This reporting period began with one of the most important events of the year for Kay, Book Club Christmas party.  As has become typical, when Book Club meets in Hot Springs Village, most of the ladies arrive a day early and spend the evening at Oaklawn, enjoying the games of chance—some more than others!  And then the big day arrives and they eat, drink, and exchange gifts; they are truly sisters from another mother. Jackie hosted this year’s Christmas Book Club meeting.

We wrapped up the remaining medical appointments for the year; I’ve been cancer free for 5 years, the cardiologist said he didn’t need to see me for another year, and Kay’s wrist has almost returned to normal from the tendonitis she’s suffered for several months—life’s good!

This time before Christmas also provided an opportunity to have breakfast with old friends, Ron and Ginger Hicks, and dinner with new friends, Mike and Susan Cigleman.

As the week before Christmas progressed, Kay had minor surgery for skin cancer, with accompanying bandages around her nose; people will think I’m an evil husband.

The Adams came to celebrate Christmas on December 23, spending the night.  We had a great time with them;   made fried apricot pies for Karyn, her favorite, and Ridge and Aker were full of life, having a great time at KK and DDs.  Santa called Ridge, and Mrs. Claus informed him that he made the “nice” list.  

He fist pumped at the news, as there was some doubt after the previous few days!  Watching his reaction was priceless.  On Christmas Eve we celebrated gift giving with a brunch and gift opening including Karyn, Matt, Ridge, and Aker, and Ron, Cheryl, and Kaden.  It was delightful!  We spent a quiet Christmas Eve afternoon, and enjoyed a packed Carols and Candlelight ceremony at church. 

We awoke early Christmas morning and made the trip to Memphis to celebrate gift opening with Jenny, Harper, and Brian.  And then, Jenny prepared a great dinner for us all, including her mother and her mother’s husband.  A good time was had by all.  We drove back to Hot Springs Village, took it easy for the evening, and said goodbye to another holiday, at least at home this time, our first in 4 years.

The holiday season is in full swing in Hot Springs Village, with musical performances seemingly every night.  And, as the year draws to a close, semi-annual medical appointments abound.  In between are social events for Kay and golf for Donald, weather permitting.  Speaking of weather, temperatures have been above normal for much of early December, with rain scattered every few days.

We began the month taking care of of Ridge and Aker for a couple of days while their parents were working out of town—not sure how young working families do it these days—returning to the Village during the daytime for Kay’s initiation into P.E.O. (Philanthropic Educational Organization) an organization whose mission is the furtherance of education for women.  We returned to north Arkansas early in the month for semi-annual dentist visits, having lunch with former neighbors and good friends, Wayne and Loretta, along the way.  Kay returned to central Arkansas to baby-sit Aker, away from school for a few days because of an illness.  Sandwiched in between all these activities, she attended numerous luncheons and other social activities—she’s obviously the social butterfly of the family—while I played an occasional round of golf.  I even dug the bicycles out for cleaning and lubricating, and managed a ride or two.  The hills here in the Village kicked butt and tested lungs and legs, making for short rides.

This is our first Christmas season at home since 2011, and Kay has done a super job decorating the house (photos in next week’s blog).  She has wrapped seemingly tons of presents, so there are lots of packages under the tree.  It will be fun watching Ridge and Harper open presents this year.  We had looked forward to baking, but we don’t need the empty calories and there is no one to give the food too as our neighbors are in similar eating straits—what a shame.

The suet feeders hanging off the deck are attracting a few birds, and along with Lake Estrella behind the house, provide some decent photo opportunities for the usual array of suspects:  Eastern Bluebirds, Carolina Chickadees, Tufted Titmice, Carolina Wrens, Crows, White-breasted Nuthatches, Red-bellied and Downy Woodpeckers, Mallards, and Buffleheads.  Our first Yellow-rumped Warbler appeared at the sunroom window on December 14, but as typical with warblers, didn’t stay in enough for a photo.

