Vienna

This morning involved a leisurely cruise down the Danube, passing some villages, fishing huts and ruins of castles and lots of churches. Our cruise director is Austrian so she speaks about the country with lots of passion. This afternoon we did a bus and walking tour of Vienna. Lots of amazing building and lots of statues. In the centre of town is a very old and beautiful church. Yet another St Stephens Catholic Church. I think it is about 700 years old. Wait till you see the photos. (Not today however as we need to locate another cafe with free WiFi)I am not sure what engineers do today that was not understood in the 1400's. It is hard to believe that they had the knowledge, skills and resources to build such a massive structure that would last for hundreds of years. We also got to go to a coffee house and sampled the best coffee we have had since leaving home. the coffee was served with Sacher Cake, a traditional Austrian cake. (Chocolate with apricot jam in the centre and chocolate icing. It is made from a secret recipe, supposively 4 types of chocolate are used. You have to eat it with lots of whipped cream!!! I think there are far better tasting cakes.) We got to drive past building where Mozart and Strauss lived and worked and we viewed the magnificant Opera House. Each city has their own Opera House. It is time for breakfast so i will finish this later

Fingers crossed, I think I can go back and add some relevant photos today. Here are some of the Highlights of Budapest. The Opera house, government house. Forth time lucky. This morning we left early for a bus tour of the city. Our first stop was the Budapest Opera House. Lots of gold, carved timber and marble. The pictures shows the main theatre. We were fortunate to view a man who presented two arias while we sipped Champayne. Unfortunately his fly was undone which distracted a few people but the singing was amazing and the acoustics incrediable. The Opera House is on the Pest side of the river. As was Heros Square a large area in the middle of Budapest, on the pest side, that celebrates Budapest's Heros. Going back hundreds of years. Lots of amazing bronze statues. On the Buda side of the river we viewed the Royal Palace and then went up to Fisherman's Bastion high on the hill near an amazing Cathedral. this was a great vantage point to view and photograph the restored Government Building. In the afternoon we set sail for Vienna - 240kms up the river. We go to sit on the sun deck and watch the castles and villages go by. It is a tough life.

Budapest. DAY?

After a long flight we arrived in a chilly Budapest, max 14 C. Certainly a great place to start. Things that come to mind after our first walk in the streets of the city: Beautiful old buildings, goulash, embroidery, geese, bridges and the Danube. Oh yes, mustn’t forget Paprika!! Although dog tired, we needed to fill in a few hours while we waited to have access to our room and in particular the bed and shower. We checked out the local markets that are housed in a large decorative building that reminded me of the main building at the Victoria Markets in Melbourne (but more elaborate). The markets had lots to offer, lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, small goods, cheese, goose pate and lots of goose bits, meat, spices, in particular paprika, embroidery and linen, china & leather bags. Last night we had a amazing welcome dinner. Lots of very Hungarian specialties including local wine, which apparently is much better than the beer. We went for a short cruise up the river. The river is filled with many cruising boats, we were three deep at our mooring. The buildings along the river a lit up making for a spectacular sight. The government building being the most impressive. I must say I didn’t last long as I was tired and it was freezing. Bruce is eating some authenic Hungarian Goulash. yum yum

Singapore Day 3

Our last day in Singapore was spent visiting the Zoo. Unfortunately we arrived at the same time as a storm that bucketed rain and persisted for over and hour!! Amazingly it brought the temperature down to a much more comfortable level. After a late check out we wandered our way up to the river and took in an informative and enjoyable bum boat ride. Singapore has an interesting history that we had only glimpsed a small part of. Our farewell treat was Chilli crab for dinner. Very messy and tasty but I think Hervey Bay mud crab cooked in salty water is just as good if not better. We left Singapore at about 11.30 pm. Photos are finally up. The top one is a picture of the least desired job in the world. These poor men are in charge of cleaning up the rhino poo!!

Day two Singapore

TDay2 not a lot of sun this morning but very muggy. We set off to check out the sights. After maneuvering the massive activity and barricades currently being constructed for the Formula One car race, we arrived at the Singapore Flyer. A massive structure. Given a whole carriage to ourselves we got to see the city of Singapore from 150 m above ground. The fact that it was raining didn't seem to matter. If you were a shopper Singapore would be the place. Behind every facade is a massive multistory shopping experience. Not really what we are looking for but a visit every couples of hours allowed us to cool in the air conditioning. Today we went on a hop on hop off bus ride to get an idea of the city lay out, had lunch at Little India, caught a bus to Santosa, saw some butterflies, had a cable car ride across the river and went back to china town for Bruce's suit fitting with 'I will sell u everything Rajah!' The suit fitted well and so will the five additional shirts raj sold us while we were there. A great day despite the heat!

Hot hot hot Singapore

After an uneventful flight we touched down in a very muggy and tropical Singapore. No better way to start our visit but a cool refreshing Singapore Sling at Raffles. The $29 (singapore) cost per drink saved us from settling in and knocking back a few more. We hitched a ride up to China Town to seek out some dinner. It is currently the lantern festival making for a great photo opportunity when the sun eventually set.we dined at the hawkers marker, roast duck and noodles for $4 each, yum! Bruce finished the meal with some strange Chinese dessert. A local that we chatted to suggested it hadn't been a good choice. After walking back to the motel we are now settled in the air conditioning making use of the free wifi. (Should read hawker's market not marker but I don't seem to be able to correct! I thought you might be interested in the taxi, Dad! A Toyota Crown

Our itinerary

Finally on the plane! Thought I might write up the itinerary for the trip. Day 1: Brisbane to Singapore Day 2: Singapore Day 3: Singapore fly out 11.10 pm Day 4: Munich to Budapest Day 4: 28 September Budapest Day 5: Vienna Day 6: Vienna Day 7: 1 October Durnstein, Melk Day 8: Linz Salzburg Passau Day 9: Regensburg Day 10: Nuremberg Day 11: Bamberg Day 12: Kitzingen, Wurzburg Day 13: 7 October Wertheim Day 14: Rudesheim, Koblenz Day 15: Cologne Day 16: Amsterdam Day 17: Amsterdam to Paris Day 18: Paris Day 19: Paris Day 20:14 October. Paris Day 21: wine tour Reims & Champagne Regions Day 22: 16 October train to London London till 24 October Fraser Place Queen's Gate Gardens 20-79693555 Arrive Australia 26 October

Three more restless nights.

Packing underway. Socks and Jocks are in. SIM card removed from IPad. Tomorrow we can check the seat allocations- that's a sign.

Nine more nightcaps.

Everything going swimmingly. Now we just have to memorize 73 passwords and learn French. Anything's doable.

Blog Setup and running

One step closer with only 16 more sleeps. The blog is up and running.