Thursday (June 1) We
continued our sail along the Danube
in the morning and arrived in Vukovar, Croatia (9th country) in the
afternoon. This area was devastated by violent conflicts in the 1990's and many
of the homes and other buildings were destroyed. Some remain standing with evidence of
artillery damage. During these horrible
times, people fled the area or lived for months in the basements of homes. They
are starting to recover, but it is very slow and it is hard to look at the
vacant lots and damaged homes and think about the devastation they experienced
in recent history. Unemployment is very
high and the young people continue to leave the area to try to find work.
Friday (June 2) we arrived early in Mohacs, Hungary (10th country) and were summoned (some in bathrobes) to the front office for "face to face" contacts with the Hungarian border authorities. That task completed we breakfasted and boarded our coaches for the drive to the town of Pecs (pronouned almost like "Page"). Here we visited Cella Septichora, an early (4th Century) Christian cemetery and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We also visited the Zolnay Ceramics Museum and the Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul, where we heard a lovely concert on their 6000 pipe organ, and For lunch we traveled to the Polgar Winery where we had a lovely lunch in their huge wine cellar. Lunch was accompanied by tasting 8 wines. As you can imagine, there was a bit of snoring on the coach as we returned to the ship! This was our last full day with all of the passengers who boarded in Bucharest, and there was a champagne reception to say farewell to the ones leaving us on Saturday (which include our Captain and two of our three tour guides). There are fourteen of us continuing on to Amsterdam. We have become quite a close group and have dubbed ourselves the "Fantastic Fourteen". We've also become friends with several of our fellow passengers who will be leaving us tomorrow.
Covered Market
When we returned to the ship, most of the "new" passengers had arrived, we have fewer passengers (72) now than we did for the first week. When we received the list of passengers we found there is a couple from our old stomping ground, El Sobrante--we will have to make a point of tracking them down.
3D Wall Painting - Several were
done to "cheer up" the locals...
The highlight of the day was visiting with a family in a
nearby village. In small groups (there
were 8 of us visiting the family we saw) we were invited into local homes and
offered cake and conversation. "Our" family consisted of a mother (Valerie),
father (David), and their 21-year-old son, Teo, who served as our interpreter. They are Hungarian Croats. The younger
brother was at school and the older brother no longer lives at home. Their town
was also damaged in the conflicts, but they have re-built their home and have a
wonderful garden (we'd call it a small farm) and raise chickens, rabbits, pigs,
quail, etc. They are actually quite
self-sufficient. We asked if there was a
super-market nearby and they said there were two, but they rarely bought
anything there except things like soap and shampoo (the mother is also a hairdresser).
Teo was trained as a mechanical engineer, however he is unable to find a job
using these skills and recently quit the job he had as a mobile phone
salesperson as he was pestered 24/7 by customers. Interestingly, Dave asked Teo
what his father thought of the various governments over the past 40 years, and
he said he was quite happy under the rule of Tito. The family is also active in
a folk dancing club that teaches the traditional dances and performs all over
Europe. We bought a small bottle of
their home-made liquor (very strong, not sure what it is) which they were
offering for a donation to support their dance troupe. The bottle was hand-painted by the mom. This
family seemed to be doing quite well under the circumstances, and we hope the money
they earn from Tauck and other tour companies helps them persevere.
Bunnies!! (or dinner...)
On the way back to the ship we saw several stork nests and heard the story of a Croatian man who befriended an injured female stork for years. She has a damaged wing and is unable to fly to their usual winter home in Africa. This man takes care of the stork while she awaits the return of her mate every year. We understand there was a documentary made about his care of the bird and we will try to remember to look it up when we get home.
Bunnies!! (or dinner...)
Valerie
David, Dave & Teo
On the way back to the ship we saw several stork nests and heard the story of a Croatian man who befriended an injured female stork for years. She has a damaged wing and is unable to fly to their usual winter home in Africa. This man takes care of the stork while she awaits the return of her mate every year. We understand there was a documentary made about his care of the bird and we will try to remember to look it up when we get home.
Friday (June 2) we arrived early in Mohacs, Hungary (10th country) and were summoned (some in bathrobes) to the front office for "face to face" contacts with the Hungarian border authorities. That task completed we breakfasted and boarded our coaches for the drive to the town of Pecs (pronouned almost like "Page"). Here we visited Cella Septichora, an early (4th Century) Christian cemetery and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We also visited the Zolnay Ceramics Museum and the Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul, where we heard a lovely concert on their 6000 pipe organ, and For lunch we traveled to the Polgar Winery where we had a lovely lunch in their huge wine cellar. Lunch was accompanied by tasting 8 wines. As you can imagine, there was a bit of snoring on the coach as we returned to the ship! This was our last full day with all of the passengers who boarded in Bucharest, and there was a champagne reception to say farewell to the ones leaving us on Saturday (which include our Captain and two of our three tour guides). There are fourteen of us continuing on to Amsterdam. We have become quite a close group and have dubbed ourselves the "Fantastic Fourteen". We've also become friends with several of our fellow passengers who will be leaving us tomorrow.
