Our arrival at 0200 in the morning was accompanied by various thumps and bumps which I ignored. Of course this morning upon opening the drapes I was not pleased to find us between the dock and other ship. Might explain why it was a bit darker than usual?

Anyway – it was a city tour this morning in a funky old bus followed by a walking tour of the old city.

From up on the hill you can see the refineries of Hungary and the windmill farms of Austria not that far across the river (and the border). Thanks to an infusion of cash from the EU a fair bit of the old city has been restored and renovated. I got the impression that not all that much had been destroyed by bombing I. The war, much more as a result of neglect on the part of the Soviets. Being bombed meant you had some military strategic value. Not being bombed (example Heidelberg) meant one or another of the Allies had use for your city after the war + your really had no industrial base.

After being up on the hill, I elected to walk around the interesting but small old quarter on my own. Our guide, Vladimir was nice enough but I had trouble following his German. On the other hand, he obviously speaks more languages than I so it hardly seems fair to complain ( but teeth might have helped).

Post cards and stamps in hand I found a lovely cafe with hot chocolate and wifi.

It will be back to the ship later. I barely survived the “Pirate diner” last night and hoping nothing worse is in store

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