Monthly Archives: July 2020

Aida Konditorei, Big Red Bus Tour, The Prater, Vienna ( Wien), Votivkirche

The Ramblers ride the Big Red Bus in Vienna

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After a leisurely day in and around the Palais Hansen, the Ramblers decided to further explore Vienna, but how to do it? The Kempinski concierge suggested we ride the Bid Red Bus around the city which would give us an excellent overview of the surrounding area. We had never tried one of these bus tours although we had seen them in many cities. His glowing recommendation tipped the scales in its favor. Sadly, the Ramblers were no longer the intrepid walkers of even 5 years ago. A walking tour was out of the question, especially in the unseasonably hot weather. The temperature would climb to the mid-90’s later in the day.

the Hop on- Hop off Big Red Bus which provides an excellent tour around Vienna. This would be our first time on the Bus.

Out of curiosity the Rambler checked the weather forecast for the same day in 2020; it called for a high of 71, with a good chance of rain. This was the Vienna weather we had expected but it was not to be. The only caveat to taking the Big Red Bus was the long walk (for us) to its closest stop. Although the Big Red Bus and its yellow competition stopped right next to a few of the 5 star hotels in Vienna, the closest stop to the Palais Hansen was in front of the Votiv Kirche, at least a half mile away. Yet the Ramblers did have the whole day and we could always call an Uber if we ran out of gas… On the plus side, it was a straight shot down the Shottenring, and the Church was visible from quite a distance. In fact, it was nearly impossible to get lost, and we didn’t!

As we got closer, we spotted the Votiv Kirche; we would have to cross several wide streets to get there while avoiding cars, trams and busses, plus bicycles and scooters.. It was a daunting experience at times for the Ramblers. We are used to suburban living and rarely cross busy streets.

Our slow progress eventually got us to the shady and pleasant park that surrounded the church. But…we had to walk through the park to get to the Bus stop as it was directly in front of the church. Since there were many places to sit down in the shade along the way, I left the senior Rambler to relax while I went to visit the Votiv Kirche. I didn’t think I would want to do this after our Bus ride, and I was right.

AS we got closer, we got a better view of the huge electronic billboard in front of the church.

The Votiv Kirche is a relatively new church, built to look old It was designed in the Neo-Gothic style of the 19th century to commemorate Franz Joseph’s escape from assassination in 1853. A contest was held to chose its design and the winning architect was a young Austrian, Heinrich Ferstel, only 26 at the time. You can find his portrait bust under the pulpit of the Votiv Kirche. Ferstel supervised the entire construction of the cathedral which started in 1856 and was dedicated in 1879. Unlike all medieval cathedrals which often took centuries to build, the Votiv Kirche was completed in just 23 years under the supervision of just one man.

It somewhat resembles the Stephansdom or St. Stephens Cathedral, the seat of Vienna’s Cardinal, as both have distinctive tile roofs, St. Stephens opened in 1160 AD, and extends 449 ft upwards as opposed to the Votiv Kirche’s 325. Instead of a saint’s name, its unusual title means ” the thankful church,” as it was built in gratitude for the emperor’s survival.

Up close, the electronic billboard steals the scene until you enter the Votivkirche.

It is well worth gong inside although the huge electronic billboard that blocks the view of the entrance until you get relatively close is somewhat jarring. I have never seen this kind of advertising in front of a cathedral anywhere else. However, it seems to be doing well, probably because you can’t possibly miss it!

The interior also follow the Gothic style, with wall frescoes and even an old fashioned ladder. Some restoration work was in progress.

When you enter, several things catch the eye, the beautiful stained glass and the reverent attitude of the people inside. I would have liked to spend more time inside, as not only is is beautiful, but it was also delightfully cool inside. I understand that it is also very chilly in winter as well. However, our goal was to ride the Big Red Bus around Vienna, and I didn’t want the senior Rambler to wait too long outside, so I didn’t stay too long inside..

Despite all the outdoor activity, there were a number of people inside the church, sitting or kneeling in prayer. Despite the construction , it was a peaceful and spiritual place.

