Random Shots From Our Days In Romania, Bulgaria, and Hungary

 We have been back home since last Wednesday and have recovered from our travels. The older we get, the more jet lag seems to impact us and so it took more than 2 days for our bodies to adjust to being back in the Pacific time zone. We so enjoyed our travels to Europe; but it is always good to be home. The laundry is done, the bills are paid, the house is bit of a mess as we prepare to leave for Southern California this weekend for a planned family vacation and to start the next adventure in our lives, becoming grandparents for the first time.
 I ended up with 581 pictures from our trip. These are some shots from where we were showing what we saw and the people with whom we saw it. As always, there were some pictures that elicited the "what was I thinking when I took this picture?" response, but some of them are good. I have tried to serve you up a small smorgasboard of our trip and hope you enjoy the pictures.
Art

Some Final Thoughts

As the sun sets on our final night in Budapest, some final thoughts for the blog. Are we pleased with this trip? Absolutely! Even though it did not go as planned, we ended up seeing places we would not have seen had we sailed as planned. Our three day road trip to Transylvania was a highlight. There was an all day optional trip to Bran Castle and Brasov as part of the pre-cruise itinerary; but it probably would have been in a big bus and that big bus would have needed to navigate its way along windy narrow mountain rides and the amount to be seen would have been minimal since the roundtrip on the bus would have been about 7 hours. Another huge plus was our tour guide in Romania, Sorin, who was a delight, as was his charming wife Florentina, who arranged all of of our tours and accommodations in Transylvania and who batted 1.000 with all of her arrangements. We enjoyed Sorin' s humor, knowledge of Romanian history, punctuality, and always making sure that we were all well taken care of. He was a real gem. We have added Budapest to our list of favorite cities in Europe along with Florence, Paris, and Prague. Everyone we know who has traveled to Budapest had told us it is beautiful and that we would love it. They were right on both counts. The city oozes with charm and captivated us from the moment we were driven into it. We would return in a heartbeat. We also are grateful that we made new friends with the Frosts, the Bianchis, and the Leightons. Chances are we would have met them on the cruise as the capacity of the MS Treasure is 118 passengers; but there is no guarantee we would have bonded as we did. We were forced together by circumstances beyond our control and we got along so well. It was a pleasure to travel with them and we wish all of them safety as they finish their journey and make their respective ways home. As for us we are looking forward to returning home since we will soon begin a new chapter in our lives by becoming first time grandparents. Our grandson, Dylan Jacob Stephenson, has been most cooperative and has decided not to make his appearance early before we get home. Thank you , Dylan. We have two alarms set and have a wake up call, all scheduled at 3 am so we can get to the airport for our 6:10 am departure for Frankfurt where we are scheduled to be on the ground for 1hour and 45 minutes minutes and then it's off to SFO and home. Travel is very broadening, and thanks to the amount of delicious bread I have consumed here and in Romania, the majority of the broadening appears to be be at my waistline. I hope you have enjoyed sharing our travels with us.

Winding Down

Our days in Budapest grow short and the time for us to return to America draws nigh. We have thoroughly enjoyed our time in Romania and Hungary. Budapest is truly a beautiful city and has something to offer people of all ages. We are glad our trip ended here rather than in Bucharest because Bucharest pales in comparison with Budapest. Today we had a tour of Buda and saw the Hospital in the Rock which, since it opened in 1944 has been a hospital and a nuclear bomb proof shelter. It is now a museum and the tour through it is fascinating. It is literally in rock and is about 15 meters (approximately 45 feet) beneath the surface. It was made from limestone caverns that were converted to an air raid shelter and hospital during the war. Budapest was heavily damaged during WWII and the hospital was extremely busy caring for civilians and soldiers both. After the war during the Soviet occupation, it was converted to a shelter for doctors and nurses who would shelter in there for three days after the blast and would then go out in protective clothing to find survivors, bring them to the hospital and try to decontaminate them. That use of it never occurred, but  for those of us who lived during the Cold War, the fear of and preparation for nuclear Armageddon makes perfect sense. With the end of the  Cold War, the hospital was shut down and was opened as a museum in 2007 or 2008. We also went to the Palace Hill from where it is possible to see a panoramic view of Budapest. The Buda side of Budapest is hilly while the Pest side is flat, so being perched on this vantage point affords excellent views and multiple photo ops. At the end of our tour, we bid farewell to the Bianchis and the  Frosts who fly to Prague tomorrow. Tomorrow it will be time to say adieu to Garry and Joy Leighton who will fly to London and from there to Iceland, then to America, and then home. They will have been gone for 40 days and will have circled the globe on this trip. Not too shabby for a man who is 80 years old and his wife who is likely in her north 70's. They are really a delightful couple who have traveled the globe and seen much. We are glad to have become their friends. We will have a very early call on Wednesday as our flight to Frankfurt departs at 6:15 which means we leave our hotel at 4 am. By the time we get home on Wednesday, it will be mid afternoon in California but around midnight for our bodies. Welcome to jet lag once again. I guess we should be thankful we did not take BART to the airport because that  would have lead to an extended stay camped out at the airport waiting to get to home sweet home.