The ideal tour guide?

For the various tours we took around Vienna, Austria, we got a super talented French lady who could speak better French than my wife and I would ever dream of, and also perfect Spanish for the benefit of the two Mexican women passengers that must have felt lost in the midst of so many French people.

Our guide would have been absolutely perfect if she had been graced with more people skills, which she evidently lacked, and instead of reading her audience who wanted to linger around spots they liked, she pushed us into a harsh and unyielding schedule which wasn’t to the taste of most of the participants.

That day, we visited Vienna once more the famous Schönbrunn Palace. In the afternoon we took a break from the regimentation and enjoyed a long walk on both banks of the Danube.

At night we returned on board the ship and its awful, noisy engines and cruised on to Budapest, passing Bratislava on the way. That night was also the “kitsch” gala dinner and evening where we made a special effort to dress up a bit.