A Few “Lesser Known and Obscure” Facts I Learned While "River Cruising" Budapest to Amsterdam (+England)

Bottom line: Though the best laid plans often go astray, the travel remains a worthwhile learning adventure.

Panoramic view from the Fisherman's

Bastion in Buda looking towards

Pest at nightfall. (Note the well-lit

Hungarian Parliament building across

the Danube.)

Janet, my wife, and I still enjoyed our recent trip to Europe, including England, primarily through central Europe despite Danube flood levels. Janet and I spent time in Budapest before we boarded our river cruise ship. The itinerary called for a river cruise up the Danube from Budapest on the Viking Bragi, transition to and sail along the Main (pronounced Mine), then the Rhine to Amsterdam. However, heavy rain in the upper Danube region prevented cruising upstream beyond Bratislava, where our ship moored alongside eight other river cruise ships in safe anchorage. From that stationary point, we were bused to cities on the itinerary upstream along the Danube, spent two nights in Bad Griesbach at the Hotel Maximilian, then transitioned to a sister ship, Viking Skadi, for the downstream leg along the Main and Rhine rivers. Despite the Danube's condition, we visited every city on the itinerary! After spending two additional days in Amsterdam, we flew to England, where we drove to Highley to visit a friend.

1) Budapest (Hungary) is two cities. Buda meaning water (for the hot springs) and Pest, pronounced Pesht, meaning flat.

2) Learning Hungarian for an English speaker proves quite difficult, we were told. The language has forty-four letters with 14 vowels. Just pronouncing Hungarian names provided ample challenge for me.

3) As usual I enjoyed viewing the fine art in the museums, pinching myself at times, though growing overwhelmed by the sheer volume of art work. Talk about the immensity and complexity of history!

"The Great London Fire" (1666)

by Lieve Pietersz Verschuier in

Budapest's Museum of Fine Arts!

3) My memory of Bratislava (Slovakia) is over-shadowed by our mooring situation, crossing and re-crossing eight river cruise ships, and the bus drives in and out of the cargo facility past shipping containers.

Disembarking the Bragi for a bus ride.

(Thankfully, the water level here never

got higher and had disappeared when

we returned later that day.)

4) We attended a classic music concert in Vienna (Austria). What could be more apropos? Johann Strauss I (the Elder), a native Viennese had three sons. He and his sons wrote music and conducted! One grandson, Johann Strauss III, also became a famous musician. Together, they wrote over one-thousand pieces. (No photos allowed of the performance.)

5) In Melk (Austria), we toured the abbey. Originally a royal palace, it was presented to Benedictine monks in the 11th century. Ninety pounds of gold has been used on the church statuary, etc. We didn't get inside the church, however.

Melk Abbey church entrance.

5) We discovered Passau (Germany) flooding has been frequent, at least on a historical scale.

Passau flood levels marks. (And this

building stands some feet, maybe ten,

above the current Danube River level!)

6) We witnessed the art work of St. Stephen's Cathedral in Passau. Everywhere I looked, I saw exquisite craftsmanship as evidenced by extravagant artwork.

St. Stephen's Cathedral ceiling.

7) Regensburg (Switzerland) hosts the oldest sausage kitchen (likely in the world), it's building erected in 1135 CE.

Regensburg's Historische

Wurstkuche.

8) Nuremberg (Germany), aka Nurnberg, known for the post WWII Nazis war crime trials, sports Kaiserburg Castle, dating to the Middle Ages.

Kaiser Castle visitor's ramp,

which I suspect didn't exist

in the Middle Ages.

9) Here's the Kaiser Castle entrance during the Middle Ages. Imagine storming that door with you're back exposed to arrows!

Kaiserburg entrance during

the Middle Ages.

10) Bamberg (Germany) is the home of rauchbier (smoked beer), made by drying malt over an open flame in a smoke kiln, which imparts a smoky character to the malt. (A more distinctive flavor than that of Guinness in comparison.)

I savor a rauchbier

with pretzel. (Yum!)

11) One of the more extravagant structures I've visited is the Wurzburg (Germany) Bishop's Residence, a baroque palace, built around 1730 CE. Opulent would be an understatement. Built for ONE person, the bishop at that time, to impress people of his power.

Ceiling of the "Grand Staircase

Entrance." (Impressed? I was.

Note the corner plaster statuary

which blends into the fresco.)

The Mirror Cabinet ceiling.

Panorama of "The Mirror Cabinet"

at floor level. (Cabinet? Somebody's

definition has changed!)

12) Occasionally, a builder/owner cheats a little to gain floor space, though I suppose it was legal to do! Such was this case in Wertheim (Germany).

A house in Wertheim, Germany.

