From Budapest, our @vikingcruises ship sailed through the night and into the next day to visit the Slovakian capital of Bratislava. On the way, we passed through our first lock on the Danube that put us on a man-made canal which runs parallel to the Danube River in an area where the actual natural waterway is part of a National Park. With the big windows on board the Skadi, it felt as if we were living in a snow globe while eating lunch on the ship. Gratifyingly large flakes fell softly outside to merge with the water below us and birds were the only other lifeforms we saw through the drifting white, spots of gray and black riding on the invisible wind. Viking chefs seem to, based on my last cruise and this one, make soup really well. It’s always so good and it’s available for lunch and dinner almost every day. This makes me so happy because I dearly love eating soup when the weather is cold outside! There’s almost nothing better for me except perhaps a hot toddy. So it was that I sat ...