Notable among the various Christmas musical performances in the Village were the HSV Mens’ Chorus/P.E.O. Singers and the cantata at our church.The Village Men’s Chorus is the first musical group to be formed in the Village, 1971, and currently has 35 members.  The P.E.O. Singers is made up of members from the 6 chapters of P.E.O. in the Village.  The Christmas cantata at Christ of the Hills United Methodist Church was the best we’ve ever attended.  The choir was comprised of 60+ members and was complemented by a 17 piece orchestra.  Despite some songs having ranges difficult for professional singers, the choir handled them well.  And the symphony added a huge value to the performance.  Well done!

With respect to medical appointments, we’ve had more medical-related visits since living in the Village than at any other similar time in our marriage—wonder if it is something in the water!  Actually, several of them were “new” patient visits, and others simply because we’re aging; no one told us it was going to be like this.

One other item worth mentioning is that we’re going to have new neighbors.  The lot next door, across the common area/boat launch, has been cleared and the footings were placed.  The house will go up fast.

The Apple Store in Little Rock made short work of replacing the hard drive in the MacBook, but I did lose some music because of a failure to frequently backup iTunes—lesson learned, and lost a lot of financial data.  Apple allows the hard drive to be partitioned to run Windows, and I had done that in order to run Quicken.  Kay and I have all of our non-cash transactions recorded via Quicken back to when we first married.  As it so happens, when I ran a “complete” backup for the MacBook Pro, it only ran the “complete” backup for the MacBook side of the computer.  Consequently, all the data on the Windows side of the hard drive was lost.  Our most recent backup of Quicken was June 2013.  We opted not to partition the new hard drive, meaning that we had to acquire new Apple OS based personal financial software.  After loading iBooks 5 and populating the accounts, it crashed twice, resulting in a reboot.  I finally acquiesced and bought Quicken 2016 for Mac, and spent from the better part of 3 days populating accounts via recovering data from financial institutions’ download sites and hard copies, finally accepting that there were going to be gaps—hard for an OCD personality type—and entered a one-line item adjustment for a couple of credit card accounts.  Anyway, bottomline is that we are close to being back “whole”.  And the weather cooperated by being rainy and cold, foreclosing outdoor activities.
The cold weather brought new ducks to the lake behind the house and lots of birds to the suet feeders hanging off the deck rail including Eastern Bluebirds, Carolina Chickadees, Tufted Titmice, Carolina Wrens, Crows, White-breasted Nuthatches, and Red-bellied and Downy Woodpeckers; ducks included Mallards, American Coots, Buffleheads, and some I’ve yet to identify.  Squirrels are still a nuisance, but almost tolerable.




With the approaching holiday season, Hot Springs Village abounds with activities.  Early in the month, we saw The Hit Men Live, former performers with Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, Tommy James and the Shondells, The Critters, Cat Stevens, Carly Simon, Jim Croce, Barry Manilow, and Elton John and Kiki Dee—wow, were they awesome, with old women and men dancing in the isles!  We also saw the Village Big Band perform to open Garvin Gardens Christmas lights, and the lights along the 1+ mile trail were outstanding.  There are several other concerts scheduled between this writing and Christmas.
Golf has slowed considerably with the combination of almost 10 inches of rain, and then cold weather with some sub-freezing temperatures.  With relatively dry weather I played on Wednesday before Thanksgiving, joined by good friend, Jim Morris.  The fairways were green, but by Saturday they had all gone into dormancy, perhaps helped with the addition of another 5+ inches of rain right after Thanksgiving.

We opted to remain in Arkansas through December of this year in order to celebrate the holidays with family in the new house.  In that regard, we hosted Jenny, Harper, and Brian on Wednesday and Thursday nights,  and on Thanksgiving, enjoyed a brief visit from Karyn, Ridge, Aker, and Matt, including a great dinner for the family.  For me, particularly, it was very gratifying to have the kids and grandkids interact, and particularly to watch Ridge and Harper play outside.  In addition, Kay set up a tree in the sunroom just for them and had a box of ornaments for them to place on the tree—awesome—and we couldn’t be more blessed!  We are so blessed that in our blended family, Ron, Karyn, and Jenny, and their respective spouses are really good parents.  Praise the Lord.  With this being Ron and Cheryl’s first Thanksgiving as husband and wife, they opted to have Thanksgiving with their blended family.  We visited them on Saturday, especially to see Kayden, home from college for the long weekend.

