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Published: August 7th 2015
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Setting Off
Warwick and I set off into the rain. Well, here we are in Prague but more on that later. i need to finish the bike/boat trip first. So, on the Wednesday we woke to rain and mist so Di and Pam decided to give the ride a miss and Warwick and I took off for a ride of about 40k. As it turned out the weather improved quickly and we enjoyed a fairly nice ride which we decided to do fairly quickly so that we could enjoy some time in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. The boat had moved down stream to here. By this stage our itinerary had changed a lot as the boat was having engine trouble and also the Danube is very very low in water flow at present. this meant that the Tour Director had to adjust and improvise a lot of the days to follow. We did a tour of Bratislava on the Wednesday evening which showed us a lovely city with lots of the old and some of the new. Lots of history of course with much being only relatively young. A lot of the crew on the boat came from here or nearby. A nice relaxing day.
On Thursday we went
A Roller Coaster Bridge.
A biking bridge that was all up and down. by bus to Budapest as the boat couldn't get up there due to water levels and engine trouble. It was about 2 to 3 hours there and the same back. Nice to visit Budapest again and I do think it is an interesting city with many stories. Visited many of the sights. a good day even though we didn't arrive in Budapest by boat which we would have liked to do. And so Friday, into that beautiful city of Vienna to spend most of the day there seeing the sights. Took the usual horse and buggy ride, looked at statues of the famous composers and got very very hot walking about. Ran into an English couple {John and Karen} from the boat so we all decided to have a And a beer of course. Then in the evening we went to a music/ opera recital which seemed to strike Diane and Pam speechless {a very rare occasion}they enjoyed it so much. A very special night.
Saturday dawned bright, hot and beautiful so we all took off on our final bike ride down river to Melk, a loverly village that has a fantastic abbey which must be one of the
The Danube.
Halfway over and just resting. most interesting I have seen. Great setting and views of the river valley. Then back to the boat, and guess what, the Captain decided, that as the trip hadn't been able to stay with the original plans, that he would supply all beer and wine free for Saturday, not charged to your room, no cash payments, no credits, just free! Wow, what a statement. Actually it was meet with great appreciation by everyone and I don't think any one abused it. We had a very pleasant afternoon with a lot of our fellow bikers and had a few beers and wines and talked heaps and got to know more about some of these people. A neat afternoon and a very good evening to follow. The farewell dinner was fun and then lots of us ended up in the lounge talking and dancing until very very late. SO!!!! During the week we meet some very very nice people and companions who came from various walks of life and were various ages. I love meeting new people, finding out what they do with their life and were they come. Our table companions were from Sacramento, America, Paul, Shelley, Steve and Marit. Great
Sunflower Fields.
Unfortunately they were past their best but the fields went on forever, It would be very spectacular when in full bloom. company during meals and interesting to talk to. Story: Before the first ride on the trip we talked to the Cruise Director, Lesley, and indicated that Di was suffering from a few bumps and bruises from a Giraffe attack just in case she didn't finish a couple of the rides. Funny conversation and from then on at every daily briefing he would inform Diane that this trip was Giraffe free. This of course made everyone want to know what he was on about and when they heard the story about the giraffe it became a bit of a talking point. So, it was not uncommon for someone to say after the days bike ride that they had seen sheep , camels, cows etc but they hadn't seen any giraffes. A lot of laughs. On Wednesday night when we sat down to dinner Marit and Steve presented Di with a lovely little model Giraffe which was received with a huge amount of laughter and glee from everyone. A magic moment which was then followed up with a photo of a sign that they, along with Paul and Shelly, had seen in Bratislava. The sign was for a cafe called Giraffe. Hilarity
Bratislava.
Di and I up at the castle above Bratislava. again. We had also seen the sign and I had taken a photo of Di underneath it with my fingers crossed that it wouldn't fall on her. Great to sit with these people every night. John and Karen were good company along with others from England. John kept me informed on how the Ashes cricket test was going and was of course, a very excited fella when England won. I will try to follow this up in a couple of days with the rest of the trip. Pip/Rod
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