13) We sailed past twenty-one castles along the middle Rhine, according to a map I'd received.

Mouse Tower, built on an island as a

shipping signal station. (Legend says

it's name derives from mice eating a

bishop imprisoned there.)

14) We toured the Marksburg Castle in Kolblenz (Germany). The dining room door opens to a privy and locks from the dining room side only. Left open during privy use, the door was closed and locked at night to prevent intruders entering through the hole.

The castle's dining room

with attached privy.

15) Cologne (Germany), Koln in German, was all but destroyed by bombing during WWII. The cathedral remained mostly untouched, however.

Cologne Cathedral. (Note the

dark coloration, which can't be

cleaned as limestone is too soft.)

16) About ninety-five per cent of the windmills in Kinderdijk (Netherlands) pump water, don't grind grain. Netherlands has an extensive water management/control system.

Kinderdijk Windmills. (Note:

they're idle at the moment.)

17) Families live in the windmills in order to run and maintain them, much like lighthouse operators.

Windmill multi-purpose living room.

18) Everyone slept in a sitting position to prevent Satan mistaking them to be dead and take them.

Windmill bedchamber. (Note: there's

little opportunity for an adult to

stretch out prone to sleep.)

19) An early form of industrial footwear, wooden clogs were used to prevent injury to the feet while operating the windmill. Wood was easy to carve, offered good protection from crushing injuries, and, if the clogs wore out, they could be burned as fuel for heat!

20) Amsterdam (Netherlands) is twenty-one feet below sea level! Or so we were told. Canals crisscross the city, much like Venice (Italy). A local told us, "If you like rain, don't visit Amsterdam."

An Amsterdam canal on a rainy day.

21) While in Amsterdam, Janet and I toured the Anne Frank House, Van Gogh Museum and Rijksmuseum. Once more, I felt overwhelmed at the volume of artwork, the history and talent, far too much to absorb and appreciate in a short time. (Note: no photos allowed in the Anne Frank House.)

Vermeer's "The Milkmaid."

Van Gogh's "Blue Lillies."

22) To take fuller advantage of our time in Europe, we flew to London (England), then drove to Highley to visit a friend, David. The three of us visited The Engine House Museum and Education Center in Highley. (Eat your heart out, Sheldon Cooper!)

Janet and David pose next to one

of many locomotives in residence.

23) Janet and I couldn't pass up a London museum visit, of course.

Monet's "The Thames below

Westminster"at the National Gallery.

Thus, endth our trip!

Walk in beauty, fellow earthling.

A Few “Lesser Known and Obscure” Facts I Learned While Visiting Spain, Morocco and the Rock of Gibraltar

Bottom line: Travel is the salt and pepper of life.

Janet, my wife, and I enjoyed our most recent trip, an ocean cruise, to parts of these three countries. Perhaps, the following facts will encourage you to consider a visit to parts of our marvelous planet ... the only one we've got.

Janet and I pose during a two-seater

camel ride on Lanzarote Island.

We first flew to Las Palmas De La Gran Canaria, the largest city on the island Gran Canaria, where we boarded the Seabourn Quest.

The Seabourn Quest (foreground).

1) The Canary archipelago lies about 93 miles off the northwestern coast of Africa and 840 miles from continental Europe (Spain proper). They're governed by Spain, having been"adopted"in 1493. If any blame is to be laid regarding that latter development, I'd point my finger at Columbus, if for no other reason than timing and his encouragement to "sail the seas." (He stopped there for ship repairs in 1492 on his voyage to North America.)

2) The name Canary Islands isn't derived from birds of any sort. Instead, the name comes from Berber shepherd dogs used to control sheep and/or goats. Think Spanish variation of "canine."

3) Volcanic in origin, like the Hawaiian and Galapagos Island archipelagoes, the Canary Islands offer a pristine beauty (except perhaps crowded Santa Cruz de Tenerife). However, the islands are dry like the Galapagos, which, by the way, makes them unsuitable to raise cattle per the lack of sufficient quantities of naturally growing grass.

A small view of the beautiful

volcanic terrain of Lanzarote.

4) The first European desalination plant was built on Lanzarote in 1964 to supplement the meager rain water. The desal water helps wet the whistles of residents and some two million visitors each year.

5) Camels were introduced to Lanzarote in the mid-1800's since they handle the dry conditions better than horses. But since mechanization arrived, I suspect they're only used now to grab a tourist buck or two.

Without hesitation, we opted to take a "two-seater" camel ride, along with most others in our group.

Herky-jerky two-seater

camel ride on Lanzarote.

