Back home

 Although expected, it was hard to return to cold and dead gardens. The only bit of color are the winter pansies that a few had survived the summer heat. I returned to my usual routine of running and biking on alternate days  made difficult my the lingering symptoms of probable Covid  Finally 6 weeks later  I feel better 

I had wanted to travel in December but that was made impossible by jury duty and Maya duty

We had Thanksgiving here and will have Christmas. Met with the Moms a few times, continued my language lessons and decorated for Christmas. We also celebrated our 45 anniversary. Tempus fugit

New Xmas decoration

Light up day at Tessa’s school 

 6th grade choir  concert  all different stages of puberty Maya is quite behind

We had only one minor snow but a big storm starts tomorrow 

 

The big tree

Anniversary roses

Immature bird eating hawk

Another tree

Just a few months ago surrounded by lush gardens 

My friend flicker

Lens ball

Family room

Ann Arbor early morning as I had to appear for circuit court   I worried for 2 months about this as I have a guest next week  But I was in a pool for a boring but short civil case involving a disputed contract. Didn’t need me and I got a parking ticket for my efforts 

We went out to Depot town for our anniversary 

Took a jacuzzi hoping the warm moist air would break up my constant congestion. Instead I almost fainted 

Life on the boat

 It has been three weeks since we’ve returned and I’m still coughing. I feel OK during the day and still run and bike but night is awful with the coughing. What did I have? Probably Covid though I didn’t test until I got home and by then the test was negative. Early on the cruise we ate with a man sitting by himself. Was he alone? No his wife, very sick, was in their room. So either he was sick with no symptoms or about to get sick By the end, most people were hacking away. One of the sickest called a doctor in. allegedly tested negative for Covid. Unlike previous times, we didn’t have to prove we were negative to fly home though by then I felt fine

We met a lot of people and heard lots of interesting stories. I would forget their names which was embarrassing to me. We had lots of different companions 

I get up very early especially when I was the sickest getting hot liquids for my scratchy throat. There was always a coffee bar   I would play on my phone, catch up on things such as the election pleasantly surprised that there were less repulsives than predicted and that there wasn’t so much voter intimidation. Are they finally tired of Trump? Let’s hope

Steve would eventually join me. I would clean up for breakfast. All the coffee would give me heartburn and I was running out of short term relief. It is more than a month later and I still have heartburn. What is going on? Side effect of Covid? Gained too much weight?  Too much alcohol? I stopped drinking when I got back. Still heartburn. Cut back on food and maybe lost the cruise weight, still heartburn. When I was fat I did have heartburn but by the time I lost 20 pounds or so it was gone.  I don’t think I weigh nearly that much. I am taking Prilosec now every other day hoping when I am done with the crud, that will be gone too

We had gotten this drink package thrown in that we could drink anything we wanted. Now Steve hasn’t drank anything for for than 12 years. He decided he could drink on the ship but fortunately he didn’t go crazy. 

We would have a drink or two in the lounge watching the world go by

Since we were repeat customers as about half of the ship was, they had a special cocktail party for us and gave us their awful aquavit and a set of glasses

In the lounge they had Roger the singer from Sicily who for the first few days was so loud we had to sit far from him but eventually someone lowered his mic  One night they had a clarinet and piano concert. They actually were quite good. The other nights there were various contests and classes but after dinner, around 8 I needed sleep 

The Norwegians made a drink, put it in oak casks and shipped it south. No one would buy it so they brought it back. It tasted better now after being in the heat and the casks so long so now they ship it across the equator and back.   Still not to my tastes

Crab and avocado salad

A sample dinner menu in which they would try to have local specialties. There was another page that never changed including Norwegian salmon

German night. Lots of tortes. I went for the Esterhazy torte which I will try to make for my group

Always pretzels. But Americans at least the ones around here make them better

On our way home about to land in Amsterdam as the sun came up. We got up at 2:30 am to catch a 6:30 am flight from Budapest an awful airport. The Amsterdam airport is very nice but we spent too much time in lines and running across to the right terminal to enjoy it

Impressive head to this Nuremberg beer

Mango tart

The bar

Schipohl airport 

Budapest Redux

 I was less excited about seeing Budapest than the first time. It is run by a dictator who imposes his ‘Christian values’ upon every one. They call it a ‘family friendly ‘ country where you are encouraged to have as many kids as possible. If you have at least four, no income tax and lots of free family leave. Homosexuality is a crime. As they are part of the EU, much of their policies are not in alignment. Also they don’t use the euro so they can fleece tourists with absurd exchange rates so I wouldn’t buy anything there. And some venders go right in your face to market their wares. The German and Austrian goods seemed to be of much higher quality 

Last time we had a lying guide who told us outrageous stuff about their role in the extermination of the Jewish people. Budapest has the largest synagogue in Europe and had a huge Jewish population. But they had their own Iron Cross who might not had been as efficient as the Nazis but still killed quite a bit. This guide ignored all that though he pointed out the synagogue. He concentrated on teaching us Hungarian songs and danced. As for history he did say that the Magyars  came from the far east and their language is completely different than any European language. And as a people, the Magyars suffered a lot  by constantly being overrun by Ottomans, Austrians, Germans and the worst in his view, the Soviets 

And the weather was cold and raining. We were still not healthy. We took the included bus tour of Pest and then a walking tour of Buda. After lunch Steve and I ventured out on our own until it got dark  It was our last night and we had to pack to get up at 2:30 am for our 6:30 flight to Amsterdam 

Art museum 

Fisherman’s bastion complex in Buda

We arrived in Budapest. This is the parliament building as we floated by

From the Fisherman’s bastion you could see the Parliament building across the river 

Later we walked around the Parliament building  there was a huge uprising in 1956 against the Soviets. Thousands were mowed down by tanks.  This is a memorial to that

Green bridge through the rainy window 

St Stephan’s 

Ugly soviet era building 

Martyrs memorial 

Very fancy hotel 

Shoes on the Danube. The Iron Cross lined the Jewish people along the river, told them to take off their shoes which were particularly valuable and shot them into the river

A view of the shoes

Steve and the Parliament building 

Town square in Buda

This is how they recycle plastic bottles. They add the smashed bottles on one side and the caps on the other 

Where the Soviet secret police would torture dissidents 

St Stephan’s  surrounded by vans and blocked off as some movie was being filmed there

On their prime shopping street. I liked this art nouveau building 

Close up of fancy hotel

Plaque for Shoes on the Danube 

Inside St Stephans 

Pretty empty