The Red Bus stop was not too far away, and it was soon obvious that the bus arrived at regular intervals. We had bought our tickets at the hotel, so we were checked in, got our headsets and passes and climbed aboard. The Ramblers immediately noticed that the bus was not air-conditioned. Well, how could it be when the whole upper level was open to the sky. We would have enjoyed sitting up there on a cooler day, as it was a great spot for photography but we found seats on the first level instead. And so our journey began.

This is for the folks who have never taken a Big Red Bus tour, thinking the bus would be full of obnoxious tourists. This was not the case in Vienna, in fact, there were quite a few Austrians on board. As we found out, it is a great way to get around Vienna, and even the least expensive ticket costs less than 30 Euros discounted. For an additional fee, one can add a tour of the Schonbrunn Palace, a ride on the Risenrad, or in a fiaker (horse drawn carriage) and several others. In addition, although we didn’t realize this, besides the Hop-On, Hop-Off route that we took, it had two other routes; one which took in the Schoenbrunn Palace and one that took in the Hundredwasser complex. If I had know this, I would have been sorely tempted despite the heat, to ride the Schoenbrunn Palace route as the Ramblers never did get to see it. At this time, the Ramblers hadn’t heard about Hundredwasser, but would have enjoyed seeing it.

One of the first places we passed was the impressive Sigmund Freud Park

But, we settled ourselves in fairly good seats, tried to think cool thoughts and prepared to see Vienna. There were 15 stops on the Red route, at three, passengers could hop off and hop onto the Blue route instead. The Blue route had only 9 stops, but for the most part, traveled an entirely different part of the city. The headsets provided narration in numerous languages including English English. En route, we would cross the Danube(Donau) twice quite near where the River Princess, and many other river cruisers were docked.

Where better to get some Euros than from a giant piggy bank in front of the Prater Amusement Park.

One of the most interesting stops was the Prater; part Aging Amusement Park, part green space and recreation area for city dwellers, it includes a lake and swimming pool which were quite crowded on such a hot day. We got a good look at the famous Riesenrod or travel wheel, better known to the Ramblers as a Ferris wheel. It was constructed for Franz Joseph’s Golden Jubilee, and is one of the earliest ever built. From 1920 to 1985, it was the world’s tallest. Today it sports 15 gondolas which look like wooden cabins but are called waggons, and a 15 – 20 minute ride costs 12 Euros. However, one of the cabins is fitted out as a dining room where you can order lunch or even a 3 course meal, which is fairly expensive, almost 300 Euros, though you do get a longer ride.

The famous Riesenrad; 12 Euros will get you a 15 minute ride.

The Amusement Part rides in the Prater are somewhat faded, but they were still doing a brisk business and many people were strolling in the part. From there we headed across the Danube past the river cruisers, and then past the Donau Tower, Vienna’s tallest building. Cities like Vienna don’t have many tall structures as yet, except for church steeples, but some want to build more while others are strongly opposed to their construction. Fortunately the modern buildings are clustered together near the Donau Tower, leaving the inner city to the glorious historic buildings that line the streets of the inner city.

Vienna’s collection of tall buildings, the Donau Tower is the dark glass one and the most recently built. Fortunately they are not in the historic district.

The Ramblers did not take advantage of the Hop Off option during our ride although the temperature both inside and outside was rising. We were not sure just how long we were on the bus, but we did learn from one of our fellow passengers, that the temperature inside was over 90 degrees. Thus by the time we got back to the Votiv Kirche we were happy to Hop Off. It had been alot of fun but we still had the long walk back to the Palais Hansen.Even more important, we hoped to find a nearby air-conditioned cafe where we could have something to eat and drink.

After we again crossed the ultra-wide Schottenring, we scanned the buildings for a suitable place but no cafes were open, tho they probably wouldn’t have been air-conditioned. Yet there was one place on the corner across from the church that seemed to be open.

The Rambler had hoped to try one of the wursts at Wiener Wursterworld, but again I had the wurst luck finding a wurst. However, we did find and even better place to stop after our bus ride.

