We set off for the zoo. Linda Psomas was the chauffeur and I was behind the GPS. It was supposed to take us 24 minutes. However, a few wrong turns, an illegal u turn, a disappearing GPS screen, and an unplanned stop at a storage unit extended our trip to almost an hour. I am happy to report that we finally got there safe and sound!
Linda Psomas, who adores tigers, wore her tiger shirt for good luck, but those big cats never came out of their den. We did get some great pictures of the Giant Pandas and saw lots and lots of other birds and animals. I had never seen a live kookaburra before. Of course I had to sing the kookaburra sits in the old gum tree song, but he was not impressed. Not even a chuckle from that bird!
Caught this big guy coming out from a refreshing swim.Posing nicely for a group picture!These two koalas were busy sleeping. How can they do that while hanging onto a tree branch?
The zoo is located in Balboa Park. This park was the site of two international expositions, one in 1915 and the other in 1935. Today it is a cultural and recreational center housing 15 museums and performing art venues. The 200 foot California Tower houses a 100 bell carillon that chimes every 15 minutes and reminded us of the Old Main bells from our Millersville days.
Fountain in Balboa ParkGardens and a reflecting pool in front of the Botanical BuildingArched walkway at the Casa del Pradia with its Spainish Colonial style architectureDori, Linda and Linda in front of the reflecting pool at the Botanical Building.
The pool and hot tub at our hotel provided some much need R&R after hiking all over the hilly paths at the zoo and the cobblestone pathways in Balboa Park. I felt every one of those 12,989 steps that were displayed on my Fit Bit! Although tiring, we made some awesome memories at two very unique places.
There was one event from yesterday that I neglected to share. Our first adventure was to see the Pacific. Unfortunately at times we get too carried away with taking pictures. See for yourself what can happen.
Linda engrossed in getting just the right picture!
This morning we headed to Old Town State Historic Park in the city. This is an area of the city where there are restored and reconstructed buildings that capture what San Diego was like from 1821-1872. It reminded me of the Mexican version of Williamsburg with a lot more shops than actual museums and period actors. We decided to take The Old Town Trolley to get an overview of the city first.
Dori and Linda knowing this will go better than yesterday’s wave experience.Looking back to the city from the San Diego -Coronado BridgeHotel del Coranado, aka The Del , is a beautiful Victorian hotel on the Coronado Island.Jacarando trees, the official tree of San Diego, are all over and were in full bloom.
We got to drive through Balboa Park, the Gaslamp Quarter, the Seaport Village and saw the USS Midway aircraft carrier, the San Diego-Coronado Bridge, the Navy yard, Little Italy, and Petco Park where the Padres play. Above are some of my favorite pictures from our tour.
Old Town Market was a shoppers’ delight. I am sure Tom and Frank would have hated this place. They’ll be happy to hear that we gave our credit cards a good workout !
Getting back to our hotel Linda Psomas’ diet coke, which she had saved in our rooms’ refrigerator acted like an erupting volcano. No soda for her!
What could be better than ending our day with a gorgeous sunset on the beach?
Spending time with the pandas is the plan for tomorrow!
After a hot breakfast at our hotel, we headed to the beach which was two blocks away. It was truly a site to behold and so different from our east coast beaches. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves. I can still hear the roar of the ocean when I look at them!
Beach near our hotel in La JollaJanet, Linda, & Linda – We made it!Sunbathing seals!
Next we headed to La Jolla Cove. We marveled at the ocean views, the spring flowers that covered the rocky cliffs along the coast, and of course the seals that pretty much ruled the La Jolla Cove.
Aren’t I cute?
Our next adventure took us to Mt. Soledad National Veterans Memorial Park. The cross was erected on Mt. Soledad in 1954 to honor the veterans of the Korean War.
In 2000, memorial walls were added. It is the only memorial in our country where a veteran’s family can honor their veteran with a
Here is a wall at the memorial.
plaque bearing the veteran’s picture and service information. Four presidents are among the honored here-Ford, Truman, Eisenhower, and Reagan. It was humbling to see. One was a Revolutionary war vet.
Torrey Pines State Preserve was established to protect Torrey Pines which are found only in this area and would have vanished if the land had not been preserved.
Close up of a Torrey Pine branch
The park had lots of hiking trails. We took the easier loop route and saw great views of Torrey pines, wild flowers, cactus, and awesome cliffs.
