Budapest and Bratislava

 Let's catch everyone up!! We had a great last couple of days in Budapest with a food tour one evening and a city tour the next day including a visit to the Citadella to see the Liberty statue. It's symbolic of the liberation during the Hungarian Revolution. Our visit was during the anniversary of the Revolution - a national holiday. They replaced the Hungarian flag with the flag during the Revolution. The Soviets had replaced the center of the Hungarian with the wheat during the occupation. During the Revolution, the Hungarian people cut out the wheat and used a flag with a hole in it.  

 

We then had a wonderful wine tasting deep in a wine cave. Four local wines, great pairing of sausages, cheese and langos which is Hungarian fry bread. Yesterday we disembarked the Avalon Expression and were bussed to Bratislava Slovakia (new country alert!!). There we had a city tour and had a wonderful lunch including the signature dish of Bryndzové halušky. This is best described as a decadent macaroni and cheese. It is small dumplings similar to spaetzle in a rich sheep's milk cheese bechamel topped with bacon and chives. So tasty!!

 In the afternoon we boarded the bus and arrived in Vienna. Yes - we're back!! This time we boarded the Avalon Tranquility. They made the embarkation process very easy and we were able to have the same room number as the Expression. The ship is a little bit smaller, but the same general layout. Make sure you are following Trips with Angie for more information about the ship experience.  

After settling into our new cabin, the ship's sommelier had a wine tasting at 5 PM which was followed by happy hour and then the daily briefing. We learned that we actually should be sailing tonight at about 11 PM!! The Danube apparently has a high enough level of water. We'll depart our docking location in Vienna and head to Durnstein Austria in the Wachau wine region. 

Today there are several ship excursions available but since we were here last week, we're going to have a day on our own. Angie has some work to catch up on. Then we will likely visit the Military Museum a bit later.