Yes! Not only was it open but it was air-conditioned. We had lucked upon one of the famous Aida Konditorei, coffee, ice cream and pastry shops. We slid our sweaty selves into one of the open booths and found just what we needed, along with several glasses of water. This Rambler does love ice cream and the dish I savored at Aida was excellent.

View from inside Aida, lots of pin k and vinyl. The Votivkirche is in the background

Later I found that the Aida shops had been established in Vienna by the Prousek family before WWII, but all were destroyed during the war. However, the family owned business rebuilt and eventually expanded the chain into more than 20 stores. They were first rebuilt in 50s style and colors, pastel pink being the prominent hue, with lots of chrome accents.

The pink exterior is somewhat faded but it was a welcome haven for the Ramblers.

The Prouseks have refused to change the look of the Aida stores so they are easily recognizable throughout the city. We found our Aida a life-saver, and one with a sparking interior, friendly service and fair prices, not to mention excellent ice cream. If you see one when you are in Vienna, drop in for excellent ice cream. The Ramblers can’t vouch for the pastries but they also looked very good.

I really am enjoying the ice cream, it was delicious and filling. Guess it was just a really long and hot day.

Refreshed, we headed out into the hot summer afternoon and walked slowly back to the Palais Hansen. It was not a fun stroll and we were glad to get back to our hotel where we could change our sweaty clothes and relax. Tomorrow we would leave the Palais Hansen and embark on the River Princess for our 15 day cruise to Amsterdam. There seemed to be a few people staying at the Hansen who were also bound for the Princess, and later on that evening we met others who had just left the ship. They gave it a good review, so at least one Rambler was looking forward to an enjoyable time…the senior Rambler was not terribly enthusiastic, I will admit. Hopefully he would enjoy the cruising and I was pretty sure we would meet some pleasant and interesting folks on board. One of the main attractions of river cruising for both the Ramblers, is the ability to enjoy the company of a variety of people from different places. This cruise would not disappoint.

Vienna ( Wien)

The Ramblers fly to amsterdam again…and on to vienna

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Unfortunately our last river cruise did not end well for the Ramblers. Not only did we have to take a substitute cruise due to low water, but the Rambler got sick at its end, and the Ramblers had to mark time in Amsterdam until we could fly home. At this point, the senior Rambler was absolutely not in favor of taking another cruise, yet somehow he was coaxed into just one more… that would go smoothly this time.

The Rambler thought long and hard about which cruise to choose and she finally decided on a 15 day cruise that traveled the Danube, Main and Rhine from Vienna to yes…Amsterdam again, on the River Princess. The Princess is one of Uniworld’s smaller ships with alas smaller cabins. However, their Super Ships don’t sail this route, because they generally need deeper water.

We had never sailed on the River Princess but it was the same size as the River Royale we were on for the Bordeaux cruise.

Because of potential low water issues in late July and August, the chosen cruise started in early July, when there was usually plenty of water. Of course, July is also the month when many Europeans are also on vacation, but given the options, it was an easy choice. Little could we imagine what would happen in 2020, but in 2019, this actually turned out to be a good choice. The Rambler would have preferred to start in Budapest, but no other Uniworld cruise fit her parameters and we are brand loyal.. Thus the Ramblers were booked to take the Alluring Amsterdam and Vienna cruise, starting from Vienna on July 7th.

Although the Ramblers had traveled these rivers before, this cruise made a few different stops and because the senior Rambler preferred cruising to sight-seeing, the banks of these rivers were lined with villages, castles and even some interesting industrial sites. At many stops, one can walk off the boat and stroll around without boarding a Uniworld bus.

The view from the Delta Sky Club in the International terminal, not much going on at the moment.

Part of the deal to get him to go was that we fly business class so my next step was to get a good deal on our airfare. This is not so easy. When looking for business class fares, the best prices are offered by consolidators, but those fares are chancy and not much cheaper than booking direct. Many cruise lines offer airfare deals but sometimes the deals involve several transfers, are really early or really late or might involve a long layover. There are no direct flights to Vienna from Atlanta; all the Delta options involved a connector in Amsterdam. Airfares can be volatile and I and my travel agent were watching the prices closely. Probably should have booked directly with Delta, but instead booked through Uniworld, which meant they would pick us up when we arrived in Vienna. Unfortunately I waited a bit too long, which cost us several hundred dollars. My advice is, if you see a great price on an airline site, jump on it; they don’t last long.

