In a city rich in history, I had not realized the Hapsburg dynasty lasted for more than 600 years, not that Austria offered to become neutral after WW II. We did a bus, then walking segment of the center. Unlike other monarchies, the Hapsburgs built new wings to their palace to end up with a sprawling, 1000+ room complex (might be more). There is a summer palace as well, although we didn’t opt for that excursion. The Saint Stephan’s Cathedral was our end point with lots of shopping, coffee houses, ticket office for music concerts and so on. While we have no shortage of coffee and desserts on-board, having a coffee in Vienna itself and the famous sacher torte is just one of those things. The dense chocolate cake is if course slightly different depending on who makes it. We did split a piece.

We came back to the ship for lunch. tried a little rest, then went strolling along the pier and up a bit. This is a major river cruising pier with a combination of local sight-seeing boats and those like us. I think the one most distant we saw was from Rotterdam. We did not book an excursion for today and unfortunately, weather has turned against us.Not surprisingly, the regional dish for last night was weiner schnitzel with warm German potato salad and a cranberry sauce. The sauce was something different and yes, dessert was sacher torte. I did choose the caramel ice cream and had two bites of Hubby’s torte.

The plan was walk/use the U-bahn (subway) to go to a couple of the many museums. Aside from rain, the temperature is supposed to reach only 55 degrees. We wouldn’t mind taking a cab, but what we’re not sure about is getting a cab back. When I was in Paris a few years back with my sister, I was surprised to learn how difficult getting a cab could be and I’m not sure I want to take that chance here. We will have leisurely breakfast and then decide.

Having made our way into Austria, the tour of Gottweig Abbey was very enjoyable. Surprisingly from a geographic perspective, the Wachau Valley is able to produce not only grapes for wine and apples, but also apricots for a certain number of months per year. The abbey, founded 900 years ago, (Benedictine order), at some point started cultivating these and became famous for the fruit, their own wine and a special dumpling they make. We chose the added segment of the excursion to watch a demonstration of how the dumpling is made and have one with a cup of coffee. It is basically a whole apricot surrounded in dough, boiled, then drained, rolled in a breadcrumb topping and served with apricot sauce. The taste is a lot like a deep dish fruit pie.

The abbey grounds are quite large with multiple buildings. Only three are original as a fire destroyed most of them in the 1700s. A few were added even later. The church is of course magnificent and the library (not accessible) has never been wired for electricity. With over 150,000 items, the monk work only in natural light as they don’t want o risk another fire. High atop the hills, the view is wonderful too.

We returned to the boat where we left almost immediately to make it to Vienna. We will be here three nights as about half the passengers opted to attend an evening Mozart concert . We go on a “panoramic City tour” this morning, and have the rest of the day and all tomorrow. I did not book us on their other excursions here so we will plan out what we are going to do tomorrow. I think maybe we won;t go anywhere extra this afternoon; we’ll see.

Oh, we also had a demonstration of making apple streudel from the pastry chef yesterday so it became a “pastry day”. The dinner specialty was herbed pork tenderloin which we both went for. We did share a carrot cake slice rather than each have one.

This is a long link; you can probably do another link and find something shorter..

https://visitworldheritage.com/en/eu/g%C3%B6ttweig-abbey-%E2%80%93-the-austrian-montecassino/176bf525-ebbe-4cc3-a4db-989158b4c760

We did not go off on our own as planned and did the organized walking tour again instead. Mother Nature split the difference and it was light rain which increased a bit although manageable between having brought my really good rain jacket and the big umbrella provided by the ship. Completely different topography in Passau with up and down on wet cobblestones. I was able to look around, but did spend a lot of it watching my footing. While this area was of course part of the Roman Empire, they have also found artifacts dating back 7,000 years of river dwelling peoples. We did do lunch on the boat as we were taking the afternoon trip to the farm. Fish and chips for a bit of comfort food.

The terminology for the afternoon trip is the only thing so far I raised my eyebrows at once we arrived. It was pleasant, but anyone who has lived in Germany knows what an actual “beer fest” is. Anyway, it was a very short bus ride and the 300 acre farm was established in 1642 (something like that) and has been in a family ever since. The current family took it over in 1890. The land includes a forest area and they have their own sawmill. They own a few horse and board others – 50 right now, They built a smaller and large riding hall where they do dressage as well. One of the old hay lofts in another building was converted into an event space. We ended in a rustic hunting lodge where they tapped a small keg of local beer, served classic big German pretzels with some specialty-made cream cheese spreads and ham. There was of course the accordion player and the owner then came and did a traditional festival dance and cajoled some of the passengers into joining him. He spoke of the farm and it was all very pleasant for what it was. Oh, no more rain until we headed back to the boat, and that was light and we set off for sail again soon after.

Since it was our last night in Germany, there was a big buffet with all sorts of regional fare instead of ordering from the menu. Sauerbraten, roasted pigs knuckles, a type of chicken cutlet, wurst, red cabbage, sauerkraut, and so forth.

