Vikings, St. Patrick and Dublin Tarts

After several great days in Edinburgh, we took the 40 minute flight over the Irish Sea into Dublin.

We have been gone for about a week and have had lots of togetherness.

We have a nice two bedroom flat in a south suburb of Dublin. We have to take the bus about 15 minutes to get to the City Centre. The apartment is nice. It is owned by a Irish woman who lives in NY. The apartment is decorated very young and hip, too hip for people from Kansas. I can’t understand how half of the fixtures work.

On our first day we traveled to Dubliniva- the ancient part of the city. We learned (and I did not know) that Dublin was founded by Vikings. Prior to that, it was a small village inhabited by a few Celts, but it was the Vikings that invaded and changed into one of their major port cities. In fact, most of the modern cities on the eastern coast of Ireland were established by the Vikings.

We also saw medieval Dublin. The Vikings stayed about 200 years, then Dublin evolved into an Irish/English city. The English showed up soon after the Vikings left (1150) to take over Dublin (as they had a great tendency to do back in those days). The English stayed until 1922. We saw exhibits on trade and even the plague. Half of the population of Dublin died from the plague.

We also visited St. Patrick’s Cathedral. This is a special 900 year old Cathedral. It sits on the place where St. Patrick baptized the pagans. St. Patrick’s is a great example of 12th Century architecture, very heavy vaults, etc.

As with Edinburgh, Dublin has its share of great literary figures. Buried inside St. Patrick's is Jonathan Swift (Gulliver’s Travels). I was introduced to Swift back in my required English lit class (which I ended up enjoying). Most people think that Gulliver’s Travels as a childrens' story. In fact, it is a satire on what was going on in Irish and English politics of the day, and is rather naughty in some places. Swift was the “Dean” of St. Patrick’s Cathedral for about 30 years, and this is where he wrote most of his major works.

While walking the streets of Dublin near the City Centre- you see a statue of the famed Molly Malone. Molly Malone is a famous folk song and is the anthem of Dublin. It is about a young woman who sells mussels and cockles from her cart and dies of a fever at a young age.

As I said, it is a famous anthem here (look it up on Youtube and see if you heard it). As it is so famous, travelers always thought she was a real woman, and wanted information about where she lived. So in the 1990s, the city commissioned a statue of her to place in the heart of the city. What was funny is the statue itself. Although there is no mention of this in the song, they made the woman very attractive, very, very busty and wearing quite a low cut blouse. The statute’s nickname is “tart with the cart.” I have found myself drawn to the this work of art frequently. In fact, I made it the meeting point for where we meet when we go off and do our own things (I always try to get there a little early).

The weather has been ok here. Dublin is known for its rain. In fact our first day, we had to wait for 15 minutes for it to stop hailing. Dublin never changes temperature more than 10 degrees Celsius between January and July. The hottest day in recorded history for Dublin was 87 degrees F. On the other end, it snowed here (and stuck to the ground) in December. That was the first time that occurred in Dublin since 1982.

Big Game, Royalty and Graves

Well it was the “Big Game”. Of course, I am not speaking of the Superbowl, that is not even mentioned over here. In fact, in the sport’s section of the national newspaper the Superbowl was not even referenced until page 13.

Instead, the big game is France vs Scotland in the Rugby Cup of Six Nations. It has been talked about all week. As we walked the streets on Sunday morning, the streets were packed with both Frenchman and Scots in their national colors, headed to the game, which was being held in Edinburgh. Most of the revelers had been hitting the Scotch since quite early in the morning. All the Scot’s fans were wearing their kilts, and the French had painted their faces (and bodies) with the French flag. We saw a french woman (at least 70) with her face painted. We also found another group of very, very inebriated French dressed as chickens. Lisa asked why they were dressed as chickens. They corrected her, and said they were “cocks,” the French team’s mascot. There were at least 50 cocks walking down the street together. (btw- the French won). Still no mention of the Superbowl.

Over the last couple of days we have seen many other of the sites of this great city.

We started with Holyrood Palace. This is the official residence of the Royal family, and has been for centuries. Not only did Mary, Queen of Scots live here, but this is also the place where Queen Elizabeth II still stays when she visits the capital city. She was here over the summer.

