December in Iowa or Arizona

                     This is the picture I was taking when I slid in the ditch and had to be pulled out!

                   Little town sleeping in winter!!  Royale Meadows from our house.

                                                                          One frosty morning.

                                       In Arizona--so cold we had to cover our fruit trees!!

                                  I guess beauty is in the eyes of the beholder!!!

New Friends and old

Mary and Terry Pool from Shawnee, OK



Joyce and Jack Shuster from Gilbert, AZ!!




Nancy and Mary Pool in Budapest




Nancy and Betsy Smith from Denver, CO in Budapest




Our traveling companions, Joe and Mary Bosma from Hospers, IA
How many trips have we traveled together?



The Viking Sky and crew


The Viking Sky is a small river cruiser holding about 150 passengers and a very small crew.  We enjoyed the intimacy a small ship gives.  Our meals in the dining room were open seating so we were able to meet many different wonderful people and made many new friends.  With such a small crew, they were very assessable so we got to know the crew well also.  In talking to other passengers, most said they had not been on such a small cruise before, but agreed it was the only way to go!

The Viking Sky sundeck and the bridge




Jana from Hungary behind the bar giving us a big smile!




Janos, one of our favorite waiters also from Hungary.  He has a wife and baby living in Hungary and was able to spend some time with them when we were in Budapest.




During the afternoons we were sailing, the crew would have fun lectures on different subjects.  Here the dessert chef is teaching us how to make apple strudel and then, of course, we all enjoyed a serving!




Our captain, a 6'8'' Dutchman!





Our cabin maids





Sophia from Prague and Stephannie from Hungary, our tour guides




The captain and the youngest member of our tour--a just-graduated college student in the dining room.
The cuisine was excellent in moderate portions.  We had several choices for each course and they were local culinary specialties.




Our fun, farewell evening




Mario, our program director did a fantastic job.  He is thinking of retiring from the cruise line and becoming a tour guide in Budapest to be nearer and more accessible to his wife and child.  Mario is from Bulgaria.




Sophia, Mario and Stephannie
Thank you for a wonderful trip!



Prague, Czech Republic, October 25, 2010

Another dreary day!  We took another tour up to the Castle complex.  I fried my battery charger for my camera so these are picture of this last day of our tour taken by Joe Bosma.



Just wouldn't hold my hand!




One more walk across Charles Bridge





Dancing in the streets!




Old Town Square--note the WC sign in the background!




Filming a movie--the actress was freezing cold!




We found a pizza place!




However, after we ate we had to climb back up to the street!




a concert in the palace

 The tour we took today was in a castle that still had the descendants of the family living here.  The audio guide was narrated by the host family.  I will do more research on who the family was, but it was one of the most interesting tours I took.  In one of the rooms they had the original score of Beethoven's 5th in C minor and Mozart's revision of Handel's Messiah for flutes.  I was awed to see these works in these composers' handwriting!  The concert we attended was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.  It consisted of piano, violin and flute.  The hour went much too quickly.


Vineyards of the castle





Our Czech sausage meal




Roger finally find the WC!




The crowds at Old Town Square




Bone weary and waiting for the long flight home from Prague



Prague, Czech Republic, October 24, 2010


Saturday we left our ship for an 8-hour bus ride to Prague.  The countryside was interesting, but the ride seemed to be extremely long.  We were with 16 couples from the Viking Sky, 2 bus drivers and one young chaperon.  We stopped at a truck stop for lunch, in the Czech Republic where no English was spoken and we could no longer use our Euros.  The food was a Czech buffet and it was quite an adventure to pick out unknown foods.  I thought I was safe with soup with meatballs until I found out the meatballs were liver dumplings!  Others got what they thought was a breaded cutlet to find out it was liver!  What an experience after being pampered for 2 weeks.

We checked into a lovely Hilton Hotel, went to the cafe and all 4 of us ordered a hamburger!  We went to the top floor of the hotel to a beautiful night club.  The decor was extremely modern and beautiful with all different colored neon lights.  However, it seemed to be a hangout for people who were quite a bit younger than we were.

The following morning we met for a guided tour of Prague.  As you can see from the pictures, it was a very cold, gray day.  We were bussed to the castle complex, dropped off at The Old Town Square.  Many hours and many miles later we walked our way back to our hotel.

St Vitus Cathedral, the seat of the Archbishop of Prague
located within the Prague Castle complex 





The grounds around the castle




guarding the castle

                                                                 couldn't get a smile from him!


Changing of the guard




St Vitus Cathedral





One of the gates of the castle complex





a museum within the complex




I am eager to see what I can do with this ominous picture!







View of Prague from the Prague Castle




St Vitus




Prague's Old Town Square



Old Town Square is a really fun place with many different booths with many different items for sale and lots of different kinds of food for sale.  One man was roasting whole hams on spits over a wood fire.  He would slice  slabs of ham and sell them.  Delicious!  We found an outdoor cafe with heaters and enjoyed a Czech sausage meal.


Astronomical Clock, a medieval clock that features an hourly "Walk of the Apostles" show




Jesus and one of his apostles making their appearance.  At the bottom right is the skeleton that is ringing a bell, announcing the hour.





14th century Gothic Old Town Bridge Tower
It is reported that back in the 16th century several reformers were executed and their heads were
put on the spikes of this bridge.





View from the Charles Bridge




One of a dozen statues saints and Christ on the Charles Bridge
The bridge is lined with merchants and their wares.
It felt like Jesus was going to chase them off from the bridge
as this seemed a holy place with all of the saints lining the bridge!




View from Charles Bridge




Charles Bridge