A Cruise in Europe!

Hello!  It's been a while.  You may already know this, but this past summer, I went on my very first cruise! (only took me 30 years, right?)

I went with my family on a river cruise along the Danube River.  We started our journey in Nuremburg, Germany and ended in Budapest, Hungary.  Thanks to non-rainy conditions, we even had to switch boats in the middle of the trip!  (not the most fun, but its better than running aground).  We started in the Viking Jarl and ended on the Viking Atla.

This is a long post.  First, here is a preview of what is waiting for you at the end. Make sure you make it all the way down!

Coming at you is an onslaught of photos from so many different places.  I considered breaking this trip up into multiple posts (like I did when I went to Italy), but this trip felt like an onslaught of images!  I discovered that when you are on a cruise, your time is not your own.  You are following someone else's schedule most of the time.  I was usually limited to 30-45 minutes in an absolutely gorgeous place (sometimes an entire city!), and it was completely overwhelming at times to try and capture all the beauty I was seeing with so little time.  I did capture some really beautiful shots and a had a fabulous time meeting new people on the boat and spending some quality time with my family <3

So, get ready, get set, GO!

Boat pics...

Okay official start of the trip.  Photos will be in chronological order from now on.

Our first walk around Nuremburg, including a climb up the tower for an aerial view...….

  

 Day 2: While dad and Adam went on a tour about Nuremburg during WWII (90% of the city was bombed during the war), Mom and I went on a Nuremburg History Tour (more than just WWII).  I will never tire of capturing the majesty of old churches.  And this one had an organ that was amazing to photograph--added bonus with sun flares!

 I was fascinated with the doors to this church.

I don't think these were even the front doors, but I thought they were really cool.

Day 3: We went on a boat tour (different boat) of the Danube Narrows as well as the Waltenburg Abbey (I'll admit, I am definitely referring back to the Viking website to remind myself of the names of all these places.  So many places and so much information, I couldn't keep it all in my head with the little time we had at each place).  Included on this boat tour at 9:30am?  Why a beer and a pretzel, of course!  Germany is awesome :)

Please notice the German flag in Adam's glasses reflection--one of my favs!

 For many, this shot is hard to get.  St. George is so back-lit.  It's designed to be like that, which really cool!

 

 St. Peter's Cathedral in Regensburg.

 Seriously, I will never get tired of this :)

Walking around Regensburg.  A really pretty city. (90% of Regensburg was NOT bombed during WWII)

That night, the sunset was beautiful, so we had some fun with the sunset, taking advantage of the golden hour.

Day 3: Welcome to Salzburg.  We did not do the Do-Re-Mi tour, but below you will see pictures of the garden in the Do-Re-Mi sequence in the movie, as well as the fountain that Maria stops at before singing "Confidence in Me."

 We had a lunchtime concert in the world's oldest restaurant.  The quartet performed music from the movie--very well.  I highly enjoyed them, despite the fact that the room had zero air conditioning in 90-degree heat!

Okay, I know that padlock bridges are actually a bad thing.  they can destroy bridges and are a hassle for ciy governments to maintain.  But I had never actually seen one before, and I LOVED taking photos of it. 

Gottweig Abbey.  SO Beautiful.

 This. Will. Never. Get. Old.

At the end of this tour, there was time for the gift shop (lame) and a wine tasting.  Had the abbey not been so gorgeous, I might have done some wine tasting.  But capturing photos like this will never beat drinking wine.

Ceiling fresco captured in a mirror. 

Day.....I forget what day I'm on.  The next day:  Vienna!

The Schonbrunn Palace.  Home of the Hapsburg Dynasty.  We were not allowed to take pictures inside.  Very Sad, as it was beautiful.

Walking around the gardens.

Arrival in Budapest.  The Matthias Church.  

A rudimentary long exposure shot.  Just placed my camera on a the hand rail and did my best to keep it steady for 1 second.  Tried to give it a dream-like feeling.  When there is this many people in a building (about half of which were actually attending a service), they start to look blurred to me, and I focus on the architecture instead.

Oh, the ceiling.  So unique.  And there was a second story ledge the length of the sanctuary to get good shots of it.

