Trip Report! ABD Danube River Cruise w/Prague Add-on !!UPDATED!! 9/17/17 Re-posted all the Photos!!

Looks amazing, Tobi!! The setup seems very similar to the Viking cruise we took last fall. We had a French balcony and loved it. We didn't miss the regular balcony at all since we were rarely in our cabin. Any teens/college aged kids on board that you noticed? I'm curious if they would enjoy a river cruise experience or think it too slow.

Laurie
I really did enjoy the French balcony the couple of times I used it, and the large window it provided the other times was great (well, except that time the other ship parked right outside my window! :) ) There were some teens/college aged kids onboard (I think we only had 14 kids, but most of them were at least pre-teen). They all seemed to enjoy it that I saw. I think a lot of that came from the Adventure Guides. They had them up in the Lounge or on the Sun Deck, using them as a "hangouts", and they got pretty thick. I didn't notice any sulky kids on the excursions, so I think they were OK with it, and having their "gang" to hang with probably helped. I don't know how they'd have fared on a "standard" river cruise vs an ABD river cruise, though. The excursions, from what I've heard, are different from what you'd get on a standard cruise.

Sayhello
 
Day 2 – Budapest Central Market Hall & Lazar Equestrian Park

Today we were to meet at 8:30am to head out to the Budapest Central Market Hall. On the ship, they always had an “early bird” continental breakfast in the Lounge for those who wanted breakfast before the Main Dining room opened for Breakfast, and a “late risers” continental breakfast for those who missed breakfast. I managed to always make it to the Main Dining room for breakfast (although a couple of times, I just grabbed some stuff from the buffet to scarf down before meeting up for an excursion). That was really the only thing I missed from Ocean cruises – there was no room service unless you were too ill to eat in the Main Dining room. On Ocean cruises, I tend to order breakfast from room service so that I can eat while getting ready. I adapted, but I did miss it.

So this first activity showcased one of the things I really liked about River cruising. We met up on the dock, and then *walked* to the Central Market Hall. No getting on a bus and travelling hours to get to where we wanted to be. It was nice.

The Market Hall is a really cool, really huge building.

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It’s divided up into 3 floors. The main floor is all sorts of food stalls, upstairs is clothing and all sorts of crafts and souvenirs. Apparently the lower level is fish sellers, but we never went down there.

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I had decided that what I really wanted was an embroidered blouse like I’d seen on our Adventure Guides the first night, so I could wear it to the Farewell dinner. There were a gazillion to choose from, but I was really picky as to what I wanted. I finally decided on a black blouse with beautifully bright flowers on it. I also purchased a small lace runner with more beautiful flowers embroidered on it, and a fancy plastic fan. I’d heard from calypso726 that the Mozart concert in Vienna could be really warm, so I figured a fan would be a good thing to have.

Here’s a pic of pandw and I (actually from the farewell dinner) where I’m wearing the blouse.

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We had a good bit of time to explore the market & shop before we needed to meet up again. We then walked to where our motorcoach was parked, and from there, headed out to the Lazar Equestrian Park, which was about 20 miles outside of Budapest. It took us a while to get there due to the traffic getting through Budapest. When we got there, we were met by costumed folks who offered us apricot schnapps and savory scones. The schnapps was rather strong, but the scones were yummy. We were then given an overview of the setup of the park, and then set loose to hit whichever activities we wanted to do.

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Many of us walked over to an area where they had picnic tables set up with recipes and all the ingredients needed to make Hungarian Goulash.

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They actually hung up kettles over these fires, and we each put some of the ingredients in and stirred it up.

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After we’d gotten all the ingredients in our kettle (more or less following the recipe -- we kept getting conflicting instructions from the folks running it!) it had to cook, so we went off to do other activities. A bunch of us headed over to where they were loading up wagons to go for a ride around the grounds. It was starting to get warm, but it was a lovely ride.

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Zoe tried her hand at cracking the whip (something she is already great at in a metaphorical way!). She did get it to crack pretty well once she learned to keep it away from her face!

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After the wagon ride, we headed over to where they had grandstands set up (under a roof, thank goodness!) where we were to see the horse show. The handlers came out and ran the horses through various tricks (like staying perfectly still as they cracked their whips right next to them, sitting down, running around the track without spilling the ale that their riders were carrying in mugs, etc.) There was one woman who was dressed up as Sisi (Empress Elisabeth) and a guy who drove 5 horses while standing on the back of 2 of them. It was fun and impressive.

