14 June

14 June

Finally a "brochure day."  Not a cloud in the sky, 82 degrees with a light breeze.  No rain in the forecast!  Roger and I went for a walk this morning, opting out for the first time on a guided bus tour.  We walked across a Danube bridge and up the hill to Novi Sad's 17th century fortress.  I was a really nice walk once we turned and got into the park of the fortress.  At the top of the bluff there's the old Palace, which has been turned into a five star hotel.  At the ground level of the Palace, there are artist shops, although very few were opened when we walked by.  I suspect it's a weekend thing.  We passed on flooded restaurant, and the Danube is supposed to crest locally some time today.  River traffic is still stopped up stream from Novi Sad.  It is a really weird visual feeling, when you look out the window and see the current go by, give you a sensation that the boat is moving when it is tied up safe and secure.  I asked the Captain how fast the current was moving and he told me over 6km/hr.  That equals about 4 mph, which is fast.  There are a lot of large logs moving down stream, and the Danube is a muddy looking brown.  Yesterday in the lowlands of both Serbia and Croatia there were a lot of trees in the water.

We came back to the boat for a restroom break (TMI?) and headed out again.  This time we went to town and the main plaza.  Novi Sad is a very clean town and has a very nice pedestrian walkway plaza.  We were in search of a money exchange, post cards, stamps and ice cream, in that order.  The money exchange was 112 Serbian Dinar for 1 euro, and we ended up with 1200 SD.  After our shopping we still have a few SD left, so we might go back into town after Roger has his pilot house tour.  According to Roger the ice cream is way better in Serbia than it was in Istanbul.  So I suspect our last few SD will be spent on ice cream, which is a very practical use of left over money according to Roger.

We disembark tomorrow with a 5 plus hour bus ride to Budapest.  We have to have our suitcases out by 7 am, so I guess it's time to start thinking about how we want to pack our dirty clothes.  We'll be in Budapest until 17 June, when we fly to Dusseldorf.  On 18 June we'll fly from Dusseldorf, to Chicago, to San Antonio, with a 1500 arrival time at SAT.