#i was going thru my personal tag and found the same exact issues all those years ago

[peek-a-boo-rikki]

You know things are bad when ai chatbots are telling you that you're living life on hard mode lmao

[suitcasetales]

44D: It’s Not What You Think (Friday)

We sailed during the night and arrived in Linz (still in Austria) ‪around 7:30 Friday morning‬. We needed to be up and at it because we were going on an all day “included” excursion to visit Cesky Krumlov Castle, a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Monument. This would take us in to our fourth country of this trip, the Czech Republic. There were four buses transporting Viking passengers to this town and, as usual, we were assigned to “44D” which became a joke between our friends and us. In fact, they met one couple who admitted that they went to the front desk and begged to be moved to another bus! I would be interested in knowing the average age of the people on our cruise, how that compares to all of the Viking cruises and if that average is going down. I suspect it is (although my age is going up!) but that may have just been my own pre-trip stereotyping and not really based on any facts I have read. So, bus 44D was never full; we would only have about 16 to 20 people. Due to the amount of walking on this particular trip – and not normal walking; we are talking steep cobblestoned streets and alleys – Viking had offered an alternative guided walk at “a leisurely pace.” They promised you would see the exact same sites, just at a slower pace. Thankfully, four people from 44D signed up for that slower paced tour. Remember that…..4 people……and I can guess which four. Okay so we met our guide Lucie outside the ship and boarded the buses. Our guide started talking and never stopped the entire trip to Cesky Krumlov. She told a lot of history but also a lot of personal stories because she had grown up there so had seen a lot of change in her young lifetime, not to mention the changes her parents and grandparents had experienced. (In 1993, Czechoslovakia peacefully divided into Slovakia and the Czech Republic.) However, she told us nothing about things we were seeing outside the windows of the bus as we made this journey and I thought she really need to stop and catch her breath and acknowledge that just because she rode or drove this road multiple times a week and was familiar with it, it was our first time. For a big portion of the journey, we were on a new road akin to our interstates and we went through many tunnels, the first one of which was very, very long. I bet you no one was listening to her at this point because we were all wondering if the tunnel was ever going to end! We had been told over and over to be sure to take our passports with us on this excursion – nowhere else had we needed them but today, we would. Indeed we stopped at the border crossing. Yup, we stopped at the border alright — well, actually at the convenience store and gas station right by the border — for a bathroom break. (Somehow, 44D had managed to be the first to arrive here so we beat the other three buses to the restrooms!) No passports needed to use the bathrooms. And then we simply got back on the bus and drove in to the Czech Republic and on to Cesky Krumlov. Our next stop was a parking lot where we met another guide who would be conducting the more leisurely tour. Our guide announced that those four folks who signed up for that tour should get off. No one moved. No one! She announced it again…..nothing. Again, “there’s four of you on this bus that chose this option.” Nothing. Arrrgh. So the poor guide had shown up to work and then was not needed. Janet and I were embarrassed for Viking and mad at those four folks, knowing they were going to slow us down. We will never know what more we could have seen or what different paths our guide may have chosen had those four folks not been with us; I just wish people would be honest about their limitations. And it’s not like Viking doesn’t bend over backwards to help everyone have fulfilling experiences because they over and over did so on our trip. After the futile stop, our bus driver drove us to the top of the town and plunked us out in the formal, terraced gardens of the Castle. This was probably our coldest day and the wind was pretty fierce. Slowly we walked down through the garden and past different buildings that were part of the Castle complex and down several steep cobblestoned walkways. I sent telepathic messages to “the four” telling them they had better not complain about the footing and fortunately, no one took a tumble.

Following Lucie and the 44D “lollipop.”

We actually did not enter the Castle or any of the buildings; there are ticketed tours which take you in to parts of the Castle which you could do during the free time. 

The Castle is also home to a couple of bears but Lucie recognized the bearkeeper’s vehicle outside their quarters and remarked that they would be inside being fed. Of course they would. (You all know our bad luck with seeing bears!)

Once we were in town, Lucie gave us recommendations for shopping and lunch (only giving two restaurants a “thumbs down”) and once we were in the main Square and we had established our meeting point, we were set loose for a couple of hours. 

