Lufthansa Premium Economy | Georgia Rambler

Skip to content

# Category Archives: Lufthansa Premium Economy

Budapest Airport, Budapest Zoo, bus tours on river cruises, Gundel's Restaurant, Heroes' Square and Matthias Church, Lufthansa Premium Economy, Lugosi Gypsy Band, Sofitel Chain Bridge Budapest, Szeker Csarda

# A wonderful afternoon in Budapest and then home ward bound.

June 30, 2016 1954 Leave a comment

The last day of our cruise was jam-packed with activities. Uniworld obviously wanted to make up for the low water problems by adding as many activities as could be squeezed into our last day in Budapest. Fortunately we enjoyed a leisurely lunch at the Gundel Gardens restaurant after our visit to Heroes Square, which gave us time to re-charge our inner batteries.

On the way to the restaurant, I noticed a clunky little white car parked along the curb. It stood out among the sleek modern cars and I realized it was a Trabant.

The little white Trabant caught my eye, parked along the curb.

The Ramblers have an interest in automotive history and I had read about the “car that was made out of cardboard in East Germany.” Actually while the Trabant frame was made out of steel, its body was formed of a hard plastic (Duroplast) in the days before fiberglass was commonly used in cars. While it wasn’t particularly study, the Duroplast was light weight. This was a good thing because the Trabant’s tiny engine (600 cc) produced perhaps 26 hp and slowly accelerated to its maximum speed of 62 mph.

The Trabant was built in East Germany from 1957 to 1989 and in Germany from 1990-1991. The Trabi, as it was called, was a joke in the West, but a prized possession in East Germany. Those who had Trabants took good care of them as if you ordered one, it might take years to get it. The average Trabant ran for 28 years. Today they are collected by some who appreciate a low cost way to buy a collectible car. Trabi enthusiasts race them in rallies and modify them in various ways. However, the one we saw parked in Budapest didn’t seem to have been modified in any way.

Gundel’s is located in the city park, near the Budapest Zoo.

The fanciful 19th century entrance of the zoo was hard to miss.

The zoo seemed a little neglected although it has a famous history, in fact it is one of the oldest in the world, founded back in 1866. Many of its buildings seemed to be in an intriguing art noveau style. I learned later that the zoo is quite up to date, although the paint on the buildings was somewhat faded, like many others in Budapest.

I wish we could have had a chance to visit but our busses rolled right past and stopped at the door of Gundel Gardens.

The senior Rambler and his New Zealand friend enjoying a smoke break in the Gundel gardens.

Gundel’s is probably the most famous restaurant in Budapest. It was founded in 1910 by Karoly Gundel and taken over by his son in the 1930’s. Unfortunately, the Gundel family lost the restaurant when it was socialized by the communist government of Hungary in 1949. After the fall of communism, it was taken over by two Americans and restored to its former glory.

Gundel’s serves traditional Hungarian food and Hungarian wines. Would have love to have seen a menu, but Uniworld had ordered us a traditional Hungarian lunch and the famous palescinta or crepes with chocolate sauce for desert.

Our entree, chicken paprikasz

The wines were also Hungarian and excellent. The entree was chicken paprikasz, The food was tasty and efficiently served by waiters in traditional formal uniforms. We sat at large round tables with fellow passengers, who by this time, were our old friends. All in all, it was a very pleasant experience in a beautiful paneled dining room, and over too soon.

Pleasant lunch at Gundels, although the senior Rambler looks a little wary.

Gundel’s has a tiny gift shop where I was able to buy some equally tiny cook books as souvenirs for the cooks in our family and some Hungarian chocolates. The Rambler had finally realized she would be boarding a plane for home the next day and had bought absolutely nothing for her family and friends at home. However, our next stop was the Fisherman’s Bastion and the Matthias Church, and I knew from a previous visit that I would be able to buy some authentic Hungarian paprika there. Must be in the genes because we all enjoy chicken paprikasz and use lots of paprika. Most of the better Hungarian brands are not imported into the US, so it makes a great souvenir.