Next to the Holyrood Palace is the new Scottish Parliament. Parliament in Scotland was dissolved in 1707, as the United Kingdom was officially formed. All official UK government business was done in London. Ever since, the Scots wanted their own say in government. It was not until 1999, (over 200 years later) that the Scots were allowed to reopen their own Parliament, with limited powers.

Walking through the Royal mile you pass several old graveyards. Each has at least one person of fame buried there. We saw the grave of Adam Smith and also the grave of philosopher David Hume (basically it was a Western Civ class of graves). Also, I never had any clue how many great thinkers/writers were from or lived in Edinburgh. Walter Scott is the big name here for his writing. He has a gigantic monument at the center of town. Ben became interested when we visited the Writers Museum. He bought a copy of Ivanhoe.

You then have Robert Louis Stevenson (Treasure Island), writer Robert Burns, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes), Adam Smith, David Hume, Alexander Graham Bell, James Watt (stream power engine that started the industrial revolution), Tony Blair, up to JK Rowling. And they have Scotch! Not bad for a capital city of 500,000.

We went to a very cheesy exhibit on the Loch Ness Monster. It was pretty badly done, but the kids seemed to like it. I was hoping it would be a little more fun (where was my Scotch?). The Loch Ness is just north of Edinburgh in the Highlands.

We visited a couple of the National Museums (art and history). The history museum was ok, just very confusing to follow. It however had great artifacts from the history of Scotland. Secondly, we went to the National Art Museum. It was a medium sized gallery full of some famous non-Scottish masters such as Di Vinci, Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Boticelli, Cezanne, Monet, etc. First time my kids had ever seen any works from some of the most well known artists in history.  

We attended our first English spoken Mass since we arrived. It was at the Catholic Cathedral of St. Mary’s. St. Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland (no, he is just not a golf course), so this cathedral had a couple of relics of his (a shoulder bone, etc).

Finally, we visited another old site that had two items of interest. It is a church (Greyfriars Kirk) where a document ( The National Covenant) was issued and basically outlawed Catholicism (at the height of the reformation 1638). Also, there sits a grave with a unique legend. When merchant John Gray died, he had a two year old dog who followed the funeral procession into the cemetery. The dog, Greykirk Bobby, was so distraught that his master died that he laid on the grave for 14 years. Then he died at the age of 16. Bobby is now buried next to his master and a plaque which talks about the importance of loyalty and dedication (fun story and legend).

We all loved our four days in Scotland. It is a place we could really get used to. Lisa loves how everyone says “Cheers” as you depart. The people were very nice and of course it has a great familiarity with the things we are used to at home.

Off to Dublin for the second half of our holiday. As Ben mentioned to us today, we are headed for our seventh non-US country since September (my 8eighth).

Harry Potter, Braveheart, Scotch and the Invisible Hand

Hello from Scotland! We made our grand voyage on Thursday.

Now, one does not usually opt to tour Scotland in February, but we wanted a long period of time in the UK and Ireland, and this is my semester break. So here we are. Actually, it is about 20 degrees warmer here than in Gdansk.

We chose to stay in the capital of Scotland, Edinburgh. It is an ancient city with a great deal of history.

Now you may have already read a little about this from Lisa’s blog. This is a sore point with me. She (Lisa) quickly takes all the good photos and best stories then posts them on her blog, leaving me to either repeat everything or only tell the boring stuff on my blog. I call her the Blog Squasher!

So, on the first night, the kids and the Blog Squasher and I met up with my friend Cara’s cousin, Lauren. She is a doctoral student at University of Edinburgh and has lived in Scotland for five years. We had a great night and really enjoyed meeting her. She also gave us some great pointers on what to see and not see in the city.

Our first stop the next day was (of course) an old church. It was St. Giles. Now St. Giles is popular as the church of John Knox. We in Kansas City know of John Knox as a place where the "old people" live. In fact, he was a man too (not just an old folk’s home). He brought the reformation to Scotland and happily chased out all us indulging Catholics. He was powerful enough to even have the major influence over the Royal family’s own religion (a queen basically lost her head over it). In addition, he is the founder of the Presbyterians. So, we were in his church. Is a magnificent structure right on the Royal mile in the middle of Edinburgh. It is very ornate and been a major part of Scottish history of over 400 years.

