A few days spent in Montreal!
Dave says “Montreal?” I say “Yes!”
Category: 2017
If you had one day in Grand Rapids what would you do?
A quick trip to Grand Rapids, Michigan!
Monday Mash-Up
Another weekend away! This time we traveled to Petoskey, Michigan.
|
Michigan didn’t disappoint this weekend for our bike ride up to Mackinaw Island. We ride the Zoo-de-mack ride every year and we always look forward to it. This year we were a little worried about the weather- the weatherman predicted rain and clouds all day on Saturday. We almost cancelled, and probably would have if we didn’t already have reservations at the Inn at Bay Harbor in Petoskey. The Inn at Bay Harbor won’t let you cancel without penalty a week before your arrival time, so we were going either way. We arrived on Friday afternoon to sun and warm weather. The drive up is long, almost four hours, but we always find things to talk about. This year’s discussion was mostly about work related items.
As soon as we arrived. we checked-in and looked over the rooms. We had booked three rooms because friends were also coming up to ride and play golf. The Inn at Bay Harbor is part of Marriott’s Autograph Collection and the rooms and hotel is superb. I blogged about the hotel here, Inn at Bay Harbor, Petoskey. The room below is the largest room of the three we booked and the one we designated as the gathering room. All weekend this is where we met up with our friends and on Saturday after the ride and dinner, we sat around the fireplace and talked until half of us were asleep.
The view from the room of Lake Michigan is so beautiful. Each night the hotel has a fire in the fire-pit with a basket of marshmallows, chocolate candy bars, and graham crackers so visitors can make s’mores. All for free– they really take care of their guests.
Friday night Dave and I went to one our favorite Breweries, Pestoskey Brewing Company. They have a new beer called Cranium Crush and it is delicious. The beer tastes of like a raspberry waffle cone with cream ale! It’s a perfect ABV at 7%, I had to have two of them-they were that good! We ended up buying three four packs for the weekend so our friends could also try the beer. 
Even the bathroom in the Brewery is spectacular. I love the wallpaper and chandelier.
Saturday morning was the ride and as soon as we opened the drapes we were anxious to see if it was raining—and it was sunny!! We were so happy, try to imagine riding in the rain for 50 miles on a bike…no fun. We ate a wonderful breakfast at the hotel and dressed for the long ride ahead of us.
The ride attracts thousands of bikers who want to enjoy the scenic Lake Michigan and Tunnel of Trees and just want to have fun. It was a tough ride this year because the wind was in our faces the entire time. A few hills were too hard to get up so lots of people ended up walking their bikes up them.
Dave being funny 🙂
Lunch is provided at Leg’s Inn located on Lake Michigan.
We had such a great ride and burned lots of calories (3000) while seeing good friends and biking the beautiful state of Michigan!
more on the Zoo-de-mack
How was your weekend?
Just got back from a Viking Cruise!
Romantic Danube- Budapest to Nuremberg
Viking Cruise, 8 days, 3 countries
Wow, we have just had the time of your lives with an amazing trip to Europe! We left via Detroit to Amsterdam then boarded another flight to Budapest where we stepped aboard the Viking Egil, a beautiful 1 year old long ship! We left the end of April and returned May 9, just in time for Olivia’s bridal shower.
Not knowing what to expect on a Viking cruise, we were pleasantly surprised! Viking advertises for an older crowd and we were on the younger side of that, but we felt very welcomed by all the passengers and thoroughly enjoyed the cruise. The pace was a little slower, but that was fine with us. We just did our own thing, ran in the morning and tried to bike in every city. We logged many miles in Europe which help off set the amount of calories we took in from rich foods and good German beer and wine 🙂
Lunch was waiting for us as we boarded with plenty of free wine and beer as well. In fact, the entire week we had free beer and wine with all meals. No need to purchase a drink card, as there were no limits on how much you could order 🙂 Yeah, I took advantage of the free drinks on many evenings…much to Dave’s chagrin. Here are highlights of the trip!
Day 1: Budapest, Hungary
 |
| Wonderful Cuban Panni’s awaited us as we boarded! |
 |
| Inside the lounge area, very comfortable. |
 |
| The ship is small, only 150 well taken care of passengers. |
On our walking tour with a Viking tour guide. Sight seeing in Budapest.
 |
| Dave had to try a decadent chocolate cake at a Budapest coffee house! |
 |
| The street food in Budapest smelled just as wonderful as it looked! People were indulging in all of these local dishes. |
 |
| Throughout Europe, homemade bread was a mainstay. |
 |
| Night time Budapest, Capital building
Day 2: Budapest, Hungary. We visited the Buda side of Budapest. Buda and Pest are separated by bridges over the Danube River. We liked the Buda side so much we could easily spend a few days there.
 Matthias Church 
 Danube River separating Buda from Pest. 
 Had to try the Hungarian soup with pure Tumeric, while in Buda. 