Kay really got serious about Christmas decorating on Friday evening and Saturday despite the steady rain which continued through Sunday, keeping us indoors.

With Kay’s help in the glazing department, I made apricot fried pies Sunday afternoon, using dried fruit no less.  Though I only took a bite or two, they were pretty awesome.  A good way to end the month.

The last half of October was quite busy for us.  Kay has begun playing bridge once a month with a group of ladies, and mid-October was their playing date.  She really enjoyed the game, and as always, came out on top.

Continuing our family-filled week, we drove to Bryant on October 17 to visit with Kaden a day after his 20th birthday; he was home for fall break from college.  And then that evening, we attended a marriage celebration in Little Rock; it was at the Crowne Plaza in west Little Rock, and the food was fabulous.  Our final birthday of the month was Ridge’s; we returned back to central Arkansas for his 4th birthday party a few days early.  No more birthdays this month.
October 21, while Kay was at Bookclub, Jerry and Karen Smith, birding friends from Rio Grande Valley, stopped over for a few days on their way to the Valley from Wisconsin.  We had a great visit, and enjoyed showing them Hot Springs Village, Hot Springs, and the mineral mines west of the Village.  They invested in the area by visiting Oaklawn and Jerry found some coins at a local shop to add to his collection.
Upon checking on the motorhome, we were advised that the dash air conditioner had a leak and that it would require about $2,000 parts and labor to repair it.  I called good friend and former neighbor Wayne, and he volunteered to repair it this coming spring.  We sure miss him and Loretta, one of our few big-time regrets of leaving north Arkansas.  He was always available to help me with mechanical repairs, etc.

On October 23, we had our first substantial rain since early July.  Kay, Jerry, Karen, and I attended a fantastic concert at the Woodlands Auditorium. Ricky Skaggs and his 6 piece band, Kentucky Thunder, put on a really good concert.  Of course, he has won 14 Grammy awards.  The following morning, Jerry and Karen departed for the RGV,.  We had a really good visit, and look forward to seeing them in January.  Kay used the afternoon for a long shopping trip, and the rain continued.
The last Sunday of the month, we tried the new service—The Gathering—at Christ of the Hills United Methodist Church and really enjoyed the music and the preaching.  The service was rough around the edges, but spirit-filled.  Rain continued throughout the day.
Late in the month, I had yet another spinal injection, the third.  This time, I took it easy that afternoon.   Again, rain continued.
We picked up the motorhome from Russellville on October 27, almost 3 weeks after it was towed there for repair.  It was good to get it home, and in our driveway, though the drive back was a bit cautious wondering whether or not the brakes would work.  It barely fit on the driveway, with a couple feet to spare.  Rain continued.  With the motorhome back, we took advantage of a break in the rain, and winterized it for the first time since its first winter in 2011—we have been in the Rio Grande Valley every year before the first hard freeze, and didn’t return until the chances of freezing weather were slim.  We also discovered that the “house” batteries were dead, so we made a quick trip to Sam’s Club to get new batteries, and had them installed just after lunch.  After finishing with the motorhome, we hung suet from the deck bird feeding stations, and the squirrels immediately “found” them, but so did a few Carolina Chickadees and Tufted Titmice.  And then, it began raining, very hard, again.
Late in the month, Kay accompanied other women from church to the Holiday House in Little Rock, but only purchased a gift or two for Ridge and Harper.  After all the hoopla from the previous 4 weeks, life it beginning to return to “normal” for us.
Normalcy lasted only a day or two; on October 30, the University of South Alabama women’s golf team arrived in the Village to play in the Diamante Classic, and we hosted the team’s graduate assistant.  Members of the team are staying with host families in our neighborhood, and there are events planned each evening of the tournament.

Maybe things will settle down next month.  Yeah, sure!

The month of October began with warm temperatures.  In an attempt to get to know neighbors better, we “hosted” an happy hour at the ramp next door to the house, and had several neighbors show up.  Seemed like everyone had a good time.  Perhaps this is something we can continue when weather and schedules allow. 

