Mongoso River Report

This will potentially be the longest post I’ve ever delivered on Frail Deeds. Not to worry, though, most of it will be photos and not my fractured prose. I’m going to cover the entire past week spent on the rivers of central Europe. I will start with an unequivocal admission that I was absolutely wrong for not being excited about this trip. It was fabulous, one of our best vacations ever, which is an incredibly high standard to achieve. Even more impressive considering I was sick for a couple days and the weather was uniformly cold for most of the trip. You should be asking yourself, then how did this trip rate so high? The answer is the people I was privileged to spend it with, in addition, of course, to my Favorite Panamanian. Foremost amongst that group would be our Indiana Friends. We met them on our first night on the river and we just clicked as if we’d been friends forever. We ended up eating most of our meals with them.

Last Night Onboard with our New Friends
and the Fabulous Teo

Speaking of meals, I am just now, late in the day, recovering from the sheer indignity of having to prepare my own breakfast. Yep, spoiled rotten over the past week with gourmet level meals onboard. The second reason this was such a special time was Viking. They were challenged with historically low river levels which prevented them from sailing their normal itineraries. They not only overcame this, but they excelled. Every crew member labored to make us feel special. Chief amongst this was our tour director, Teo, fanatically devoted to taking care of us and keeping us informed, best tour director we’ve ever experienced. Now to the recounting.

Day 1 Looooong Day’s Journey

Clouds Broke Approaching Munich

1st Time on our Room's Balcony

View from that Balcony

Our Cabin

As we were waiting for the van to pick us up for the trip to the airport, my Favorite Panamanian decided my belt did not meet her lofty standards and I was directed to get another one. I finally set foot in a TJ Maxx, something I’ve avoided for years but my wife figured this was my best option. I returned with two new belts and told her how surprised I was that TJ Maxx actually had small shopping bags, something I’d never seen in my Favorite Panamanian’s thorough relationship with them over the years. Even she had to laugh at that revelation. Our trip to the airport was flawless and, upon checking in, received the best news possible. We would be able to check our bags in all the way through to our final destination, Munich. We only had an hour in our first stop, Copenhagen, and I was seriously concerned about having to get the bags, go through immigration, and then make our connecting flight.

First Meal Onboard

Outside the Tor

We had dinner at Logan and boarded our flight precisely on time. This was our first time ever flying Scandinavian Airlines, and we could not have been more pleased. Our seats were all the way in the back, but they were comfortable, and I had my own screen in the seatback in front of me with a nice selection of movies to watch (that always make the trans-Atlantic passage go faster). No sleep as we traveled overnight to Copenhagen and I wore out that screen, literally. It stopped working as we made our final approach. This was our first time flying into Copenhagen and the airport did not make a good impression. The layout rivals Miami as the worst ever. It took us 15 minutes to get off the plane from those last in the plane seats, then there was a twenty-minute walk from one end of the terminal to the other, with passing through immigration along the way. Our Munich plane was already boarding when we rushed up.

Outside St Faustus Church

Moth Headed Towards the Flame

We hoped to get a couple hours sleep on the way to Munich but we had some very loud Germans in the seats in front of us. As we walked out of the gate in Munich, we were met by a Viking representative who escorted us to where our ride to the ship would pick us up. This was really the only time the entire trip that Viking didn’t overachieve. We ended up waiting over two hours for that ride, which ended up being another two and a half hours long. So, it took almost as long to get to the ship after we landed in Munich than it did to fly from Boston to Copenhagen. Because of the low water situation, we were bused to Englehartszell, Austria instead of Regensburg. Our first exposure to the Viking ship was a true revelation. This was our first experience and we were not disappointed. Our state room was awesome with a balcony, which admittedly didn’t get a lot of use.

Inside the Church

Saint Faustus Body

We grabbed a quick lunch before heading off ship for a look around the small town. Englehartszell was a very quiet place, especially given it was a Friday afternoon, but very picturesque. As a moth to a flame, my Favorite Panamanian made a bee line to the prominent church. I was surprised to see the church sported an attached brewery and beer garden. It turns out this was the church of Saint Faustus (thank you Wikipedia), someone called a “glittering saint” because of their bejeweled burial shrouds, which we saw, since his body was prominently displayed within the church. The church used to be a Trappist monastery which explained the brewery and still active beer garden.