The senior Rambler getting set up in Delta One, we really were close to the galley.

We were set to leave July 3, arriving in Vienna, the next day. Our flight was comfortable, the service was excellent, especially since our seats were right next to the galley. My only concern was that our connecting flight from Amsterdam to Vienna took off less than an hour after we landed. To the Ramblers, this didn’t seem like much time to get from one gate to the other at Schiphol which is always crowded. No sense worrying, we though, as it was a regular route. Luckily we had wheelchair service and even then, we boarded rather late. Fortunately our seats on the connector were also business class so we didn’t have to struggle through a crowded plane.

The Palais Hansen Kempinski, a very large hotel, in a 19th century building.

With a sigh of relief, we settled down for our short flight. By the time we got there, we were dragging a bit, but fortunately the Vienna airport is much smaller. We met the Uniworld driver, our luggage was loaded and we were on our way to the Palais Hansen Kempinski. The Palais Hansen was not my first choice, but the AAA offered a free night there as a Uniworld promotion. The Ramblers like to get to our starting destination a few days early, so it was a no brainer. I added 2 more nights at a good price, including breakfast, and so we checked in July 4. Our cruise would start on July 7.

The breakfast room at the Hansen, many choices in an elegant space.

The last time we visited Vienna, we ended up at the Ritz-Carlton, due to low water, courtesy of Uniworld. We enjoyed our time in Vienna and were looking forward to staying there again. However, although the Palais Hansen and the Ritz Carlton are both 5 star hotels, we much preferred the location of the Ritz. The Hansen is located in the Borse (treasury) district, and there are hardly any cafes in easy walking distance while the Ritz offers several choices.The first night we ate at the hotel Lobby Bar. We never tried either of their two restaurants, De Kuche Wien, or their upscale restaurant, Edvard. The senior Rambler is not a fan of upscale eateries so we did not eat there. Honestly even the omnivore Rambler didn’t much like the food at the Rechnung Lobby Bar. But we were tired and not particularly hungry so it didn’t matter so much, However they did up sell the senior Rambler on bottled still water, which cost almost twice as much as my beer. Sometimes you really have to make a point of asking for tap water which is perfectly fine or you will get pricey bottled water. This is a real pet peeve of mine. Americans take it for granted that they will get tap water as they do at home, but this is not the case in Europe.

This trip I would be constantly frustrated in my search for tasty German and Austrian sausages. The hotel served Kasekriner, supposedly the sausage specialty of Vienna. Sausage lover that I am, I ordered it only to be disappointed in its taste…and it had cheese inside, not one of my favorites. In the next two days we would pass by several famed sausage stands, but I was never able to actually buy a decent wurst! Oh well, surely there would be other opportunities in our two week cruise.

The Rambler spent a lot of time in the rain forest, wish we had one like it at home.

One thing I loved at the Hansen was the huge rain-forest shower; it was a very relaxing experience. The Rambler took full advantage, knowing the showers on the Princess paled in comparison. We also enjoyed their breakfast which offered a variety of choices in a pleasant room with a garden theme.

We still had two days on our own in Vienna. Since there was nothing tour worthy in the Rambler’s ambulatory area, we spent some time people watching our first day there. Although Vienna doesn’t have the number of bicycles seen in Amsterdam, it is a place where people walk, cycle or scoot along on electric scooters. The scooter folks were the most interesting to us.

The pedestrian/ bike/scooter path is clearly marked. However caution is the word when you try to cross it even in the marked areas.

Later I learned that electric scooter rentals were new to Vienna in 2019 and the city was still not sure about their use. We have had similar issues in Atlanta which resulted in the curtailing of electric scooter use after some serious injuries and at least one death. The biggest problem in Atlanta was that the scooters had to share the roads with cars or the sidewalks with pedestrians.