Of course, since we had been gone from our apartment for a whole hour, the kids were hungry. We had planned to eat lunch at a small cafe that has been made famous by author JK Rowling. Ben, Natalie and the Lisa are all big fans of her and the Harry Potter books. The cafe is called the Elephant House and it is where Rowling sat and wrote parts of the first couple of Harry Potter books. Of course, the cafe has done everything it can to cash in on her fame. We walked around the cafe, and they even had drawings (no pictures) of places she sat while she wrote, and the window she would have looked out of (which by the way is a great view of the Royal Castle). I guess all that atmosphere found its way into her stories. The kids were thrilled with being there. I have not read the books nor seen the movies (my important author is in the next paragraph), but I was very happy to see the rest of the family enjoying the cafe.

Now, speaking of important authors- also along the same road as St. Giles, the Royal Castle and the Elephant House is a statue of one of Edinburgh’s famous citizen’s: Adam Smith. For those who never sat in an economics class, Adam is the father of our discipline. He is basically the founder and philosopher of free market capitalism. Keep in mind, there really was not capitalism as we know it today before Adam and his ideas. He has been loved or loathed ever since. So, he being the reason I have something teach, and hence have gainful employment, I had my picture taken with him. Oddly, you notice his hands are quite visible (econ joke).

Ok, back to lunch. The Elephant House really was not a place to eat a full lunch. It was really more of a cafe (to maybe sit and write something). The kids had not eaten in almost two hours, so we had to find a place. To our delight we found a good tavern called Deacon Brodie. They had traditional Scottish fare, including haggis. We learned the tavern was named after the Edinburgh man who inspired the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The book was written by another famous person from Edinburgh, Robert Louis Stevenson (Treasure Island). Ole Deacon Brodie was hung just a few yards away from where his tavern now stands.

Now that everyone was fed, we made it to our major attraction of the day, the Royal Castle. We spent several hours there both inside and outside. The Royal Honors (royal crown, sword and scepter) are housed there and on display. This is also the castle where Mary, Queen of Scots lived, as well as her son King James (of both Jamestown the the King James Bible fame) was born. For most of Scotland’s history, the kings have lived at this castle. However, It has been in England’s hands a couple of times. On the front the castle is a statue of William “Braveheart” Wallace (aka Mel Gibson) who fought in his kilt to get the castle back from the dreaded English. We got a picture of Ben with the Braveheart/Wallace statue (he really looks nothing like Mel Gibson up close).

Finally, who can go to Scotland without exploring their greatest export, Scotch? Ben and I went to the Scotch Experience. It is basically the Epcot of Whisky. You start off by riding in a mechanical barrel with a virtual distiller who takes you through the process of how Scotch is made. Then you go into a room where someone shows why there is so much difference in Scotches. There are four geographical regions where Scotch has to be made; highlands, lowlands, spey and islay. Actually, unless it is made in one of those four places, it can’t be called “scotch.“ Each region gives scotch a distinctive flavor due to its water, altitude, climate, and grains. This part was rather well done and interesting.

Then off to the tasting room, where you get to choose a Scotch from one of the geographical regions to try. I chose a highland variety and tried to properly swish, smell and taste the flavors. The next stop is the world’s largest collection of Scotches, thousands of unopened bottles of every brand and age conceivable. Of course, the last stop is a shop where you can purchase. To be fair, I bought one from each geographical region.

We got home and Lisa made a great dinner in our nice apartment. Wonderful first couple of days.

Finals, Cold and the UK

Welcome to finals time in Poland (and most other universities in Europe). Whereas US colleges start in August and end their term in December, many European institutions do not begin until October and end in February. Actually, many of my colleagues and students here think we are nuts for starting so early, as August and September are prime holiday times. Why waste them being in school? Good point.

As noted in previous blogs, I am teaching four classes this term. I have already given three finals and have one more to go. Then comes the fun part of grading.

Grading is also different here. They (as in most of Europe) uses a numerical scale 2 to 5. A “2” is not passing. A “5+” is the best you can get. It is similar to our system of As. Bs. and Cs, they just use 5s, 4s and 3s.

The other strange thing for me is the lack of student confidentiality. In the States, grades are closely guarded. It is a sacred relationship between the professor and student. I even can’t discuss grades with my student’s parents. It is as strict as the priest/confessional relationship (there is even a federal law about it called FERPA). We might hurt a student’s feelings if their grade was distributed to the rest of the class....

Here everything is open. You literally post on your door all the student’s names and their grades, for all the world to see.