Instead of doing a Viking Cruise tour on (what day am I on again??) this day, we hired our own tour guide for the four of us.  Julia took us on a "Taste of Budapest" tour, tasting different foods around the city.  First stop was this food market--in an old train station!

Meat market sausage.  Regular, liver, and blood sausages.  It's weird to admit it, but my favorite was the blood (in the middle).

There are old ruins throughout the city, and instead of letting them sit derelict, they are re-purposed as bars.  This was the ceiling of one. (yes the chairs are hanging upside down)

Rooftop bar, where we had Palinka--I don't really recommend it ;)

Our last night on the boat, the captain and cruise director took us to the edge of the city as the sunset and then back through the city after dark to see the city lit up.  Budapest is the most beautiful city I have seen after dark.  I could not stop taking pictures!

Side of building.  I can't help it--it was really cool to get this.  The sunset reflections in the windows look like fire.

The Parilaiment Building--OMG Yes!

Chain bridge in the foreground, and the Buda Castle in the background.

Imagine all the guest on the boat at the front all trying to get pictures of the same things as we cruise along.  That was all happening behind me during this tour.  I had the best spot without trying--I stood on the staircase to the lower level.  I had a clear view of both shores of the river.

The moon rose as we cruised.  It's in between the main pyres of the Liberty Bridge.  I was geeking out for sure.

Lady Liberty in the top left corner on a hilltop, with the party people on the Liberty bridge below.

Dad's silhouette against the light of the Chain Bridge.

We stayed 2 extra nights in Budapest after the cruise was officially over.  We spent most of the day with another tour guide (also named Adam).  We did a "Hidden Gems" tour followed by a Photo Tour that took us to all the best places to capture photos of the city.  Perfect tour for me!

This fountain will turn on and off as you walk close to the spouts.  The buttons were underneath the panels just outside the perimeter of the spouts.  Cool.

Reagan in Budapest. Cool!

Just outside the Parliament Building.  The city uses misters to keep the concrete and asphalt cool to keep temperatures down.  Also makes for cool pics.

This shoe is important.  It is part of a memorial to Jews who were ordered to take their shoes off before being tied up and shot into the river during WWII.   

The Liberty Bridge.  This is was one of a few weekends during the summer that this bridge is shut down to traffic and is used as a communal hang-out spot for anyone who wants to come.    It was so cool.

How they advertise.

Adam (tour guide) had a friend that was on the bridge we actually visited.  He had staked out his spot in the early afternoon and spent the rest of the day in his hammock.  So something I would do.

Yep, people climbed up the supports.  I would, too.

In the final bits of sunset, we were able to get some sweet views of the city from above.  Seriously, Budapest is the most beautiful city at night.

At the top of the hill was Lady Liberty, But this is a shot of one of the shorter statues on either side of her.  The decaying detail was way cool.

One of the things I really wanted to capture was a long exposure at night in the city.  The light trails were fun to capture, and Adam was really helpful.  He spends a lot of his spare time taking his own photos, so he knows the best places around the city. The way we got here was through a door that looked way creepy and a place I would never have ventured alone. 

Okay, this final collection of images are my absolute favorite of the entire trip.  That is because I was able to spend 3-4 hours (maybe more? I can't remember) in an incredibly photogenic location, taking my time capturing stunning images.  We stayed in a hotel right next to the Matthias Church and the Fisherman's Bastien--which was at the top of a hill across the Danube from the Parliament building.  I woke up at 4am (yes, that's right-no regrets!) and spent some quality time capturing the sunrise--which was right behind parliament!

The Fisherma's Bastien.  You have to pay to climb up here during the day, but this early in the morning, it's free!

Yup, parliament through the arches.

A different editing style.  I thought it made this scene look....medieval?  Mystical? I can't come up with the right adjective.  Comment if you can.

Some people (I guess finishing a night of partying) ended up on the balcony while I was further away.  Thought it was a cool shot.

The roof of Matthias Church.  Ceramic tiles.

Our hotel was right next to the church, which meant lots of ways to get reflections of the church in the hotel windows!

These small details really are awesome!

My final, absolutely favorite shots of the trip: