TED46
Thomas Dorsey Joined: May 4th 2008
Logged in: December 1st 2011
Logged in: December 1st 2011
Travel Blog Posts
National Museum
Day 18-Prague 9/3-Wednesday This was our last full day of the trip. We decided today to follow the Rick Steve’s tour of the New Town. It was fun to find all of the highlights noted in his book. We acted like we were on TV’s Amazing Race. We started at the top of Wenceslas Square and stopped at all the highlights. After walking north for about a quarter of a mile, we turned west to the Vltava River. Then we went south to find the Dancing House. Afterwards, we found a Metro station to ride back to the Flora Mall to meet with Jay and Camille for lunch and some shopping. I was not surprised that Jackie and Camille purchased some new funky shoes. They have that on their mind since one of our shipmates, Joseph, ... read more
Wallenstein Palace Garden
Day 17-Prague 9/2-Wednesday We had overcast weather again today. We started the day with a group tour of the Little Quarter. The first stop was the Wallenstein Palace Garden, the largest and most beautiful garden in the neighborhood. Aside the garden was the most unusual wall. It was an artificial wall of stalactites. Embedded were a few strange looking faces. We never heard the meaning of this wall. After the garden we walked up through the Little Quarter towards the Charles Bridge. As we walked we spotted an interesting courtyard of a restaurant with two mechanical men working as a fountain. The hips of the men rotated from left to right as the men seemed to be urinating into the pool. Instead of being an adults only we could see a “Children’s Zone.” I guess their ... read more
Castle Quarter
Day 16-Prague 9/01-Tuesday We had overcast weather today with an occasional break with clear skies. We toured in the morning with the entire group in the Castle Quarter above the west side of the Vltava River. This is where we saw the Prague Castle and the St. Vitus Catherdral. The castle is still considered a royal palace and thus is guarded by sentry. After the Castle Quarter, our tour moved down to the Old Town. We passed through the Jewish Quarter to the Old Town Square. There are lots to see in this area with monuments, churches and the Astronomical Clock. The tour group was walking from the Square to the Powder Tower on their way back to the hotel on the Metro. We chose to drop out and do our own thing. We had lunch ... read more
Bratislava
Day 15-Budapest to Prague 8/31/10-Tuesday Want to know our weather? No you don’t. We had rain and cold today. You’ll see in the photos. We wound down our cruise today. Last night we had a nice cruise around Budapest on the Danube. We would have been happy to have a few more days here but we are excited about the next stop, Prague. The trip north was on a motor coach. There were about 35 people from the ship that were joining the final leg of our trip to Prague. The scenery was interesting but nothing unusual except for a large number of wind turbines. On the way to Prague we made a stop in our sixth nation, Slovakia. We stopped in Bratislava, the capital city. It is a city of about 430,000 people on the ... read more
Liberty Bridge
Day 14-Budapest, Hungary 8/30/10-Monday We actually had clouds today. Still no rain. We had two goals for our last full day in Budapest. First, we planned to shop at the Great Market Hall. Later, we planned to take the subway over to the famous hot springs baths. Jay and Camille came with us. We first took a motor bus from the ship along the river to a stop near the Hotel Gellert and Baths. From there we walked across the Liberty Bridge to the mall. After shopping for an hour at the market (Jackie purchased the kids some jewelry), we walked for a while to find the Kalvin ter Metro station. Once there, we purchased four tickets to use going out and coming home. After buying from a cashier, we headed for the escalator. There were ... read more
Shoe Monument
Day 13-Budapest, Hungary 8/29/10-Sunday Yet another beautiful, clear day. I started this day with a brisk walk with Jay to buy tickets for a tour of the Parliament. We were lucky since we got in line about 9:30am and had our tickets by 10:00am. We chose to do our tour at 2:00pm. So, after returning to the ship, Jackie and I set out for a trip up the ridge on the Buda side riding the funicular. To get there we crossed the Chain Bridge on foot. The views from the top are really spectacular. We walked around the Royal Palace and took some photos. We heard that both the Germans and later the communist party used this building as offices. It was bombed by the US during WWII. The gardens around the palace were in full ... read more
Chain Bridge
Day 12-Budapest, Hungary 8/28/10-Saturday We docked this morning early. I knew we were docking due to the way the boat was motoring. We were lucky in that our room was on the port side and when we looked out our window we were seeing the best view of Buda, the part of the city to the west. In fact, the view from my bed was right at the Chain Bridge with the Buda Castle (Royal Palace) in the background. At night, the bridge is well lighted creating a beautiful view. We started the day with a city tour by bus. We stopped at the neo-gothic Matthias Church. The church was named after King Matthias. Legend has it that, in the thirteenth century, he was called to return to Budapest by his mother using a raven with ... read more
Paprika Fields
Day 11-Kalocsa, Hungary 8/27/10 Yet another perfect weather day. We are so lucky… The stop today in Kalocsa was mostly a rest day for us. The tour group had an optional tour available but we chose not. We wanted a slow day and we got it. The only thing of note was a paprika processing plant. All of the farms in the area were full of plants. They appeared ripe for picking. I wanted to pick and few to bring home but Jackie stopped me. Tonight we set sail for Budapest, our final city on the Danube. We should arrive early and get started sight seeing in that big city. Stay tuned… ... read more
Serb bombing/battle damage
Day 10-Vukovar, Croatia 8/26/10 We woke this morning docked in the city of Vukovar. Like most Americans, I don’t think I have ever heard of this town. But it was significant in the early days of the split up of Yugoslavia. As I mentioned in the previous blog, the communist leader Tito died in 1980. Over the next ten years Yugoslavia continued to exist but the old divisions grew each year. By 1989 some of the parts, like Slovenia, started to declare their independence. By now, Serbia was controlling the military and made it a mostly Serb army. Many Serbs were living in Croatia and when they started a move towards independence the military was ordered into the country to “protect” them. Only, it seems that it was only about power and control. Anyway, this little ... read more
Bombed out headquarters
Day 9-Belgrade, Serbia 8/25/10 Ditto on the weather. Each day starts in the mid-60s and reaches about 80. No clouds. When we awoke, we were at the dock in Belgrade. After breakfast, we boarded the busses for a city tour. We were surprised at this relatively modern city and wished we could have had more time. The first stop on the bus tour was the old fortress. It was interesting but in most ways just another fort. It did have a number of modern day artillery and tanks on display. I never fully understood the meaning of the tanks but I remember hearing the guide talk about it. Maybe Jackie was listening….I’ll ask her later. The best part of the bus tour was driving in the part of the city where the embassies and Serbian government ... read more
