Prayers for Amy! and Back from Danube and Hungary!

 We have been back from our Lower Danube Black Sea to Budapest with 7 nights on the Danube - returned on 20 Sept!  On 15 Sept 2022 we got an email from son Chris telling us that the regular MRI check for daughter-in-law Amy's brain tumor 12+ years ago showed a new growth.  So as of today the plan is surgery 30 September (prayers and good vibes welcome!!!).  I must say it was a bit of a surprise or maybe even a shock but we must carry on.  And I have my usual 6 month ovarian cancer this week and all is good and it will be 3 years on November 14 since diagnosis - the Jones Ladies and fighters again the stupid cancer!!!

    Today grandson Alex picked up Ross' fancy car so he and 3 friends could use it for homecoming.  He was so excited and happy and last spring he used it for prom.  This is the sweet text Ross got a couple days ago:Hey Bapa I have a proposal. So homecoming is this weekend and I know you said you maybe wanted your car detailed after jolly? I was wondering if I could possibly take the car Saturday night for homecoming, then I would detail it free of charge Sunday morning/ afternoon. But it is totally fine if you need the car for something this weekend not a big deal at all, it's just really cool to drive with my friends in it and they enjoy it a lot too. Thank you very much, love Alex

So the trip was fantastic and I do have a lot of stories to tell and I will be telling them but right now it's photos!!!  Back to filling in details!  

Visited what else but a famous Bran castle (also called Dracula's Castle) in Transylvania where Vlad the Impaler killed 40,000 people with a spear and took 48 hrs to die.  We did see a video of how that was done - eeeeekkkkkkk!

We could almost see the Ukraine from here where the current war is going on!  Our small 90 person cruise boat was supposed to leave from here but the Danube was too low and we had to go upriver a little bit.

I must say we do get to have the most wonderful meals on our tours and I like to cook but I'm certainly not as good as these chefs!

And this is the rocky path on the way to the Rock Church in Ivanovo, Bulgaria.

This was the centuries old art in the Rock Church.  

The Special Gang always got the corner table and this happens more than you would think on these tours.

Always nice to meet new and fun friends on tours.

Noticed Tito sign on mountain and he was Emporer of Yugoslavi really dictator but the people liked him and helped them. 1940 Tito supported by Allies even though Communist; 1918-1989 Yugoslavia existed; Richard Burton played in the movie “The Fifth Offensive”.  Tito died in 1980. 

Belgrade, Serbia was former Yugoslavia.  1990s wars “a country at the crossroads of the world”; Danube divided east and west and is a “powder keg” of Albanian Peninsula. Serbian Empire lasted only 25 years; then 500 years Turkish occupation.  

Tesla the scientist and not about the car!!!

Loved the entertainment on the boat and the happy smiles and they are so thankful to have tourists back and have jobs again!

And this happens to be the day when we woke up in our room and we had an email from Chris that when Amy had her regular every 6 month MRI tumor free after almost 13 years and another tumor was found in the same black hole so another surgery needed.

Visited a Croatian family home with 2 generations and lots of stories and the granddaughter on the right translated what they told us about being in the midst of the war.

One of the perfect Alex guys on the boat!

Green Basilica Episcopal seat of Roman Catholic Church – surprise!!!

Beautiful artwork and sculptures in a museum.

And what else but lunch and wine tasting in a cave underground vineyard - 5 kinds of wine we got to taste!

And we have arrived in Budapest!

60 pairs of Hungarian Jews shoes along the Danube as a memorial of the Holocaust; 

And in the olden days you could be here and put your cigar on this gold stand while you were chatting!

Hospital in the Rock – underground bunker, cold war/radiation shelter, pension 3600 HUF/2; 1930s, 1940s WWII, 1956 Revolution against Communists; 1962 open for Cuban Missile crisis in case of nuclear attacks.  Had surgery rooms, gas masks, radiation measurements.  Sign “SUGAR VESELEY” = Radiation danger. 

And another bunch of new friends that we had dinner with a few times and we continue to have fun!

How about a little tripe for dinner - stomach of a cow???

That's a good sized hot dog!