In Vienna, there are many joint use pedestrian/bicycle. scooter lanes. Electric scooter users have to obey the same rules as bicyclists as they go about the same speed. These lanes are wide and well marked, and it is possible to travel from one to another for many miles. The Schottenring or Ring Road that circles the historic and cultural heart of Vienna, has one right down the middle of the divided highway. There are also busses and electric trams. Tourists need to look out for the trams as they are very quiet and can sneak up on you. We did enjoy the watching the traffic on these pedestrian/bike/ scooter paths. Of course the scooter riders were almost entirely young people, sometime with two riding on one scooter. They seemed to be enjoying themselves despite the unusually hot weather.

And it was HOT! Normally the temperature in Vienna at this time is in the low 80’s. and Austria gets lots of rain all year round. However, when we were there, the temperatures soared into the 90’s, Fahrenheit, of course. It remained hot while we were there, and as a result, we didn’t do as much the Rambler had planned.

We were happy to find this place. It looked cooler than it was, but it had great atmosphere. Two couple from the hotel came in while we were there.

We didn’t want to eat at the hotel again, except for breakfast, so we walked to a small place we had noticed earlier in the day, called the Borse Cafe. The Ramblers decided to have an early dinner as we hadn’t been hungry at lunch time. It was too hot for sitting outside so we walked into a relatively cool, wood paneled room. The windows were wide open, no air conditioning in most places here. No sausage either as the Borse featured Italian food, which turned out to be very tasty. We lucked out for a change, as our mushroom pizza was excellent.

Our jet lag was fading and the Hansen Concierge recommended that we do the Big Red Bus tour of Vienna tomorrow if we didn’t want to do much walking in the heat. Hopefully tho, it would be cooler tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

Avignon, Marseilles Airport, Tarascon and Arles

Avignon, Tarascon and a nasty surprise at the end of our cruise.

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River cruising this summer had not turned out as we hoped. Having to chose this cruise instead of one that would take us to Eastern Europe due to low water, had been disappointing. Yes, Provence is beautiful and there is always something interesting to see, but in thinking it over, I probably would have oped just to fly to Budapest, stay in a nice hotel instead of cruising and take short tours around the Hungarian countryside. We would have saved money and had an entirely different experience. Unfortunately last week, I had only had a few hours to made a decision which further complicated matters, and we had loved the Catherine… So no point in second guessing.

A look at Avignon at sunrise, before this busy tourist city wakes up. The view is from the opposite bank and you can see the stub of Le Pont de Avignon and the walls and palace in the distance.

The last two days of the cruise featured places we had already toured on our previous cruise on the Catherine. We had then spent 4 days after the cruise in Avignon touring the countryside, so Friday’s walking tour had little appeal. Avignon is one of the places where the cruise ships dock right next to the quay, and there were many ships there when we arrived. All the popular lines were represented, so we got a chance to walk along the quay later on and compare ships. As always, we thought our Uniworld ship was the best maintained of the lot.

Avignon is also a very walk-able city however if you are not a good walker, it may present difficulties. It is a walled city, that is 2 1/2 miles of walls circle the historic area; you can climb to the top for a magnificent view. However, the Rhone docks are outside the walls so one must walk a ways to get to one of the entrance gates. Then if you intend to visit the Palace of the Popes, this means more walking and lots of walking inside because the place is huge. Consequently if you decide to stay on in Avignon after the cruise as we had done, be sure to book a hotel or B&B inside the walls. You will be inside the historic district with far less traffic to contend with during your stay. The city of Avignon is working to disallow any traffic withing the historic area but that has not happened yet.

Riding on the Petit train through the streets of the historic district.

The first part of the morning’s tour was a ride on the Petit Train which goes around the walls and then through the gates through the historic district. Some of the streets in the historic district are so narrow that even the train barely got through. We passed by the B&B we stayed at 2 years ago, and enjoyed our ride this time more than we had then. Our particular train seemed quite new and rode fairly smoothly while the first time the ride was rough and even worse, we sat in the back of the last car. This meant we bounced on the cobblestones quite a bit. This would not be a good place to sit if you have back trouble! Incidentally, the train company provides headsets with narration in a variety of languages, tho the quality of the sound is not the best.