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We had a minor problem that there were some children standing near some of us who were extremely rude, standing directly in front of people, and blocking their view. No-one really said anything (beyond asking nicely for them to sit down, which they did for like 2 seconds) because I don't think any of us were sure yet whether they were with ABD or not. It turns out they weren't, that anyone can come in & watch the horse show. The kids with ABD were MUCH better behaved!!

After the show, they herded us into the restaurant where we had lunch. There was some salad, and then a platter full of meats! There were sausages, pigs’ knuckles, schnitzel, etc. No-one went hungry. I thought the chicken schnitzel was definitely the best.

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Then, after that, it was time to eat some goulash. We thought they’d just serve us some goulash they’d cooked, and dump out what we’d made, but they didn’t. They actually had us go back out to where our kettles were still simmering, and ladled us bowls from the kettles we’d each help make. It was actually pretty good!

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After we finished eating, we had a very short bit of time to either hit the gift shop or the restrooms. Considering the length of the ride, I decided on the restroom. We then headed back out to our motorcoaches, and started back towards Budapest.

A combination of the heat and the good food meant a *lot* of the folks on the motorcoach ended up like this:

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We got a bus tour of Budapest on our way back, as we were driven through some cool parts of town, along with descriptions of what we were seeing (some of which I actually remember!)

The Heroes’ Square

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The House of Terror, which is a museum of the communist and fascist regimes in Hungary.

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I saw some really cool areas I wish I'd had time to go to. I *DEFINITELY* need to go back to Budapest!!

Back at the lovely AmaViola, with the buildings housing some old Thermal Baths in the background (another place I'll have to be sure to get to next time!)

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We were greeted by a Hungarian folk band. That was part of one of the things I really loved about this cruise. When we returned from excursions, we were always greeted as we entered, and met with hot towels and a cool drink and a warm “Welcome Back”. The folk band was an extra added treat this day.

Video!



Surprise! When I got to my cabin, this was my view! There aren’t enough enough berths for all the ships, so sometimes they park 2 or 3 deep, and the folks on the other ship have to cross up and over the top deck of our ship and then back down to get to their ship. Fortunately, this was the only time we docked this way.

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Later on, we had a performance by the folk band that had greeted us, plus some dancers. They danced some traditional Hungarian Gypsy folk dances, then changed costumes and did some more contemporary dances, too. They were quite good!

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Today was one of only a couple times that we left port in the late afternoon (most days it was late evening). But it was really beautiful watching the shores of Budapest go by in the daylight this time.

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The Parliament Building is pretty stunning in the daylight, too!

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They'd given all the women a rose when we boarded the first day, and I found that my cabin attendant had put it in a vase for me while I was gone. It lasted the whole cruise. Such a nice touch.

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I woke up in the wee hours of the morning to this sight, and had to get a shot as we sailed through the night.

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Up next, Day 3 – Bratislava, Slovakia
 
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Day 3 – Bratislava, Slovakia – Central Market, Devin Castle and Schloss Hof

So we were told that we’d be going through the first and largest of 7 locks at 5am this morning. I’d heard from Jennae that it was really cool, and I really wanted to check it out. But I was pretty tired the night before, and decided I’d set my alarm, and see how I felt when 5am rolled around. The alarm went off, and I looked up and saw we were already inside the lock (basically my entire window was filled by the wall). I got up and took a peek out my window, figured I had a good enough view from there, took some photos, and went back to sleep. There would be more locks later!

By the way, my poor camera got a bit wet, and I realized later that the lens cover was occasionally not opening all the way. So you can see black corners on some of these photos. I worked on it to get it dried & cleaned up and this eventually went away, but you'll see it in some of the photos.

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This morning, we were to start with a walking tour of Bratislava. We again walked out to the pier (no bus required!) and met up with our group and our Adventure Guides according to our color groups. We’d been instructed to bring our QuietVox players (like Whisperers) with us. (They were sitting in their charger on the desk of my cabin when I checked in, along with earpieces and color coding cards). The color coding cards were used to sync your QuietVox with the microphone for your color group’s local guide. You pointed the end of the QuietVox at the color of your group while holding a button, and it synced. They worked really well. Only a few people had issues with them that I know of. I have to say, I feel the range & sound quality was much better than the Whisperers I’ve used on other ABDs.

