Friendship Force Report

All in Fourteen Days
By: Jim Collins

On June 8, fourteen people meet at the Kings Hotel in Budapest. A few knew each other casually but many had never met. Two weeks later we were dear friends having shared the beauty and majesty of Budapest, Bratislava, Vienna and Prague. But most important we developed wonderful friendships, had a lot of laughs, good times and really got to know and appreciate each other. It would be boring to travel with normal people. You want to travel with interesting people to interesting places.
Budapest is an absolutely beautiful city in which every other street is being dug up. As one Hungarian said, the last major update to the infrastructure was 1880. Having spent time in Hungary six years ago when no one could speak English, it seemed that just about everyone under 30 was now fluent in English. We even meet a five year girl who could not write her name but could count to ten in perfect English.
We than traveled by train to Bratislava and found that our rooms did not have AC. Our Exchange Director Carol “Ben” Szyplinski was not happy and it was not pretty. The next day we were moved to the Executive Suites which had AC, post soviet furniture, internet access and real comfort. Roughing it was not Ben’s agenda. Bratislava is a much smaller city than Budapest. We got to see some of the Soviet Era Apartments of bad design and terrible construction. We also got to see the Old Town section with its beautiful churches, Castle and lovely 15th Century homes and shops. After two days it was on to Vienna.
As we entered Vienna we accidently decided to test the hospitality of our Austrian hosts by getting off at the wrong station. Again, Ben Szyplinski sprung into action and guided our hosts to our right station. Vienna is truly the cultural jewel of Europe. Our Austrian hosts had a cultural feast waiting for us. There is so much culture and beauty in Vienna you can only taste it in a week, forget about absorbing it. We went to the Opera “Anna Karenia”, the Spanish Riding School and the highlight for many of us was the Strauss & Mozart concert at Wiener Hofburg. The transportation system was excellent in all the cities but in Vienna it was truly wonderful. My sister Mary Anne and I stayed about 15 miles outside of town and we could be anywhere in the city in 30 minutes. Please give me a month in Vienna; a week is only a taste.
We than took the train to Prague. We did a walking tour of Prague starting at Prague Castle and worked our way down the hill. The following day, most of us spent exploring downtown starting at St. Wenceslas Square.
Our group from the Twin Cities Friendship Force included Carol “Ben” Szplinski, JoAnn “JC” Bosse, Mary Elscott, Lois Velasco, Barbara Emer, Dagmar Runyon, John “Jack” Campion, Bridge “Jean” Eagan, Juvetta Freas, Mary Anne Collins-Svoboda and Jim Collins. From Georgia, we had Larry & Jill Sellers and from North Carolina Barbara Guess. These people are not normal but they sure are a lot of fun.
Mary Anne and I did a blog of the trip, you can go to the following web site: http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/JCollins/Trips/2434

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Part of trip: Jim & Mary Anne - Eastern Europe

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