rcaruso

Palace of Justice is the court room, and yes only open when trials not taking place. Take the train and the Bayern pass and 2nd class around 39 euro for two each way or less (I don't have my phone right now to check on exact). Also staying in Nuremberg after or before cruise is a thought, or Munich. We stay at a hotel right by the train station in Nuremberg and very easy to get anywhere in the old town by foot, and plenty of other transportation to get where you want to go. Same as in Munich.

If you go to County Wicklow. Check out the old series of Ballykissangel from PBS or BBC. It is set in the town of Avoca (but they call it Ballykissangel) Beautiful countryside and a lovely 7 season series of an English priest and the inhabitants of this small Irish village.

Happy New Year! I was just going to mention a Dinner for One. My German friends turned me on to it several years ago. Also, the marzipan pink pigs for luck.

Same on the River Cruises this year too.

My friend sent pictures from Karlstadt yesterday. I love the webcam from the Alter Kranen, that is our favorite hotel in Wurzburg, we stay there all the time.

My friends in Karlstadt am Main have posted pictures, it is very high on the main, so no ships sailing, can't get under bridges. A poster on the Viking Rollcalls just reported that he is on his 2nd or third ship from Budapest and will transfer to the Viking Ve in Mainz and then get to Amsterdam.

I have seen posts that the Christmas Market Viking Rhine cruises do offer an excursion to Gengenback, there has been a lot of reporting of that and some very nice pictures.

Our favorite hotel in Passau is the Passauer Wolf, right on the river in the Altstadt. Reasonable rates and good breakfast.

The Prestige is used for training. In July we met our restaurant manager from the Douro in Vienna. He was training new hires on the Prestige and it does sail a bit for training. We were supposed to be on it in 2020 which was changed to the Embla at that time.

I just wonder if the Ve will be the ship that picks up the passengers from the Gymir (ship that hit bridge on Main) in Nuremberg.

Per my friend, the reason they hit the dock was the steering was out due to collision. It has been fixed and they are sailing to Wertheim. Will swap ships in Passau.

Viking has bused some passengers to Würzburg for a tour. They have been told they will transfer to another ship. Could be the Odin that appears on its way?

My friend is on the ship. That's how I found out about the collision. Have not heard from her today, will post when I do.

Just saw post on FB. The Gymir hit an iron bridge around lunch time today close to Miltonberg. No one was injured. https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mainpost.de%2Fregional%2Fmain-spessart%2Fkreuzfahrtschiff-in-miltenberg-mit-eisenbahnbruecke-kollidiert-art-11304249%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR3_lnpzoZYiFnCVaDofFZzuSXqiLap8FNZCD0g0SscZ0ndRG-EwdWgBG9Y&h=AT2fW9RY8FPBn6tmtyAoGu__b5GB_T77VR82R1mFoUtBufni1BacfdPJqD8WiljwIu5MvHil_dAzVmhp4hX38r7dn444h-qPE6ZNtfpK-xSJ8vWWycwKd85480sJHKPwFQ&__tn__=-UK-R&c[0]=AT1J_ad8zlvvzMRAAmT-b331uTl2KaRp9W2T9ymmyJAd0kLelPdR6ZyWmZJcH9YFi7i-AsNV9Vhow-fKMC1jBYBcLNRaGrNNWBBJjtWdpIeuX_y6bdn7R3b-z4tOxhaIUb0X3fqU8di3EF72PAajgaX_1lOs90s8bFamkZkfSzt6lwH5dK1coNtUEw

Also, if you take Bayern Pass it will include the S & U Bahns in Munich and you can get off a train and take I think the S Bahn to Marianplatz. From there most everything is easy.

You are so right. I meant going to the Munich HBF and taking S bahn to Flughafen by the bypass. We've done the bus also, and yes can get crowded but very easy. Was nice to see a train go direct to the Flughafen with no transfers.

Train with O stops looks the best as it by passes Munich and goes from Freising to Flughafen. Also be cautious the db bahn can have strikes etc, but looks real easy. We only once had a strike situation that messed us up, otherwise sometimes they can be late too, just take an early one.

Last year late November we were on the GE, and there were shuttles in Vienna for the Christmas Market by the Rat Haus that just opened. Where the ship docks in Wurzburg the Market is within walking distance in the main square. In Bamburg you will walk past some. Cologne will be all over, one in the square by the Dom. You won't miss them. If you take the optional to Schonbrunn Palace there is one right in front of the palace. Depending on the dates you travel, just google the markets and you will get the opening dates. No worries.

It's been stopped there almost 1 day and has not moved. I think it is docked there are too many ships docked in Komaron, it is not able to get to Budapest. It debarks and embarks passengers today.

Yes, no Viking ship made it through last night. 5 sitting in Racklau the Alta went to Vilshofen and now is headed to Engelharzell, I suspect because Racklau is full of ships. I also thought the Gymir might make it to Budapest as they passed Komaro, but they just stopped up river.

I've seen some posts on cruise critic Viking Roll Calls that people were informed they may not be embarking from Budapest and where to meet for busing to Komaron, or if they were to embark in Regensburg. Viking sends them an e-mail blast. For myself, in 2021 in late November we were on a Danube Waltz. We were leaving one day before the cruise started, but that day all of Austria shut down. We called the hotline and no help (quite rude if you ask me). I ended up with a Viking customer service supervisor who really tried to help, but she knew nothing except if we cancelled we would lose all our $$. So we took the flight and when we got to Frankfurt had an e-mail from Viking stating the cruise would be a go with revisions (all of Austria gone). We did get a partial credit for another cruise and had a great time on the ship with 65 pax and 50 crew--no one caught COVID on that cruise. But, if I had it to do over I think cancelling it would have been the right thing as Austria is a large part of that cruise. For our July GE cruise this year no notice was given. That was due to the ships before us were able to make it through Pfelling. It was a touch and go, and the cruises after were able to go as there was more water. July was a real crap shoot, no one could predict.

in 2015 we did 2 ship swaps on Viking. We left Amsterdam on on ship. Stopped in Koblenz and took a tourist boat (plenty big) down the Rhine Gorge and picked up the next ship in Mainz. Sailed to Nuremberg then bused to Passau for the last swap, we were able to get to Budapest at the end or that would have been our third.

All that start in Budapest. Look at Notamermaids post water levels between Budapest and Komaron are too low for them to sail, right now. If you are going on a cruise you should get notice where the ship will start by Viking. Look at CruiseMapper.com and you can see the transit of Viking ships.

Now reporting on Facebook, the Viking ships are starting and maybe ending in Komaron/Komaro. A quick look at Cruise mapper confirmed this. So now Budapest for Viking is by bus.

Wow, anything would be better than Mc Donalds. We travel to Germany to enjoy different foods/experiences not Mc Donalds. Except for the espresso, which we don't have in US, it was very much American. I don't eat at Mc Donalds at home and I certainly don't want to eat there in Germany.