There was a question about how flexible Viking is with passengers doing things not as part of their planned excursions. I’m not sure yet as today will be the first day we decide to wander close to the ship this morning because we have the afternoon excursion booked.

Anyway, yesterday was a walking tour of Regensburg. The “barbarian” Germanic tribes were across the river as the Romans pushed their northern border and built a large fortress 2,000 years ago. Housing a 6,000 strong legion with all the support needed, shops, etc., were also established outside the gates. After the fall of the Empire different events occurred, but because of the importance of the Danube, Regensburg became a prosperous city in the Middle Ages. In carefully walking the cobblestone streets – some narrow alleys – you see and hear history of buildings and events taking place in them before Columbus even came to America.

The tour wasn’t far from the ship and so after it ended, we wandered and went back to some spots Hubby wanted to get better photos of. There was a museum of Bavaria (that’s the state we are in) and a cafe with it. We had lunch; a local sausage and the wonderful German potato salad for me and a schnitzel and fries for Hugh. I am sticking with wine and saving my beer allowance for later today. Hubby is of course doing the local beer. We went through the museum which was well done and then I needed a nap. Apparently my body wasn’t as ready to readjust as I thought. or perhaps three hours of mostly walking was a bit more tiring than I expected.

We had dinner with one of the couples we’d dined with the first night – they settled in Auburn after retirement. Hubby did the Regional specialty again, but it started with a salad including beef tartare and that wasn’t happening for me. His roast pork was good, but my grilled halibut was lovely, too. I will try to only share a dessert tonight – the apple tart was too much to pass up and I’m not sure exactly what Hubby’s was – some kind of cake, I think.

Oh, we set off to new destination around 5:30 last night and it was pleasant sitting on the veranda with a mug of tea.

I managed to get enough sleep to re-set my body clock. I can usually do that in the first full night. We are six hours ahead of East Coast time. The ride from Munich airport was about 1.5 hours and I rested – not slept – for most of it, but then again, we weren’t rolling through anything unexpected.

There are 188 passengers on this trip and so far we have met people from Ohio, Alabama, Arizona, and Seattle, No assigned seating for meals. Not being familiar with the ship, I inadvertently booked us into the far cabin on the deck; about a one-minute walk from the main area. Lobby and main dining room are on this deck, lounge and outside dining are third deck. Sun deck is above as to be expected. More about the ship later.

Dinner is three course with a standard set of dishes and then a daily regional cuisine. I had intended to go for the shrimp dish, but the chef spoke at the “evening briefing” and said the short ribs was a particularly special. Okay, we went that way and it was delicious. Ceasar salad to start and a lovely lemon cake with sorbet for dessert. We will probably share a dessert from here on out. Breakfast will be a buffet as well as cook-to-order omelets. Lunch will be available each day although I expect we will eat out most days. Only culinary drawback is no in-cabin coffee. There are two hot beverage stations with fancy machines available 24 hours a day; usually with cookies or another pastry in the mornings.

We did not stay up for the after-dinner music in the lounge, will probably do that this evening for at least a while. Of we go for breakfast, then walking tour of Regensburg; will discuss that tomorrow morning.

Very short post as we are really tired and have our gathering before the Welcome Briefing on board the Viking long ship in ten minutes. Flights went well; longer wait in Munich airport than expected for bus to Regensburg, Passengers were coming in from different places so rather than make two trips, those who came in first had to wait. We were only about an hour; another group was for two and one lady in particular wasn’t happy.

Lots of details tomorrow.

Several years ago, acquaintances in the dive community opened a lovely wine and cheese shop in Key Largo. They sold other gourmet-type items and it was kind of like having part of a Whole Foods available. Corks and Curds was an appropriate name. I don’t recall how the transition came about, but they eventually decided to install a wood-fired grill and become a restaurant. The thing is though they aren’t open at lunchtime and they aren’t on the water. They are ocean-side on Overseas Highway, just as the highways splits in Key Largo. (This landmark doesn’t mean anything if you don’t live around here) Anyway, while they specialize in pizza, they have other items and we kept saying we were going to have dinner at some point.

We decided okay, this year for my birthday would be it. I have mentioned in other posts that if you have a restaurant in the Keys and aren’t on the water, you have sort of two ways to go decor-wise. You can stick with the ocean-theme with art, etc., or you can go the opposite way which a few places do. C&C, as it is referred to, went with the industrial, loft-like look of exposed brick walls and wood. It works well although it is also a noisy place with not being very large and putting in as many tables as possible, plus a bar  that seats twelve. At least they don’t add loud music on top of it so the feeling is definitely one of camaraderie. We didn’t intend to have pizza – sold only in the 12-inch size I think – and I should have paid more attention to the many variations they offer. They have about six non-pizza entrees on the regular menu and nightly specials. I went for the sirloin topped with roasted shallot butter and Hubby had the special of lobster and crab lasagna. We split a salad and obviously had a nice bottle of wine. Interestingly, the portions are not designed for leftovers which is fine. The food was excellent.