Another View of the Tor

Hallway Outside our Cabin

We returned to the ship for a pre-supper social hour led by Teo, who explained how things ran. In addition to the buses we would have to take instead of being docked, we were promised 100 Euros each time we had to buy our own lunch, kind of cool! As he spoke, the boat launched for a trip to Passau, Germany. I was amazed at how smooth the ride was. Our last event was the first of the delicious dinners we experienced onboard. Of significance, it was at this dinner that we first met our Indiana Friends, as well as another couple from Seattle, who were also fun. As the ship sailed into the night, we finally got to sleep for the first time in over 24 hours. It was a fabulous night of sleep, needless to say, but it also marked a great start to the trip which only got better.

Tour Director Teo

Day 2 – Regensburg

After that great sleep, we enjoyed an even better breakfast where a Sous Chef created your own personal omelet each morning (hence my consternation this morning at having to make my own). We took an hour and a half bus ride to Regensburg, Germany to the spot the ship would normally have docked, sporting a huge golden catfish statue (for some reason). It was a penetrating cold, damp day, which was a theme for the first few days. Regensburg was a fascinating, well preserved, medieval city that was spared from WW2 bombing. A guide took us around for a morning walking tour, pointing out the remains of the Roman era fortress, established by Marcus Aurelius.

Arriving in Regensburg

The Golden Catfish

Remains of Roman Fortress

Embedded in Modern Wall

Regensburg has a fascinating history as a mostly free city during the Middle Ages, obtaining that freedom for the merchants when they financed a Holy Roman Emperor’s Holy Land crusade. They became famous for the salt trade and as we walked through one of their historic buildings you could still see the salt soaked into the 900-year-old rafters. We stopped by an 800-year-old bridge that was a key trade route along with a 400-year-old wurst place (yep). During the Hapsburg rule of the Holy Roman Empire, their “diet”, a legislative body, met in Regensburg at a well preserved town hall (now a hotel).

In Front of Bridge

The walking tour ended at the central cathedral, and we all know my Favorite Panamanian was headed inside. We had free time for the rest of our visit to Regensburg, and I learned a hopefully valuable lesson for the future. I finally learned there is something that quells my Favorite Panamanian’s shopping urges, cold, damp weather!!! One of those, “Good to Know” kind of things. We returned to the cathedral square for lunch at a recommended restaurant there, featuring typical German fare. I went with a schnitzel based on my recent indoctrination by the Czech Friends.

The Wurst Place

Inside the Salt Factorage

View Down the Danube

Gate on the Bridge into Town

We returned to the ship where we were greeted by the ship’s captain offering a welcome toast. We had dinner with our Indiana Friends who we joined for the post dinner entertainment. That was a Halloween concert by a trio of operatic singers in a variety of costumes. They were very entertaining especially when a well-endowed young lady, portraying a boy, decided to interact with the Indiana Friend lady. That had us all laughing uncontrollably. So ended a great day, especially as we got to know our new friends.

The Goliath House
Home to Ancient Merchant

Views of the Streets

Town Hall Where the Diet Met

In Front of Cathedral

Lunch

Poorly Named Store

They Had a Dachshund Museum!!?

Captain's Toast

Dinner with Indiana Friends

Halloween Singers

Indiana Friend About to be Assaulted

Fun Group

Day 3 – Sunday in Passau

Passau, Germany is an interesting place where three rivers: the Danube, Ilz, and Inn, converge to continue on as the Danube. The ship made a short transit overnight and as I looked out our window in the morning, I was greeted by the first castle of the trip. Those who know me understand my uncontrolled and unexplained affection for all things castle related. This castle, the Veste Oberhaus, overlooks that river confluence. We were signed up for a walking tour of Passau, but we ditched that, along with our Indiana Friends, in order to attend mass at Saint Stephen’s cathedral, featuring the largest pipe organ in Europe. The Indiana Friend navigated us through some very cool cobblestone alleyways to find the cathedral.

Veste Oberhaus

Walk to Church

Finding It

The mass was delivered in German which severely tested my vestigial grasp of that language. The church was not heated and that famous organ, was down for repairs. Still a unique experience, a color guard led the priest (bishop level) in with a mass-long overuse of incense (most I’ve ever seen/smelled). After mass, we needed to warm up so we headed next door for a recommended coffee house (yes, they served hot chocolate, so I wasn’t left out). It was an ancient place, crowded with other refugees from the frigid mass. For some reason, we were farmed out to an attached room (must be where they stick tourists to keep us from bothering the locals). The Indiana Friend used AI to create the photo below.

