalie took us to an area with a section of old wall. It was a section of the Castra Regina or Fortress by the River from 179 AD. Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius had the fortress established to ward off incursions from northern Germany.

We then walked down to the river to see the Old Bridge that was built almost 900 years ago in 1146 AD.

Next to the bridge is the historic Wurstkuchl (sausage house) restaurant that has been in the same place for over 500 years. It is a major tourist attraction and dining location for locals and tourists alike. I had looked forward to returning for 13 years. But I would have to wait until the tour was over.

We passed through the old city entrance gate and headed to see more of the town.

We stopped at the large David and Goliath fresco on the side of a building. It is obviously a popular photo opp.

We continued walking through the charming town admiring the scenery.

We came to a church where a wedding had just completed, and the wedding party was having photos taken. I liked the couple’s traditional garb.

We walked into the center of town with Natalie pointing out noteworthy things. It is just such a lovely town.

At a certain point, she told us that her portion of the tour was finished and that we had free time. We went through another Christmas market just outside of the Regensburg St. Peter’s Cathedral. The church was completed just over 500 years ago. One of the spires was being renovated.

It is a lovely church, but it is known for its gorgeous stained-glass windows. Of which there are many.

Its altar piece was also quite beautiful.

After checking out the cathedral, it was 12:30 PM, lunchtime. We were all ready for our German sausage lunch. I wanted to have one of their traditional sausage sandwiches with sauerkraut and mustard first. They are small. I first took a photo of the small kitchen that produces thousands of sausages weekly. The original restaurant/shack is quite small. They still do all the cooking there.

I then took delivery of my delicious sandwich.

The restaurant now has a sit-down restaurant just across from it where the girls wanted to go. Since it was cold with a light snow, I didn’t mind at all going into the warm sit-down restaurant.

No one had yet ordered. I had never had their potato salad, so I was interested to try it. We all ordered sausages with either sauerkraut or potato salad. Everything was wonderful. I forgot to take the photos before we started to eat them, but you can see they give a nice portion.

After lunch we went back to the larger Christmas market to look around.

After a while, Barbara and Claudia decided that they had walked enough and were heading back to the ship. Cathy and I had a couple items we wanted to shop for, so we hung around a bit longer. I did want to take a photo of the merry go rounds at the Christmas market.

It was an easy walk back to the ship. Before dinner, we had a farewell gathering. It was very nice way to end a fantastic cruise experience. After dinner some local singers came on to the ship to perform. I only saw a brief piece of their performance, but they were most entertaining.

We had packing to do and an early wake up. We had received an email notification from one of my flight apps early in the day telling us that our flight the next day from Frankfurt to Washington, DC was going to be delayed by 2 hours. Since we had just under a two-hour layover in DC, we assumed that we would miss that flight. I called Viking Air to let them know about the situation. They were not aware of it. The agent I talked to transferred me to a supervisor who was very helpful. She did call back during dinner asking what alternative flight she should request for our group. I was most relieved to have that in our records.

Disembarkation

Viking had booked us on the first leg of our return flight from Munich to Frankfurt at 10:00 AM. When I had looked at Google Maps to see how long it would take to drive to Munich in the afternoon, it showed 2.5 hours. Our disembarkation paperwork told us to have our luggage outside our cabin at 4:30 AM and leave on the bus at 5:30 AM. That seemed tight to me, but I was happy it wasn’t earlier. One of the couples we met had to leave for the airport at 3:30 AM. Now that is early!

In the morning I went to the Aquavit lounge for the continental breakfast that was available. When we boarded the bus, I checked to see how long it would take to get to the airport. With it being early on a Saturday morning, it would only take an hour and 20 minutes. Much better! When we arrived at the airport, a Viking agent walked us into the airport and told us where to go. We couldn’t believe how long the check in line was. We ended up waiting an hour in that line. All of us had been able to check in to our flights the previous day, but Claudia was only able to check in to the first one. When we got to the desk, they were having problems with our bookings. They had to call for another agent to assist them. We did get our boarding passes and they took our luggage. Claudia, who was several agents down only received her boarding pass for the first flight, plus, they didn’t take her suitcase. This was very surprising, especially since she was in First Class. The agent told her that she would need to see the Viking agent in the basement, so that is where we went. The agent knew nothing about the problem and couldn’t do anything about it. She did however go to a machine and was able to get the luggage tags, so Claudia could at least quit dragging it around. But she still didn’t have boarding passes for the last two flights. The agent told us to go to the counter in Frankfurt and they should fix her up. With the flight to Frankfurt being delayed, we would have almost 4 hours there to try to fix the issue. When we got to the gate the flight to Frankfurt was now delayed an hour and a quarter.

Once in Frankfurt, we went to the Lufthansa Club area to get assistance, rather than waiting in a general customer service line. The agent was willing to help but needed to see her First-Class boarding pass. That was not possible, since that is what he needed to get for her. He sent her on to the general support area. The line there was grotesque. Claudia got in it since we didn’t have any other options at the time. We heard later that the line took 4 hours to get to the front. Cathy and I went for a quick lunch while Claudia was in line. During that time, Barbara came up with a great idea. She said that she was going to our gate and see if they could help. Since the gate was at the opposite end of the large Frankfurt airport, Barbara called me and told me to get Claudia out of the line and bring her to the gate. The agents in the gate security area cleared up her issue and allowed her to go to the gate to get her boarding passes. Even though we knew we would miss our plane to Fort Lauderdale, we knew that we would all be together in DC that evening.

When we landed in DC, we went to the Lufthansa counter and received our hotel and meal vouchers as well as boarding passes for the next day’s flight home. It had been a long stressful day of delayed flights and we were so happy to be back in the USA in a comfortable hotel for the night. I was already thinking about our upcoming cruise in just six weeks.

Recap

In addition to checking off one of Cathy’s bucket list trips, we were able to have a most enjoyable vacation with two of our best friends. Traveling with friends and sharing experiences makes a vacation so much better.

I never had a desire to take a Christmas markets river cruise, since I knew it would be cold and not nearly as beautiful as on my first Danube cruise. I do have to say I enjoyed it more than I expected. The markets were special, and the festive holiday atmosphere was a treat. The Viking long boat was much nicer and more enjoyable than I anticipated. We also met some great fellow cruisers who we shared meals, happy hours and tours with during the cruise. We hope to see some of them again in the future. To show how much we enjoyed the cruise, we are already considering other future Viking cruises.

Christmas on the Danube Cruise on the Viking Egil 12/8/22 to 12/17/22

Passau, Germany

Regensburg, Germany

Disembarkation

Recap

Christmas on the Danube Cruise on the Viking Egil
12/8/22 to 12/17/22