Vidin, Bulgaria The “port” of Vidin is a good example of the failure of communist concrete. The Romans perfected concrete construction 2,000 years ago, but when the communists in Eastern Europe decided to construct concrete apartment structures and office buildings they apparently failed to read the recipe correctly. Not only are the buildings drab but the concrete used is crumbling and what little rebar was used is exposed and rusted. The port facility here is no exception. It looks like it has been bombed but it is only because the concrete structure is crumbling. This is something I found repeated all across the Balkans. We talked about this on the Kleine Prinz and we agreed that it must have something to do with using “dirty” sand from the bottom of the Danube. I saw ... read more

Mohacs/Pecs, Hungary It is another beautiful sunny day on the Danube. I packed too many warm weather clothes thinking late April, early May could be cool and drizzly. It has been anything but. Daily temperatures have been in the 80s and 90s. We had a brief thunderstorm the other evening after leaving Belgrade, but otherwise it has been clear sailing. Our first stop in Hungary is at the port town of Mohacs just inside the border. From there we took a bus to the beautiful city of Pecs (pronounced like petch). Pecs is about 45 minutes away from Mohacs. Once again I am surprised by the extent of agriculture here in the Balkans. The flat fertile plains of what was once an inland sea bed the Romans called Palonia. This area appears to encompass ... read more

Belgrade, Serbia Der Kleine Prinz tied up in downtown Belgrade not far from an ancient fortress that overlooks the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers. We had a stroll through the fortress from the top of which I could see what is known as “new” Belgrade. I would have loved to spend some time walking around the downtown area of old Belgrade but we were instead only driven around the city by bus. What I did see was what could be a beautiful city that needs a lot of sprucing up. It suffers from years of poor construction during the communist years, damage during WWII and most recently in the late 1980s and early 90s when it was bombed by NATO forces. We passed the bombed out military headquarters building as ... read more

February 20, 2013 I am aboard Amtrak headed to Vancouver, British Columbia. I am with friends Bill, Nancy and Judy taking a day trip to our sister city to the north. The train exited Seattle through the venerable 110 year old tunnel beneath the city and is now hugging the edge of Puget Sound. The Sound is calm, the surface smooth and glasslike. The temperature is around 40 F. The sky overcast. A very nice, typical day in the Northwest. Who am I trying to fool. It is dreary and rain threatens. None the less we are determined to have a good time. We arrived in Vancouver at the train station on the outskirts of the city. From there we took the Sky Train into the city and got off at Canada Place, waterfront station. The ... read more

Today was the last port call of this cruise and the best experience of the whole trip. We arrived in Cartagena, Colombia after a night of thunder storms and heavy rain. By the time we tied up in the harbor the weather had cleared. It was hot and very humid but this is the tropics after all. Bill, Nancy, Sharon and I struck out on our own by taking a taxi to the old walled part of the city. We had a grand experience, especially after we got away from most of the waddling tourists disgorging themselves from tour busses. We wandered all around the old city finding many beautiful plazas and gorgeous colonial architecture well preserved and maintained. I bought an oil painting of a native woman with a fruit basket on her head to ... read more