Small Automated Pipe Organ 
Ceramic Museum
Saturday (June 3) was a busy day all around. We arrived in the beautiful city of Budapest.
(Originally two towns, "Buda" and "Pest" separated by the
Danube.) The Pest side is relatively flat, and the Buda side is quite hilly,
with great views.
FANTASTIC FOURTEEN (+Julia) IN BUDAPEST!
The Fantastic 14 toured separately from the passengers
leaving and the new ones joining us. I think they wanted to keep us all off the
ship long enough to get the rooms cleaned and turned over for the new
passengers. We occasionally crossed
paths with some of our friends from the first week as we toured sites in
Budapest. First we visited the Parliament where we saw the Hungarian Crown
Jewels and watched the changing of the guard of the jewels. There are no longer two houses of their
legislature, so one half of the huge building is used only for special
occasions and tours such as ours. One of the interesting points was the cigar
holders along all the windows just outside the meeting hall...each slot is
numbered, and back in the day when smoking was allowed, the gentlemen would go
into the hallways for conversation and smoking, they could leave their cigars
in the numbered holders, enter the main hall to vote on some issue, and then
return to their cigar (they just had to remember which number they left their
cigar in!). 
Interior of Parliament Building
Cigar Holder
We then crossed the river and visited Old Buda, where we
walked through the Castle Hill area,
visited the Mathias Church, and had a lovely lunch on the terrace at the
Fortuna Restaurant. We then returned to the Pest side and the huge covered
market, where we had a little "on our own" wandering time before the
market closed at 3pm and we returned to the ship.
Covered Market
When we returned to the ship, most of the "new" passengers had arrived, we have fewer passengers (72) now than we did for the first week. When we received the list of passengers we found there is a couple from our old stomping ground, El Sobrante--we will have to make a point of tracking them down.
As the ship was staying overnight in Budapest, we took a
short walk along the riverfront after dinner (just the two of us) where there
are many outdoor cafes and bars. This
being a holiday weekend, these places were quite busy (mostly with folks much
younger than us!).
On Sunday (June 4) we spent another day in Budapest. Our little group of 14 visited the Heroes'
Square and the synagogue and very moving Jewish memorial on the Pest side. We
returned briefly to the Buda side for a photo of our group overlooking the
city. From now on we will be touring with the rest of the passengers--no more
special treatment for us!
Tuk Tuk
Goodbye, Budapest!!
Monday (June 5) was another two-stop day, but with a long
afternoon of restful sailing on the Danube. In the morning, after an
informative and interesting lecture about the positive economy in Slovakia, we
docked at Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia (11th country). We were able to
walk right into the heart of the city from the ship, and had a lovely walking
tour. This was the last day of the 3-day
holiday in this region (Pentecost) so many shops were closed, and there were a
lot of "locals" on holiday in the city. We saw the US Embassy, and
the Carlton Hotel where many famous people stay, and where famously many years
ago a floor collapsed and as the story goes a gentleman in his bathtub found
himself in the room of his downstairs neighbors! We also saw the Coronation Cathedral.
It was a short stop (about 3 hours) but it was enough to see a lovely, clean
and well-maintained and renovated city. Much more restored than most of the
other former communist countries we have visited. We made a visit to our
favorite spot everywhere (the money machine) and picked up some Euros. From now on we will be able to use them in
every town, so we now have "walking around" money without fear of
lots of leftover coins and currency from countries we may never return to.
We had most of the afternoon to rest and get "gussied
up" for our evening. We arrived in Vienna, Austria (12th Country) around
6:30pm and shortly thereafter were transported to the Palais Ferstel for a
wonderful evening of food, wine, and entertainment in a beautiful and elegant
setting (hard to believe it was originally built as a bank and stock
exchange!). We were served delicious
four-course meal with musical entertainment before and between each course.
Operatic singing, 6-piece musical ensemble, ballet dancing, etc. We normally
would not sit through an evening of opera or ballet, but this was lovely in
this "small dose" and perfect in the setting. What a wonderful Vienna evening!
Our night out in Vienna...
Tuesday we were still in the beautiful city of Vienna. We took a bus tour through the city and
toured the Schonbrunn Summer Palace. After the tour we had time on our own in
Vienna and enjoyed a nice lunch and coffee at the Mozart Cafe on the Albertina
Square. We walked around the shopping
district enjoying some window shopping and people watching before returning to
the ship around 4:00pm. After that Lynn
took a nice long nap and worked on photos and the blog, and Dave read and
socialized and attended a briefing on the next day's itinerary.
Sounds like you're having a great time. How has the internet been? Are you using the ship's or the Skyroam?
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