September 23 through October 21 is birthday month for our family, beginning with Kay on September 23, Karyn on October 6, Jenny on October 13, Kayden on October 16, and Ridge on October 21—whew!

In early October, I had a second spinal injection, and followed up with high dose flue and pneumonia injections—not a fun day—and I overdid it as usual, resulting in “quiet” time for the next few days.  And then, remember the motorhome issue with the brakes?  We finally made arrangements to have it towed to the nearest Ford, and the humongous tow truck hauled it away on October 7.  The next day, I was fitted for a new CPAP mask.

Ridge and baby sister Aker visited us for an overnight stay early in the month.  We sure enjoy them, and getting on the floor to play is a piece of cake; it is the getting up that is becoming harder and harder!

On October 13 we traveled to Memphis to celebrate Jenny’s birthday, and of course, visit with Harper.  She was quite animated, and her vocabulary is increasing everyday.  

While there, we went to Costco to shop and have my hearing aids adjusted, and lo and behold if the guy didn’t change receivers, and completely screw up my ability to hear with the hearing aids.  I kept telling him that I couldn’t hear out of my left ear, but he seemed not to hear me.  We will wait until we get back in the Rio GrandeValley and get them re-adjusted.

When we last posted, we were spending our last evening in Prague, Czech Republic.  The plane was delayed in arriving and leaving Prague for the US, and to make a long story short, we ended up spending the night in New York City, courtesy of Delta Airlines.  Suffice to say, they are not even close to being our favorite company, and we will look for other airlines in the future.  We arrived home Tuesday, a few hours later than originally planned, tired from the air travel and lack of sleep in New York.  And, on Wednesday, we quietly celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary.  We had house guests—Jenny, Harper, Brian, and Brian’s parents—over Labor Day weekend, but we were poor hosts, too tired to do much of anything except cook and do dishes.  Anyway, they all seemed to have a good time, but we missed getting to spend quality time with Harper.  On Sunday, Karyn, Ridge, Aker, and Matt came for lunch, and we had all the little ones together for the first time in a couple of years.  How good is that!  The rest of the month sort of got away from us as we settled into a non-routine routine engaging in some of the many social activities in the Village, catching up with old friends, attending a myriad of medical appointments, and taking care of personal business.

We did have a bit of a harrowing experience while “exercising” the motorhome.  After filling up with gasoline at the Walmart on the west side of the Village, we began smelling something burning, like electrical wires, clutch, or brakes near the RV storage facility.  We stopped the motorhome outside the storage building, and noted smoke coming from the front passenger wheel.  Upon further examination, the bottom part of the wheel was glowing red and a small flame was observed.  I put out the fire, and felt the other front wheel, and it too was very hot and smoking.  We backed the motorhome back into its space, and allowed the wheels to cool.  Because the chassis is a Ford, I phoned their motorhome number, relayed the story, and will now make arrangements to have it towed to the nearest dealer with a lift large enough to handle a 35 foot, 24,000 pound motorhome.  Ain’t life fun?  Harry is right in that the more toys one has, the more work there is to do!

The Czech Republic is another landlocked country in Central Europe, bordered by Germany, Slovakia, Austria, and Poland. It was part of Czechoslovakia from 1918 following the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the end of WW I.  It was occupied by Germany during WW II, and liberated in 1945 by U.S. and Russian forces.  Shortly thereafter, Czechoslovakia became a Communist party state, and after an uprising in 1968, was occupied by the Soviet Union until the collapse of the Communist bloc in 1989.  In 1993, it peacefully dissolved into the Czech Republic and Slovakia, though citizens were never given an opportunity to vote.  Though democratic only 26 years, the Czech Republic with a population over 10.5 million people is significantly developed with a high income economy, and high living standards.  I would be remiss not to mention the murder of about 80% of the Jews living in what is now the Czech Republic in Nazi death camps.  Many of the remaining moved away, and only about 5,000 pa what was once a population of over 100,000.  I am afraid that neither our kids nor grand kids will know or understand the horrors of the Nazis or of the KGB of the Communist bloc (wasn’t Putin a high ranking KGB official); our guides in Slovakia, Hungary, and the Czech Republic—all women—made it abundantly clear to us.