I had a very hard time doing this with the first exam. I have had FERPA drilled into my head for so many years. So, I wanted to distribute the grades individually. All my students protested, as they insisted they saw their grade as well as their classmate’s grade (and no feelings seemed to be hurt). So, when in Rome (or Poland.....). I now just email out a spreadsheet to the entire class with everyone’s marks on them. And everyone seems happy. In the States, I would be fired.

Another difference is that student’s carry around with them a special book that has all their classes and grades recorded. It is called an Indeks (Index). They receive it upon entering the University and once they complete a class, they have to go to the professor to fill out that class’s page and their grade. It is almost like a passport of grades. You need to show the Index to move on in your studies and to graduate.

As Lisa noted in her blog, January was slow. It was rather cold outside, so we were forced to hibernate. The cold is not so bad when you have a car. But when you rely on public transportation, getting out can be miserable. In fact, on many a morning I refused to walk, wait for a train and walk some more to work. So I took cabs (life’s too short when you are a wimp).

Our house had been a little cold with some drafts. I just mentioned it to our landlord, thinking they might want to add some more weather proofing in the spring (the house is rather new). Within 15 minutes of our conversation, the entire family was at our house working away in subzero weather. Amazing people. The drafts immediately disappeared. Our landlords are very, very good people.

This weekend we decided to get out. This region has so much to offer. There is still much we have not seen. We decided to take a tram down to the National Art Gallery in Old Town Gdansk. It is a gorgeous building that was a Franciscan Monastery in the 16th Century. It is a medium sized museum full of local art as well as a great collection of Dutch artists. It was nice enough to walk around for an hour or so, but no so big that the kids got bored.

On Sunday, using the same idea of getting out, we decided to go to Mass at the Cathedral, which is several miles from our house. Everyone had told us how gorgeous the Cathedral was. We took the tram 25 minutes and followed my map to the big church and attended Mass. Only after Mass was completely over did we discover we were NOT at the Cathedral; but just at a regular Catholic church. The Cathedral was two more blocks down. Keep in mind almost every church in Poland is old and ornate and Catholic. So telling the difference is sometimes hard. We will have to make it to the actual Cathedral at some other time.

Finally, we are getting ready for our between-semester break. We get about 10 days off before the second semester begins. As we have such a long time, we decided to make another big trip. This one to the UK (via airplane). We will be in Edinburgh, Scotland for 1/2 the time, then fly over to Dublin, Ireland for the second half of the trip. We are flying over on the super-discount airline: Ryanair.

We will have lots of blogs from the UK.

Cold and Executive Students

Hello from a very, very cold central Europe. All of this part of the world is undergoing sub-zero temperatures. Several of our nights have been down to -5F. Now, this is bad enough when you have a car to run you around. But when you rely on walking and waiting for buses and trams, it is damn miserable. Ever carry groceries 1/2 a mile in -5F weather? Neither had we.

Probably the worst part is that the family has really not left the house in days, and people are starting to wear on each other’s nerves.

That said, the forecast is to return to the 20s soon and maybe even get above freezing.

Even with the weather, life goes on.

I had a very unique teaching experience over the last several days. Our school has a special MBA program for adults who have significant work experience and are older (as opposed to a typical 22 year old student). In the US this would be similar to an Executive MBA program. My school usually invites lectures from around Europe to give the classes.

Since I was here they invited me to do one of the classes. There is a catch. Since the students and foreign lecturers have limited time, the entire 25 hour class is done over three straight days (Thursday-Saturday). So, I did three days, back to back to back of 8.5 hour classes. Normally, I would teach this class over 12 weeks, but had to do it for this group over three consecutive days.

I had 40 students who work full time for some of the largest companies in Poland (lots of them are US companies based in Poland). 40 is a rather large class for this type of format, but we managed. It was just a long three days and wiped me out. That said, I really enjoyed meeting these older students who have strong work experience. This was an “extra” class for me, but I enjoyed it and glad I took it.

Finals are just beginning here. I have three classes of finals to give over the next week. Then, I will have a great deal of grading to do before I have to turn in grades. I give these Polish students almost identical exams and homework assignment to what I give my US students. I like to compare the differences. So far, the Polish students compare very strongly with our US students.

We then get a small break and then my second (and final) semester begins on February 21st and ends June 25th.