Our train ride took quite a while as there are 11 stops where people can get on or off. We then walked back to the Catherine and spent a leisurely afternoon people and boat watching. Uniworld offered several excursion opportunities after lunch. The first was a chance to kayak on the Gardon River, ending up near the Pont du Gard Roman aqueduct.

A decade ago we might have chanced it, but today, if we could even get into a kayak, they would probably have to pull us out with a block and tackle. It was a pleasant sunny afternoon, good for this kind of adventure and quite a few of the younger passengers signed up. They got back a few hours later, sweaty and damp, but most really enjoyed it.

A view of the Pont du Gard Aqueduct from the River Gardon. This is where our kayakers ended their journey.

The second option was a tour of the Pont du Gard aqueduct which involved a bus ride through the countryside. The Ramblers would have enjoyed the ride but since we had already visited the Pont du Gard, decided to pass on this option as well, especially since there were limited seats available.

The Mirande is a boutique hotel, furnished in 18th century style. Maybe a little too posh for our tastes.

The next two choices involved an extra charge; the first a cooking lesson at the Hotel La Mirande was 165 Eur per person and the other a Tasting of Chateauneuf de Pape onboard the Catherine 59 Eur per person. La Mirande is a very highly rated hotel with a famous restaurant in the Historic area of Avignon but cooking lessons didn’t have much appeal. In these you get involved in the preparation which I have no desire to do, as I am a kitchen veteran of many decades. As for the wine tasting, our first cruise was in Bordeaux and by this time, I was wine-ding down my consumption. There is sometimes too much of a good thing available.

The cooking school is held here, not as fancy as the hotel dining room but very well equipped.

Nevertheless, Avignon is a charming place, and you can experience it even if you don’t bustle about touring but just enjoy the atmosphere.

That night was our grand farewell dinner and as usual it was excellent. They usually have surf and turf and I get to eat the senior Rambler’s lobster,I also got to eat his Oyster’s Rockefeller….

This shell did hold a delicious oyster, no pearl but who cares.

Fortunately the portions are not huge, which we prefer, as our stomachs seem to have shrunk in the last decade. Love the baked Alaska, something I never make at home, but enjoy.

Here is the Baked Alaska in all of its glory. Yum!

Why have the farewell dinner on the next to last night of the cruise? Well it does make sense, because that last evening everyone is very busy packing and some have a very early departure, before 6 AM in some cases. The airport that serves Avignon is in Marseilles, and that is at least a 50 minute drive. Consequently, not everyone would have enjoyed a leisurely dinner on the last night of the cruise if they had an early flight out of Provence.

When docked, the Catherine often glows in neon blue-green. It is a charming sight.

The Catherine set sail for Tarascon at at 5 AM, needless to say, we slept right through it but were in the restaurant for breakfast by 8 AM. We watched our ship dock at the Halte Fluviale in Tarascon. Tarascon is a town with a population of about 10,000 as opposed to Arles, a short distance further on with 40,000. I wondered why the Uniworld ships didn’t dock there but they seem to prefer Tarascon. I am not sure why because it is a very sunbaked area and also a fairly long walk to the town gates. Arles is as far as any cruise line travels on the Rhone as both Tarascon and Arles are near the edge of the Rhone estuary. The river itself splits into two there as it flows towards the Mediterranean. Between Arles and the sea is the land of Camargue with its black cattle, cowboys, swamps and famous sea salt. It sounded interesting but there was no time to set up a tour of the area.

Aerial view of Tarascon, with a good view of the castle, St. Martha’s church is close to the castle in the center.
The castle of King Rene sits right at the edge of the Rhone and is surrounded by pavement. Here it looks romantic, close up it seems a little forlorn.

Tarascon has two claims to fame, the Castle of King Rene, perched right on the river bank, with a highway running past it. It is visible from a long way off; it is the one castle that we saw which was not on a hill and easily accessible to all. It dates back to the early middle ages and is quite impressive tho sadly out of place now in its modern surroundings.

