INNOCENTS ABROAD

Well, I'm back now from our trip down the Danube. Unfortunately it is with the obligatory illness - have you noticed how people come home from exotic trips with a disability of some sort? Usually it is a bronchitis type of infection, but mine is a strained or torn tendon in one leg; very painful and requiring physical therapy. But was the trip worth it? Yes, yes it was wonderful to be in all those fairytale cities and to float down the beautiful Danube on a luxurious boat.
From the very start you feel unusual. Passengers you meet on the trip to Europe ask where you are going and it's a thrill to say "Budapest" which is a place I never imagined would be any destination of mine. What a wonderful city it is! Apparently every nation to pass here thought so too - Attila, the Goths, the Romans all recognized the site was meant for a city. It must have been a Paris-like city at the turn of the century, its elegant buildings that line the streets still standing and handsome. It is hard to realize that 600,000 Jews disappeared during the Germans' stay here. Unbelievable.