Friday 8.5.2009
Pulled up real good this am, must have had something to do with good lubrication at that beer garden after the ride.
Well we are now in germany at Passau 2227km along the Danube.  After having sailed from Melk to Linz overnight, up and on bus by 8.15a.m. for a two hour drive south to Salzburg, enroute going through some of the most beautiful countryside, lush green fields through the lake district where we stopped at Mondsee where some of the Sound of Music was filmed apparently the church was quite famous and some of the lakes were also in the film.  Mondsee sits in a valley with high snow capped alps either side, spectacular. Had a nice coffee and raspberry cake in the lovely sunshine here.  Then onto Salzburg for a tour of this city, saw Mozarts birth place and had a good look around this city, it was an absolutely georgeous day 30 degrees and then in our free time as it was quite warm had a long walk through Mirabel Gardens.  Back on the bus for another 2 hr drive and met the bus further up (or down) the Danube at Passau having crossed the Austrian/German border about 60km out.  Sail overnight and some of tomorrow morning to Regensberg (sleep in tomorrow woohoo!!) 
Satuday 9.5.09
Arrived Regensburg around midday after having a well earned sleep in.  Then walking tour.  Left the tour about halfway through (couldnt take anymore churches) and walked back to the ship with a couple of others and got the guys on the ship to get out a few bikes and went for lovely cycle down the edge of the Danube for about an hour which was fun.  Then retired in a lovely beer garden with huge chestnut trees shading it.  After dinner on the ship we sail tonight at 11.00p.m
SUNDAY 10.5.2009
We have now left the main Danube River and are sailing the Danube Main Canal to meet up with the Rhine river in a couple of days.  We kept losing power on the ship after a big storm the night before last.  We also havent had internet for a couple of days and now only in port for the next four days.  This morning went over the highest point of the river/canal after going through 15 locks getting through the Franconian alps, the scenery along the way as been just georgeous.  When we were at gallipoli 0 above sea level to here 406 metres above sea level.  Arrived Roth 1.00p.m. then onto buses to Nuremburg, after getting onto the autoban that runs between Munich and Berlin, for a world war II tour (others took the city tour) which took in the Zeppelin fields, parade ground etc and saw where the Nuremburg trials were, very interesting.  We also had a lecture this morning on the ship about Hitler and WWII.  Then our guide took us to the main town of Nuremburg and then a scaled down city tour and we then had 1hr or so free time to have a walk around an soak up the atmosphere.  Back to the boat at 6.00p.m.  Tomorrow  we get the ICE fast train from Nuremburg to Munich which is about an hr away. By the way the old bloke is still in the hospital in Melk (and his wife is on the ship!!!!) and he may be able to rejoin us in a day or so.

Thursday 7.5.2009
We are still in Austria, have sailed from about 1.00a.m. to Durnstein, from here to Melk is a huge wine growing area.  By the way the concert last night was very good and quite humerous and Vienna by night was very pretty.  Got back to the ship about 11.30a.m., cup of tea (and some people had eats) and to bed to get up on some new adventure.  Its going to be about 22 today so pretty good for the bike ride I would say.  Talk about geriatrics, of the 6 that joined the ship in buadpest,  4 are very old.  They were very late joining us as their flight was delayed 3 hrs from Adelaide so they missed their connections.  One guy has fallen and hit a bollard while walking (had stupid shoes on) and cut his head, wouldnt stop bleeding he is on Warfarin, he seems OK, then this morning we have had to get an ambulance, and then airlifted by helicoptoer,  to the another guy who is 88!!!, He apparently has ca prostate and has become incontinent nnd weak and cant walk (his wife said he got a chill on the walk yesterday, how stupid is she) . 5.50p.m. back from bike ride, absolutely fantastic, though we were told it would be flat, oh no it wasnt, but beautiful scenery, birds singing through lovely lush green fields with vineyards either side and very sleepy little villages, stopped for a couple of food stops and also coffee break and as we arrived down near the wharf in Melk there was a georgeous little Austrian beer garden (heaven on earth), so the first four of us hopped into the beer garden for a couple of cleansing ales, (we arrived 3/4 hr before our ship) and waited for the rest to arrive, out of 20, 17 finished.  All in all had a great day, also arrived in time to join the rest of the ship for a tour of the Benedictine Monks Monastrey here, absoldutely huge and so old.  A very quaint town.  We sail 10.30p.m. tonight after a wine tasting on board of local wines and dinner and arrive in Linz tomorrow and take a two and half hour bus ride down to Salzburg, whilst others will stay on board, and some go into the Czech Republic for a tour and then we all meet up in Passau Germany tomorrow tonight.

