OUR RIVER TRIPS IN EASTERN EUROPE

Blog 24 Eastern Europe

We are back from a month on two river cruises in Eastern Europe (they prefer to call it Central Europe now). The first cruise was from Berlin to Prague on the Elbe and Moldau Rivers. Then we took a train to Vienna and the second cruise was from Vienna to Bucharest. It was a very interesting trip and we learned a lot about political and economic issues of these countries: Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, Czech, Slovakia, Serbia and Romania They are trying to bounce back from the drain on their nations when they were under Communist rule. The Communists took everything and gave nothing (except for excellent schooling according to some). There is great unemployment, massive graffiti and abandoned factories everywhere.

The highlights of the first cruise were: Wittenberg (site of Luther’s edicts that divided the Catholic Church), cruising the canals of the Worlitz gardens near Dessau, Bad Schandau with elegant cliffs on the Elbe River and the fascinating city of Prague that had virtually no damage to its historic building during the war.

The second cruise, on the Danube, highlights were: lunch at a peasant farm in Serbia, the dam and high cliffs at the Iron Gates, going to a Hungarian ranch to watch the cowboys, and the rebuilt Dresden cathedral that was recently rededicated. Lovern’s daughter Peggy was with us and that added another dimension of fun.

Now we are headed to Liberty Harbor RV Park on the Hudson River directly across from Manhattan. A ferry is right at the park that goes to Manhattan. We plan two weeks of touring that include productions of “Spamalot” (musical version of Monty Python and the Holy Grail), “The Lion King”, and the opera “Aida”. We are looking forward to it.

From New York we will travel slowly west towards Arizona and will probably stay there for a few months. Lovern needs rotator cuff surgery.