(Report filed by Roger Sameul at midnight Hungary time, 3:00 p.m., July 4, 1997, Pacific time.)
Today was a long drive for us. We left Prague at 9:00 a.m. and arrived in Budapest at 9:00 p.m. Instead of spending our touring time in Bratislava, Slovakia, we spent our time in Brno, Czech Republic, because it's a cuter city and easier to get into. In Brno we had a couple of hours for lunch. When the buses stopped, the students headed straight for McDonald's. But I think it was more to use the restrooms. Brno is a neat little medieval city.
We crossed two borders the Czech Republic/Slovakia border and the Slovakia/Hungary border. Each crossing took about one hour. We bribed the border guards with cold beer to get across the border. Because of the long ride on the buses, there were plenty of antics. Two boys chipped in together to buy the video "Braveheart" for Bus A. As soon as bus A finished watching it, they passed it on to bus B. Bus A was playing "Jingle Bells" on bottles. Bus B was singing Patriotic Songs. Mike Bartley trumpeter has become Bus B's official tour guide. Micaela (the former official tour guide) tells him what to say and he announces it over the loud speakers. She teaches German in an Italian University. Richert Wang has become Mrs. Allport's official bargain shopper. He tells her not to pay full price and what price would be reasonable. On bus A Mr. and Mrs. Kim are keeping everyone supplied with tasty treats from Trader Joe's. Their luggage must have weighed a ton!
We crossed the Danube River to get the our Hotel. The river splits the two halves of the city, Buda and Pest. The dinner was truly delightful. There was a Hungarian band singing. We ate goulash with potato noodles, paprika soup, cucumber salad, and the cake had a little American flag in it. I found out today that the Cultural Attachee' from the American Embassy had boarded all three of our buses last night to commend the students on being such ourstanding representatives of our country. This is so much fun!
Tomorrow we tour Budapest in the morning and drive to Vienna in the afternoon. Happy 4th of July!
(WebMaestro's comments)
When Roger was asked why the trip was so long since the countries look so close together on the map, he replied, "Get a bigger map."
It looks like a lot of Czech web sites have been down. You probably noticed that yesterday's links weren't working. They seem to be working today. You can try again. We have heard that Allison Allport's brother and grandparents are following the trip from North Hollywood and that Brent Samuel, son of Janet and Roger, is following the trip from New York City. If you're far from Claremont, let us know.
Write to lewis_johnson@eee.org.
Go on to Day 11 - Budapest
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This page is maintained by Lewis Johnson. For questions or comments please write to lewis_johnson@eee.org.
