Good riddance to Memphis in May!

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Whew! After weeks of tornado warnings, floods, nail biting late night NBA Grizzlie games, and President Obama's visit to give the graduation address to the 155 African -American students at Booker T. Washington High School it is finally June. I could do with a little less excitement.

June 3rd I am out of here! For several years my travel companion,Val, ( from New orleans) and I have talked about trying a river cruise. It is part of our plan to be able to continue to travel as we get older and older. So this is Plan B going into effect for the first time. We chose a float down the Danube with Grand Circle, a company we have both traveled with many times. All together now let's hum the waltz that one learned when a beginning piano student. One of the best things is we fly directly from Memphis to Amsterdan. Yeah!!! No messy transfers in NY, Chicago or Atlanta. From Amsterdam we fly into Romania. Yes, that Romania- can anyone spell Transylvania? Oh, it gets better. The next stop is Bulgaria, followed by stops in Serbia, Croatia, and finally ending the cruise with several days in Budapest, Hungary.

I know what you are thinking - that I must have lost my mind. While it is true that none of these places were on my 'bucket' list, the whole itinerary (and the good deal) were enough to reel me in. The truth is that it gets harder and harder the older one gets to attempt to do multi- country tours. This seemed like an ideal way to do it and more fun than a bus especially since we only have to unpack once and the ship is our hotel the entire time. Plus, we will see if we can stand being on the same ship with 115 other people for 12 days. Neither Val nor I care for large cruise ships with over 1,000 passengers. But we have loved the smaller ones - the Chilean glaciers, the Nile, and the Alaska ferry. So keeping an open mind and going with the motto "how bad could it be?" we booked the trip.

But most of you who know our travels know that we always like to extend our trips and spend time by ourselves wandering around, sitting in parks, visiting markets, observing the everyday street scenes soooooooooooooooo we are first doing a 5 day extension in Prague ( with Grand Circle). I have been there twice before. The first time was in 1991, when it was just emerging from its shell as a former pawn of the USSR. It was definitely not ready for prime time. Although the city was beautiful ( it was never bombed during WWll) there wasn't one coffee shop or sidewalk cafe or place to sit to rest sore feet and aching legs ( the city is built on a series of steep hills so there is a LOT of walking). The next visit was in 1995 and it was a completely different vibe- sort of like Oz after Dorothy left Kansas. Places had been painted, more shops and restaruants had opened and students were swarming all over the place. It was full of life. I know it has come a long way since then and is top on many tourists list so we decided to spend some time there on our own.

After we bid good-by to Grand Circle we will take a bus or train to Dresden, Germany for 3 nights. Why Dresden? My son, who spent several years in Germany and now teaches German, told me if I was that close to Prague ( about a 45 minute train ride) then I had to go. He considers it to be the most beautiful city in Germany. That is saying some since I thought Hamburg, Lubeck and Berlin were all pretty fantastic. Apparently, the USSR spent no money repairing the damage done by the bombings of WWll. But after Germany was reunified in 1989 the government poured tons of money into the city to rebuild it and restore it to its former beauty. Watch for the blogs and see if it lives up his recommendation. Then it is back to Prague for 6 more days of going at our own pace.

We will return home on June 28 with another sweet direct flight from Amsterdam into Memphis.

A gentle note- if any of you do not want to get the blog anymore please let me know and I will delete you or if you have anyone you would like me to add then send their address to me.

I have no idea what the internet services will be and if I will even be able to find a place to send stuff. So you might get nothing and then get 3 or 4 posts at the same time. I know you will understand.

I wish I knew at least one or two words in any of the languages where we will be visiting but nada.

Carolyn /Gunga

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