Torrey Pine trees near the visitor’s center
We headed to Del Mar for a late lunch and then returned to the beach at Torrey Pines. Walking along the ocean with red sandstone cliffs was a real treat. Lots of people were walking or jogging and a few brave souls were swimming. We got our toes wet, but did not venture any further. It was pretty cold with a strong undertow.
Cliffs at the Torrey Pines BeachAnother gorgeous ocean view
Heading back to our hotel, ready for some R&R, we were pleased at all we saw on our first day. Not bad for four fifty year olds ( well, we feel like that anyway) !
“What do you mean you haven’t used those $600 vouchers?” That is the question I posed to my three college friends last November when we were last together. We had all gotten vouchers after getting bumped on our flight home from Key West last April. They were good for up to a year of issuance. So after much consideration and a suggestion from Linda Psomas’ husband , Tom, we decided San Diego would be a great destination.
So here we are. Yesterday was our travel day. Coming from Dubois, Waynesboro, and Mt. Holly Springs near Carlisle, we met up and I drove us to Colonial Parking near the Philadelphia Airport for our 6 pm flight. Except for feeling like squashed sardines on the plane, everything went as planned and we arrived in San Diego last night around 9 pm local time.
My biggest fear was driving on the freeways here. Three of our foursome have agreed to be drivers. Last night was Linda Psomas’ turn. After fooling with the seat controls for a while and carefully documenting all the scrapes and dings on our rented Nissan Altima, we headed for our hotel. Not much traffic and we programmed the GPS to avoid freeways. We arrived at the Holiday Inn Express in La Jolla after 11pm. So far, so good. So ends our first day of our San Diego saga. Stay tuned for updates.
Before I write about our trip home, I want to add one humorous picture I forgot from yesterday. We came across this statue near Freedom Square. We had Terry and Frank pose with the statue. Thought you might enjoy seeing it.
Terry and a Frank were comparing their profiles to the statue’s. Malcolm was not in the running for this contest.
My phone went off at 6:00 am since we needed to be in our hotel lobby by 7:30 for our transfer to the Budapest airport. After I was ready, I heated a cup of coffee and ate the bun I had purchased the day before.
When Frank was ready, he sat down with a cup of coffee. First he ate his croissant, saving his strudel for last. Then I heard him exclaim, “Oh, this is horrible!” as he spit out his first bite of the alleged “strudel”. “Look, there’s a hot dog in here.” he said, showing me the offending brown circle within the dough. Heading straight for the trash can, he added “I’m not eating this.” Obviously, he had made a poor selection. I learned later that a similar scene had taken place in Malcolm and Sharon’s room. She, too, had chosen a plain roll.
After we checked out, Terry, Joyce, Sharon, Malcolm, Frank, and I waited a few minutes for our driver for our transfer to the airport. Here is Terry, our designated team leader, holding up the sign our driver had displayed as the driver and a bell boy loaded our suitcases into the van.
Our cheerful team leader, Terry
The rest of the day was long, but went smoothly. We flew to Paris and had a three-hour and forty minute layover before boarding our second flight to Philadelphia.
Our plane at the Paris Airport. Photo curtesy of paparazzi Joyce.The ladies keeping busy while waiting at the gate in Paris.
All went as scheduled. The flight from Paris to Philadelphia took about 8 hours. It was a long time to sit. I watched two movies and started a new book. We were served a dinner, several snacks, and even a Dixie cup of ice cream. This sure is different from domestic flights which only serve drinks and offer meals and snacks for purchase.
Our plane landed at 6:30 pm and we were home by 9:15. Since we lost six hours coming home, our bodies could feel the Budapest time of 3:15 am. It was a very long day!
Malcolm, Sharon, Terry and Joyce in the Colonial shuttle back to our parked cars. Tired, but almost home!
While Frank and I were both happy to be home, we saw and did so many interesting things and made some wonderful memories with our friends. Who knows where we’ll be headed next? I still have lots of ideas and places to go on my bucket list. But I’ll wait a little while before I suggest them to Frank!
Thanks for following along. I hope you enjoyed my first attempt at blogging. And yes, I went a whole twelve days without a mishap or trip to an emergency room. I’d say that was a sign of a terrific trip!
