Photos from Amadagio Christmas Markets Cruise

[WIT]

We just returned from from the Christmas Markets cruise on the Amadagio from Budapest to Nuremburg, a three-day extention in Prague and a two-day unscheduled stay in London Heathrow. I hope to eventually post details of the trip, but for now I have uploaded 46 labeled photos on webshots.com which may supplement the excellent collection done by Tatatom of his October '06 Danube cruise. I included some shots of our cabin on the Amadagio. You can see these photos at

 

http://travel.webshots.com/album/556609492rBWZYI

 

This was our first river cruise. We are doing Viking's Cultural Delights cruise of the Yangtze in April.

[TataTom]

Thanks for posting the photos! I enjoyed looking at them. I never thought to get photos of the airports or inside the boat. Next cruise we will have better coverage.

It was good to see Andrea getting the champagne ready for the continental divide...she was on our cruise as well, and was a really nice person.

[letsgo39]

Lovely pictures,thank you.

So what happened at London Heathrow? Did you just love London so much you didn't want to leave?

[steamboats]

letsgo39,

 

Heathrow (and all other London airports) were more or less shut down for a couple of days prior Christmas Eve because of heavy fog. Only a few flights did go out. Most had been cancelled. They built up tents for all the stranded passengers.

 

steamboats

[letsgo39]

Thanks Steamboats,I did not know that. The Denver Colorado was just shut down because of snow for a few days before Christmas. Looked like a big mess.I guess most people finally got out Christmas day.Can you even imagine being stuck at the airport for days with little kids.Sounds like a real nightmare!

[WIT]

We had booked our flights with American Airlines, which uses British Airlines for the European leg of the trip. LHR fog delayed our BA flight out of Prague for 6 hours, so all the AA trans-Atlantic flights had already departed. BA put us up at the Cumberland in Marble Arch with meal vouchers. It was fun to ride the tube again. The next day we reticketed with AA and left mid afternoon. Many strictly BA customers spent a second night in the outdoor tent as hotel rooms had run out.

[AliceS]

Thanks for the photos. All of these pictures are getting me more excited about our future cruise. It was good to see the inside of the cabin. Thanks.

[Carhut]

Thanks for sharing your pictures. Funny what other people see in different places. Great picture of the Chain Bridge. I don't remember a canal in Prague. Again some scenes look familiar, too. Looks cold. Everybody is dressed warmly. The Christmas lights would really be pretty to see in person though.

[letsgo39]

Well as they say. you have to be flexible to travel. I love London so a little extra time there can't be all bad IMO!

[WIT]

Carhut -

 

The shot I overenthusiastically labelled is just off the Charles Bridge where boatmen offer rides for 20Kr. Temps varied from light jackets in Budapest the first day to full coats with scarves, hats, and gloves the windiest day in Prague. Amazingly, there was only a bit of rain on the half-day bus ride to meet the boat in Vienna. The remaining days were dry and ususally bright. The nice weather was devastating to low altitude ski areas like Innsbruck - the only snow we saw all week was the very tops of the Alps going into Salzburg.

[WIT]

Carhut -

 

I've upoaded a video clip of the Old Town Square in Prague showing the best twinkling lights we saw on the trip to

 

http://picasaweb.google.com/billwitowski/ChristmasMarketsBudapestToPrague1206/

 

The second photo looks like a duplicate of the first but instead is the video.

[Carhut]

Thanks Wit for the pictures and video. I liked the music, too, although I didn't understand the words.

I see that they have scaffolding up on the one half of the parliiment building in Budapest. In my pictures it was obvious that side was dirty and the other parts had been cleaned. Must be a monumental job to clean all that sandstone.

 

Carole