Tuesday 5.5.2009
After having been in Budapest yesterday we realised that we had just hit the touristy trail, loads of tourists in Budapest, god knows what its like when the season hots up, buses and people everywhere.  Today we didnt arrive in Bratislava in Slovakia (ex Czech republic) until about 12.00noon, had a two hour walking tour in this georgeous place, loads of atmosphere and heaps of young people as it is a bit Uni town, after walking for two hours, did a bit of shopping, first place we have come to that is Euros.  Then retired to a cafe on the footpath and people watched with another couple off the boat, and had a few beers too!!  Sad we havnt some more time here, as it has a great feel to it.  Back to the ship for another 5 course dinner, and beer and wine, then we have Aphrodites perform for us in the lounge after dinner then John churned up the dance floor but I was too tired and emotional so went to bed!!
WEDNESDAY 6.5.2009
Docked in Vienna at 7.00a.m. and onto a bus at 8.00a.m. to the city centre for a two and a half walking tour of this very majestic city.  Few spots of rain here and its only 17 degrees but good for walking around.  Back to ship for lunch and then we took the underground to have a further explore of this beautiful city, Vienna coffee houses very famous here so went to Sacher for a coffee, (thats all we could afford) $16.00 Aus for two lattes.  The National  library here is just out of this world and there are tons of huge monuments everywhere, the money spent here would be huge.  Also went to St Stephen's Cathedral (yes another church)   Tonight we have booked to see a Mozart and Strauss concert which we will be seeing in part of the famous Hofburg Palace, (this is the first thing we have had to pay for on this tour) we thought we had to do this being in the city of music around $100 per head which is fine.  Early dinner on board tonight at 6.00p.m in preparation for the concert at 8.00p.m.  Then tomorrow we sail to the Wachau Valley and stop in Durnstein where most have a tour of this town and others (incl us in a moment of madness I am sure) go onto a 30km bike ride from Dursteiin to Melk where the ship will meet.  See how the bot rot is after that one.  We have so many geriatrics on this ship that the walking tours are at snail pace so the bike ride might let a bit if gas out of us and we will be ready for the snail pace again.

Monday 4th May 2009
Docked in Budapest 6.45a.m. then on bus for tour of Budapest and surrounds.  Went to the Budpest Opera House stunning place and then we had a private recital which was something and champagne at 9.30a.m.!!!!  Budapest is a very beautiful city, with loads of very interesting architectual buildings but like most of the major cities around here were destroyed in World War II and then had to be rebuilt.  After taking in Budapest city we drove an hour out of Budapest t to the Puszta (Domony Valley) to an equestrian farm where we were greated with Apricot and plum brandy and a typical Hungarian lunch of Goulash, (and more wine) and desert.  Then we had a tour of the entire farm in horse drawn drays and some horseman and horses performed for us, very cleaver.  We were joined today with 6 more Aussies from Adelaide and they will be sailing the rest of the trip with us.  We sailed at 9.00p.m. and waved goodbye to this beautiful city, its even more stunning by night as we sailed and watched from the top deck.

SATURDAY 2 May 2009
Early morning arrival in Novi Sad 7.00a.m. a lovely town 370,000 people, has a lot of atosmphere, onto bus for walking tour of the main town at 8.15a.m. we all have receivers so we can hear the guide from quite a distance without having to stick right with them, very handy.  The main city centre has loads of character with colorful tables and chairs out everywhere in front of restaurants and cafes, a little gypsy girl was eager to get some money off us, but our cruise director took her around the corner to McDonalds and bought her a big bag of food and she seemed pleased with that.  Back on boat at 10.30a.m. to cruise the Danube down to a little place called Ilok and by bus to Vukavar in Croatia.  In this area the sides of the river are fairly flat and there seems to be loads of little holiday houses with people fishing, picnicing and enjoying themselves with music thumping out, being public holiday yesterday I guess they are all away for the weekend. Ilok a georgeous little village, loads of vineyards and undulating countryside between here and Vukavar. We saw first hand the the devastation to buildings etc from the homeland war wth Yugoslavia and Croatia, some homes have been abandoned others are inhabited but still have bullet holes everywhere in walls of their homes.  We were taken to a war museum where there are photographs of a lot of the people who were executed, it was absolutely sickening and just to think that his happed not too long ago  1991-1995.  Then a  klm down the road to a memorial and cemetary where a mass grave was discovered (in fact there were several in the area) with 200 bodies exhumed theret, youngest being 6 months oldest 104, well that was the crunch for a lot of us, quite a few tears were shed here.  A total of 1970 were exhumed in the area, only 1600 identified and 500 people are stilll missing. Our guide was excellent and so full of knowledge and only 20 years old, as he says we can forgive but we will never forget.  Then to Vukavar township for a guided tour of what was left of it, a few old buildings but a lot of new ones rebuilt.
SUNDAY 3 May 2009
Had few nice reds last night after our traumatic afternoon tour.  Docked in Mohacs, Hungary at 4.00a.m., all our passports were attended to while we slept then upl at 7.00a.m. for breaky and on the bus at 8.30a.m. for a one hour drive to PECS a beautiful city and another walking tour and some free time to explore this lovely town.  Very agricultural as we drove through wheat crops, corn, canola and almond trees and also more vineyards and also some three or four quaint little villages.   Back to the boat this afternoon and saling through to Budapest Hungary this afternoon and through the night. 

