Just Back From Our Absolutely AMAzing Romantic Danube Cruise on the AmaWaterways AmaVerde 9/26-10/3/21

[Sleep7]

Toasting the Wachau Valley with a Kaiserspritzer

 

Melk Abbey.

 

 

[Sleep7]

Ate lunch on board before the afternoon tours began.

The appetizers midday were always waiting on the table when we arrived.

[Sleep7]

Sam loves apricots so we logically chose the "Apricots and Sweets" tour from Durnstein.

Wonderful tour guide as always.. tasted a wide array of apricot schnaps, liqueur, chocolates, roasted seeds and jams.  Bought some to enjoy at home too!

[Sleep7]

A short walking tour of Durnstein too.. it was drizzling ever so slightly.  Really the only rain of the whole trip so we felt very lucky.

 

Durnstein has a flooding problem too.. however the town has been mostly spared since it's built up on a hill.

 

[Sleep7]

More from Dunstein.

 

 

 In the church courtyard they had a huge selfie mirror placed so you could see the beautiful baroque church tower in back... have never seen that before.. fun!

 

[Sleep7]

While walking back to the bus to Weissenkirchen,  the sun had come out and it was a beautiful sight as it was reflecting off the Danube.

[Sleep7]

Dinner tonight.😋

 

Another picture perfect dessert!

 

 

[Canal archive]

The first time we went to Dunstein there was an announcement in the town office window of the birth of a new member of the town so so sweet picture of a stork carrying a banal as well. 
Well do you think the story of Richard the Lionhart and Blondel is true.

[Canal archive]

P.S. I wonder why ‘regular butter’?

[Sleep7]

Tomorrow.. Vienna.

The Imperial City.. city of music.. the city of dreams.. and pocketbooks so it seems.😉

 

 

[Sleep7]

Aww. that is very sweet about the town baby announcement!

I'm not sure about the butter.. regular vs ?🤷‍♀️

[sharkster77]

@Sleep7, your trip review just blows me away!!!!   WOW!!!! Thank you!

 

Making me wistfully recall our October 2019 cruise (Rhine, not Danube) just a few months before life changed in profound ways.

 

Looking forward for the conclusion of your adventure, but please, we can wait until you get some rest and re-sync your internal clock to US time.

Edited October 4, 2021 by sharkster77

[2inSETexas]

Enjoying the trip report and pictures. We will be traveling soon and Vienna is on our plans. Looking forward to more of your trip report.

[Sleep7]

Oh thanks sharkster77! Your compliments really blew me away so thank you!

Yep.. getting tired.  But posting is keeping me awake.😁

 

Thanks 2inSETexas!  Will pick up on Vienna soon.

[NavyCruiser]

Thank you very much for your extremely detailed trip report!

Looks like u had a great time.

We'll be there next month, with 2 other couples, for the 2 wks Viking Grand European cruise.  One of the couple is hesitating about having to wear masks while onboard, even though it's just around the ship & not in the lounge & dinning room.  They don't mind wearing masks while traveling through airports & some in port towns, but to them it's not much of a vacation if you have to wear masks walking around the ship.  But to us, it's no big deal. 

So can you touch on how it went with that issue?

Thanks,

[Daisi]

2 hours ago, Sleep7 said:

 

I'm not sure about the butter.. regular vs ?🤷‍♀️

 

Regular butter vs unsalted?  European butter also has a fat content, which makes it creamier. 

Edited October 4, 2021 by Daisi

[Lois R]

I also want to say how wonderful it is reading your review🙂 Sounds like you both had an awesome trip and the photos are fantastic too. The CD did a terrific job for you and I must say, he is very easy on the eyes too😃

[Canal archive]

Thanks Daisi obvious when you think of it, just never seen it on a menu.

[Gourmet Gal]

Thanks for your generous postings of your cruise.  You took some great photos - what camera did you use?  Ama looks like a nice cruise line and you cabin looked roomy…was that a suite?

[Sleep7]

Hi NavyCruiser!

Thanks for reading my blog and happy to answer your question..

We didn't find it to be a pain at all to wear masks on the ship in the public areas.

It was really just walking from your cabin to the lounge or to the dining room.

We also wore them on the bus to go on a shore excursions and in stores when we were in town.

I think since we are all so used to wearing masks now,  that wearing them on vacation is sort of just a natural extension of real life.

It was well worth the extra effort to go away.. we did have such a lovely time.

[Sleep7]

Hi Lois R!

Thanks for your compliments.

We did have such an awesome trip and I agree 100% that the Cruise Manager did a fantastic job arranging our stay for the last night of the cruise.  He was a superstar!🤩

[Sleep7]

Hi Gourmet Gal!

Thanks for the kind words.

I actually got the brand new iphone 13 Pro Max the day before we left and used the camera on that.

The cabin was roomy.. it wasn't a suite.  It was a category BB which was the least expensive cabin with 2 verandas.  One was a Juliet balcony where you couldn't stand on it directly opposite of the front door and the other was on the left where there were 2 chairs to sit on.  We didn't really use either much as the old adage is true.. you really don't spend too much time in the cabin.

But it was nice to have a wall of windows to let in sunshine.🌞

[Sleep7]

By Thursday night we had to fill out this QR code prompted form for Friday's port Bratislava, which is the capital of Slovakia. Took 2 minutes to fill out on our phones and nobody checked it in town.🤷‍♀️

More on lovely Bratislava after Vienna.

[Sleep7]

Ahh.. what to say about Vienna?  I can't wait to go back!

We barely scratched the surface of this beautiful and historical city.

A four hour tour wasn't nearly enough time to see what it was all about.

Our tour guide as usual was great and we did take advantage of the option of free time after the tour as AMA ran shuttle buses from the downtown to the ship and back every 30 minutes.

The sheer number grand buildings were dizzying.. I couldn't keep track of them all.

So here are some pictures.. not sure which building is exactly what.. but they were all stately and glorious.

 

 

 

 

[Sleep7]

On Kohlmarkt was the famous patisserie Demel.

Our guide told us that a baker who worked for Demel had developed the famous Sacher Torte.

Then his son started making the cake for the Hotel Sacher and a controversy ensued.  Whose intellectual property is the creation of something?  The inventor or the company that they work for?

A court decided that Demel had to use one layer of jam while Hotel Sacher can use two layers and that Demel can use real butter while Sacher has to use margarine and then they can co-exist peacefully.

Or something like that..  If only world peace could be solved as easily.. 😁