Our first stop was Kalocsa (pronounced kuh-LOW-ch-skuh). We have been provided with our own earphones to use for the week for the guided tours. The receivers to plug the earphones into are kept at the ship's reception desk so they can be recharged as needed. The first tour went out promptly at 8:30 driving in a coach with about 30 people to the baroque cathedral and the archbishop’s palace. We didn’t go in the palace, but the guide, Gabriella, bragged...

This morning we caught up on email and Phil caught up on school work before we checked out of the hotel. Over the next week we will have Internet access from the riverboat, but I don't know how reliable it will be since we will be traveling through some remote areas of Hungary, Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania. After checking out, we took a cab to the Intercontinental Hotel which is the meeting point for our cruise. The Avalon hosts were there and invited us to join ...

We didn't plan anything for today, and it turned out to be a nice slow day. After a late breakfast at the hotel we walked to Buda Castle. The changing of the guard happened to take place just as we went by. A bugle fanfare announced that something was about to happen, so we walked in that direction with lots of other tourists,and saw the short ceremony. Five soldiers performed the entire ceremony right in front of the building holding the office of the President ...