Our 2014 Trip to Eastern Europe
In the second half of April, we traveled to Eastern and Central Europe. We had seen commercials for Viking River cruises over time and thought maybe a river cruise would be great. Talking with our American Express travel agent, we wanted to avoid a cruise with predominantly American tourists. In our previous travels we enjoyed mingling with folks from other countries rather than transporting an American vacation (such as Disney World) to a foreign trip. We were told that Viking mostly advertises in the U.S. so we opted for Avalon. Interestingly, 50% of the passengers were American. Of the non-Americans, 40% were Canadian and the other 10% were Australian, Kiwis and Asian. Our first dinner we were lucky to find one of the few Kiwi couples (Mike and Ann) and quickly found that we liked them a lot.
But first - before our cruise we added four days in Poland.
Tuesday April 15, 2014
We began the day driving from Roseville to the San Francisco Airport. We dropped the poodles off at Francesca's Boarding in Dixon. We then parked in the long term parking and headed to our flight. The previous day I was lucky enough to be offered an upgrade to Business Class on our Air France flight to Paris. We've flown internationally before but never Business Class. What a luxury. While we planned to sleep, we enjoyed a customer service long forgotten in even First Class on American carriers. The lay flat seats allowed us to get plenty of sleep and adjust to the 9 hour time difference in Europe. We landed in Paris late the next day. One note: We generally try to only fly with carry-on luggage to avoid having to wait at the carousel for our bags. We didn't realize that Air France actually weighed the carry-on baggage and were were carrying too much weight. We had to check our roller bags.Wednesday April 16, 2014
Just before noon, we landed in Paris. We had less than two hours to navigate the airport, get through passport control, re-check through security (which was much less intrusive than American security lines) and board our 2 hour flight to Warsaw. The difference in the two flights were stark. The plane was much smaller than the international size (more like a domestic flight here). To make matters worse, we were literally surrounded by screaming babies. We put our headsets on and listened to music and tried to sleep. We arrived in Warsaw around 3pm and had a transfer waiting for us with a sign saying "Riggs". The ride to the Warsaw Westin was uneventful and we settled into our hotel for the two night stay. I found an ATM and got some local currency (Polish Zloty, abbreviated PLN - which we promptly created our own term, calling the money "Plins"). 3 Zloty equaled about 1 US dollar so we enjoyed a little bump in our spending ability. We ate dinner at a nearby cafe, wanting to try some local fare. I had some Zurek soup but we found that while this was a local cafe, they had different menus in English and we are sure the prices were adjusted to minimize the currency bump. The hotel room was alright. The cream for coffee was different and didn't settle well.Thursday April 17, 2014
We booked a Segway Tour and had a fabulous time. The weather could not have been more perfect. We walked to the old city square. It was made known to us that many of the cities we were visiting were completely (or nearly) destroyed by Allied bombing at the end of WWII. With the exception of Krakow, all of the cities we visited were rebuilt, trying to recreate the pre-war construction in many places. The Segway tour took us all around the city center, old and new. We learned a lot about the Warsaw uprising and the Ghetto uprising.Friday April 18, 2014
This morning, we checked out and took a taxi to the train station. We had booked first class ticket for the 3 hour rider to Krakow. Holly asked a local on the train platform where to board. The sole first class coach was identified and we found a sitting room that we shared with a local man and his daughter. They were a delight, although we didn't talk much. The countryside was beautiful through Poland. We arrived in Krakow around 11am and took a taxi to the Holiday Inn (this was the only semi-low point in our accommodations. I haven't researched to see if we should have had a nicer hotel, but it was moderately satisfactory in the end.Saturday April 19, 2014
This morning we took a trip to Auschwitz. The scale of the intact death camp was mind boggling. We started in Auschwitz I, the original camp. This housed many barracks and the housing for the Nazis who ran it. There were so many tourists that the lines to go into the baracks were packed. As we went through we couldn't really stop and appreciate the exhibits but had to keep moving to let others through (reminds me of visiting the crown of the Statue of Liberty). From there, we took a shuttle bus to Auschwitz II known as Birkenau. Here was where the majority of Jews arrived by train and were sorted on the Sorting Platform. Only two directions to go. One way - directly to the gas chambers. The other - live to work for a while. But most eventually went to the chambers. When we were waiting for the shuttle, there were scores of people waiting. When the bus came, it filled to standing room only with people lined up at the door. We decided to wait until the next bus. It wasn't any better and we packed ourselves into the bus like sardines.
SLIDESHOW - Auschwitz: Click HERE
We returned to the hotel and checked out around 9pm and took a taxi to the train station. We had a first class sleeper car for the trip to Prague. We slept most of the 8 hours and arrived in Prague around 7am.
Avalon Cruise
Our Route
Our Ship
Sunday April 20, 2014 - Day 1 Avalon
We took a taxi to the Hilton Prague, checked our bags with the bell desk, had some breakfast and waited to get a room. It was interesting to see in door smoking areas (which I took advantage of with a cigar). Later we went walking through the shopping area of Prague. This began our formal Avalon cruise trip (which included a few days in Prague. We checked in with the Avalon desk and went to an orientation meeting that evening. We got some local currency from an ATM (Czech Korunas - which we called "Crownies"). We got about 20 Korunas for each US Dollar. Our travel agent booked dinner reservations for us at the Café Imperial. It was perfect. Great atmosphere, service, and above all the food was divine.Monday April 21, 2014 - Day 2 Avalon
We started the day with an included walking tour of the city center. We got to see Prague Castle and the Old Town's Astronomical Clock built in 1410 and visited the Hradcany Castle Grounds. That afternoon we took the optional excursion to the Terezin memorial. It was a Nazi work camp during the war. We also found a nice cigar shop at which I bought a week's supply of Cuban cigars. It cost less for Cuban Cohibas here then the Domincan version I can buy in the States.Tuesday April 22, 2014 - Day 3 Avalon
This day we took the optional tour called "Tasting Bohemian Wines" which took us to the Bohemian countryside to Castle Melnik (the former residence of the queen widows of Bohemia. It was an old, working medieval castle where they produced wine. The wine wasn't that good. Apparently, in the Czech Republic they like "young" wines. Not to our liking, but interesting all the same. Later that afternoon we took the "Prague's Secrets Revealed" walking tour. It was an interesting tour including the St. Charles Bridge but we didn't really see any "Secrets". The bridge was very crowded and we were on high alert for pickpockets.Wednesday April 23, 2014 - Day 4 Avalon
After lunch, we boarded a bus for the 3 hour ride to Nuremberg. Once there, we boarded the ship, had our safety drill and got familiar with our room. We had one of the only two Royal Suites which were 33% larger than the regular suites. The room was fabulous and gave us room to hang out comfortably when we needed to be alone.Thursday April 24, 2014 - Day 5 Avalon
We took the included tour of Nuremberg this day. It ended near a Cuckoo Clock shop and we bought one. It was made in The Back Forest and arrived at our home in late May. Wonderful addition to our home. We were also given a voucher for a beer and sausages at a local eatery. The food/beer was good but the service was bad.Friday April 25, 2014 - Day 6 Avalon
We sailed to Regensburg. We took the optional excursion to the Weltenburg Abbey. It started with a very nice ferry ride up the river. The Abbey was amazing. We also received word that our next Standard Poodle was born this day! 