We started the day leisurely, cruising north on the river, sitting on the sun deck, enjoying the weather, the view - and our books! - when we were summoned to the Lounge for an "important announcement." It seems that two ships - a barge and a cargo ship - had collided somewhere between where we were and Vienna, which is where we were heading - and one of them had sunk, closing the river. We were basically stranded, so the captain pulled into port at Bratislava, the capital city of Slovakia, a city not on our itinerary, and they hastily arranged for a walking tour of the city for us. Soon we were like a bunch of baby ducklings waddling along behind our tour guide, having been imprinted with the #2 placard she waved above her head... Batislava is quite small and old, and was an interesting (and an unexpected) opportunity!... Seems that all their statuary, their heroes, are writers and intellectuals because, as our guide told us, historically they have always been the conquered people - the ones submitting, not the oppressors, and so they have no kings or generals! THey have become a free republic simply by surviving, and they are very proud of that fact!
Then - quickly - we learned that a portion of the river had been dredged to allow us through, but the window of time was very short, so we hastened on-board and started north again. Our "activities director" (or whatever she is called) pulled out all the stops, had a bus come to meet us along the way so that those of us who had concert tickets could make the concert at the Imperial Palace in Vienna, and then the ship carried on without us, telling us they would meet us after the concert (and in fact, they did, although we arrived at the dock about ten minutes ahead of the ship!)... The concert was "Vienna Lite" but it was fun - full of cheerful music and good humor.
We have begun to pass castles along the way, and I took this picture of castle ruines for Alex, although she may be disappointed that it's not pink!
Today: Vienna! From what I've seen (from the bus window after the concert) it's a beautiful city! WIsh I could spend more time here exploring... it feels like a city I'd like to come back to and "be in" much as we did Paris last year.
Interesting ship-fact: we are 130 passengers (refrred to as "guests") and 51 crew. No wonder we feel so spoiled!
1 comment:
Wow, adventure on the seas! Sounds like everything worked out AND you got the Bratislava bonus to boot.
How refreshing to have artists and intellectuals as heroes.
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