The sun had come out again when we reached our last destination, the Fisherman’s Bastion.

The fanciful towers of the Fisherman’s Bastion.

We had stopped there the previous December on the Christmas Markets cruise. However we didn’t bother to walk onto the viewing platform as the skies were pouring down chilly rain. Today the view of both Buda and Pest with the Danube in between, was wonderful. Many consider it the best view in Budapest. Despite its medieval appearance the Bastion was built between 1899 and 1905 of white stone. Its style can only be described as a meeting of Neo-Gothic and Neo-Romanesque.

From the Fisherman’s Bastion on Castle Hill, you can see a long way across the Danube and along its banks.

it looks like something that might have been conjured up by Sleeping Beauty and King Arthur.

The Bastion has seven towers, representing the seven Magyar tribes that settled in the Carpathian basin in 896 AD, which later became Hungary. To reach the viewing terrace from the lower level streets, you must climb a massive double staircase but if you were bussed to the top to view the Matthias Church, you need climb only a few steps. If you are wondering how this fairy tail confection got its name, it was built on the site of an old rampart dating from the middle ages.

Sweethearts enjoying the book fair at the Bastion Square.

This particular rampart was defended by the fishermen who lived in a town on the bank of the Danube.

The day we were there, a book fair had been set up in the square in front of the Bastion. The Rambler had a brief thought of buying a children’s book in Hungarian for her little grandson, however cooler heads prevailed and she later settled on a T-shirt.

We didn’t enter the Matthias Church, which is actually St. Stephens.

The magnificent tile roof of St. Stephens. It is called the Matthias Church because of its association with Matthias Corvinus a medieval Hungarian king.

You can read about it in my Christmas Markets post on Budapest. It is beautiful both inside and outside and has an amazing tiled roof, much like the Stephensdom in Vienna we had seen the day before. The Ramblers decided they surely would not like the job of replacing the tile on that roof.

As we walked back to our bus, busses were not allowed at the top of the hill, I noticed a small supermarket. Just what I was looking for. I knew they would have a variety of paprika’s and at better prices than the souvenir stores. Sure enough, they carried an extensive line of what seems to be the Hungarian national spice and I was able to chose an excellent variety for the family at home. At this point, we hadn’t even seen our hotel yet but when we got there, we wouldn’t have time for the great paprika hunt, and I was right.

In Budapest, our friends from the MT were split up among four or five hotels, all close to the Danube. Ours, the Sofitel Chain Bridge, was visible from the Fisherman’s Bastion on the Pest side of the Danube, however we didn’t realize this at the time.

View of the Chain Bridge over the Danube from the Sofitel. Two Viking ships are rafted together at the quay in front of the hotel.

As we neared the hotel, we could see a number of police vehicles and police personnel in riot gear. Fortunately they were ready to leave and we were able to check into the hotel with no problems. We later learned that there had been a protest about the Syrian refugees right in front of the hotel. Luckily we didn’t get caught up in it.

The Sofitel was also a 5 star hotel but very different from the Ritz, much more modern in decor and architecture. However, it had one thing the Ritz did not, a wonderful view of the Danube and the Chain Bridge.

The modern interior of the Sofitel

The Ramblers could have just relaxed in their room and enjoyed the view but that was not an option as we would be going to a folklore dinner in about an hour. We had a strong temptation to miss it, but if we did, we wouldn’t have a chance to say good-bye to our friends from the cruise, or eat dinner. Actually the Sofitel had a fine restaurant but we ended up going to the Czarda dinner with our friends from the cruise.

Getting there was half the fun.

The rural country exterior of Szeker Csarda

We learned that the Szeker Czarda Restaurant and hall was on an island in the Danube and it was not easy to get there. We went quickly from urban to rural, and our bus driver had to carefully cross an arm of the river on a narrow old bridge. Wish I could have taken a picture, but it would have needed hopping off the bus, which wasn’t going to happen. The restaurant itself looked like a hunting lodge and its reception room was furnished as a rural Hungarian home would have looked around 1800. We were welcomed by smiling hosts who offered us a traditional shot of fruit brandy and a piece of salty cake. From there we were ushered into a large room with banquet style tables where we were served a home-style Hungarian meal accompanied by Hungarian wines.