The only other slightly unusual aspect was an espresso focus. That’s the only coffee they serve and at least two of their desserts are espresso-based. I was surprised there was no chocolate cake option, but the key lime parfait we shared was delicious.

Last lunch with family was yesterday; my cousin who is my age and his wife were able to join us and we spent a pleasant few hours with them. Fried chicken and fried okra from the local place and then a cup of Bluebell vanilla ice cream as I hadn’t picked up dessert when we went. My aunt always keeps plenty on hand and it was the perfect amount. Although Many has grown to the point to have a Walmart and a McDonalds, none of the chicken franchises have taken hold. The drive back to Shreveport was fine and in making reservations in the area of Bossier City where I usually spend the night, I was not aware of the construction tearing up parts of I-20. I had seen it on my way south Friday and considered changing my reservation, but thought getting through wouldn’t be too difficult. It wasn’t exactly, but what I hadn’t noticed was there was only one exit closed down and yes, it was the exit I needed. I hadn’t turned on my navigation system because I know that exit quite well. What I didn’t know was the alternative route. After making one wrong guess, I allowed technology to prevail. For some reason, I had also decided to try the Hilton Garden Inn instead of the usual Hampton which is close by and as luck would have it, they were short of staff and the room wasn’t ready. I had already intended to take a walk and that was as good a time as any. Granted, in my regular clothes in 90+ degree heat wasn’t my first plan. I certainly didn’t go for a fast walk and I did try out the shower not long after I got into the room.

The Hilton Garden Inns generally have an on-site bar and bistro and the menu looked adequate for my purposes. In fact, my vegetable in-take had been lacking and the bartender said their tomato-basil bisque was quite good. I paired that with another appetizer of three pulled pork sliders. The soup was excellent (obviously homemade) and the sliders were good.

Trip home was annoying only in the sense of a tight connection in Dallas made tighter by a slightly late arrival. However, for a change, the luggage in Miami came out more quickly than usual.

A leisurely morning and I did safely get bag and myself down the tricky staircase. Was able to start the day with a nice walk around the quiet streets although there was some traffic at 6:16 a.m. Oddly enough, I think I was the only guest at the inn. I did have an early lunch to be able to get into the well-known Lasayone’s. This is the old-fashioned Southern cuisine place that made the Natchitoches meat pies famous. All comfort food and yes, even they have added a few healthy options. I suppose someone orders that occasionally. The place looks pretty much like it did when I lived there fifty years ago. I don’t remember when it was actually opened.

Last on my culinary list was crawfish. Turns out the place in Many where we went for dinner was one of the few sit-down restaurants, Bayou Crawfish Hole, but considering my lunch, I opted for the crab cakes topped with crawfish ettoufee and only swiped two fried crawfish tails from my cousin’s platter. I was able to visit with her sister for a few hours. She came by my aunt’s house before she had to leave to drive to Mississippi where she was going to see her daughter and family. My other cousin, the one my age, and his wife might be able to come for lunch today. I’ll run out and get friend chicken for everyone and stay until around 2:30 before I leave for Shreveport to spend the night. I have to be at the airport at 4:30 tomorrow.

I did a FB post about the bakery/cafe, Geaux Fresh in Minden where I went for an early lunch after visiting the cemetery. The TV series Hometown has done some “Hometown Takeovers” where they select a small town struggling economically, but trying to revive. They do a few projects, one of which is revive a small business. This cafe was selected during the Minden “Takeover”.  It is very nice, excellent food, friendly staff and they seem to be doing well. As it turns out yesterday was shrimp day for me. I had the spicy Cajun shrimp wrap at lunch and more shrimp for dinner.

I decided to take a different route to Natchitoches and go on a slightly longer drive that I hadn’t been on in years. Not much has changed. I also decided to stay downtown at a B&B and I should have checked their website more carefully. Charming Victorian, nicely furnished throughout, and the Wifi connection is good. It isn’t that I mind third floor with no elevator. It’s the staircase to the third floor is quite frankly dangerous. I can manage, but have to be very careful. And there is no in-room coffee maker. Location is good, too though if you are a walker – and I am.

One of my favorite restaurants is being transitioned to what looks like it will be a nice Cantina and I erroneously thought my second favorite was closed. Turns out it isn’t, and I’ll remember that for next time. In all fairness, all the restaurants downtown are good, but not all are open for dinner.  Anyway, I actually did a “double” last night. That wasn’t my initial intent. I was at Mama’s Oyster House and had a cup of the shrimp and corn bisque, then a special appetizer of bacon-wrapped shrimp. I didn’t want a full entree, but that turned out to be not quite enough. Natchitoches is university town and it was a Friday night so things were getting a bit loud. There was a new place on the way back to the inn and I thought I could pop in there for another appetizer and glass of wine. But as I walking along at the Sushi place, there was a lit sign, “Bar in back” that looked intriguing. Natchitoches has a lot of New Orleans architectural influence, and this is one where there was a courtyard between the main restaurant and its second bar and dining room. The back was very quiet as only one guy in the courtyard and people at the one table were on their way out. I had my other glass of wine and the garlic shrimp skewer appetizer.