Saturday, June 7, 2025

Back For The Old Country

 Wow -- what a fortnight! We ate amazingly, drank prodigiously, and met wonderful people. We also toured and experienced the cultures of Hungary, Slovakia, Austria, and The Czech Republic. Most importantly, Wifey got the trip she hungered for, with me, her lazy, tends to stay in one place husband.

And Eric and Dana, who we sort of talked into going, as they were fearful the fellow river cruisers were too akin to Eric's patients -- old -- found even closer friends than we did and had an awesome time. So, to cut to the chase: mission accomplished.

Since we travel rather infrequently, and, well, I have the money, I will only go top drawer. So we started at American's Flagship Lounge, since we had Biz Class across the water tickets, and it gave our usual Centurion Lounge a run for its money. Although there was a delay and change of planes, along with the unsettling announcement that "this plane (a 777 ER) wasn't supposed to fly trans Atlantic tonight, so the crew is making changes"), we got off swimmingly, and I drank Tito's and watched an excellent documentary about the making of Led Zeppelin as we flew the Atlantic. Our transfer went well, and we arrived in Budapest smoothly -- to see a bunch of our cohort all with Tauk luggage tags -- we knew we were headed to the same Summer camp.

Sure enough, while waiting, I saw a fellow in his 70s, and we struck up a conversation -- he had a dripping southern accent. Jerry was indeed a Louisville Jew -- retired lawyer -- and his best friend lived in Miami. First small world connection: the friend and my man Paul know each other well from Williams Island. Jerry's Dad was a NY WW II Jew who was stationed in Louisville, and taken to a dance by the local Hebrews. He met a nice girl, who said he was perfect for her sister, and began a family there. Nice tale.

We also met the PA 6 -- 3 couples of Penn State grads -- Irish and Italian folks who lived in and near State College -- Pittsburgh natives. They became dear friends -- especially for Dana, who bonded well with the ladies. One of them, Sherry, was obviously not well -- indeed was a 5 year cancer survivor, with limited mobility, and her husband Mark, a retired engineer, literally carried her on piggy back every day on the multi mile walks. I told Wifey not to get any ideas...

We also befriended Steve and Winnie -- the only young couple -- late 40s. Steve is the CMO of Kaiser Permanente ENT services in California, and Winnie a Chevron exec. She's Vietnamese, and his family is from Taiwan. They were lovely and brilliant, and Winnie provided a first for me: standing outside a castle in Budapest, she offered me a seat on a bench. I laughed -- it finally happened -- like a young girl being called "Ma'am" for the first time -- I had become the sweet old man a younger person wanted to help. We laughed a lot about it over drinks at later events.

And the trip was amazing. Tauk is known for their "Experiences," and came through. A private tour of the Budapest Opera House ended on the steps -- with a performance of several arias by the pro singers. Later, a dinner at the Akademy of Science had a performance of Mozart by members of the Vienna Symphony. Lighter fare was a terrific oom pa band in Durnstein, and the final night in a castle with a lecture by the granddaughter of the rich Prague family who recovered much of the stolen family riches via the "Monuments Men" glorified in the George Clooney film.

We took 2 Jewish tours -- one in Budapest, and one in Prague. The first was with Timi -- a granddaughter of Survivors whose family stayed in the city. Sure enough -- a connection -- at the Central Synagogue there is a memorial to the righteous gentiles, and it included Margit Shafta - the Mother Superior of the convent that saved our son in law Jonathan's grandmother's life.

It was moving, but I reflected again on my Zionism. I take comfort in knowing my people have a homeland now, and when we get terrorized, instead of relying on righteous gentiles, we send the bad guys pagers that blow their dicks off. Go Israel!

It was my second time cruising the Danube, and it is indeed beautiful -- though it will probably be a month before I can get the Strauss waltz out of my head -- it got played on board -- a LOT.

We taught the PA group the worm one night -- we deemed them worthy -- even though Mark and Dave insisted on reminding us that the night of January 2, 1987, when Testaverde through 5 picks and Penn State won the ring -- was one of the best of his nights. Such is the nature of true college football fans -- even on a luxury trip, this gets discussed -- a lot!

The final day was the Prague Jewish tour. I have to say, though Wifey downplays this in her quest for more travel, I feel like Johnny Cash -- I've been everwhere, man. And Prague is the most impressive city I ever saw -- buildings and bridges from the Middle Ages on -- no WW II bombing destruction. And I got to see the synagogue where supposably (Miami spelling) the Golem of Prague's bones are kept. I always loved that myth. On the way back, our guide Lenka took us to a butcher shop that produced a Top 5 pastrami on rye I ever had. I'm still thinking about that sandwich today.

We said our goodbyes Thursday evening to Eric and Dana -- they were headed out for even MORE photos -- I think Eric may have snapped over 10K -- and headed to sleep for our last night at the Andaz Hotel -- Wifey said maybe her favorite hotel of all time. It was posh, as the Brits say.

We left Vaclav Havel airport at 7, and had 5 hours in the Heathrow Centurion Lounge -- packed with an array of people that, to steal my consuegro David's observation of NYC City Hall -- looked like the Star Wars Cantina -- an amazing array of human diversity.

The flight home was fine, too -- American Biz is top -- and I watched "The Apprentice and Inside Man" and before I knew it, we were landing. We had downloaded the Global Entry App, and sailed through Passport Control in record time -- with courteous TSA and ICE Agents. I guess if you're of a certain type, you have no problems -- and my thought they might deport Wifey back to her native Israel was unfounded.

Meanwhile, I took photos of her EVERYWHERE -- D1 said I was "an instagram husband," and Wifey was an influencer now.

So I began the trip with John Denver's "LEaving on a Jet Plane" in my head, and returned to another of his songs, "Back Home Again." Indeed, sometimes this old suburban Miami house feels like a long lost friend. 

Wifey chatted -- and I did laundry and unpacked.

Today we fetch the aged Spaniel from D2 and Jonathan -- his snoring kept Jonathan awake, and they kind of want to ditch him. Still, we appreciated the dog sitting, and told them we were treating them to a Palm Beach stay cation in thanks.

And, like the old Disney Travel films I used to watch in grade school, we will forever treasure the memories we made in our trip to Central Europe... 

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