The Lugosi Gypsy Band.

From the beginning we were serenaded by an excellent Gypsy band and as the meal was winding down, the Honvel Dance Ensemble entertained us with traditional folk dances. The dancers were wonderful and the Ramblers were glad they had chosen the Csarda Dinner. At the end, the dancers invited some of the guests to participate, as I slunk back in my chair. Dancing has never been my forte. Not surprisingly some of our fellow passengers did step forward and at least one of the guys did very well.

Energetic dancers were always in motion.

When the performance ended, we knew it was time to head back to our hotels, but there was time to exchange hugs with many of our friends. On the bus, we realized how tired we were, and sank gratefully into our seats for the last drive to our hotel. We got a short tour of Budapest at night; it is one of the most beautifully illuminated cities in Europe.

View of Chain Bridge from our hotel room that night. Castle in distance.

When we finally got to our room it was almost 11 PM. The Ramblers debated whether to put on our jammies or just sleep in our clothes. The jammies won, but it was really hard to get up when the alarm went off at 3 AM. We had an early ride to the airport; our van was to leave at 3:45 AM.

One thing to keep in mind if you get your air fare from your cruise company, you are probably going to leave the boat early. They want to clean the ship ASAP as the next group of guests will be arriving shortly. So we with our luggage, sleepily headed for the waiting van. The Ramblers were the last to climb aboard which just shows how tired we were.

The Budapest Airport is small and this was early on Sunday morning so we were amazed to find a huge crowd already there when we arrived. As it turned out, they all wanted to leave because of the refugee situation. It was not fun to be part of a struggling mob, but Uniworld had a representative there who helped me print out our Lufthansa boarding passes. We got our bags checked and then managed to get to the back of a very long line of people waiting to get through security. The Hungarian airport personnel were overwhelmed by these unusually large numbers and for a time we wondered if we would make our connecting flight to Frankfort. Fortunately we did make it, although because of the metal I carry around, I had to endure a very unpleasant search. I have found that explaining that have had a double hip replacement makes absolutely no difference to the security people. The Senior Rambler must have looked harmless because he got right through. C’est la vie!

On the final leg of our adventure we enjoyed an uneventful flight on Lufthansa. Due to the kindness of a flight attendant, we were able to move to the Lufthansa extra comfort seats. I had tried to book them at Frankfort, but the representative was not very helpful. When we boarded we walked right past a bunch of empty extra comfort seats. As tired as we were, it was wonderful to move up for a long flight. We had bulkhead seats, and even though the same crying child was again on board, it gave up early on the return trip.

Again we were glad to see our daughter waiting after going through customs. As we didn’t have anything to declare except paprika, we walked right through with a “Welcome to Atlanta!” Another great trip for the memory bank….

Low water on the Danube, Lufthansa Premium Economy, Schipol Amsterdam, The S.S. Maria Theresa

# At last, our August 24th Cruise is a go!

October 1, 2015 1954 Leave a comment

After checking the water levels on the Danube religiously (still low) and expecting to hear that our August 24th cruise on the Maria Theresa was cancelled yet again. we heard from our travel agent that the cruise was a go.

My thoughts on this were that our large ship, the Maria Theresa is as big as they can build for European rivers, was stuck on the Amsterdam side of the voyage. The Danube low spot seemed to be between Regensburg and Passau in Bavaria, close to the Austrian border. When the MT got to Regensburg towards the end of the cruise, Uniworld was hoping that the water level would be deep enough to let them through.

