Capitals of Eastern Europe - Day 2

 

Day  2 – Monday 23 June 2025 - Vienna

Coaches picked us up by the boat for the included Panoramic Vienna excursion and drove us to the city centre where we followed our guide on foot to various sights, including the Lippizaner stud where we saw one of the famous white stallions.

 

We finished in a pedestrian shopping street with a public toilet. Included tours always point out public toilets, exchange bureaus and ATMs, and find shade in the summer for talks, and they conclude with ‘free time’. As we didn’t want to shop we retired to a street café for a coffee and to watch the world go by, then met at the said time/place to go to the coaches and back to the boat for lunch.

 

Tablecloths were on tables on the prow and that’s where we lunched. As well as the items on the menu there’s a daily lunch from the barbecue, detailed by the waiter.

 

There were optional excursions in the afternoon, and one could take the metro back to the centre but we stayed on the boat enjoying the heat while reading.

By the afternoon Kadlin was sandwiched between two other Viking boats.

Herb Crusted Pork Tenderloin with Hash Browns & Cauliflower

Vienna mooring https://what3words.com/skip.dwarves.probe

Click to go to Day 3

Capitals of Eastern Europe - Day 1

 

Introduction

Capitals of Eastern Europe was our 19th river cruise and the 15th with Viking. We’d been on Passage to Eastern Europe from Budapest to Bucharest in 2019 and I was most excited about cruising past where that stopped at Giurgiu for Bucharest and continuing down the Danube to Constanta on the Black Sea.

It wasn’t to be. After being lucky 18 times, with our 19th cruise we joined the community whose cruises have been affected by water issues, and we didn’t cruise to Constanta because of low water.

 

The Danube was very low which meant steep ramps to exit the boat at every stop. At  a few stops the ramps were so steep that crew members were stationed to help guests.

 

We had a port side cabin at the rear of the upper deck on the longship Viking Kadlin.

The cruise visits seven counties- Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania, with visits to five Capitals – Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest, Belgrade and Bucharest with only the last not being on the river.

There were 180 passengers. The boat’s capacity is 190, so there were 10 people fewer than there could have been thus the boat was 94.7% full. Most of the passengers were from the USA, but there was a greater number than usual from the UK, also guests from Australia, Canada and New Zealand

 

Viking’s fare included on-board gratuities, Silver Spirit Drinks package and economy flights. Flights from London were with BA. We paid a supplement to upgrade to business class.

 

Day  1 – Sunday 22 June 2025

Folkestone Harbour

Our flight was scheduled to arrive at Vienna at 16:00. We were met, as usual, by a Viking welcoming team dressed in bright red and swiftly transported to the boat.

We were moored close to a bridge carrying a road to the city centre and close to an entrance to the metro that runs below the street that we’ve used before to get to/from the city centre. Our cabin on the port (left) side faced the bank but the boat wasn’t rafted. There was a pair of other Viking longships behind us, one carrying Chinese guests.

 

As  we had the drinks package we had a pre-dinner glass of Jacquart Champagne, a red with dinner and I sometime had a post-dinner tawny Port. We took turns choosing wines; white at lunch, red with dinner.

 

 

Smoked Beef Brisket

 

Walnut Cake

Vienna mooring  https://what3words.com/skip.dwarves.probe

Click to go to day 2

Finley

 To Aylesbury to see Finley before our river cruise.

Tilbury Fort

 To Tilbury Fort

The name gives no indication of how immense this place is. Remodelled many times since first constructed in the late 1600s as a gun platform to cover the Thames, it is protected from a landward attack by a series of moats and ramparts. It was used in anger in WWII to house ack-ack guns, and it was given-up by the MoD in 1950.

Main Entrance completed 1682

Covering the Thames

Parade Ground and Officers Accommodation

Bridge to Outer Defences

Guide Book

Seeing Finley

 To Aylesbury to see Emma, Toby, Jack and new arrival Finley

Finley was very hungry and had a bottle and two feeds. He brought some up so his top had to be changed between our holds.

And then to Chez Mumtaj with an onion bhaji starter, lamb rogan josh and an excellent rioja.

Hello Finley

Emma went into labour at 07:30 and at 09:00 Finley George Robert May made his entrance.

He weighed 3.515 kilos (7.75 pounds) and is named after his great-grandfathers.

Toby will collect Jack up from his nursery and will take him to see Emma and Finley later. Emma and Finley should be ready to leave hospital after 21:00.

Museum of The Broads

Joan has to do some research for her next book in the Museum of the Broads in Norfolk, so we’ve booked a night in The Imperial in Great Yarmouth. I want to walk along Gorleston-on-Sea’s promenade after lunch in the charming café we found last time.

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And that’s where it all goes wrong. As we approach the coast the sun goes behind clouds. The wind is cold and the temperature drops by 10 or 11 degrees. The charming café is closed for its mid-week break. We have lunch in the Pier Hotel, that was the location of Danny Boyles’ 2019 movie Yesterday then walk along the promenade, but its really cold after the balmy weather of the past few days.

When we get to the hotel we are surprised how empty their car-park is. When we check-in we are told that their classy Cru restaurant, with its booths, is closed because of low bookings and we’ve been transferred to their casual all-day restaurant.

While we’re having a pre-dinner Champagne aperitif in the bar (because it’s too cold to sit on our balcony) the restaurant maitre d’ comes to us, and offers to organise us a secluded table with table cloths like in Cru, the food & wine will be the same as in Cru. We choose the wine so it can be opened to breathe

We have fillet steak, and

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2020 Rhebokskloof Pinotage (South Africa, Paarl)
Mature now, elegant, with sweet fruit flavours, really delightful. Well done, François.

After a good nights sleep and a hearty Imperial breakfast, we head out to the Museum of the Broads in Stalham. But it’s not any warmer and although much of the collection is roofed it’s till open to the cold air. We don’t linger, and it’s too cold to lunch there so we head for home, stopping for a light lunch on the way.

We’re home earlier than expected so weren’t planning on making dinner. We order a Nandos from Deliveroo which arrives before we’ve finished laying the table.  To drink with our feast I open

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2020 Henry of Pelham Baco Noir Old Vines (Canada, Ontario VQA)

HoP are Baco Noir masters and this wine, with a few years in the bottle, is a beauty. Lush and deep, silky and fruity it’s wonderful and finished too soon.