Mass Time

Beautiful Interior

The Color Guard

AI Created Photo With Indiana Friends
Wife Happy to Finally Have Cleavage

Back on the ship for lunch, my Favorite Panamanian decided she’d had enough of the cold and damp and remained onboard. I joined our Indiana Friends to explore Passau to see the sites we missed by not taking the morning walking tour. It was very fun afternoon with these new friends, as we walked the medieval streets. The riverside town hall had a depiction of the worst flood levels, which was impressive, especially compared to where the rivers were now. We reached an interesting point where the medieval streets changed to the modern section. It was like walking forward 600 years by turning that corner.

The Cathedral

After Mass

Post Mass Coffee House

Back on the ship for a German themed dinner, with Teo in traditional Bavarian garb, my Favorite Panamanian rejoined us for another fun evening. The evening’s entertainment was a music trivia contest that we probably would have blown off (based on my non-existent knowledge in that arena) if not for our new friends.  Teo was the entertaining emcee for the event and we formed a group with a nearby table. The songs were not difficult, but we had to name the singer, his country of origin, name of the song, and the decade it came out. Extra points were offered if you danced while the song was playing. Guess who led the charge to the dance floor? Yes, my Favorite Panamanian ushered me out to the dancefloor, even when extra points were not in play. In a major upset, our group won the contest. The prize? Bragging rights, which I am obviously accessing here.

Passau Scenes from our Walkabout

Town Hall

Flood Levels

Dinner

With Friends

Day 4 – Cruising to Abbey

This was probably my favorite day of the trip because it involved the only extended daylight cruising we experienced. Of course, the fact that it included numerous castles didn’t hurt either. I paid for my enthusiasm by acquiring the aforementioned cold for staying too long on the top deck, exposed to the frigid elements. The castles were very cool though. We were transitioning through the Wachau Valley which featured those castles as well as numerous small villages and omnipresent vineyards. We started out the transition with a passage through a lock which was interesting. The transition started early so I left my Favorite Panamanian asleep while I climbed on to the top deck. Teo was narrating the passage over a loudspeaker.

Cruising Through the Valley

Into the Lock

My Favorite Panamanian emerged after a couple hours to join me, for about five minutes. She headed below to join our Indiana Friends in the heated forward lounge which offered almost as good a view as from my perch. I decided it would be judicious to join them, but apparently the damage had been done. We enjoyed a brunch in the glass walled restaurant as the valley continued to pass by. I went back up top as the ship reached its docking location in Krems, Austria, a small university town as the ship executed a pirouette to change direction. The day’s adventure was a trip to Göttweig Abbey, perched high on a hill above Krems.  

More of the Valley

Wife's Five Minutes on Top

Back Inside

The abbey was a fascinating place (a lot of that happened during this vacation) as a Benedictine Monastery, active since the 700s. The Hapsburg emperors had their own apartments there when they chose to visit. There was a truly impressive staircase to those apartments with a painted ceiling above the wide stairs. Napoleon, during his passage through the area, stayed in the same rooms. The tour was followed by a wine tasting event and the inevitable gift shop. The Favorite Panamanian was smiling at this point. While we awaited departure time, I wandered outside to enjoy the stunning views of the surrounding countryside. When we returned to the ship, the Indiana Friends were leaving for an evening concert, so my Favorite Panamanian and I decided to wander around Krems for a while. It was another medieval town where my wife accomplished some shopping while also admiring the flower bedecked homes. A quiet evening on the ship followed due to the absence of our Indiana Friends.

Arriving in Krems, Abbey in the Distance

Watching the Pirouette

Approaching Abbey

Abbey Entrance

Posing Outside

Central Church

The Stairs

Painted Ceiling Seen from Stairs

Panamanian Angel

Hapsburg Apartment

Views from Krems

Walking Streets of Krems

Of Course She Noticed the Flowers

Pointing at Our Cabin

After a Long Day

Day 5 – On to Vienna

Krems was a far as our ship, the Tor, could travel on the Danube. Viking came up with an interesting solution to minimize frustration. We were supposed to dock that day in Vienna, before continuing onto Hungary. Viking had the Tor’s sister ship, the Var, travelling in the opposite direction. The solution had us packing our luggage before leaving on bus for Vienna. Viking transferred our bags to the Var while we were in Vienna and our bus trip that evening brought us to Bratislava (capitol of Slovakia). Since the ships are identical, we walked to the exact same room where our bags had been delivered.