6) With a little help, grape vines produce fruit on Lanzarote. The vines there were untouched by Phylloxera—the disease which whipped out continental European vines in the mid-late 1800's—and so weren't replaced by American vines from California.

Grape vines are protected from

strong north wind with local

lava rock walls. (They appear

to have been dusted for pests.)

7) Lanzarote boasts the longest lava tube in the world at almost five miles (three-and-three-quarters above sea level and one-and-one-quarter below).

A portion of the exposed lava

tube has been turned into

at tourist attraction.

And another portion is used

for music concerts due

to the acoustic qualities!

8) The movie "Casablanca" WAS NOT filmed in Casablanca, but instead in Tangiers. That's Hollywood for you!

9) The term "tangerine" originally referred to oranges from Tangiers and its surrounds.

10) The Rock of Gibraltar, the southern most tip of continental Europe, is part of the United Kingdom, ceded three times to Britain by Spain. We were informed that Spain currently lusts over Gibraltar, however vestiges of Spanish colonialism persist in Morocco, an irony difficult to miss. (More on that below.)

A view of Gibraltar Rock, one

"Pillar of Hercules," from an

observation deck near the tram.

The second pillar of Hercules

in Morocco, across the

Gibraltar Strait.

11) As part of the defense of Gibraltar in 1787, Lt. General Shrapnel of the British Army, utilized exploding shells. And his name stuck!

12) Gibraltar boasts the shortest land border in the world at approx. one mile.

13) Melilla is one of two Spanish enclaves in Morocco. (The other is Ceuta.) As such it has a highly guarded border to dissuade uncontrolled immigration into the European Union.

A sunset on the Mediterranean

from our cruise ship Seabourn Quest.

Walk in beauty, fellow earthlings.

A Few “Lesser Known and Obscure” Facts I Learned While Visiting Singapore, Indonesia & Australia

Bottom line: Nothing ventured ... nothing gained.

Janet, my wife, and I enjoyed our recent trip to these three countries and wished we could’ve continued on. Perhaps, these facts will encourage you to consider a visit to one or more of them.

1) Located at the southern tip on Malaysia, and only 85 miles north of the equator, Singapore, clean and modern, is a forested city and island nation (hot and humid while we were there).

A limited view of Singapore's

waterfront from Gardens by the Bay.

2) Singapore is one of two cities, the other Rio de Janeiro, to have a rain forest within it’s city limits, though it is modern and clean.

Noah’s Ark found in Singapore?

3) The second largest exporter of used cars, behind Japan, Singapore heavily taxes vehicles after ten years, which encourages purchase of new cars. That’s one way to cut down on gas consumption and pollution!

4) Singapore hosts several great tourist attractions. We visited Gardens by the Bay and Botanical Gardens.

An elevated view of the Supertree

Grove at Singapore's Gardens

by the Bay.

We toured the Cloud Forest, also part of Gardens by the Bay, where we enjoyed the Avatar Experience.

The Pandoran Mountain

Banshee that greets visitors

to the Cloud Forest.

5) Singapore wants to strengthening it’s position as the hub of shipping (commerce) between the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

6) The current largest super cargo ships can carry more than 24,000 TEUs (standard 20-foot shipping containers). Even larger ships are in planning or construction, and they’ll be able to load and unload in Singapore docks.

7) Street vendors of the past have been relocated to one of a number of Hawker Centers around the city, AKA food courts. We stayed in the heart of the financial district, where we discovered the nearby Hawker Center.

Hawker Center in the historic

Lau Pa Sat (wet market), reportedly

housing 200 vendors!

(I didn’t count them, however.)

8) With Asian food-selection galore, we enjoyed satay (BBQ skewers of shrimp, beef and chicken with peanut sauce) … and beer.

Janet takes a break from

enjoying our meal at the

Lau Pa Sat Hawker Center.

9) Having grown up in Kentucky, I confess my skepticism of some food choices, however.

Dessert made from

green beans?

(Yeah ... no!)

From Signapore, we flew to Bali, one of many of Indonesia’s islands.

10) Indonesia claims to have over 18,000 islands. Some may say more. Some may say less. But what’s a few thousand among friends?

11) Though other Indonesian islands are primarily Muslim, Bali is primarily Hindu.

12) The Balinese perform and enjoy magical and colorful reenactments of religious stories.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/d01739_bdf9589d64b8418890a2b404e172aa4c/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

The gist? Two male gods

fight over a female god!

13) The Indonesian currency exchange rate is approximately 15,000 Rupiahs to US$1. Though I felt rich, I couldn’t keep track of exact prices in dollars. What’s a few Rupiahs here or there?

14) Balinese roads were generally clogged with traffic as the island, about the size of Delaware, has about 4.2 million inhabitants.