The August 24th cruise would start in Amsterdam and our flight details had changed. This time we were flying out from Atlanta to Frankfort with a connector to Amsterdam and home from Budapest, with a connecting flight to Frankfort again and then home to Atlanta. All the flights were on Lufthansa and a much better route than we had had before. That is the one problem with getting your airfare from the cruise company; you have no choice over the airline or the connecting flights, if any. We had no complaints with what we got, as we enjoyed our travel on Lufthansa.

Again we hoped to add premium economy seats to our long flights as we had last December. However, when I checked on the Lufthansa website a few days before we were to leave, there seemed to be no Premium Economy seats available on our plane. Undaunted, I called Lufthansa and explained what I was trying to do. What I found out was that Lufthansa was adding Premium Economy seats to all its big Airbus long-haul planes, but there was a caveat. The upgrade would not be completed on all of their planes until October and until then, the seats were blacked out on the computer. The agent suggested that we get to the airport early and try to book the upgrade there. That was disappointing, but these days, one has to get to the airport early for international flights, so there was still a chance we could get them. However, we resigned ourselves to being crammed into the regular economy seats for 9 hours.

AS it turned out, we got through security quite easily and arrived at our gate with plenty of time to spare. There we found a very helpful Lufthansa agent who knew all about the upgraded economy seats. She praised them highly saying they were almost like business class, and yes, they were available for our flight.

http://www.lufthansa.com/us/en/TV-ad-Premium-Economy-Class

Here is a link to Lufthansa’s snappy new commercial promoting Premium Economy. Kind of cute.

Our Lufthansa ride to Amsterdam, fortunately the crying baby stayed in Frankfort

Lufthansa Premium Economy is more expensive, around $300 per person, as compared to Delta and United, but to us it was well worth it. The seats were larger, new and quite comfortable, the meals were quite good, and bottled water was waiting for us by our seats. There was only one fly in our ointment, a poorly behaved toddler who fussed and cried loudly a good bit of the time. Of course he and his mother were also in Premium Economy and even in our row, but thankfully on the other side of the plane.

After an uneventful flight across the Atlantic, our gate wasn’t ready. We had to get out of the plane in the runway and board busses which took us to the Frankfort terminal. There wasn’t a lot of time between flights and we were worried that if our trans-Atlantic flight was late, we might miss the connector. No worries though, our flight was early, and even with the hassle of getting bussed to the terminal, we were fine.

After another uneventful flight, we again found ourselves in the extremely long corridors of Schipol. There were no little carts to lug senior citizens across its vast expanse, and this time we had our luggage. Naturally we were at the opposite end from where we were to meet the Uniworld representative. It was a warm afternoon and by the time we got to the exit we were hot and sweaty. We finally spotted a Viking representative waving her characteristic red sign near the exit, but not the blue and white of Uniworld. I asked the Viking lady if she had seen the Uniworld folks and she replied that they usually waited outside for their people. The Ramblers hesitated for a moment, because it was an exit only and we wouldn’t be able to get back if she was wrong. Fortunately, she was right. We finally located our guide and were directed to the bus, which, of course, was a fair distance away. We were very glad to clamber aboard and were handed bottles of water by the driver. By this time, we really needed them.

After all the Uniworld passengers had been collected, our guide told us that we would be traveling to Utrecht, where the Maria Teresa was docked. Evidently because of the Amsterdam Sail 2015 festival, traffic was so bad in the city, that they had decided to tie up in Utrecht instead. Otherwise it might have taken us quite a while to get to the ship.

The Maria Theresa, stern view.

This part of the Rhine is fairly commercial and there is much barge traffic, and no so much quaint scenery, so according to our Captain, we weren’t missing much, scenery wise. However, we were docked alongside a paved walkway with

Our cabin had opening windows with a screen to keep the bugs out. Makes an interesting pattern in this photo.

apartments in the background. Those who wanted, could stretch their legs walking along the Rhine. Carla, the hotel manager and Captain Richard Martin graciously welcomed us aboard. We were happy to get to our beautiful and comfortable cabin, and wash up before we began our exploration of this amazing ship.

## Ramble the world with us