Vienna Scenes

I awoke feeling the repercussions of that time spent on the top deck the day prior. It had been so long since I’ve been sick, I was surprised. Apparently getting old means you have to be more careful, who knew? (my wife it seems). I felt weak and a little feverish, I didn’t share that second part with the wife (for obvious reasons). The weather was particularly uncooperative as the coldest, most miserable day of the entire trip. There was no way I was going to miss Vienna, though, one of the world’s great cities I had never seen. It didn’t disappoint. It is a very imperial place, obviously, since it served for hundreds of years as the capitol of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. We took a driving tour around part of the city followed by a walking tour through the Hofburg Palace and the inner city.

Entrance to Hofburg

The Hofburg Palace was amazing, huge with additions added over the hundreds of years it served as the seat of government. Our guide took us through a passage saying, if we were lucky, we might get a glimpse of the head of one of the famous Lipizzaner stallions. I remember being dragged by my mother to a Boston performance of these famous horses at a very young age. The guide was trying to spy the elusive head shot in the stables when I pointed out a line of horses being led out the stables directly towards us. He almost lost it in his excitement as he proclaimed how lucky we were. The horses passed within five feet of us as they moved to their training arena. I felt good for the guide as he seemed genuinely emotional about it.

Hurting Camper in the Hofburg

Horses Appear

The walking tour ended at the central cathedral and we were given three hours to kill before reporting to the buses. I wasn’t very excited about that since I was feeling progressively worse. Oh, it also started intermittent raining. We grabbed a quick lunch and then spent the time perusing shopping opportunities. Okay, that was mostly my Favorite Panamanian. I tagged along and I shocked her a couple times when I told her I had to find a place to sit down as I didn’t trust my legs. In typical fashion, she shifted shopping opportunities to places that had heat and a place I could sit down. That’s how she rolls.

Roman Ruins Discovered

We eventually convinced Teo to send a bus back a little early and my pain ended. Totally worth it though. Vienna was more than merited it. We returned for a quiet dinner and then went upstairs to the lounge with our Indiana Friends where I tried to keep my eyes open during a very good jazz trio. I failed at that enough that my Favorite Panamanian pulled rank and decided it was time I went to bed.

Monument to Plague Survivors

When Will it End!?

Day 6 – Rest Day

We were scheduled for either a walking tour of Bratislava or a return for a second day in Vienna but there was no way I was going to make either. I encouraged my Favorite Panamanian to choose one, but she decided nurse duty was more important. I ended up sleeping for almost twelve hours in a row. I guess the body knew what it needed. I emerged for lunch and a quick trip up to the top deck and saw we were experiencing the first “nice” day of the entire trip. Figures. I went back to bed and my Favorite Panamanian disappeared for five hours. While I was sleeping, she read in the lounge until she noticed it weas getting dark outside and hurried to see how the patient was doing. It was a day I needed and it did the trick as I felt immeasurably better and ready for the next day’s tour of Budapest.

Brief Emergence from Bed

First Views of Hungary

The Jazz Trio

Day 7 – Budapesting

The ship moved overnight and we awoke in Gönyű, Hungary. This was as close as the ship could travel towards Budapest due to water levels. It was an industrial port. Travel to the city was along one of the major east-west highways of Europe. We were warned that we might experience traffic jams along this route as it was only two lanes each way and was in the process of being expanded. They were not exaggerating. We had some good drivers who bypassed a huge backup utilizing some interesting back roads. Our first stop in the city was on the Buda side at a place called the Citadel. It featured a huge fort that still had some bullet holes from World War 2 when the Soviets took the city.

Monument on the Citadel

Budapest

WW2 Shell Impact on Citadel

View from Top of Citadel

The citadel was dominated by a huge Soviet era Liberty Statue which I’m sure the Hungarians took with tongue firmly in cheek during the Soviet occupation. It soared above the entire city and was very impressive and a bit Russian. After this stop, we crossed the Danube to the Pest side and toured a historic church, the oldest Catholic church in Hungary, featuring the ankle bone of the church’s founding saint. The guide related a “funny” story how the saint was the first Catholic priest in Hungary when the king decided to convert everyone to Christianity. Some of his pagan subjects didn’t appreciate the change and killed the priest by sealing him in a nail lined barrel and rolling him down the hill which is now named after him. He was buried in Italy but a couple hundred years later, the Budapest church asked for his bones and the Italians sent his ankle bone.

