We Ran Out Of Water

 

We Ran Out Of Water!!!!! Many parts of the world have been experiencing drought conditions and the Danube in Europe suffered also. Captain Rado told us that we had to stop our journey 60 miles from our scheduled end point. AmaWaterways were quick to make alternative plans for us for our last day on the cruise which lead to one of the more interesting tour days of the trip.

Before you disembark on a tour, you stop by the ship reception to get a color piece of paper. Your color tells you which bus you are getting on. We were blue so we loaded on the blue paper bus and start off for the small village of Arbanassi, about a two hour bus ride thru the Bulgarian countryside. They took us to a small church whose motto must have been 'Leave no surface unpainted'. Once we were in the altar area, three people (a man and two women, dressed in robes) came in, walked up to the altar and preceded to sing. I don't know if it was the acoustics or what but it sounded rather other-worldly. It was rather moving.

We then went to lunch at a local restaurant. Our guide told the whole group to meet by the peacocks at 2:00 pm. When I finished eating I walked out to the peacocks and most of the other tourists were already standing by the peacock cage. I looked at the time, it was 1:40, I figured I had enough time to find the rest room. When I came back to the peacock cage, there was nobody there. I had only been gone about five minutes and they were just gone. I'm standing there wondering what happened when the tour guide for the yellow bus came up to me and said, “Are you yellow”? I said “No, I'm blue”. He left, I'm still standing there when he comes back and says “Come with me”. I turn the corner to find the 'yellow' bus there and my 'blue' bus leaving without me on it. Evidently some French guy from the yellow bus had gotten on the blue bus and when they did the people count it came out the right number so they were leaving without me on it. Corrections were made, I was back on the blue bus and the day went on. Of course at this point, everybody on the blue bus watched me closely to make sure that I did not go astray again.

The bus continued on to the the town of Veliko Tarnova where there was another fortress city. We got to the gate and the guide said we have 10 minutes. My brother decides to head for the church at the top of the hill and I follow all the while checking the time obsessively. I don't want to be left behind. I kept telling Mike, we have to head back, we are out of time, but he kept going. I turned around and got back to the guide just as they were leaving. Brother Mike was not there. I said to the guide – we are still missing someone, not mentioning who. I didn't want to tell the guide that my brother was not there yet – I didn't want them to think that everybody in my family were slackers and unable to follow directions. Just as she starts panicking, my brother shows up. Whew!

The church way up there

The town way down there

When we got back to the ship they repositioned the boat.  We were parked on the Bulgarian side of the Danube and moved over to the Romanian side.  You can see how far we had to travel to get to Romania.

After the ship was repositioned it was time to get ready for the Chef's Dinner. The ship had a small dining room where you had to make reservations for a multi-course dinner. The menu:

Chef's Welcome – Beetroot Carpaccio , Golden Beet, Gioga Beet, Vegetable,Tomato, Cress, Herbs

Get The Taste - Cured & Marinated Salmon, Avocado Mousse, Pickled Vegetables, Crispy Rice Noodles, Rouille Sauce,Wild Cress

Tease The Senses - Coconut Lemon Gras Soup, Shitake Marmalade, Shrimp Tartare

From The Rivers – Skin Grilled Pike Perch Fish, Saffron sauce, Bulgur, Citrus Hums, Sesame Spinach, Cauliflower Tourne Olive Powder

Sorbet – Raspberry Sorbet, Sparkling Wine

Country Spirit – short Ribs Pime Beef Truffle Jus, Rissole Potato, Parsnip Puree, Oyster Mushrooms Beetroot, Green Peas

From Heaven – Chocolate Macaroon, Citrus Tart, Fresh Berries, Mango & Kiwi Coulis, Mango Sorbet

Ok, I didn't know what half this was, but it was good.

The next day, we said goodbye to our new friends and got on a shuttle to Bucharest. We had gotten a VRBO and it was adequate. We did get to spend the afternoon walking around Bucharest which was interesting. Lots of grand old buildings and crazy traffic. 

View from our VRBO

And that is the end of the European River Cruise.