This will be short. We are having much too much fun. We got into Bratislava, Slovakia around 2:00. We went with about 10 others to visit a Slovakian family in a village several miles out of town. It was fascinating, especially talking about their life before and after the communists. Anna makes pottery in the house and also works in a nursing home. Her husband works for Volkswagen. We then came back for dinner. I hate to sound like an advertisement for Viking but...

After breakfast we all loaded into 4 busses for a tour of the city. 1st stop was Hero's Square, honoring the heroes of Hungary's past. The communists tried to tear it down while they we in power but the people were able to resist it. From there we toured the city ending up at Buda Castle. We toured the castle area for a while and then went into the Matthias Church, a beautiful 700 year old Catholic Church. After seeing the church we had an hour for shopping, etc....

We got up this morning and took an hour walk before checking out. Our driver, Pulai, picked us up right on time at 11:00. He had his 8 year old son with him. He was cute but understandably quiet. Bonnie gave him some US coins and he seemed delighted. We got on the Viking Baldur and all we can say is WOW. Service, food (and beverages) exceed what we have experienced on other cruises. Then, talk about a small world. There are only about 200 on each ship. We started...

Our bags were waiting for us when we got up this morning - yea! We just got back from 6 hours of walking around Budapest. The trusty phone app says we walked 10.9 miles and I believe it. It was a beautiful sunny day and almost too warm. Our 1st stop was a huge 3 story market called the Great Market Hall with all kinds of fresh produce and local Hungarian crafts. We resisted buying anything and proceeded to walk across the Danube (actually we walked across a bridg...

We got to Budapest on time but our bags didn't. They are due to arrive tonight. Flights here were fine except the 3 hours of a screaming (not just crying) baby 3 rows behind us on the flight from Reno to Chicago. The taxi service we used worked great - he was waiting for us with a sign with our name. Got to the hotel around 2:00. We went for a walk and a couple of beers at a sidewalk café. Beer is cheap here - 2 large beers came to about $3.50US. After resti...