Still at Citadel

The Soviet Statues

"Liberty" Statue

We were blessed with the best day of our entire trip for our day in Budapest. We took a driving tour of the city, seeing the freedom plaza and the house of terror. This was a non-descript building on what the guide called Budapest’s Champs-Élysées. It was the place the Gestapo used during WW2 to torture people. The Soviets took over the place and used it for the same reason during their stay. It’s now a museum dedicated to the legions of victims who met their end there. Our driving tour ended at the banks of the Danube where the ship would have docked.

The Church

Built on top of Roman Temple

We were then released on our recognizance and walked up to the Grand Market. This is a huge building. Its cavernous interior was lined with every type of shopping booth imaginable as well as food booths. We had a lunch in a nice buffet style restaurant. I was going to wait five minutes for a schnitzel when I spied a huge hunk of pork attached to a bone. It was served with a knife thrust into the top. We were entertained by a violin player during the meal, it was all very ethnic. After lunch we wandered around the city and crossed over one of the many bridges for the views offered.

Budapest Lunch - Note my Hunk of Pork

Violin Serenade

Inside Market Hall

Outside Market Hall

Market Hall

As we were driving back to the ship we saw the predicted traffic jam on the other side. There was a line of trucks that were not moving that stretched for more than thirty minutes as we drove on highways speeds on the other side. I was impressed that the trucks did not try to move into the second lane, obviously forbidden. I could only imagine American truck drivers exhibiting that kind of discipline. The jam was so huge I was worried it wouldn’t be cleared by the next morning when we had to travel the same road to the airport. It was miraculously gone though. As we boarded the ship for our last night onboard, we were treated to the first colorful sunset of our trip as the sun descended into the Danube. We were joined by our friends for the last dinner onboard followed by the captain’s farewell toast in the lounge afterwards. We were luckier than a lot of fellow travelers who had to leave the ship in the wee hours of the morning to make their departure flights.

Budapest Wandering

On the Bridge

Day 8 – Homeward Bound

Our return home could not have gone smoother, including the missing traffic jam on our drive to the Budapest Airport. We enjoyed one last breakfast with our Indiana Friends before bidding them and the memorable Teo farewell. We were flying Lufthansa for our return trip through Munich again. My Favorite Panamanian was a little perturbed as we wandered through the cavernous Munich terminal as we hurried to make our Boston flight. We were on a time crunch that meant she couldn’t take advantage of the massive shopping opportunities. She claimed I had spent part of my time in sick bed praying for this development. We know each other so well. I had another screen to watch movies on the trip across the Atlantic, and this one didn’t give out. We arrived nearly an hour ahead of schedule and our van was waiting for us. The trip home was uneventful except for the driver having to save my life as I tripped exiting the vehicle. I was headed for a face plant in our driveway. It certainly served to wake me up. So ended our memorable vacation, an unexpectedly fabulous time, blessed with new friends. Thanks for hanging with me this long, but having done so, I have to question where your priorities lie, but anyways, thank you.

Last Dinner Together

Again Those Great Friends and Teo

That Last European Sunset

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------RECURRING CHARACTERS:

ABFA – Amazing Best Family Athlete – my daughter in law; BR3 – Blog Reader #3 – granddaughter #3; BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel - second granddaughter; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; CRC - Connecticut Riverboat Captain – another close friend from high school, renowned sailor of the big river; Curbside Girls – close friends of my daughter acquired during her single days in Brooklyn; Czech Connection – Czech couple who’ve become good friends along with their daughter (the Czech Shadow); Deckzilla – our backyard deck which grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got involved in planning; Favorite Panamanian - the wife (of course); FBR - First Blog Reader - first granddaughter; First Friday – celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Great Aunt - my elder sister; Indiana Friends – friends we met on our 2026 river cruise; Keene Friends 1 & 2 – friends since high school from my home town of Keene, NH; Kindergarten Friend – friend since kindergarten whom I reunited with after many years; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my wife is the 3^rd Musquetera (musketeer); Namesake Nephew – son of Great Aunt and Soxfather named after me; Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia member; PanaGals – female relatives /friends of my wife from Panama; Panamanian/Latin Mafia – inevitable group of Latino friends my wife accumulates wherever we have lived & their spouses; PCR - Pittsburgh College Roommate – high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; PCR+1 - Pittsburgh College Roommate’s wife; Riggins - also known as the Grandpuppy, son's dog; Seis Amigos - two couples from our condo complex and my wife and I; Soxfather – my brother-in-law (whom I miss more than I can ever explain); Tia Loca – wife’s younger sister; Wingman – my son in law; Upstairs Neighbors – American couple and great friends who live in condo above us in Panama; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course