As it is so cold, I have been watching TV on my computer a lot. I have discovered and downloaded some very good shows that play on the cable channels: Dexter, The Wire, MI-5 and Weeds. I am about to start a series called Mad Men. Frankly these cable shows are far, far superior to what plays on network TV. When I now watch a network show, it seems so poorly done and cheesy. I think the cable channels (like Showtime) have the right idea. I think The Sopranos started this trend. If you watch the award shows, you are seeing more and more of these shows win over their network competitors. Dexter and Mad Men just won several Golden Globes.

Barcelona Spain with Rockhurst

Not long after returning from a long Christmas holiday in central Europe, I went back to work for a few days and then headed off to the next adventure- Barcelona.

This trip actually had nothing to do with Fulbright, but rather with Rockhurst U (that other job). Prior to me leaving for Poland, I worked with two Professors: Turner White and Martin Stack (actually, they did most the work) to set up a two week study abroad trip for our undergraduate business students. We arranged a collaboration with a Jesuit school in Barcelona Spain, IQS. Turner and Martin left with 20 of our students for Barcelona after the New Year. All 20 students range in age from 20 to 22 and are juniors or seniors.

As I am still teaching in Poland, I was able to join them for only part of the trip. I flew through Munich, Germany and into Barcelona and met up my group. I have now been in five different countries and hearing eight different languages since December 25.

Our trip structure is simple. All 23 of us start each day about 7:30am with breakfast together, then go to IQS for an academic lecture provided by their faculty (Spanish Economy, Spanish Marketing, Spanish Logistics, etc). In the early afternoon, we go to some Spanish business for a look at the real business world in Spain and speak to some of their executives. The late afternoons are for cultural events and the evenings are free for the students to enjoy the city (they just have to be home for breakfast the next morning). All are “of age,” so we give them a reasonable degree of freedom for their time off.

This is an actual international class these students are taking for college credit. So, although we want the students to enjoy and get the most of this wonderful city- we are rather militant about how they spend their days and how they present themselves (so far, we are quite proud). This trip is coupled with pre and post work the student have to do.

Barcelona sits right on the Mediterranean sea; famous for its architecture, hosting of the Olympics in 1992, Mediterranean beaches and tourism. It is one of the most popular cities in Europe. It is located in the Catalonian area of Spain,which has its own language. Catalonian is a combination of Spanish, French and Italian. So most residents speak Catalonian, Spanish and many do speak English as well. I always thought Catalonian was just a regional dialect, but quickly found out it is its own language.

Like the rest of the world, even Barcelona was in a cold snap, now realizing this is a relative statement to those of you in sub zero weather. But it was in the low 40s for the entire trip. Considering that Barcelona is a Mediterranean coastal city, that is chilly! What is going on in the world??? The mountains just outside of the city got a heavy dose of snow.

My trip was the tale of two cities- the first part started off great. As noted above, we had a good academic schedule with the students each day. Then we toured some great businesses and even went to a Spanish Winery called Torres (look for some of their wines in your local liquor store- they are wonderful). After the students go on their way, Martin, Turner and I usually walked around to see the wonderful architecture. One of the famous architects from Barcelona is a gentleman named Antoni Gaudi. He created some of the most unique and wonderful buildings you have ever seen. This includes a Cathedral (Sagrada Família), which he started in the 1890s. It is so massive and ornate that it is not scheduled to be completed until 2026 (that is 130 years to build). Gaudi died in the 1920s, but his work and influences live on in the city.

Each night the three of us Professors went out to tapas restaurants (Spanish appetizers) and a bottle or two of Spanish wine. Basically you order a 1/2 dozen (or more) different tapas dishes and try everything. Everyone eats so late in Spain- we would have dinner about 8p and leave about 10:30. That was about the time the dinner rush was starting to come in. At 8pm, we were usually eating in an empty restaurant. It was only filling as we left.

We would typically return to the hotel and find our students in the lobby, who were all dressed up and ready to hit the town for the night. Most of the discos really don’t get going until midnight and stay open until 6 or 7am. Us old professors skipped those experiences (not that the students wanted us with them anyway).






