Day 4 – Sat Oct. 4 – Kalocsa, Hungary

We took a bus tour out to the Bakodpuszta Equestrian center. We saw some very well trained riders and horses perform in the riding ring for us. The center is in a large agricultural area with farms out in all directions for miles.

The land is full of homes under construction and old Russian factories long abandoned and forgotten. The only reminder of the former “visitors” here are these huge scars on the land.

There are huge, long pipes of several feet in diameter running through the country side. They are either full of steam or hot water as far as I can tell. Perhaps it is used for heating like in New York City.

We saw the same thing in Iceland years later.

We are leaving for Vukovar after lunch on the ship today.

Day 5 – Sun Oct. 5 – Vukovar

Vukovar was an important location during the Serb-Croatian war. It is near the junction of the Drava and the Danube Rivers.

This town was in the center of many battles during the war.

Let me say here that we had two home visits on this trip. The people were friendly and cooked wonderful meals for us. There was lots of construction going on all around us on this trip. Mostly houses and small shopping centers. It looked like things were getting back to normal.

There were still many buildings lying in disrepair from the war. We could see holes in walls from missiles passing through them.

It was my feeling that the issues of the war were still among us. The distrust and hard feelings remained as far as I could tell. Each side seemed to blame the other for the war. I hope that I am wrong and that these people will forgive and forget the past and flourish. Hopefully I will be proved wrong again.

The river is calm and the weather has been fine. The Captain, seems not to need my help, sadly.

My wife was one of the first five female navigators in the U.S. Navy. I guess she would get the first chance at the bridge anyway.