Friday, August 15th, 2014
Slavia? Before this trip, I didn’t know there was a country called Slavia. In 1993′ they agreed to break away from the Czech Republic. Bratislavia is the capital city of this republic. Of course this small town had a castle. From the castle you could see three countries- Hungary, Austria and Slavakia.
There was a fountain in the town square dating from 1572. It had peeing boys, but when the town folks complained, the sculptor changed it to the boys holding fish whose mouths spewed water!
We set sail by noon on our way to Budapest. We sat on the Aquavit Lounge, which Is an open terrace on the front of the ship. It has a glass wall that feels like you are on the sun deck, but breaks the wind. It was fascinating to watch the ship go through a lock. The drop in water level was 60 some feet.
Also in the afternoon the chef gave a demonstration on how to make apple strudel. The key seemed to be getting the crust very thin and slicing the apples thin with a peeler. Of course we all got to sample the strudel. It was yummy, but who really needed more food? But what could we do? We didn’t want to disappoint the chef for all of his efforts!
Tonight was our Captain’s Dinner. All of our meals have been delicious with lots of choices. Our waiter Jonathan is really on top of everything right down to knowing what drinks to bring to each of us. It will be hard to go home again, as I will have to be both Chef Eric,Jonathan, and Lilliana our housekeeper all in one. Frank will be back filling the dishwasher too. We have been spoiled!
Tonight we spent time in the lounge listing to music from the piano player Angel. Joyce and I did the twist and I even got Frank to hit the dance floor on some slow ones! It has been so much fun to be with our group of eight.
Arriving at Budapest was one of the neatest experiences of our cruise. The buildings and bridges were all lite up. Almost all the passengers were on the sun deck snapping pictures. Our Program Director Daniel gave a running commentary as we went by the buildings and landmarks. The castle looked a little like Disney World’s. What a cool way to get our first glimpse of Budapest.