THURSDAY 30.4.2009
We have been sailing all night, john got up at 2.30a.m. this morning to see our boat go through its first of 54 lochs on this river cruise, and also to make some phone calls as its absolutely hopeless using skype during day when people are using internet as its just overloaded.  We have now travelled 950klm along the Danube and we will be sailing all day today.  The scenery along here is quite spectacular we have still romania on one side and now Serbia on the other, tomorrow morning we dock in Belgrade which is the capital of Serbia.   There's Yoga class going on this morning but not for us.  We have just gone through another huge loch which took as one and half hours to get through.  We have another master class tonight, we have a Turkish born fellow on the cruise who is a bit of an expert on Gollipoli, John Basarin and his wife, he has written a few books on the subject from the turkish perspective, and lives in Beaumaris and is attached to Deakin Uni, very nice family and so interesting. Passed through the Iron Gates and the scenery is just spectacular with high sheer cliffs arising up each side of the boat, the actual iron gates of the Danube is only a couple of hundred metres wide but there was one particular spot that was 5kms wide.  Had another scrumptous dinner tonight.
FRIDAY 1.5.2009
Awoke this morning having docked in Belgrade now 1170km along the Danube total length being 2850km.  Lovely day again nippy in the morning but 23 degrees.  After eggs benedict and then a 1 hr lecture from an expect on Yugoslavia etc, gave us a very interesting talk about how the wars have effected Serbia and Belgrade in particular then off on the bus for a tour of a few sites in Belgrade this city has a very nice feel to it loads of street restaurants, cobbled streets and today being their labour day here loads of people out and about.  Then back to the ship for lunch and then we headed out for a two hour walk around the city, there was photographic exhibition in the park and then walked around and just soaked up the atmosphere.  I was lead to believe from home that all these countries in EU took Euros but not so having a bit of trouble having to change currencies all the time, since Rousse only being in a place for a day. Having all our meals on the ship, you don't need much money so you dont want to change too much and be left with it.  Tonight before dinner we have a performance of typical Serbian folk group and then after dinner we have a classical concert, so there is always something on. sail from here tonight at midnight for Nova Sad and then Vukavar in Croatia.

wednesday 29.4.2009 - had a leisurely sleep in today til 7.30a.m. anyway after a few hectic days.  We have been sailing all night and most of today docking into Vidin(bulgaria) at 3.00pm, we still have Romania and Bulgaria on each side of the Danube. Did a 6km walk this morning around the deck, have to try and keep these kgs off, the food is just so good.  Five course dinners, lunches etc and morning and afternoon teas, and excellent quality but we are trying to refrain as much as we can.  All drinks are included over the evening meal but wines seem so much lighter here though we did have a syrah last night which was pretty good. Docked at "Vidin at 2.00p.m. and the got organised for tour at 2.45p.m. went on the fit crew tour, (one bus went up through moutains for about 1 hr drive in bus other one went localy in town) to a place called Belogradchik which is in line for  new 7 wonders of the world, just absolutely amazing, the rock formation a bit like olgas, around this fantastic fortress.  Sits on a very steep mountain and then its a 400 step walk to the top and the most gorgeous view over the valley below.  Vidin is a completely new stop for apt cruises, no souvenir shops in town, a little bit untouched, the kids in the afternoon after school were all out in force saying ""hello".  APT have really thought of everything, we saw a local amatuer production in the local fortress when we arrived back from our tour and then after a scrumptous dinner on the boat, they had local performers come in and dance for us, you know gloria does not like to be the centre of attention but was the first to be picked by a little maybe 9 year old to get up and dance the local Bulgarian dance, they didnt make it too hard.  So tonight we cross another time zone by  1 hr so we will be 8 hrs behind in the next five hrs.  Its 10p.m. and we have just started sailing again and will sail overnight and all day tomorrow through Iron Gates (our largest loch on the cruise) and through the Carpathian mountains. 