15) While there we visited their Monkey Forest, a great source of curiosity … for humans.

This resident was brushing

up on his/her tool making skills.

(A Shakespeare play

coming soon?)

We boarded a cruise ship in Bali and from there sailed east and south, destined for Sydney via Australia’s Sunshine Coast. However, still in Indonesian waters, we stopped at Lombok Island where we took a short bus ride to a beach, consumed a cocktail, then sailed onward to Rinca Island.

16) Komodo dragons currently occupy five islands, though only Komodo Island is inhabited by humans. Now and then, someone gets bitten. From 1972-2012 twenty-four attacks have been reported, five fatal.

17) Though Komodos can climb trees while young, they loose that ability as they grow in size and weight.

Two smaller Komodos fled

up a tree to avoid a larger one.

We sailed past East Timor before stopping in Darwin.

18) The name East Timor can be considered redundant, as Timor can be translated as “east.”

19) Aussies refer to Darwin, in Australia’s Northern Territory, as the “top end.”

20) Darwin was a frequent bombing target by the Japanese during World War II. As result, fuel storage tunnels were built underground, though not used a result of leakage.

This is one such storage

tunnel accessible to tourists.

21) BTW, in case you’ve ever wondered, QANTAS (airlines) is an acronym of Queensland And Northern Territories Aerial Services.

22) Did you know that there are more camels in Australia than in Egypt? So many that Australia exports camels to Saudi Arabia. You might ask, how did camles get to Australia? Before the arrival of motorized vehicles, camels were used to haul cargo across Australia’s outback. When motorized vehicles replaced them, some camels were set free to roam. Since then, they've multiplied in the desert like rabbits, I take it.

We stopped at Thursday Island, an area of significant past pearl harvesting, before continuing eastward through the Torres Straits.

A WWII gun emplacement at Green

Hill Fort on Thursday Island.

(Never used, I believe.)

23) Torres Strait is thought to have been a land bridge to Australia during previous ice ages when sea levels were lower. Hence, allowing the settlement of Australia by the Aboriginals. Now a shallow sea, its home to numerous corral reefs, which comprise the northern portion of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.

A map of Torres Strait.

(Australia claims the islands

northward to the coast of Papua

New Guinea.)

24) The Great Barrier Reef is the largest living thing on earth, can be seen from space, and is comprised of some 3,000 individual reefs stretching 1,400 miles along Australia’s northeastern corner/coast.

We sailed on to Cairns, pronounced without the R, as in cans! Cairns serves as one of many jump-off point for reef snorkeling. However, since Janet and I snorkeled the reef a few years ago, we strolled around and sampled local beer within a few minutes walk from our docked ship.

Sampling "Mr. Wong," a

traditionally styled Hefeweizen

at Hemingway’s Brewery.

Sunset as we leave Cairns.

(Yes, the tug boat is

traveling backwards!)

Next came Townsville with its distinctive hill, which I wanted to ascend, though didn’t.

Leaving Townsville at sunset.

25) We anchored near Airlie Beach, located on one of the WhitSundays, a group of islands misnamed by Cook in 1770. The International Date Line not having been established yet, he unknowingly had arrived a day later! We cruised among a few of the white-sand-beach islands and pristine waters on a motorized catamaran.

(Twas difficult to get a good

selfie with background on

a fast moving boat!)

One of the Whitsunday Islands.

(Tilt your head to the right.

Remind you of any relatives?)

After our catamaran ride, we headed into Airlie Beach for some local fresh shrimp and assorted meats (you know, kangaroo, crocodile, wild boar and emu).

Next, when our ship stopped at Mooloolaba (Moo-loola-ba, pronounced /mululɑbə/ or moo-loo-lah-bah), we visited the Australian Zoo of Steve Irwin fame. Crikey!

26) We enjoyed the Australian Zoo’s “croc” show. I marvelled at crocodiles’ ability to hold their breath up to two hours, generally ... though as much as seven hours if inactive in cold water.

A demonstration of what

a croc will do for food.

27) We walked among kangaroos at the zoo. They can travel at 44 miles-an-hour for short distances, though cannot walk backwards. Those we encountered preferred to move very little, however. I suspect that they were well fed by visitors … and it was the hot part of the day when we visited.

This one’s posture suggested,

Don’t you dare touch my food!

From Airlie Beach we sailed to Newcastle, where we visited the Backbutt (pronounce black-but) Nature Preserve, which houses a number of indigenous animals.

A snoozing wombat.

The following morning, our cruise ship glided into Sydney Harbor before sunrise. Once docked, Janet and I disembarked, and headed home on a fourteen-hour flight.

A panoramic view of Sydney.

Walk in beauty, fellow earthling.