Budapest

We rented a "special bike" for a trip around Margit Island

At the Mattais Church, with its Gothic styling and tiled roof

At the Fisherman's Bastion -- an eleven year old black eagle

This was cool -- a children's railroad.  It's a 16km long, narrow-gauge rail that was built in the 1950's.  It runs through the wooded hills on the Buda side of the river, so it was a good way to avoid the heat.

The city authorities were no-kidding distributing water packs it was so hot!

Next on our trip we visited Budapest. We stayed at our friends', the Bushes, apartment, on the Pest side of the city. Like us, they were off traveling during their summer vacation. (But, wiser than us, they were in the Alps where it was cool instead of in the city where it was Africa hot.).

Anyway, one of the (many) cool aspects of the Olmsted program is you have colleagues in different cities you can stay with. And this time, as an added bonus, the Bushes arranged for us to use their babysitter. Twice. Wow, a two date nights in a row! We hardly knew what to do with ourselves.

Bratislava

The St. Elisabeth Church (aka, Blue Church) -- art nouveau 

Jill was pretty pleased that JR was dressed to match..

JR liked how his voice echoed here in Bratislava Castle, which was recently restored

We took a boat trip on the Danube to this location, Devin Castle

Saying hello to one of the interesting statues in Bratislava, "The Watcher"

We spent two days of our trip in Bratislava. That was just about enough when it comes to sightseeing. There were some interesting sights though, and the old city is pretty.

Travels with JR, July 2012 ed.

An ice cream break makes the drive more manageable 

Boat trip on the Danube

Our route, working clockwise from the upper right

We're on a big adventure!

After Tom's exams we left Krakow on a 19-day road trip. The map shows our route and stops. We're stopping in several different places on this trip -- and nowhere longer than four days. Europeans think this is strange, but there's so much we want to see, this is how we Americans do it, I suppose.

Spaghetti night..

..tends to be a messy night.

Medal for WWII pilot

I attended a ceremony last Monday to accept a medal from the city of Krakow on behalf of a US WWII pilot, Spencer Felt, whose B-24 crashed not far from Krakow. He couldn't travel here to receive the medal. He and most of the bomber crew were sheltered and hidden from the Germans by the Polish underground army for about six months until the Russians finally reached this area. It's an interesting story. You can find the transcript of an interview with this man if you google "Spencer Felt world war II".

In the photos here I'm sitting next to a ninety-year old Polish pilot who also was honored that day with a medal from the city of Krakow. He flew from England, Africa, and Italy during the war. Also pictured are representatives from the mountain area where Spencer Felt and the rest of the crew were hidden and cared for. The area is Ochotnica, and the men are wearing the traditional garb for that mountain region.

Uncle Jim, Aunt Mimi, and Jamie

Tom's Uncle Jim, Aunt Mimi, and cousin Jamie visited us recently.  We were of course very happy to have them stay with us.  We had a very pleasant week with them here.  Below are some pictures from their visit that they shared with us.

Jamie, Mimi, and Jim on the square

Jamie was patient enough to read to JR.  At this age he doesn't sit that still for too many people.

One of the days of their visit coincided with "Juwenalia", an annual day of student irreverence and fun.  Here's a picture from the culmination of the parade, during which students dress up in costume and march into the city square.

And finally, an obligatory shot of JR having a good time in the park

Still a messy eater

This is what happens when you leave JR for a few minutes and he runs out of crackers to dip in the humus...