WANDERINGS FROM YOUR PRESIDENT
BY GAYLE STUART
Cherish Yesterday, Dream Tomorrow, Live Today
Leo and I have been traveling again, this time to the Czech Republic, Austria and Hungary. We were thinking that we would not go again, because the long flights (this one, 9 hours) were getting harder to handle. But, when we started reading about this area, plus a week on a river cruise on the blue Danube (by the way, it is NOT blue), we decided to go one more time.
In Prague, we did a lot of walking, cobblestones underfoot, which was not the best walking. We saw Old Town, which had beautiful old buildings. Some were 400 years old, still standing and kept up very well.
We visited a dairy farm, owned by 10 people, and a “must” farm. This is fruit cider, juices, sparkling wines and liqueurs. Of course, we had a tasting of different products, along with the history. We then went through the Benedictine Abbey of Melk. (Look this up on Google.) In Durnstein, we saw Kuenunger Castle where English King Richard Lionheart was imprisoned.
Vienna. On board ship we had a classic Viennese Quartet, string instruments, and also went to a concert there. We had Hungarian folklore group entertainment. On our last night, we had a river cruise of Budda-Pest. The large buildings were all brilliantly illuminated. It was beyond description on these old buildings.
All of the local guides that we had were female and I think every one talked about living under Communist rule. I’m sure they all had a dream of that ending and would have a better life. All were well-informed about their history.
This tour showed us lots of castles, very old buildings and glimpses of living in the past. Something to dream about, but made us glad that we live in today’s world.
gbs