  Heroes’ Square
|
Day 3: Vienna, Austria. I couldn’t wait to get to Vienna, both Dave and I booked this vacation due to the fact that we would spend the day in Vienna. Neither of us had been there before. Even though it was wonderful, it was our least favorite stop in the cruise. We took a tour in the morning with a Viking Tour guide and the afternoon and evening were ours to spend in any way we wished. Therefore, we rented bikes for the day and rode along the Danube River for quite a few miles then made our way into the city of Vienna. We came across a festival playing loud rock music that many of the locals were thoroughly enjoying. We even went back there in the evening with friends we made on the ship to watch the fireworks! This International May Day celebration honors workers by giving them the day off work to celebrate with friends and family.
 |
| The Hofburg Palace, Baroque architecture |
 |
| St. Stephan’s Cathedral |
May Day Celebration
Day 4: Krems, Austria. This place was just beautiful. Picture old world town with cobble stone walks and huge wooden front doors ladened with colorful flower boxes on each window. We decided to run to Krem from the boat. What a joy it was to run along the Danube. Upon returning to the boat, we quickly ate breakfast and boarded a bus to take a tour of the Gottweig Abbey where Benedictine Monks work and worship on a hilltop overlooking the splendid Wachau Valley. Our tour guide was one of 42 Monks that live at the Abbey. Our guide was funny and informative and he gave us great insight into the life of a modern day Monk.
View of the Wachau Valley from the Abbey
We sipped Apricot wine in this old brick room while listening to a Monk discuss the history of the Abbey.
 |
|
One of the ways, besides tours, the Monks make money to care for the Abbey is to bottle wine and juice from the apricot tree. The wine and juice are available for purchase in the Abbey store. They also have a restaurant on the premises and the food looked amazing- maybe another trip!
|
Viking provided audio headsets for each tour.
Alter in the church.
The splendid ceiling fresco in the imperial stairwell is one of the largest in the world.
 |
|
Back now on the cruise ship taking pictures of the lovely view of the many churches and dwellings along the Wachau Valley – Krems, Austria.
|
 |
| One of the many locks we needed to pass through to get down the Danube River |
Day 5: Passau, Germany. We spent the day in one of the most picturesque alpine settings- home of the wonderful Sound of Music and the birthplace of Mozart. We listened to an organ concert at the St. Stephan’s Cathedral. The organ being the largest in the world with 17,974 organ pipes, the music was magically boring.
Cobblestone streets everywhere 🙂
Every church or state building has beautiful ceiling motifs.
St. Stephen’s Cathedral with its ornate interior. Here we listened to the 17,000 pipe organ recital.
We visited a horse ranch in Passau before we headed to the Beer Garden. I love this bar with the green glass accents.
In the afternoon we signed up for an extra excursion: a Bavarian Beerfest! Can you see the smile on our faces as we drink away the afternoon enjoying local cuisine and listening to Bavarian music!
Look at how cute this place is!
Day 6: Regensburg, Germany. This city was perfect and one that we will definitely try to get back to. Our favorite stop on the cruise.
 |
| St. Peter’s Cathedral beautiful Gothic architecture, built in 700 AD. |
There was a wedding in the town square- notice the traditional attire 🙂
 |
| Don’t I look like a German Frau! My German language came in handy 🙂 Eine Bier bitter! |
The medieval city of Regensburg.
 |
| Viking supplied the earphones we used for each tour. They made listening to the tour guide super easy because we could walk away to take pictures and still hear her. |
 |
| Oldest sausage making kitchen in Europe, Historische Bursktuche. |
 |
| We ended up buying these mugs at the Ratskellar brewpub as souvenirs. We have already used a few times since we returned home! |
Day 7: Nuremberg, Germany. During our Nuremberg tour we discussed the growth of the Third Reich. We witnessed where Hitler gave his infamous speech on the Zeppelin Field- the Nazi parade grounds of the 1930’s. We saw the Documentation Center, the Nazi Party Rally Grounds, the court house where the Nuremberg Trials took place and we heard about the bombings of WWII and how they pretty much destroyed the city of Nuremberg. As a student of history, I really enjoyed these tours. Viking provided all tours for free and all of our tour guides were so knowledgeable and lived in the cities that they spoke about.
The next day we had to disembark from the ship and head over to Prague. I will post on that trip in a few days. We loved our Viking cruise and the friends we made. We are meeting up with a couple from the cruise this summer in Montreal and we are already dreaming about a Viking cruise along the Rhine…
If you love to be pampered, have all of your travel needs taken care of; which included luggage transfers, most tips, transportation to and from the airport, and tours, then you really should consider Viking. Their red coats, shirts, and hats were easily recognized if you got lost, their tours were the best with the best guides, and the food, drink and entertainment on the ship was beyond belief. One night, while in Germany, they brought on an opera group who sang German songs like Edilweiss! We had so much fun!
We whole-heartily recommend Viking Cruises, and we were not even paid to say that 🙂
Check back in a few days for the Prague trip!