Costa Rica – Manuel Antonio

We said our goodbyes to Jenn and the staff at Hidden Canopy Treehouses and joined our driver for the ride to the Pacific coast.  We will miss the superb view at breakfast and sunset and especially those banana pancakes!

Our driver, Edgar, spoke excellent English and with 2 stops we arrived in Manuel Antonio after the 4 hour drive.  What a blast of heat after being at higher elevation!  Our boutique hotel, La Mansion Inn, sits high above the national park overlooking beaches on both sides.  What an incredible view!  Since the hotel sits on the hillside, our rooms were a trip past the pool, through hallways and stairwells.  I loved the view from our balcony and also enjoyed sitting out there at night and listening to the ocean.

Costa Rica – Monteverde Cloud Forest

Skip’s daughter Jen & husband Bill live in Denver and like to go someplace warm in the winter.  That’s understandable!  About a year and a half ago, we started planning our visit to Costa Rica.  Jen did most of the work.  She worked with Costa Rica Expeditions, a local company, that we would highly recommend.  They customized our trip to meet our needs and provided excellent drivers and tour guides.  We didn’t have a single bad experience on our trip.

Amsterdam

 

Viking dumped us off the boat early Sunday morning and took us to the hotel Okaru.  We went on a walking tour since we couldn’t check in until the afternoon.  Our guide told us a lot about how they keep the water clean by opening some locks and flushing the canals out to the North Sea.  He even scooped up a cup of water to show that it was crystal clear.

Wertheim, Cologne & Windmills

We awoke in Wertheim where they had tiny trains waiting to take us into the town center for our walking tour.  Seriously, the trains cars were child sized and they packed us in!  Our guide, Ursula, showed us the highlights of this town situated at the confluence of the Main and Tauber rivers.  She told us about the tradition of the market squares where all of the gossip starts and grows.  Some houses even had a tiny window for spying on the comings and goings in the square.

Lovely Medieval Towns in Germany

While still docked in Passau due to low water further north, we were able to visit our next port by bus.  Regensburg is 1 1/2 hours away but we didn’t mind on a warm and sunny day!

Enjoying our sunny day in Regensburg

Regensburg – St. Peter Cathedral

Regensburg

Regensburg – Roman Bridge

Regensburg is a medieval town that was spared extensive bombing in WWII.  I loved the narrow streets lined with colorful buildings.  The gothic St. Peter Cathedral looms over the town.  We had walking tour with our local guide Sylvia followed by a so-so lunch at the oldest restaurant, the Rathskeller.

Vienna, Melk & Salzburg

We sailed away from Budapest in the evening, heading for Vienna.  Leaving the sliding door open all night, it felt like old times being on the water.  Skip woke up really early in the morning and sat in the lounge.  He’s addicted to the espresso machine in the lobby!

 

Safety Drill

Leaving Budapest

In a lock

Leaving Budapest

As we glided through Slovakia, we had the mandatory safety drill.  It was warm and sunny early and then got windy, chilly and rainy.  We stayed on deck as long as it wasn’t raining and watched beautiful scenery go by.  I went to an apple strudel demonstration with tasting, of course!  I may get tired of eating sausage but not apple strudel!

Viking Grand European River Cruise – Budapest

We liked the Viking river cruise that we took last year so much that we signed up again.  This time we went on the Grand European trip from Budapest to Amsterdam.  What a fabulous time!  We saw so many beautiful medieval towns and learned a lot about Hungarian, Austrian, German and Netherlands history and culture. 

Blues Cruise #2

 

Passing on starboard

Here we go!

Sailing away from Ft. Lauderdale

Leaving Florida

We sailed away on our second Legendary Blues Cruise.  It’s one of those things where people say “this is our 10th cruise” or even higher numbers.  It’s addicting!  It’s also hard to describe how much fun it is.  Many people hate cruises and I can say that we’ve been on plenty and this one is totally different.  The entire ship is chartered for blues music fans and musicians.  There’s no hokey cruise director or the usual shows and comedians. They have a schedule of live music that goes from early afternoon to the wee hours of the morning.  I think what makes it so much fun is that everyone on board has a common interest: listening to great music!

Nevis

Nevis

We jumped at the chance to join our friends on a trip to Nevis.  It’s one of their favorite spots and they’ve never steered us wrong!  We were joined by 2 other couples from our Chesapeake sailing group for a fun-filled, rum-filled week!