Prague is the capital of the Czech Republic.  It has a population of about 1.25 million people, and has the lowest unemployment rate in the European Union.  It perhaps is, and has been for 1100 years, the economic, cultural, and political center of Central Europe. At one time it was the home of two Holy Roman Emperors, and thus the capital of the Holy Roman Empire. Prague survived much of the destruction and devastation experienced in other European cities, so many of their historic structures remain.  Consequently, its large historic center was named an UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992.

Meeting  Sue and Chuck in the lobby after our arrival in Prague Friday afternoon, we all walked to the “new” town square.  It was a lively, crowded place filled with people, street musicians, sidewalk coffee houses and cafes, and even a protest march.  We enjoyed good Czech beer at one of the beer houses, and Kay and Sue each had a great Czech sausage with mustard, onions, and kraut from one of the sidewalk vendors.

After an unpleasant breakfast at the hotel—both the food, including scrambled eggs and sausage, and coffee were cool—we joined other Viking customers for a 4-1/2 hour walk/bus tour of Prague. We walked through the Old Town Square, Prague Astronomical Clock, Jewish Quarters and Old Jewish Cemetery, across the Charles Bridge to the Lennon Wall where a bus took us past the largest arena in the world seating over 250,000 people to the inner courtyards of Prague Castle where we briefly toured the inside of St. Vitus Cathedral.  Though not empty, the streets of the city were much less crowded than they were as the day wore on.  In fact, the inner courtyards of Prague Castle were “packed”.  Our guide was the best yet; she was knowledgeable and articulate, and the pace of the tour was perfect, even timing the chimes of the astronomical clock correctly.  She had visited the US many times, guided for the U.S. Embassy, and spoke first hand of living under communist oppression.

We rested the remainder of the afternoon before meeting Sue and Chuck for a walk to Old Town Square where we ate a sausage prepared in one of the many outdoor kitchens lining the streets.  We then walked to the New Town Square, enjoying street musicians and other sights and sounds along the way.

Sunday was a free day, and allowed for a lazy morning.  Once again, breakfast at the hotel was less than satisfactory.  Along with Sue and Chuck, we strolled the streets back to New Town Square with Kay and Sue shopping along the way, then to Old Town Square, and then back New Town Square for a Czech sausage on a bun with catsup, mustard, kraut, and onions.  Segways are everywhere, and a nuisance.  Worn out, we returned to the hotel for rest and relaxation.

People watching was a hoot.  Prague is a very cosmopolitan city, filled with people from every corner of the globe.  Here, we saw more Asians and more Muslims than anywhere on the trip.  Everywhere we went we saw hordes of young people.  In Prague, more than any other city we visited, a high “jiggle” factor was observed.  It seems like the women, both young and old alike, wear bras that provide little support!  And no slips or lined garments appear to be worn as one can’t help but notice scanty panty lines under the tight skirts, pants, and shorts!  Perhaps it’s the close proximity to Paris, but we have not seen this elsewhere.  And for you women, there are more than a few tall, lean, and strong looking young Czech men roaming the streets.  All looked like college basketball players, but the ones I spoke with preferred boxing.

KAY’S TAKE:   Friday evening we walked a few blocks from our hotel to the new city center.  Lots of shops, lots of outdoor cafes/beer gardens.  We strolled several blocks, taking in the sites, window shopping, etc.  then we saw our friends, Chuck & Sue.  We sat with them and drank Czech beer and ate a Czech sausage.  The people watching was great.  

Saturday morning we took Viking’s Prague city tour and it was fantastic!  What an incredible old city.  Beautiful structures everywhere you turned.  I felt like I had been transported back to the 1500’s.  It’s an old city preserved but repurposed and enjoyed by this century.  The crowds can be somewhat overwhelming sometimes.  We walked for almost 4 hours – saw the astronomical clock (amazing) the Jewish Pogram & cemetery, many cathedrals, the opera hall, the old new synagogue, the Charles Bridge, and the Prague castle and St. Vitus’ Cathedral.  Our guide, shown below on the left, was perhaps the most interesting and knowledgeable yet.  Fantastic!  She often guides for the U.S. embassy. 

