Between the Balkans and the Carpathians

Today TSH and Diva are doing extremely scenic cruising between two sets of limestone cliffs. It feels similar to cruising the Norwegian fjords. Bulgaria has been left behind and now there is Serbia on the left, with Romania still on the right. Some of the buildings look quite Alpine, and there are low-level clearings with crops, including (possibly) vines. The entry to this part of the cruise was through the ‘Iron Gate’ locks. Like other locks on the voyage, there is no charge for passing through – the locks are funded by selling the hydro-electric power they generate.

Yesterday in Bulgaria, the excursion was to a group of weathered rocks which resembled a turtle, an elephant and Abraham Lincoln. Some people went to the top of the rocks and TSH won the prize for the fastest ascent from his bus. (a fridge magnet).

There are plastic bottles floating on the surface of the water in places, but this is not litter – they are in organised groups and mark (illegal) fishing nets.

The guide pointed out a white rock which he said was a dinosaur egg but TSH and Diva thought that was silly and that a palaeontologist would think differently.

TSH heard a cuckoo! And eventually so did Diva – her first ever!!

Food is excellent and laundry service is within a few hours. TSH and Diva have brought far too many clothes for the small wardrobe – if they had known about the rapid laundry, they could have transported much less luggage across Europe.

Forgot to mention that by the end of the first part-day on board, Diva had already lost her room key. In her defence, she has no memory of TSH passing it to her, as he insists he did.

Technical notes

Regular readers might remember that in August 2014 TSH and Diva were on a Viking ship where the lighting system was impossible to operate:

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Viking have clearly noted Diva’s comments and there are now 4 panels around their cabin that look like this: 

Diva has still not worked out what all the buttons do, but they are obviously trying.

Getting started

This is the first chance of updating the blog – Viking have kept TSH and Diva very busy indeed. The day in Bucharest, whilst interesting, was very long and tiring. The morning starts are early – especially if you are already 2 hours ahead of home. They saw the enormous palace built for the dictator Ceausescu – he never lived in it!! So far, no significant rain, other than a thunderstorm during dinner.

Romania is now finished and the ship has moved on to Bulgaria. Diva resisted the cosmetic products made with Bulgarian roses – the pure oil is more expensive than gold!! But she had succumbed in Bucharest to the locally developed anti-ageing cream.

In this area, both Romania and Bulgaria are very agricultural.

The food and service on board are as good as ever and TSH and Diva have already eaten chateaubriand. No time yet to drink the welcome champagne.

Creatures spotted along the way: A (model) giraffe outside the Bucharest natural history museum. Storks nesting on the top of telegraph poles. A rare black stork. A stegosaurus lurked in the trees but this may also have been a model.

Not at the river yet

TSH and Diva are in their Radisson hotel room in central Bucharest. It has been a long day, and the air control delays at Amsterdam added an hour or two on. But the noodles on the plane were good, the room is OK and Bucharest looks interesting. On the way in from the airport, they saw up to date modern development, soviet-style wedding cake blocks and grand 19th century buildings, some of which were beautifully kept and some of which were in ruins. There are a lot of flags associated with Romania currently being part of the EU Presidency soon. Early start tomorrow (again!!!)

Photoblog 6

Hotel near warriors, warriors, Shanghai skyline

Captain's Farewell

Somehow Silversea have transformed the mood of the cruise, which was very low for the first few days because of the appalling weather and the missed ports. At the Captain's Farewell party, he was thanked personally by many guests and applauded several times during his speech because of the way he kept everybody safe and relatively comfortable. The crew received a standing ovation - there is always a lot of cheering for their hard work but this was something special.

Actually, the transformation wasn't 'somehow'. It was at least partly achieved by a letter from the Captain giving everyone a future cruise credit of 20% of whatever they paid for this cruise. Generous considering that weather issues are not Silversea's fault but probably aimed at calming the US lawyers. TSH and Diva have taken advantage of the credit and the early booking deals to book Singapore to Athens for 2020.

Gala lunch on the last day and then TSH and Diva are looking forward to their few hours in Hong Kong.

In which TSH goes it alone in north west China

Somewhere between Pit 3 and the exhibition hall, Diva realised that not only could she not see TSH but that she had not seen him for a while. She looked ahead and behind and to each side but he was not there. The group moved on and he still did not appear. Into the exhibition hall, down the stairs and still nothing. She eventually found the tour guide and suggested that she should go to look for him. She was told in no uncertain terms that she was not to leave the group. The guide did not want to be searching for two lost British pensioners. The Silversea escort went off, as did one of the tour guides, complete with a card with his name on it.

TSH has a well-established habit of racing ahead, or dawdling or shooting off to one side. All in the interests of taking the perfect picture which is not cluttered up with the tour group. Diva long ago stopped following him and took the decision to do what she wanted to do and catch up later. Normally it worked out OK but not this time.

The whole Xian site is a mass of people, mostly in tour groups, mostly Asian people who do not speak English and would be unable to understand or help. And he had no mobile phone and the cards which the guides has handed out with their details were one per couple and Diva had theirs. 

When he eventually appeared with the Silversea escort, he had a broad grin on his face. Relief at being rescued. But Diva was not smiling and his smile enraged her even more. She had let her fertile imagination run riot and was really quite worried, as well as furious at missing the exhibition hall. So there was a major discussion in front of everybody, which shocked the  Chinese guide, who misguidedly tried to calm Diva down, Which just ramped it up.

He completed his disgrace by losing his ship card somewhere on the journey. Fortunately he was allowed back on and was able to enjoy dinner in the suite - salmon salad, spring rolls, club sandwich, cheesecake, champagne. Followed by drinks in a bar with a good view of the impressive Shanghai night-time skyline.

The TSH version (or defence) follows. Pit 3 was quite dark and crowded and yes TSH did wander a little to get the perfect photo. He was aware that the Silversea rep was about ten feet in front to his left and the main group were to his right further back in the Pit. When he turned round they had all gone but to where he did not know. Adopting a sensible survival strategy, TSH stayed where he was, in the belief that he would be missed at some time and a search made for him. After an anxious few minutes the Silversea rep appeared and an obviously relieved TSH broke out into a smile which was not welcomed on his reunion with Diva.