4. European River Cruise - Interrupted

1st June 2013:

We are in Vienna.

A beautiful city somewhat marred by the ever present graffiti that seems to be overwhelming cities in Europe.

Yesterday our Cruise Director, in his daily pre-dinner address, talked about the immense amount of rain that was swelling the river and that it was likely we may have to proceed overland by coach and join a sister ship on the Rhine.

Today it was obvious that things were getting bad with flooding reports upstream. Passau, one of our next stops, was being sand bagged. Not a good sign.

So, in the morning we headed off to explore Schonbrunn Palace while the Captain and crew worked out our options. It was a very interesting tour, full of history.

 http://www.schoenbrunn.at/en.html

There had been a concert here the night before with the Vienna Philharmonic. It was a wet night unfortunately.

Coincidentally, I just watched that concert on the tellie at home today (15th June). It was pretty good.

But when we were there, 2 weeks ago, it was a cold, wet, windy day and the best thing to do was head to the café and have coffee and cake.

Outside there was a very good traditional band playing.

Later that evening we went out to a concert which was also very enjoyable.

 

 

2nd June 2013:

 

Today the Captain announced that it was simply impossible to proceed any further because of the swollen flooded river. The locks would not be operating and the now the river was so high that we could not pass under the bridges up or down river. The Panorama  was docked in Vienna and here it would stay for the duration. This was the situation for all river cruise companies. They were docking three abreast and had to keep their engines running to stop the fast flowing river from dragging them off the wharves.



 

The Danube was not the only river affected and it would now be impossible to join our sistership on the Rhine. They were in the same predicament. The option for the passengers was to go overland in coaches for 10 days to Amsterdam staying in hotels.

We had a quick meeting and decided that for the six of us, it would be better to jump ship here in Vienna and fly down to Athens for a few days. So we got on the internet and booked flights and hotels.

That evening, our last on board the Panorama, these beautiful musicians entertained us.

 

 

3rd June 2013:

 

We flew from Vienna to Athens. The adventure continues.

 

Postscript:

I have to say that the Captain and crew, particularly the Cruise Director Niko, were very professional in what was an unprecedented situation. The worst European floods in over 500 years.

 

Here are two photos of the water levels in Budapest, which flooded about four days after we left the boat in Vienna.

 

This is a picture I took of the Hungarian Parliament when we were there a few days earlier. Note the river levels well below the canal walls. Our Hop On/Hop Off bus drove along that road in front of the building.

 

Now have a look at this one (from a news website), just a few days after the cruise was abandoned. The road is under about 2 metres of water, half way up the stairs. The water level must have risen at least 5 metres to get to this point.