Joyce is kindly holding out the Hungarian flag at our hotel. I had forgotten to get one on the front of our ship.
Sadly, this morning we had to leave the Viking Prestige. Since we had done our own arrangements for our added on days, we had to get ourselves to our hotel, the InterContinental Budapest. It was very close to our ship so we walked with our suitcases in tow. Leaving our luggage at the hotel, we were ready to see a bit more of the city.
Sharon, Terry and I consulted our Budapest map to make our plan of attack. The St. Stephen’s Basilica was our first stop. This church was built from about 1875 to 1905. It was beautifully done in marble with lots of gold trim. There is a domed tower that you can go up, so Sharon, Malcolm, Frank, and I paid our 500 Ft. ($2.50 US), and up we went. The vIew overlooking the city was fantastic.
A mass was in progress during our visit. The organ music sounded rich and full in the huge cathedral.Here we are up in the tower. You can see the ferris wheel and Liberation Monument in the background, the small dark statue behind Frank’s ear to the left.
We we were surprised later to read in my tour book that the right hand of St. Stephan’s is in a case to the left of the alter. Evidently you can take a picture of it. We decided to forgo the opportunity.
Our next find was Freedom Square which has a memorial to all those who died in the Holocaust. There was a neat fountain of water. When you walked up to it, it would stop and you could enter the center. It was fun to try it out. There were also a lot of signs, flowers and items all around. It was in protest that not enough was being done to commemorate these victims.
The Holocaust Memorial in Freedom SquareMalcolm is standing inside the water fountain square. He was the first one to figure out that the fountains stopped when you were in front of it.
We also saw a big memorial to commemorate the Soviets who liberated Budapest from the Nazi Regime. Right across the street was the American Embassy. There was also a statue of Ronald Reagan who was involved with the negotiations that brought an end to the communist rule of Hungary in 1989.
Here we are standing with Ronald Reagan.This is the American Embassy which was completely fenced with security guards at the front gate.
After a morning of exploring we headed to a nearby shopping area whose streets were pedestrian walkways. It always gives your mind a mental workout when previewing menus. One of our dollars is equal to 200 florint. When you see 2,000 Ft. it equals $10.00, so that means a lot of dividing mentally. At first glance looking at 3,000 ft. for a hamburger and French fries can seem outlandish!
Sharon, Malcolm, Frank and I walked across the well known Chain Bridge which was right near our hotel. On the Buda side, we spied a deli and went in to search for breakfast the next morning before heading off to the airport. I got a plain bun, while Frank choose a chocolate croissant and a filled strudel. When coming back again, there were some great views of our ship.
The Viking Prestige
After our dinner we headed back to our hotel. It was the end of our trip and my body knew it! No bogging for me that night. I laid my head down on my pillow at 9:30 and slept soundly until my phone chimed at 6:00. An exhausting day indeed!
Here is a night view of Castle Hill, the Chain Bridge and some ship restaurants from our 9th floor river view window at the InterContinental.
Yet another city tour. Off on our Viking bus with our tour guide Otto. Our first stop was Heros Square where Otto explained Hungary’s history. For much of the time, their country has been ruled by others, from invaders, monarchies, to Austria and the Communists. As traveling so often does, it reminded me how lucky we are in the US.
Seven important leaders in Hungary’s history. The first was St. Stephan.Fishermen’s Bastion in the Castle areaThis is our view from our cabin window. We are docked right near the Parliment building and the Chain Bridge.
After lunch, we went on an option excursion to a horse farm about a half hour from the city. I think all of us were expecting some sort of rodeo. In reality it was more of a walk back in time to yesteryear in Hungary. Horseman were dressed in costumes of old and showed their skills with whips, archery, and racing. The emerald green fields were quite a contrast to the scenes of Budapest in the morning.
Terry, Sharon, Malcolm, Dori and Frank on our carriage ride around the farm.Horsemen showing their skills of holding a draft of beer while racing and keeping it from spilling. It actually was just Coke.The shoes were bronze. Someone added a flower.
When we got back to our boat, we walked along the Danube to the Holocaust Shoe Memorial along the river walk. This was to remember all of the Jews who were shot and fell into the Danube. A very poignant reminder.
We ended our cruise with our final supper. Judy and Lauren would be leaving early the next morning. We have one more day in Budapest before our fight home. An ending to a fun filled and adventuresome week.
