10/14/14 Bratislava, Slovakia

We awoke to find ourselves docked in Bratislava, the capital city of Slovakia.  We had a bus ride around the residential part of the city, particularly the residences of the diplomats.  The home of the American ambassador looked like a mini version of the White House - a bit silly and pretentious as far as I am concerned.  We also could look across the river to the apartment buildings leftover from the Communist era - quite ugly blocks on the outside, but apparently people have modernized the insides.  The average person in this city earns 850 euros per month and since houses cost between 100,000 and 200,000 euros, many people live in apartments.  By the way, the average car costs 150,000 - again out of the reach of most people.  We visited the castle situated on a hill looking over the city and had great views.  It was quite a lovely, warm day today - a bit of fog in the distance, but glorious in town.  We walked through the historic district and then had about an hour on our own before having to be back on board.  I found the city quite charming - not too big, friendly people, surprises around every corner.  One of the surprises here is that they have life-sized bronze statues placed just anywhere.  There was one of Napoleon leaning over a park bench in the main square and another of a man peering out from a manhole cover.  We departed the city just before lunch and continued sailing down the Danube.  This area is quite flat, unlike the Danube of a day or two ago.  We passed through one of the Danube's deepest locks (60 feet) at about 2:30.  We then came in to watch the pastry chef put on an apple strudel demonstration in the lounge.  The strudel looked lovely, but unfortunately, the secret ingredient was rum - a good way to ruin a great looking strudel!  There is a farewell dinner tonight even though we have one more day on the ship.  I believe the menu is five courses with the main course being Beef Wellington and prawns.  I am looking forward to some plain, home cooked food.  Every night is a fancy meal with an equally fancy dessert.  I am afraid to step on a scale.  We will arrive in Budapest tonight.  I hope we can watch the approach as I'm sure the city is lit up and beautiful at night.  The timing will depend on how much boat traffic is on the river and the wait at the locks.