Wednesday 22 April
Met with our tour group at 6.30p.m. and we all went to one of the old cisterns in Instanbul for  cocktail party, that was all very lovely, nice wine and food had by all, met some really nice people and were then transferred back to our hotel by 9.00p.m.
Thursday 23 April
Met with our group for a tour of Istanbul, which was great having the guide to give us loads of info on all the sites,Blue Mosque, Aya Sofia, Grand Bazaar, had some free time after a gorgeous lunch at the Orient Express which is a restaurant housed in the old railway station. 
Friday 24 April
7.00a.m. take off from hotel for the trip down to gallipoli, had a couple of pit stops and lunch was in the township of golibulu at a lovely fish restaurant on the boat harbour there.  Arrived on the gallipoli pensinsula around 1.00p.m. toured all the sites and war graves at Anzac cove and also lone pine, then we burrowed in at Anzac cove at around 4.30p.m. in preparation for the dawn service at 5.30az.m. the next morning, reached 0 overnight, it was sooo cold, but fortunately apt had provided us with a beanie and a minus 22 degree sleeping bag (plus we had about 5 layers on including thermals), thank god for those georgeous sleeping bags, I think we had about 2 half hour stints of sleep, it was well worth it the dawn service at 5.30am was very moving and quite emotional.  There were a few pollies etc there the NZ prime minister keys, stephen smith our defence minister ,warren brown (a cartoonist ) was master of ceremonies and he was excellent, had been over here a week before and researched a lot of info.  Lone Pine was a 3.5km walk up the mountain from Anzac Cove and then back again to get our buses at 1.00pm, all buses had to park outside the national park for the night and could only come back in to pick up passengers.  It was then onto The Ancient City of Troy, this is on Saturday 25 and all we want is shower and sleep, 2 hours in the bus, was fabulous really worth seeing, and then another hour on bus to our accomodation in Assos.  Coming into the motel the grass was long, looked unkept, very ominous.  It was really like Faulty Towers, the doors fell off the shower, no cold running water in the basin, dust and crap on floors, scum all over the shower screen (my god this is a 5 star tour) and found everyone had problems in varying degree, so needless to say John had a meeting with all concerned and sorted out a few things and they are refunding that night of our trip and have been laying on the wine etc ever since.  It was very fortunate that the Operations Manager from melbourne came on this tour and also his agent here in turkey New Faces so the big boys of both firms were on the tour (because they had never done the dawn service before, had done gallipoli many times before. 
Sunday 26 April
After a fantastic sleep (the beds were very clean) we headed back the way had come for 3 hrs or so and had a great lunch in edirne which is a town in the turkey close to the Bulgarian border and then crossed the border at about 3.00p.m.  The countryside is just spectacular, so lush and fertile all the fields, green and loads of fields of sunflowers and canola.  We headed onto Plovdiv in bulgaria for the night, after we had a walking tour of this town which is very old, we are still finding it hard to get our heads around the age of buildings and things, the history is amazing.  The hotel in Plovdiv was quite palatial and we had a great dinner with local girls entertaining us. Was our 29th anniversary today just another day but we had dinner with Maxy and Lorraine.
Monday 27 April
7.00a.m. start setting our to Sofia which is more in central Bulgaria had a tour of this very ancient city and couldnt get over the amount of high rise flats etc that are from the communist times, the buildings are just so ugly.  Pushed on to Arbanassy which is just outside Veliko turnovor, it s a very ancient town and has quite a few tourists there because it is just a spectacular setting.  Had a traditional Bulgarian lunch, they really load the food on, (and the kgs for us but we are starting to refuse food, we have to) and local entertainment.  Then into Veliko Turnovor for a guided tour of that town.  We didnt get to our boat until about 6.00pm.  It is absolutely luxurious, the cabins are beautiful, this is Amalyra's 4th cruise so she is very new.  We had a welcome from our cruise director and Captain and an absolutely fabulous meal with Hungarian wines.
We must say we have met some lovely people but WE ARE DEFINITELY THE YOUNGEST on this cruise.  Have had loads of laughs and drinks with a girl and her husband Lorraine and Maxy who we have found out we have mutual friends in Melbourne.  We are all australians except there are two kiwis, there are only 66 on the boat and it has a capacity of 130.  So there is plenty of room.
Tuesday 28 April 
Beautiful sleep in this lovely boat and up and break and head out to Bucharest in Romania 8.30a.m.  We are on the boat in Rousse in Bulgaria but we just went to the other side and disembarked and went to Bucharest on the boat, 90 minute drive.  It was very interesting to hear all about Romania as it is only 20 years since the revolution and they were under that awful communist before that.  The drive was very pleasant but quite different from what we had been through the day before, very spectacular hilly scenery and our trip today was like travelling across the Hay Plains, very flat but not dry like the Hay Plains, all lush green and loads of crops etc.
Bucharest was a very interesting place again from the communist ruling loads of commission flats worse than anything you have seen in Melbourne, layer upon layer of flats, but then you go the palace which is so opulent it is disgusting, the dictator took all the money from the people and  built this ginormous place, but he was executed when the revolution happened in 1989 and it was not quite finished so he never got to work or live there.  Our guide was fantastic a young university student who studies languages, had quite a sense of humour and gave us a broad view of everything that has happened in Romania, people very friendly here too and most speak a little english (not like my cleaner when she came to Australia).  We had a lovely traditional Romanian lunch on a lake in Bucharest and toured the palace, museum and had a very good guided tour of the city and its tourist spots etc.   In free time John and I went for a 1/2 hr sprint, we need to walk lots to keep this food off the hips, and had lovely walk along a boulevarde that was very pretty with loads of greenery and fountains.  Its our welcome dinner tonight so will send more messages as we go along