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!
The boys holding fish fountain
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.
Ore ships’s musician, Angel
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.
The iconic Parliment building.This is the castle district in Buda
How do you see a city like Vienna in one day? I must say we did our best and I had no trouble falling asleep last night.
Today Wien, the German word for Vienna, is a modern city with about 1.7 million inhabitants. On our city tour in the morning, our guide pointed out many buildings of importance. The old moat to the town is now a street called the Ringstrasse and the old town is within that area. Here we saw the ornate buildings of the Imperial Palace, Hofurg Palace, which was home to the Hapsburgs from 1273 to 1918 when the royal family system was abolished. The president of Austria has his offices here.
The Hofburg Palace were the ruling Hapsburgs lived. During Empress Maria Theresa’s time this was the winter palace.This is where the Vienna Boy’s Choir practices.
They have to clean off the sides every 25 years to remove the darkness pollution so that is why one side has scaffolding.
In the afternoon we went to Schonbrunn Palace which was the summer palace of the Maria Theresa and the royal family. It was huge and we learned a lot about Empress Maria Theresa who ruled this area from 1740-1780. She had 16 children, which was a real feat in the 1700’s. Her youngest child. was Marie Antoinette who wound up at the guillotine in the French Revolution.
This is the Schonbrunn Palace. It was huge.
Joyce and I are in front of the huge gardens of the summer palace. They even had a zoo which is now the Vienna Zoo.
In the evening we went to a classical concert at the Hofburg Palace. It was
the Wien Hofburg Orchestra. I was worried that I would fall asleep but they made it light and humorous. The one percussionist whistled like a bird during one selection and even shot off blanks from a rifle and a pistol at just the right times. What a neat way to end our day in Vienna!
This is the ceremonial hall on the Hofburg Palace which is were the concert was held.Terry, Joyce, Frank and me waiting for the concert.
Melk? Monastery? Not another church? That what I was thinking as we started out on our tour to Melk this morning. But, I can only say, I did a 360 as soon as we arrived at the Abbey.
Melk is a small town along the Danube of about 5,000. It’s name of fame is its 900+ years old abbey which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
At first Melk Abbey was a royal palace but in 1089 in became a Benedictine monastery. After a fire destroyed the original one,the present abbey was rebuilt in the early 1700s in baroque style. It was beautiful, very big, and very ornate. Some of the rooms we visited were for visiting royalty like Emperess Maria Teresa. Today it is also a prestigious school with over 700 students as well as continuing as an abbey with black-robed Benedictine monks.
The Abbey Church was even more impressive then the abbey itself. There was so much gold in it with lots of windows near the dome which made the gold stand out even more.
There was also a garden next to the Abbey Church with a pavilion that was beautifully decorated in baroque style. It was a cafe.
This afternoon we cruised through the Wachau Valley from Melk to Durnstein which is noted for its picturesque ruined castles, medieval towns and terraced vineyards.
Everyone in our group was busy taking pictures and enjoying the sights except for Frank.
At four we arrived a Durnstein which is a small town of about 900 with beautiful old houses dating from the 1400 and 1500s. On top of the hill was the ruins of a castle in which Richard the Lionhearted was imprisoned in 1192. With Lauren leading the pack, Sharon, Malcolm, Judy, Frank and I treked to the top. The Danube takes a bend and it was neat to see it from this viewpoint. By the time I was done my fit bit showed over 13,700 steps. I was an over achiever today!
Our whole group lined up along a wall in Durnstein with the Danube behind us.Coming down was much easier. And yes we had to use our umbrellas again. But this time only for a little while.
Tonight we were treated to an Austrian themed dinner with a three piece Austrian polka band providing the proper atmosphere. The meal was a huge buffet with all kinds if Bavarian dishes. My favorites were the Austrian beer and a freshly baked soft pretzels.
You should have heard Terry and Frank singing along to the Beer Barrel Polka. Do you think a new Happy Dutchman duo will blossom from this exposure?
Linda Psomas, who adores tigers, wore her tiger shirt for good luck, but those big cats never came out of their den. We did get some great pictures of the Giant Pandas and saw lots and lots of other birds and animals. I had never seen a live kookaburra before. Of course I had to sing the kookaburra sits in the old gum tree song, but he was not impressed. Not even a chuckle from that bird!