We did the same Saturday night except in the old town market. 

Sunday morning we slept a little later and again tried the breakfast buffet.  I did find the omelet station.  Mine was as bland as can be imagined even though I asked for tomatoes, mushrooms, onions, & cheese.  It tasted more like an egg white omelet or perhaps an egg from an anemic chicken.  Coffee was warm, but again the cappuccino was Luke warm.  A mediocre buffet offering, to be sure.  We walked the old town again with the Mercers, shared several dark beers, shopped or mostly window shopped, and ate a Czech sausage roll.  The day was sunny and quite warm – I suspect near 90*.  There were three street musicians dressed up in leather pants, shirtless, singing and playing ancient looking pipes.  They looked and sounded like ancient Moguls or something.  Very good and entertaining.  A festival for children was going on near the new square.  School is starting this week, so this is the last weekend of their summer holiday.  Lots of families out today.  Many Czech women, young and older, don’t appear to wear bras.  More bouncing than we normally see.  LOL.   Amazingly, we see the exterior of a large grand old building and it’s been repurposed inside into many modern, chic, upscale shops, as in an inside mall.  There are dozens in walking distance of us.  Oh, yes, we saw a super market sign a block from us and at first we couldn’t find it.  Donald noticed a directional sign pointing down to the subway.  That’s where the grocery store was!  Get off the subway and stop for groceries on your way home!  Who knew?

These Europeans love their outdoor bistros, patios, and beer gardens.  They don’t appear to have air conditioning in many of the restaurants, and at least outside they have the chance of a breeze.  People watching is a major activity.  There are people here from countries all over the world.  It’s a microcosm – perhaps all great cities are.  Any way, we have loved Prague!  Can’t imagine how awful it must have been for them under communist rule; but they’ve been independent for 25 years now and their economy appears to be doing quiet well.  And Tourism isn’t in the top three!  

Well, it’s our last night in Europe.  We fly out around noon tomorrow (August 31), fly to JFK, then Atlanta, then LR.  We get in very late – we’re staying in a hotel near the airport and then good friend Pam will transport us home.  Tired puppies, I’m sure!  It’s been a trip of a lifetime.

KAY’s TAKE:  Because Europe had a mild winter (not much snow ) and a warmer than usual summer, the rivers are lower and apparently Viking and other river cruise lines have had to cancel trips.  Some they have attempted but had to switch river ships & passengers.  We, however, were blessed with some rain that helped our ship travel the entire 1100 miles from Amsterdam to Budapest.  We were spoiled as much as possible by Viking.  It was wonderful.  The food was good and we ate too much, but it wasn’t exceptional.  However, our wait staff was great!  We loved Dasan (Serbian) and Andrea (Slavakian).  They were the best in the entire dining room.

The lunches, especially, were fairly bland.  We enjoyed free wine & beer at any meal.  Which was great!  All excursions were great except one – an extra one that we chose in lieu of the regular city tour.  All of the regular excursions were included in the price of the cruise.  We really had some fabulous guides who spoke excellent English, were very knowledgeable and interesting.  The only optional excursion that I wish we had done was the concert in Vienna.  It cost extra.  Everyone said it was wonderful.  It’s a good thing I did not buy a ticket because I got food poisoning the day before and I didn’t feel like going for sure.  Can’t remember throwing up that hard ever – dry heaved for several hours later.   One thing about the ship that was especially great, is they have many 110 outlets in the guest cabins.  We were able to charge 2 iPhones, 2 iPads, and Donald could use his cpap machine all without using a converter.  Same for my curling iron.  Did I mention that the bathroom tile floors were heated?  We have those at home also.  Viking just did a lot of things on the ship and the excursions that made the trip so great.

