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Sunday, Sep 16. I didn’t mention that my Uber ride last night was in a Chinese EV. Very nice ride.

Took an Uber to the National Museum of Costa Rica. In my younger days (i.e., two years ago), I would have walked. The ride was interesting in that the driver took a very circular route down residential areas, avoiding the main road.

My main reason for the visit was to see their butterfly center, which is probably a marketing tool to draw visitors. I spent lots of time trying to get photos. I took over 900 photos, then pretty quickly deleted 95% of them. I didn’t spend much time in the museum. The odd reality is that Costa Rica has a fairly unexciting history. One of their main events was a “banana rebellion”. How exciting can it be?

Had an excellent Italian lunch nearby. Began to walk back, but kept getting distracted by things to see. Lots of fast food outlets, but an unusual absence of mini marts. Outstanding pastry shops. Huge number of statues. Eventually, after an hour of not getting any closer to the hotel, I got another Uber.

Met most of my new companions. Nine women, five men. They all like to talk. Hmm. Had an excellent dinner of cut-with-a-fork beef, beans and rice. Very reasonable price.

Their legislative bldg. Hollow inside, where there are windows.
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(Let’s Try a Blog Again. My trips last year were not the best for story telling. Injured in Tunisia, cold in Eastern Europe, and HOT in Guatemala.)

Saturday, Feb 15. Rental car to LAX became a fully tricked-out f-150 extended cab. I was offered free gas to ferry it to LAX, but the bill included a fuel bill. Got to contact them. Driving to LAX in a truck had me riding three feet higher than usual. Several times the view confused me (“Am I still on the 405?).

A very smooth travel day. The layover didn’t require me to change planes. Nice airline (Avianca), but it seems they don’t give drinks or snacks for free at all. Fine by me.

At the San Jose Airport, everyone yelling “Taxi” gave me free advice, saying Uber can’t service the airport. No great surprise that they’d say that. But the app said differently. I finally got help finding the pickup point by saying my daughter worked for Uber and would be unhappy if I didn’t use it.

Arrived at the hotel at 11:30. Asked for food and was directed to the casino just next door. A real casino, though small. Little snack bar. Required my passport to use my credit card. Quite a process. Spaghetti and a coke cost about $7.50.

I’ve been spending a lot of time reintroducing myself to my camera. We’ll see if it pays off.

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Thursday, 11/14. Dark and dismal. Again.

Sailed through the most narrow portion of the lower Danube. Through two locks. Large face. Large Tito sign.

Stopped in Donji Milanovic. Interesting history. Moved three times due to Danube water levels, the last in 1970 when a dam was built. “Town of 100,000 roses.” There are roses, but nearly no people. There were signs in English, making a tour guide superfluous. The mammoth statue is unexplained.

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Wednesday, 11/13. A walk along the Danube to a tenth century fortress. As a tourist site, it needs work. Limited explanations, in any language. Many playgrounds and other forms of children’s entertainment along the walkway.

The walk continued towards the town center. Passed a synagogue that was fully renovated by the town people, even though the city has very, very few jews. Then we passed an orthodox church and mosque. The city square was large but unremarkable.

After lunch we had an optional excursion to a home where the lady of the house demonstrated how to make Banista, a very fluffy pastry. Yoriko had a good time.

Not the most exciting of days.

This is a children’s slide.
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Tuesday, 11/12. Rain, wind. Again. I slept for three hours after breakfast. After lunch we departed on a  tour of the militarily significant Pleven, Bulgaria. We had an ordinary tour of the city center, followed by an extraordinary visit to the War Memorial. I’d read about the 1877 conflict before-hand (which impressed the guide), and the diorama was very accurate. Very much like the one in Gettysburg. It unsurprisingly focused on the victors, but I was able to add my knowledge to fill in the lapsed details.

Dinner was excellent. We participated in an evening of movie trivia, finishing out of the money but doing well anyway.

Death notices. Not missing people.
A derivation of pickaxe and sickle.
An excellent memorial to those who fought in 1877.
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Monday, 11/11. Cold, windy. Not a good combination for photos. After a two hour drive we boarded a motorboat with cloudy plastic windows. We passed some wonderful photo ops with herons and egrets, but the plastic made photos impossible. One top cover was occasionally opened to let me take some photos, which were unsatisfying. However, the fellow passengers were great fun and in spite of my disappointment, it was all in all satisfying. Lunch was fish soup, followed by deep fried fish (Sturgeon). It was an expensive excursion that didn’t come close to my hopes, but fun anyway.

While we were gone the ship left the Black Sea. I was saddened to not experience just a little Black Sea sailing. We met the ship just as it left the canal and joined the Danube. Dinner was excellent. This is very much a party boat of old people. It’s difficult to write the blog with so many passengers in the lounge.

I mentioned that I’d bought the Drinks Package. Tonight I realized what’s the fun in having an all-you-can-drink package without a little experimentation. So I had Johnny Walker Blue Label and Coke. Not so good. But it was a hell of a ride.

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Sunday, 11/10. Rain. Wind. The road to Constanta from Bucharest is incredibly straight and boringly regular. Speed limit (for cars) is 80MPH. Huge farmland.

The ship is docked at a commercial pier, sandwiched between a shipyard and naval base. Lunch was rather simple. The stateroom is somewhat smaller than I remember, but only one unpacking for hte next 14 days! Heaven.

Our city walkabout was fairly short and not riveting. But it was okay. Only rained a little. Intense wind, which actually moves the ship about.

Dinner was better than lunch. As usual, the menu is very flexible. Request for fries rather than polenta is accepted without hesitation. After realizing that the bar prices were substantially higher than expected, we bought the drinks package.

Is it just me, or does it look like he’s holding a smartphone?
The oft photographed casino. Closed, undergoing renovation.
The figurehead of a goat reflects the seaport’s secondary business.
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Saturday, 11/9. Our first Viking tour on this trip. The main point of interest is the 1990 government building, billed as the second largest administrative building in the world (behind the Pentagon). It is truly impressive. There are popular rumors regarding the subterranean floors. Supposed to be seven, may be many more. It’s strange that after 30+ years of democracy, it still holds secrets. Odd statistic: It’s the heaviest building in the world. 1,200 rooms. Designed by an architectural contest winner, a 29 year-old woman.

In spite of communism’s efforts to tear down the older, historical parts of the city, there are still lots to see. Extremely eclectic architecture. There was certainly no master plan. A lot of renovation is going on.

A massive orthodox church is being built next to the hotel. When completed (“very soon now”), it’ll be the largest orthodox church in the world.

Had a fine lunch outdoors (space heaters). Not that cold. Ribs. Dinner was just desert. Massive, rich chocolate cake and cheesecake. We each ate maybe a third.

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