The Guides for our group this day were Daniel and Birte (Birdy). This morning was the first time I really noticed one of the downsides of this manner of doing excursions. Since the makeup of the group was constantly shifting from day to day (and sometimes from excursion to excursion) the Guides (as well as we Adventurers) didn’t really know at this point who was in our color group & who wasn’t. There were a few times that the groups crossed paths, and I could see the Guides struggling to keep everyone in their color group together, and not accidentally walking off in the other direction with another color group. I really think the Adventurers needed some sort of identification, also (the Guides had colored paddles), be it colored lanyards or something that could be a quick visual indication of what group everybody was in. (Everyone put the color cards away with their Safety cards so they wouldn’t lose them.) It also got too hot after today to actually wear our ABD lanyards. Perhaps just a colored shoestring lanyard? I’ve recommended this to ABD in my Survey. I felt bad for the Guides, but of course they managed somehow!

Our local Guide gave us a brief current history of Bratislava and showed us the “UFO” bridge, which was built by the communists while they were in charge of the area. Yes, that's a restaurant and observation deck on top. She didn’t seem to think much of it, or of any of the architecture of the buildings built by the Communists. It definitely was in stark contrast to the more historical architecture. She hinted that they were basically hoping for the buildings to fall down so they could replace them with something nicer. But given the very solid, concrete look of them, I don’t think that’s going to happen any time soon.

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Here are some much nicer buildings there.

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To help beautify Old Town Bratislava, several quirky bronze sculptures were commissioned and are placed around the Old Town and the Central Square. There were also some fun sculptures in front of some of the shops and restaurants.

Adventure Guide Danny with a friend. (Yes, we had Adventure Guide Danny and Adventure Guide Daniel. It surprisingly wasn't a problem!)

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This guy, The Watcher, is apparently one of the more famous of the sculptures. Some think he’s looking up women’s skirts…

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Our local guide with another sculpture

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A Napoleonic Soldier

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Our local guide had given us little booklets and pens to use. They were sort of a scavenger hunt. The booklet showed little bits of several landmarks around the Old Town, and when you found them, you matched the letter for it to a number, which eventually spelled out the old name of Bratislava (Wilson City). We all received a pretty yummy gingerbread cookie as a reward for solving the puzzle (or not!)

The walk around Old Bratislava was very pleasant, and it was an interesting place.

A fountain in the Central Square

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Our guide took us through a courtyard to the Primate’s Palace (OK, yes, I looked that up!) and told us about how it had been taken from the people, who had managed to hide a fortune worth of ancient tapestries in the wall between two of the windows in the building. Eventually, the city was able to buy the palace back, at which point the tapestries were re-discovered, and therefore belonged to the people.

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Here you can see some artwork that is being uncovered and restored on the side of a building.

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Gargoyles!

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Apparently Bratislava was seriously bombarded by cannon balls by Napoleon. Several cannon balls can still be seen, embedded in the walls of buildings. I’m not sure if they were just left there, or specifically embedded as a sort of nose-thumb to Napoleon.

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Me and a friend.

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Interesting signage.

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Here, right by Michael’s Gate to the Old City is purportedly one of the narrowest buildings in Europe at 130 cm. (I’ve seen it claimed as the narrowest in the world, but there’s a house somewhere that’s 109 cm, so it can’t be in the world. I imagine it’s the narrowest in Slovakia!)

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More cool architecture.

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When we finished our walking tour, we met up with our motorcoaches, and headed out of town to Devin Castle. It’s not too far from town. It sits impressively on top of a hill. (It’s a bit of a hike up to the Castle, and it’s pretty exposed up there, so be sure & take water with you!)

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As you’re walking up the very verdant hillside to get to the castle, we passed various livestock by the side of the road, such as donkeys, sheep and goats.

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When we got to the top, the groups spread out, rotating through a few different activities. They were a humorous Medieval weapons demonstration, a tour of the Castle ruins, and an area where ABD had specially arranged some activities for us which were not activities normally available to visitors to Devin Castle. Those were a candle-making area, an area where you could engrave a coin, an area where you could learn to write your name in calligraphy, and an area where they taught you archery.