The Tarasque before it was tamed, part lion, part dragon part bear and totally scary.

Probably more notable is its claim to be the home of the Tarasque, a fearsome dragon which seemed to be made of spare animal body parts. The Tarasque terrorized the citizens of Tarascon until it was tamed by St. Martha who had arrived there to convert them. Although she was successful in her conversion efforts, the Tarasque sadly was killed by the locals who evidently didn’t trust that it had turned over a new leaf. St Martha’s Church was built in the middle ages to memorialize the saint’s activities in Tarascon. You are allowed to take this tale with a grain of salt but it does have a worthwhile moral.

Now for the nasty surprise. The afternoon of our day at Tarascon, the wind started to come up. Tarascon is a very dusty place, as is Avignon. The soil is sandy and dry and when the wind picks up, it blows dust all over. When the wind turns into the Mistral, clouds of dust are visible in the air. The Mistral is a cold wind which can blow up to 60 mph. When this happens everyone stays inside.

A view of the tourist area with Mistral blowing as you can see the family heading into the wind. The Ferris wheel was wobbling and shut down. I learned later that they only have it up during June, July and part of August. Must be quite a job to disassemble. Many day tourists are parked outside the walls.

This was bad news for the Rambler who has asthma which has lately turned into COPD. By the time we got back to Avignon in the late afternoon the wind was even stronger and I had some chest congestion, and as the evening went on, it got worse. Of course I used my inhaler, and tried to enjoy the evening. We said our good-byes to the people we had met onboard as we were leaving at different times and also to the wonderful Uniworld staff, including the Hotel Manager, Ivana Pavkejova, and our favorite Cruise Director, Emmanuelle Bonneau.

The senior Ramble surrounded by two very attractive women, Ivana and Emmanuelle. He doesn’t seem to mind.

That night I spent the worst night I ever experienced on a cruise. After the senior Rambler and I said good night, we entered our separate cabins. Once inside I changed and sat down when without warning, my asthma turned into the worst case of bronchitis I ever had. I spent the night wheezing and gasping for breath. To add insult to injury, I now had a temp. There was no point in waking the senior Rambler; he needed his sleep and there was nothing he could do. I took aspirin and used my inhaler to no avail. I knew I would need some steroids and antibiotics but nothing could be done until morning. Fortunately our flight was later in the afternoon, and the next morning I checked with the purser about seeing a doctor. Of course it was Sunday and everything moves slower on Sunday in France.

Avignon is a larger city, with many doctors and a hospital, and Uniworld maintains a list of physicians on call. So I sat glumly wheezing away on the sundeck to await the doctor watching the people getting blown about by the Mistral.

After an hour or so, the Ramblers spotted a youngish man with long curly hair wearing a t shirt and chinos striding towards the Catherine. We knew it had to be the doctor. And so it was. Dr. Skippy(Not his name but the senior Rambler’s nickname) did know his stuff, and prescribed some medicines for severe bronchitis. One thing I didn’t know was that you had to pay the doctor in cash. The purser did know this and I was able to purchase the necessary Euros onboard before we had an embarrassing moment They do NOT take credit cards..

Next we had to get my prescriptions filled. On Sunday all pharmacies are closed — except one near the hospital. Uniworld got us a taxi and when we got there, many people were waiting for their prescriptions. Eventually mine were filled, and we headed back to the boat in plenty of time for our trip to the Marseilles Airport.

Aerial view of the Marseilles Airport. As you can see it is right on the Med.

Although we didn’t see much of it, the Marseilles Airport is the 5th busiest airport in France for passenger traffic and the 3rd largest for cargo. It is one of the hubs for Air France. A few budget airlines also fly out of Marseilles and like at Bordeaux, they are served by a budget terminal The airport’s official name is Marseilles-Marignane Airport. In the 20s and 30s, it served as one of France’s main landing spots for the great flying boats of the time including the Pan American World Clipper. Unlike Paris, Marseilles is right on the ocean, and during the heyday of the flying boats, that was a necessity for landing. Even today, one of the runways ends at the Mediterranean.

The airport interior, luckily it was not crowded when we arrived.

