So Many Dishes

Ah, we have made it to Germany and the Danube, but not without some drama. Remember those news stories a couple of months back about the air traffic control issues at Newark airport? Well, it’s still a problem. About 10 minutes before our flight from Orlando to Newark was scheduled to board, we received a notice that the flight was being delayed for two hours! United stated very clearly that it was because of air traffic control being short staffed. I knew that there was no way we would make our connection. I immediately called the Viking travel emergency number, since we’d arranged our flights through Viking. In less than 10 minutes, they had found another direct flight from Newark to Munich and booked us on it. I can’t say enough good things about how well handled everything. Even our luggage made it, just three hours later than we expected.

After a bus ride through the lovely countryside of southern Bavaria, we arrived at our ship, the Aegir, around 2:30, so we were still able to get some lunch. It was nice to be able to eat something fresh, after typical airline food.

We spent the afternoon settling in before the pre-dinner safety briefing and general introduction. Then it was on to dinner.

One of the things we love about Viking is open seating for meals. With tables for 6 or 8, there’s always the opportunity to meet new people and make new friends. We sat with two delightful couples, one from California and the other from England. Lots of interesting conversations!

Of course, we have to talk about the food. The menu always includes standards, but we tend to choose the daily specialties that often reflect the regional cuisine. Ken chose the cream of white asparagus soup for his starter. I had thought of doing that, but instead went with smoked trout with a beet, apple, sour cream, and horseradish relish. It sounds odd, but it was delicious.

Ken made an excellent choice for entree: halibut in a Riesling sauce. The chef always describes the specials before dinner, and he said that this was halibut from the Mediterranean, and that it’s different from ocean halibut. I tasted it, and both the fish and the sauce were delicious. I had considered having the same dish, but our waiter highly recommended the slow cooked beef short ribs. They were served in what was listed as a unique red wine sauce that included barbecue sauce, but I’m sure there were other ingredients, as well. The meat was fork tender, and so good. It clearly is worth it to listen to the recommendations.

We both decided on ice cream for dessert, which was a creamy chocolate chip, essentially a stracciatella. After that, we were definitely ready to sleep and get our jet-lagged bodies back on schedule.

Happy eating, everyone.