I didn’t bring enough clothes.  I packed and then took about half out.  A mistake.  I needed 6-8 (only brought 3 ss/4ls) more short sleeve tops, 2-3 jackets/sweaters (only took 1), a pair of jeans (took 4 capris & 2 slacks), 3 more pair of shorts (only took 1), and 2-3 more casual dressy outfits for dinner meals.  She also should have brought some costume jewelry and scarves to dress up or change some inter matching outfits.  Lesson learned!  Also could have used a pair of sandals.  Although tennis shoes were necessary for walking during the city tours because of all the cobblestone streets.

DONALD’S TAKE:  Everything about Viking’s Grand European Tour was classy from the moment we boarded until we walked the gangplank leaving.  Much of my opinion regarding life aboard the Viking Gefjon was expressed in an earlier blog entry.  The Catepillar engines, perhaps designed and built under the direction of good friend Jim Passe, hummed quietly as they powered the long boat 1100 miles through Europe.

I, too, did not bring enough clothes.  In hindsight, I would have brought more shorts as they were allowed everywhere we went, including cathedrals, and more golf shirts, several pair of ankle socks (I borrowed a pair from Kay and wore them the whole trip); this would have prevented daily washing.  An additional pair of casual dress slacks and a sports coat would have also been welcomed.   And, I would have used the boat’s laundry service more.  I didn’t need the extra big camera and lens, though a really good small camera would have been welcomed as the crowds were overwhelming.  Only one credit card was needed, and it should be a VISA or MasterCard.  I should have made a paper copy of our passports to carry as we were strongly  discouraged from carrying the real thing; they remained in the room’s safe.  We used Euros the entire trip, and found $500 to be more than sufficient, though we didn’t buy souvenirs, etc. 

All the onboard lectures, special music, and events were a “must see”; I missed a couple and regret it.  And, we should have bought the inexpensive (about 6€) river map at the start of the trip rather than the middle.

Germany was my favorite country, perhaps because of all the bike trails along their rivers; we saw bicycles everywhere on the trip.

Germany’s small villages were among our favorite stops.  We were in more cathedrals and Catholic churches than most practicing US Catholics visit in a lifetime.  I was overwhelmed by the opulence of these churches and the many palaces we toured. Viewing the scenic countryside from the sun deck was a welcome change.  I wish we could have spent more time in Vienna–one day was not enough–and Bratislava did nothing for me.

English was spoken practically everywhere, and we found the people of the various countries to be very friendly.  Despite what one hears from biased media in the US, we are liked and appreciated overseas, at least in the countries visited, as is President Obama (not a political statement, but an observation).  Also, unlike the U.S., most “public” restrooms, including those in shops and cafes, require a fee of 0.5€ (50 cents), or a voucher showing a purchase.  Most are clean and free of undesirables.

While I would not do this particular trip again–been there and done that–I would definitely sail with Viking, and hope we can tour Europe many more times.

This morning we said goodbye to new friends Sid and Karen and to the wonderful Viking Gefjon staff; meeting and visiting with Sid and Karen was a highlight of the trip.
We boarded a bus for an almost 8-hour ride to Prague.  The bus was comfortable enough, hut the tour guide and two bus drivers talked constantly, and proved quite annoying, as we were provided very little information about places along the route.  Also, the “rest” stop was at a service station, and 7 other tour buses stopped as well–talk about crowded conditions!  And, lunch (on our own unbeknownst to us, was at another service station ill prepared for the crowd.  We had chicken schnitzel and chips, the only food we recognized.  Again, our guide was of little assistance.  As we drove through Hungary, Slavakia, and the Czech Republic, we were struck by the occasional conglomerates of very plain “faceless” high rise apartments dotting the otherwise mostly rural countryside.  It was a side of Slavakia, and Bratislava in particular, of which we had not been informed, perhaps unintentionally, when the Viking Gefjon stopped there earlier in the week.  The seemingly endless rolling hills of sunflower fields, with occasional corn fields scattered about, reminded us of South Dakota.  And, as we rode further north in the Czech Republic, “deer” stands abounded, and they were exactly like those familiar to us in Arkansas.
We arrived at our hotel in Prague, and thankfully were the first to check-in.  Our room, with two 3/4 beds, was quite spacious, except for the bathroom, which was handicap enabled; the bathroom itself was large but the shower was minuscule, particularly for a big ol’ boy like me.