Our group started with the weapons demonstration, which was fun and funny. It was also, unfortunately, becoming beastly hot & humid out there, too.

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They got volunteers to learn how to handle the “weapons”. That was really a blast!

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Once we were done watching that demonstration, we headed up to the Castle ruins. Fortunately, once we got up there, we were told that the fountain there had access to a very fresh water reservoir, and that if we had a water bottle (I did!) we could fill it up there. It was very delicious water, and I filled my bottle multiple times!

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There was a well there that was so deep, it took several seconds for water to hit the surface down below. They demonstrated it for us. Just about the time you thought you must have missed it, you heard the splash below. Crazy!

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The Castle courtyard.

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The AmaViola cruising around on the Danube while we were gone.

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The tower used to be connected to the wall surrounding the Castle. It was called the Maiden’s Tower, because apparently some tragic Princess whose lover was killed threw herself off of the tower.

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This video is of our tour guide telling us about how that’s Austria on the other side of the Danube, which they were not allowed to visit during the time of the communist regime.



Apparently I took no photos of the exclusive Activities. I blame it on a very drippy calligraphy of my name, and the fact that it was seriously hot out now. I did the candle making, smote my coin, and tried the afore-mentioned calligraphy (which drippy ink ended up on my T-Shirt). HURRAH! for the onboard laundry, which was *very* good, very prompt, and reasonably priced. But it was JUST TOO HOT to stand in line for the archery. I kind of wanted to try it, but stood in the shade & watched for a bit instead.

I did take a photo of this strange decoration on the tree where many of us sheltered in the shade.

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On the way back down the hill, I came across this chorus singing what appeared to be Slovakian folk songs.

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Video!



We then headed back to the AmaViola for lunch and, fortunately, a chance to cool off, dry off, change if necessary, (attempt to get the ink off my T-Shirt), etc.

A towel animal was awaiting me in my cabin!

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Continued in the next post!
 
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Continued from the previous post.

At 3:15, those who wanted to set back out for a tour of Schloss Hof, a Palace just across the border in Austria.

It was a very pretty little palace. We had costumed interpreters guiding us around the grounds. We were hot in our summer clothes, I can’t *imagine* how hot they were in those costumes! I had grabbed my fan that I bought in the Budapest market, and found it really helped. I carried it in my purse for the rest of the trip for just in case!!

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Our guide led us through the underground tunnels to the main house. Some of us proposed just staying down there, because it was COOL!

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We weren’t allowed to take photos during the tour of the main house (which was lovely!) but one of the Guides caught this photo of a ballroom done up for the wedding that was taking place there. It was *SO* lovely! I’d want my reception to look like this!

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The Palace had lovely manicured gardens. You can see Bratislava off in the background. That's how close to the border it is.

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We were allowed out on the patio overlooking the gardens even though the wedding folks were out there at the time. There was a lovely fountain, and some quirky statuary.

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Here’s the group in front of the fountain (it really is back there, somewhere!)

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As a part of the tour, we went into a class-room type room (I’m sure to get out of the heat) and learned to do a Medieval waltz. Birdy was my partner, and we had a lot of fun looking meaningfully into each other’s eyes at the appropriate moments.

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This cool pear tree was near the entrance to the grounds behind the palace.

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We then took a walk around the grounds to see some of the unusual livestock they had, such as blonde-and-blue-eyed donkeys (not albinos, actually blonde. Albinos would have red eyes). They’re very rare, and bred there. They were very friendly, and let us pet them until they got tired, and made it very clear it was time to stop!

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They also had camels and these very bizarre 4-horned goats!

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We were then given a choice of a fruit-flavored schnapps, and then had a short free time to either wander the grounds, or hit the coffee shop and get something to eat or drink. Several of us chose the coffee shop, which had umbrellas on their deck, and got something to drink. It was nice to just sit & hydrate!

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We then met up (after a few mis-directions as to the way to get back to the motorcoach) and the relatively long drive back to the ship.

After dinner, I retreated to my room in exhaustion. It had been a *long* day. It was made very clear that you didn't *have* to do all the excursions, but I *wanted* to!

