Today's port was much more recently visited than Vienna, we were here to see a colleagues ballet only 18 months ago. It's was very nice to revisit places in shorts, unlike last time when it was sub-zero and ice-skating and a Christmas market occupied the main square.
Our day started with an organised walk, guided by the fastest tour-guide available, she was wonderful, no nonsense, and no waiting for stragglers (Other gruops catered for two levels below this) and we covered a great deal of territory around the town. In many cases too it was places we'd been to before, but without a guide on that occasion it was interesting to learn much more about the old city.
Just like Vienna, the influence of the famous composers is very much woven into the city's history - Liszt gave his first concert here aged nine, and of course Mozart was a mere six when he did his first one here. Taking a different line, Beethoven maintained a mistress here.
Previously a walled city, we were able to walk around some of the walls, but very sadly in many places the communist regime from the post-war period had destroyed these in order to build a modern road. Fortunately the very nearby Cathedral of St Marten was unscathed, this C15 church was the place for the coronation of Hungarian royalty for several centuries.
The old town consists of many narrow and criss-crossing streets with cobbled paving and ancient houses, all very pretty and much more 'human' sized than other capital cities - unsurprising since the population is less than half a million.
After our tour we then revisited some of the places we were familiar with, checked out a few new ones and slowly headed back to the boat - surely it was time for a beer before lunch?
After lunch and a bit of sun (it was 28+ degrees) we set off along the riverbank past the newish shopping / hotel complex to the National Theatre, where we'd been in 2015. Then we walked back through town stopping at our favourite cake shop in order to celebrate our missing friend Heather, only to discover that it has been changed into an ice-cream parlour. This is a monumental disappointment to us, as it will be to Heather, and although we partake of the offering this is no comparison to its former status in our eyes.
Safely back on-board we head to the pool area and relax reading, listerning to the classical music and taking a dip. Our Canadian friends are there and we compare and contrast British winters with their equivalent in Calgary - their really is no comparison!
After an iced tea (Long Island variety) it's time to head back in order to don a suit for the captain's farewell dinner - somewhat previous as we're still onboard tomorrow evening, but this is the way - and head down to the dining room for a five course dinner.
The first course is nothing to get excited by - chicken liver pate or sour cream mousse, the latter rather disappointing. Fortunately next is Cream of Game soup which was excellent. Then a sorbet which was excellent too (but why shove in a meringue?) main event was billed as chateaubriand which is slightly pretentious as it was just one slice of beef fillet, it was fine - red but no blood, so over cooked for me, however the sauce béarnaise made it enjoyable.
Then the lights dimmed and the staff did a sort of 'parade of the baked Alaskas.' This is a fine old nautical tradition seen many times over the years. Sadly, when it arrived the baked Alaska was dreadful!
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