Novi Sad in the rain

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Greetings comrades.......................

We re this afternoon in Novi Sad which was so prominent in the Bosnian wars of 1989. It has been raining all day, just as it pretty much did yesterday in Belgrade. I don''t know why I haven't been to this part of Europe before, but it really is nice.................and now war free.

A couple days ago, we were supposed to enter the Iron Gates lock #1 at 3 AM. I awoke at 6 AM and saw out the window that we were in the lock. Thinking that if I dressed quikly, I could see us excit the lock. Well, it turns out that we were stuck in the lock......couldn't go forward cause the lock chamber could not fill cause the lock gate at the stern could not completly close!!! A minor 4 hour delay while the repair people were summoned and we were on our way to Belgrade.

Bulgaria was quite facinating, tho they have a way to go before even thinkinng of aplyng to the EU. We spent many many hours seeing nothing but forests on the Danube with an occasional abandoned factory. Getting to Belgrade was like entering western Europe. The country we once knew as Yugoslavia is long gone and Belgrade is now the capital of Serbiia. Until today, it was the apital of Serbia and Montenegro, but Montenegro declared its independence today so that really was the final end of Yugoslavia. We did see Tito's tomb and memorial and learned about how he had formed Yugoslavia in 1945....where it lasted until 1989. The history and politics of this part of the world is so complicated that it is difficult to keep track of everything.

Tomorrow we make a stop in a town in Croatia.............that makes 4 countries so far on this trip!!!! and each with its own money!!!!! Don't even think of trying to use US currency!!!
Then we will be in Budapest for a couple days where the cruise ends on the 8th and I go on to Slovakia....where hopefully, I'll fnd a hot spot so I can upload some pics.

Stay well.
Bob

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