I’m going to mention here that most of the meals kind of blur together. Except for the night at the Chef’s Table, I really don’t remember which menu was what night, or what I had which night. I do remember it was all good, except for the fish with dill sauce one night which was only OK. I also know I ate with @Carolann4 & her husband & friends one night, and @Eeyore18 & her mother & daughter another night, and @pandw a few nights. They were all delightful! I also became good friends with pandw, sharing multiple excursions and meals with them. I definitely hope to keep in touch with them and maybe see them on a future ABD! But there’s no food porn from the ship. Sorry! It’s not that the food wasn’t good (it was excellent!) it just didn’t happen this vacation.

Tomorrow -- Day 4 - Vienna!!
 
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I'm glad you got to see Bratislava. We rode in a car from Vienna to Budapest and I made a point to stop for a couple of hours there. I liked it. It was very charming.. at least the old town was. In December, they had an ice skating rink set up in front of the opera house (I think). Anyway, one could easily pass up Bratislava, but I thought it was pretty cool. That UFO bridge is atrocious though.

Here's my crazy family trudging our way through the town.
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I'm glad you got to see Bratislava. We rode in a car from Vienna to Budapest and I made a point to stop for a couple of hours there. I liked it. It was very charming.. at least the old town was. In December, they had an ice skating rink set up in front of the opera house (I think). Anyway, one could easily pass by Bratislava without a though, but I thought it was pretty cool. That UFO bridge is atrocious though.

Here's my crazy family trudging our way through the town.
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What a great shot of your family! Intrepid travelers all! :)

I liked Bratislava, too. I don't know if I'd ever have gone there if it hadn't been on the River cruise itinerary. That's one reason I'm really glad I did this trip! I like seeing places I've always heard about, but I also like discovering places that have never been on my radar before. :) I don't know if I'd have ever gone to Budapest, either, and I totally love it. It's one of my favorite European cities now!

Sayhello
 
What a great shot of your family! Intrepid travelers all! :)

I liked Bratislava, too. I don't know if I'd ever have gone there if it hadn't been on the River cruise itinerary. That's one reason I'm really glad I did this trip! I like seeing places I've always heard about, but I also like discovering places that have never been on my radar before. :) I don't know if I'd have ever gone to Budapest, either, and I totally love it. It's one of my favorite European cities now!

Sayhello

Agreed! I'd love to go back to Budapest one day.
 
Love the photo- this Southern girl (SC->Caribbean->VA->TX->VA-> Caribbean->FL) was planning on bundling up and you just reinforced it :)
 
When I toured Bratislava our guide told us that the king gave all those whose houses were hit by cannon balls a tax break on their property taxes so the people kept the cannon balls embedded to prove the attack. She said some even went out and embedded cannon balls in their walls even though the French never shot those cannon balls. Love your review. Thanks.
 
When I toured Bratislava our guide told us that the king gave all those whose houses were hit by cannon balls a tax break on their property taxes so the people kept the cannon balls embedded to prove the attack. She said some even went out and embedded cannon balls in their walls even though the French never shot those cannon balls. Love your review. Thanks.
Oh, that's a cool tidbit! Thanks, carpenta! :)

Sayhello
 
Not sure about the next ABD, but now thinking Scotland or Ireland moving up list on my bucket list! Off to WDW and DCL on Fantasy in January/February, DL in March:)!!
 
Loving your trip report. This is my 1st review I am seeing of the river cruises....I will be off to search for more. I was
dying to hear how it was.
Pic look awesome!
Thanks
Kerri
 
Loving your trip report. This is my 1st review I am seeing of the river cruises....I will be off to search for more. I was
dying to hear how it was.
Pic look awesome!
Thanks
Kerri
Thanks! Glad you're enjoying it. More to come very soon!

There are other Reviews here. Here's some links:

http://www.disboards.com/threads/da...shofen-to-budapest-29-jul-4-aug-2016.3536400/

http://www.disboards.com/threads/links-to-abd-trip-reports.2167714/page-5#post-56053877

http://www.disboards.com/threads/dvc-exclusive-danube-river-cruise-video-trip-report.3540879/

Check out the Trip Reports sticky at the top of this forum!

Sayhello
 
Thanks so much!!! Love these boards:-)
Kerri

 

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