Now for the other (unexpected) part of the trip. On Saturday, we did our normal routine with the students, and then Martin and I stopped at a small restaurant for a late lunch. I had the 1/2 chicken (start to see where this is headed?). By dinner time I was not feeling well, but assumed all my frequent travel was catching up with me. I planned an early night of rest. About 11 p.m. I started my second phase of my trip, where the only Barcelona sites I saw were my bathroom and the bed (TMI!, TMI!). I was horizontal for the next 48 hours. I survived on Sprite and Pringles (from the minibar). Martin brought me a baguette on Sunday. I never even left my room. Food poisoning is bad, but food poisoning while in a hotel room, in a foreign country, is really bad! I should have brought the mashed potato bowl.

I missed two days (out of six). One was supposed to be site seeing of some places I wanted to go, and the other was a academic trip down to the Barcelona port and harbor. Oh well... next time.

By Monday night I decided I needed to get out of the room (I really had not left it in 48 hours). Martin and Turner took me to another tapas place, and I ate some mild dishes (and no wine, nor meat).

On Tuesday morning, I had a 6am cab scheduled and flew back to Poland where I had to teach a late afternoon class.

Just to show you how unusually cold it is, our airplane sat on the Barcelona runway for over an hour waiting for planes that had just come down, and were going back up to be de-iced. I’ll bet the Barcelona airport had to look long and hard for their de-icing machine.

In retrospect, other than my 48 hours of solitude- I really enjoyed Barcelona and really enjoyed seeing and working with our Rockhurst students. As a plus, both Turner and Martin are great friends of mine who I will not see again until July. So this was great catching up. Martin, Turner and the students will be in Barcelona for another six days. I wish them all the best. I think they are really getting a lot out of this trip.

Back to Poland.....

Buda & Pest

Happy New Year!

I am quite late on this blog from a combination of being busy and lazy.

I last left you in Slovakia on St. Stephen’s Day. We then had a gorgeous train ride to our next destination in Budapest, Hungary. It took about 2.5 hours to get to the capital city along the Carpathian mountain range and Danube river.

Buda and Pest were actually two different cities that are separated by the Danube river. Buda is the old part which holds the castle and palace. Pest is the newer city, and these days the biggest section. Buda and Pest are connected by multiple bridges that span the Danube- each bridge is grander than the other.

Very quickly Budapest rose to my top five list of “most beautiful cities”. It really is a jewel. The city is a wonder to see and visit. I can’t say enough good things about it.


We had decent weather on most days, considering it was late December and early January. During our six days in Budapest we saw quite a bit and ate quite well.

Additionally, we had the great fortune of meeting some of our friends- The Keys: Barclay, Sonya and their two children plus Leanne. Barclay is a Fulbright Scholar of history and Leanne is on a Fulbright with Linguistics and also teaches English. So, you have never partied in Budapest until you have done it with a Historian, Linguist and an Economist!

We spent most days visiting the famous buildings of Budapest including the grand Parliament Building, Castle Hill, St. Stephen’s Church and all the gorgeous architecture. I will let the pictures speak for themselves. Most nights we gorged ourselves on Hungarian food.

Hungary has a history similar to that of Poland (always being controlled by someone). The Ottoman Empire ran it for 150 years, then came the Austrian-Hungarian Empire (the Hapsburgs’), then the Communists. Actually Budapest was the site of one of the earliest and largest communist revolts.  In 1956, the citizens tried to break away from the Soviets. The Soviet tanks were sent in and 30,000 were killed on the streets.

Although Hungary is in the EU, it is not on Euro yet. It still uses its own national currency the Forint. What we found fun about the Forint are the denominations. 200 Forints equal $1. So, to stop at an ATM and get a few days of “walking around money,” I would get 100,000 Forints. For a decent dinner we would drop 40,000. It was fun to carry around 10,000 domination bills.

We celebrated New Year’s Eve in Budapest with our friends. It gets quite wild there. They have a main drag called the Vaci Utca. On New Year’s Eve it reminded me of Bourbon Street in New Orleans (without the beads). Thousands of people, horns blowing, people drinking (and drinking). Our biggest problem were the fireworks. People would just shoot them off right in the middle of these packed crowds. It felt like a war zone when they landed next to you. Poor Trey and Abbie did not care at all for that. But it was certainly a memorable way in ring in 2010.

On New Year’s Day- our friends watched the kids, and I took Lisa out for a romantic dinner cruise up and down the Danube. We had a great time.

We said goodbye to our friends and headed home on January 2. It was a 17.5 hour train ride- but we scheduled the journey to be during the evening and night and we had two sleeping compartment. Therefore the trip was rather nice.

I look forward to returning to Budapest someday.