An Afternoon In Novi Sad

 After a three-hour cruise we arrive in a new country, another stamp in my passport. We have landed in the Serbian town of Novi Sad. During the early twentieth century, Novi Sad was the capital of Serbian culture which earned it the name “The Athens of Serbia”. Almost every Serbian poet, novelist, publisher lived in the city at some point in their career. Nowadays, it is Serbia's second largest cultural center (after Belgrade) and is home to one of the biggest music summer festivals in Europe. I would have really liked to go to the festival but even is the timing was right, we only had an afternoon to wander the city. 

Troubled Times

 

After an overnight cruise, we landed in a new city and a new country – Vukovar Croatia, located on the eastern side of Croatia. In 1990, when Yugoslavia started to break up, the Croatians wanted their independence. The Serbians wanted Croatia to remain as part of Yugoslavia. Starting in August 1991, the Serbs started a full out attack on Vukovar which turned into an 87-day siege. 

Pecs Hungary

 

The first day aboard the lovely ship AmaBella, was a day of introductions to ship life, from a mandatory safety meeting, getting into the rhythm of the ship and to finding our way around the ship. I took a few wrong turns and ending up in the crew quarters. I was there no longer than three seconds before I was told quite forcefully by several crew members that this part of the ship was off limits.

Two Great Cities Rolled Into One

 I looked at my passport. I had renewed it in 2014 and it did not have a single stamp in it. I used to travel internationally all the time and I had not set foot off US shores in like forever. I'm so ashamed. I guess I've been spending all my time traveling around the US in the RV and overseas travel got overlooked. This definitely needed to change. I've always wanted to do one of those river cruises and now was the time to do it. I'm so used to figuring out how to do everything myself – where am I going to sleep, what am I going to eat/do? This river cruise with every thing taken care of for me would be a perfect way to start to get my international chops back. So, off to eastern Europe with my traveling buddies, Mike and Marina – my brother and sister-in-law. 

Rock Paper Scissors

 

July brought an outing with friends to a rather unique establishment west of Minneapolis – Big Stone Mini Golf. Yes, I said Mini Golf. It has been years since I played mini golf and I probably thought of it merely as a mild diversion but I would say that this is probably the best mini golf course that I have ever played on. The holes were crazy, artistic and inventive.  To top it all off, there was quite an extensive outdoor sculpture garden to roam through after we played golf.