We immediately headed back to Papa’s Living Restaurant she had said had a nice, varied menu but also had some traditional Czech dishes. We snagged a table for four and a couple from Orlando (via North Dakota!) joined us. Between several Asian tourists and folks from our cruise, the restaurant filled quickly. Janet and I ordered Czech specialties and both were delicious. We passed on dessert because we wanted to have time to shop and possible go up in The Tower.

Janet’s lunch: turkey breast baked in pastry, served with leafy spinach and blue-cheese sauce and fine mustard cream sauce; Janet said the spinach was probably the best she’s ever tasted.

Donna’s lunch: roasted pork tenderloin, mushroom sauce and home-made Bohemian bread dumplings. Those dumplings were delicious!

In the end, we did’t have time to go up “the towerist of all towers.” The 162-stairs of exercise would have been some good exercise.

Close-by the restaurant, I had seen a gingerbread shop that I wanted to go to so after lunch, we headed straight there. Janet had bought several treats along the way and this time, it was my turn! 

We window shopped as we walked through the town and also bought a few small ornaments in one of the stores selling iconic wood products before heading back to the Square to convene with the 44D group.

I can see why this Castle and area has been recognized by UNESCO. The way the Castle was built along the curve of the hillside and looms over the town is impressive. And the town itself, laying low in the valley and with the River Vltava curving around it, makes it truly one of the most picturesque places we have visited and a real gem for the Czech Republic.

On the bus ride back to Linz, Lucie put away her microphone and we listened to a CD whose playlist included the Czech National Anthem, recognizable classical pieces by Czech composers and musicians and a couple of “songs you may recognize.” You have not lived until you hear ‪Johnny Cash‬’s “I’ll Walk the Line” and ‪John Denver‬’s “Country Roads” in Czech while snaking thru tunnels in the Austrian countryside with your 44D pals. Darkness was quickly approaching when we arrived back in Linz but we had about an hour before we needed to be back on the ship so Janet and I walked in to Linz. All we had to do was cross a busy road and we were in the town Square where the Christmas Market booths were up and some vendors were readying their merchandise. We went in to the Bank of Austria to use the ATM for more Euros. (I have to hand it to the VACU. After having time-consuming and blood-boiling issues on previous trips, we had no delays or problems banking or paying with our debit card on this trip.)

We continued up the main shopping street -- pedestrian and tram only zone – and popped inside a church and also into a very expensive clothing store akin to the Bucket List one in Vienna. Although it was late on a ‪Friday evening‬ when you would expect a lot of adults scurrying about, we noted how many families were out and about. The town had a good vibe. (Viking passengers who chose not to go to Cesky Krumlov ulov could choose from an optional Austrian countryside tour or a walking and train tour in Linz.)

We couldn’t linger in town due to the mandatory (at least one person per cabin was required to attend) deportation talk on board ship ‪at 5:15‬. To say Viking knows what they are doing is an understatement. You should see how incredibly organized they are in getting folks and their luggage off the ship and on to their next destination. For someone like me who loves organization charts, schedules and color coding, I had found “my people.” Joe, the Program Director, gave us the overall basics of how things would work and told us when we returned to our cabins, the specifics of our own deportation would be clear. Indeed, we later found lying on our bed red personalize luggage tags. The daily newsletter listed every cabin number’s flights, time they had to have their luggage outside their rooms and the time they were to depart the ship. Some poor folks had to leave as early ‪as 2:00 am‬! Us? We were dead last. We weren’t going to have to get up early or rush ‪on Sunday morning‬. And for fifteen minutes, that ship was going to be all ours, baby! Following the you-will-soon-have-to-return-to-reality talk (a day early, I might add; we still had one more day!), the Captain and all of the bosses stood before us and the bar staff distributed flutes of bubbly and everybody toasted everybody. This was the final week of this route for 2017 so I am sure the crew was anxious to get rid of us so they could get home to their families. Some would join other cruises but Mariana, who lives in Romania, for example, will be off until March.

Dinner was at 7pm and Janet’s dessert appropriately led us to an hour’s entertainment by the “‪Sounds of Europe: Salzburg” featuring Mozart, Stolz and Lehar’s music and of course, a couple of sing-a-long tunes from the ‬Sound of Music.

Cast-off was at 10:30.....to Germany or bust!