I wasn’t feeling much better when we reached the airport, so the Ramblers trudged slowly to the airport entrance. Fortunately we had asked for wheelchair service, and I was never more thankful for it than that day in July. The jolly wheelchair folks seemed to enjoy their job as they raced each other (with us in the chairs) to security, where we got through fairly quickly, and then to the boarding area. It was a different experience and somewhat of a distraction for me.

Our flight to Schiphol was uneventful, and again we got wheelchair service to the shuttle area. The hotel I had chosen, the Hyatt Place Schiphol, has an excellent airport shuttle, and little did I know when I chose it, how much it would come in handy during our stay there. There are many ways to get to and from Schiphol, but we have used the Connexion shuttle when we weren’t picked up by Uniworld. If you don’t have free pick-up from your hotel a shuttle pass is inexpensive and they run every 20 minutes. We didn’t have a long wait for the shuttle but it was already dark and as you might imagine, the Ramblers were not very perky. The driver from the Hyatt was very friendly and quickly loaded our baggage on board.

The Hyatt Place, we had a high floor with a good view.

In about 10 minutes we arrived at our hotel, to be warmly greeted by a very friendly and helpful desk staff. It was to be our home for 6 days as we waited for our business class flight back to Atlanta. The Provence cruise we had chosen to replace our cruise to Eastern Europe started earlier and ended before our original choice. In order to take advantage of our business class flight home, which couldn’t be changed as it was a special rate, we had to wait in Amsterdam. If I hadn’t gotten sick, we would have enjoyed our stay. Now these. days were very frustrating ones for me; we were surrounded by a number of charming places to visit, easily accessible by bus or car. Unfortunately, despite the medication, the bronchitis didn’t go away and I couldn’t walk a block without wheezing.

Sunrise from our hotel. That dot on the lower left is a Dutch cyclist heading for work. People watching was fun for a while. Unfortunately although there were fascinating places to tour close by, I wasn’t able to walk much so we stayed put. Plus the weather was typical Dutch summer, 70 degrees Fahrenheit with clouds and wind.

Tho a bus passed right by our hotel, the actual bus stop was a half mile away and there was no way I could walk that far. In the end we spent a lot of time watching airplanes take off and land. We took the shuttle to the airport because the hotel food was just average, Amazingly there was a good place to eat on the street side of security with amazing people watching.

Our spot, the Grand Cafe Plaza. Great people watching and good food plus fine beer.

Our home airport is Atlanta and it sees much international traffic, however the people at Schiphol who walked past our table obviously came from all over the world. Consequently the Grand Cafe became our spot to eat an early dinner almost every night. If you need to eat a light meal at Schiphol, the Ramblers heartily endorse it. They also have a much larger restaurant inside security. They serve plain Dutch style food. Although I didn’t like the bitterballen, a Dutch specialty, I can endorse the house made tomato soup, and their fries are excellent.

Yes a burger and fries for the senior Rambler; he enjoyed them. The beer was mine.

Most airport restaurants aren’t noted for their food, but the Plaza gets mostly positive comments from travelers. I checked after we got home.

Finally, the day of our flight came and we were more than ready. After yet another ride on the shuttle, we headed to departures. Unfortunately the airport was very crowded with holiday travelers and we were only able to get one wheelchair to take us to security which is a fairly long walk. The young Dutch woman looked at us and decided the senior Rambler was going to ride while I had to walk alongside. Not fun but we made it.

After going through security we were able to get a ride on the extra large golf carts that they use for passengers who are slow movers. That was a good thing as Schiphol is a very spread out airport. We finally reached our gate with a sigh of relief and shortly afterwards were able to board our Delta flight home. Incidentally, the Dutch wheelchair people will not accept a tip, even tho they are amazingly kind and caring. They believe they are paid a fair wage, and are doing a vital job. And so they are, but everywhere else we used the service, tips were gladly accepted.

At last our plane touched down at Hartsfield, our daughter was waiting for us, and for the second year in a row, I ended up at Kaiser Advanced Care at the end of our flight. Last year I cracked my right arm in Germany. This time I could blame the Mistral!

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