Blake kindly set us up with a BLOG but this is the 5th time I have tried to get something down and it deletes it halfway through my entry, i am exasperated but I will keep trying.

friday in singapore:  was very busy day, we met nani and her family including her niece and nephew  and also some friends from melbournje who will be living in singapore from july with his work, in arab street for a malay breaklfast, lots of yumny curries and rice and and MORE cows lungs, it was nanis mums favourite restaurant.  After that we went off to do some serious shopping for john (all of us it was like a harem) which was successful in that he got his duel sim iphone and also some computer things he needed.  S0 after all that we left nani and family and headed back to our hotel to freshen up and meet Liv (Keeley and Ranis godmother) for dinner, after a couple of drinks at a local establishment at robertson quay hwere we were staying and then onto clarke quay for a yummy indian meal and after much talking etc we left there at about 1130p.m.  

saturday:  Gloria had already booked the Tippling Club from melbourne, liv had heard about it but hadn't been so she joined us for a fabulous lunch, one of the partners used to work for vue de monde and the food did reflect this style, yummy  bits and pieces in between courses (it could be a bit prohibitive for dinner $150 plus a head) but the lunch option was just great 2 courses for 29, 3 for 49 with a glass of wine.  We then walked back into orchard road which was a few km and left liv at the station and headed back to our hotel to get organised for our 1130p.m. flight to Istanbul.

sunday arrived Istanbul at 7.45a.m. negotiated their train and tram network to get to our hotel and were there by 9.00a.m. which waspretty good, we managed OK with the language ect though the ticket guy at the halfway mark was a little exasperated with us but we managed.  then we had a poke around where we were staying and had a some breakfast as our room wasnt ready until about 11.00 and then went exploring.  Istanbul is a very likeable city and quite pretty,the history is amazing, loads of mosques.  

monday we were up early after having had an early night the sunday night.  caught the ferry to the bosphorus which  is about 25kms out of istanbul in between the europe side and asian side of turkey.  A very pretty journey along the water taking in all the sites along the way until we came to a little fishing village sariyer and thats where we got off and had lunch and then walked a few km along the shore back to an amazing little museum which is a private collection of ceramics, dress and loads of other things, was worth going to and then we caught the bus back to istanbul.  the weather has been great around 26 day .  

tuesday we have done all the touristy things today, blue mosque, hippodrome, grand bazaar etc etc, bought a lovely three tone gold bangle at the bazaar, am very happy with that.  Also did the spice bazaar which is an amazing place as well with all the yummy nuts and spices, john managed to buy some levi pants and we had a tailor take them up all for $20.  We leave this hotel tomorrow ( we are in the old town of Sultanamet) and book into the Ritz carlton to join our tour tomorrow night.  then we have another two nights here before heading down to gallipoli on friday.  Prices here are very good, much the same as home, somethings being cheaper.

 

Hi everyone, we left on our trip Thursday 16th of April. We flew to Singapore on Singnt to apore Airlines which were very good, service great videos a bit scratchy. Arrived in Singapore at 3:45pm which was 15 minutes ahead of schedule then we went to SIA check in counter for transfers to our Hotel.

Hotel: We stayed at The Gallery Hotel at Roberson Quay, very nice well, appointed and good location would recommend.

After checking in caught up with Nani and her brother and they took us out to her Mums for dinner, which was very nice EXCEPT for the cows lungs, lovely beef curry, prawn and bean curry with sambals etc and some lovely fruit and coffee and tea.