The first time I can remember writing a history report was for Mr. Cole's class, when Mike Rood, Chris Crabtree, Michelle Gallahair and I were among 15 fourth graders in an advanced combination class with the same number of fifth graders.
I would sit down at the kitchen table with Mom and a stack of encyclopedias on Thursday evening so I'd have my error-free, ink-written two pages ready to turn in the next morning.
Many was the time I started writing a sentence two thirds of the way down the page only to realize I had started the wrong word, which forced me to be resourceful and find another word in the dictionary that started with the same letters or restructure the sentence. Often, it involved restructuring the sentence to use the new word.
Yes, I could have just started the page over, but that sounds a lot easier in this word processing age when to rewrite means a couple of quick keyboard strokes followed by hitting print. Handwriting neatly in ink without corrections was for many in my generation the hardest part of a report.
Admittedly, the first few reports were more Mom reading the books aloud and then telling me what to write, but she gradually left me more and more time and space to figure it out on my own.
While neither of my parents went to an academic-type university (though my dad did graduate from barber and beauty schools), they were both very intelligent and life-long learners who could hold their own in any conversation.
Education for their children was always a top priority, so they bought the prestigious World Book Encyclopedia as well as several grocery store encyclopedia sets to have in our home, which was definitely a huge advantage at the time. Looking back, I can't help but wish I had been a more dedicated student to honor their faith in me, but I've enjoyed such a wonderful life, I honestly can't say it could have turned out any better if I had tried.
These days, of course, we all have access to the internet, where the problem is not finding information but sifting what is true from what google engineers have programmed to be the most popular answers based on their personal biases or black-ops advertising.
Mom and Dad also helped my sister and me sort through that type of misinformation (albeit in different forms) by teaching us how to learn through their examples.
At the time I was writing those papers for the affable Mr. Cole and the next year for the tough-minded Mrs. Burroughs, I never thought I would voluntarily take time away from watching TV or playing sports to write those reports.
And yet, when I go on vacation, even after I tell myself that I will not get carried away with history as I did before our recent Danube River Cruise, I find myself returning home to research more about what I learned along the way.
This time, I felt compelled to write what turned out to be a multi-article report about Maria Theresa and the Habsburgs, but herein I have broken those episodes out as an overview of the region in this 300th Anniversary Year of Empress Maria Theresa. It should be noted that many of the pictures and some other information about our trip are only found in those posts.
By the late 1980's, freedom was emerging after years of oppression by authoritarian despots around the world.
Despite its bluster, the Soviet Union was crumbling, and satellite countries that had been dominated since World War II by the heavy hand of Moscow were rebelling in unique ways.
In Tallinn, Estonia, the Singing Revolution of 1988 turned Soviet tanks away, and within a few years, Estonia became an independent nation with a thriving capitalist democracy.
In 1989, the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia eventually birthed two new free countries, Czech Republic and Slovakia, which is the country from which my son-in-law Laszlo immigrated with his parents in the 1980's, indirectly leading to our star granddaughter Emma.
Even Russia itself embraced greater liberty, although the deep roots of authoritarianism have proven harder to reform, with former KGB and Politburo elites using their influence and raw power to dominate an almost mobster-like crony capitalism that has emerged. It's nonetheless still probably freer than it was before.
The successors to Mao were taking China in a new direction, with a shift from agriculture to manufacturing as they opened their economy to trade with the free world. Absolute power, however, remained as always in the grip of the Chinese Communist Party.
It has been theorized that the seeds of freedom were spread of rebellious rock n roll music and its American T-shirts and Levis lifestyle that had already changed the Western World.
Looking at how most people dress in Chinese big cities seems to confirm that theory.
As someone who believes words and music have power to change lives, I can appreciate that theory has merit, but others claim just as convincingly that it was strong political leadership by the United States that pried open the doors to freedom.
In my favorite novel of last year, The 14th Colony by Steve Berry, I read for the first time about a very real secret collaboration between President Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II, which was one of the factual premises upon which the fast-paced novel rests. That makes more sense to me, as someone who lived through that era.
While China had been liberalizing their economy, government and education system since US President Nixon metaphorically opened the way for a new Silk Road, it was not enough for large numbers of Chinese students, who like young people everywhere included lots of idealists.
Tens of thousands of idealists began to gather in Tiananmen Square on April 22, following the funeral of popular political leader Hu Yaobang.
After rising to become General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party in 1980, Hu championed greater freedom and democratization.
By January of 1987, hardliners felt the pendulum had swung too far or at least too fast, and they pushed back against Hu's policies to force him from office. When Hu died of a heart attack on April 15, he became a martyr of sorts for the people who yearned for greater freedom.
The death of Hu prompted fears that the freedom movement would die far short of its goals.
Hours stretched to days, and this spontaneous gathering of mourners in an age before social media became a movement. Students refused to return to class, and more joined their numbers.
The government published propaganda branding the students as "Counter-Revolutionary," which in Communist China meant essentially everything evil. This thinned their ranks, as I'm sure worried parents begged their children to come to their senses and not destroy their futures.
The hunger strike re-galvanized the movement. Seeing bright young students voluntarily starving themselves to save their country had a much greater effect in China than it would have in well-fed America.
By May 4, demonstrations had spread to 51 cities, and the multitude of demonstrators at Tiananmen Square had swollen to a quarter of a million people.
The naturally curious westerners found an even more interesting story in Tiananmen Square, shining the bright light of the world on what the Chinese Communist Party would have preferred kept hidden forever.
Humiliated to lose face in front of the whole world, the CCP knew they must do something.
Martial law was declared on May 19, with military troops sent into Tiananmen Square to "maintain order," but the marchers refused to disband, bringing to mind the 1971 Don McLean lyrics, "The players tried to take the field. The marching band refused to yield. Do you recall, what was the deal? The day the music died."
By June 3, the number of demonstrators approached a million, and when the military with tanks were sent by the CCP government to disburse the crowd, citizens from the surrounding area joined in the defense of the student demonstrators.
Our guide Yuan was there, not as a demonstrator but observing, concerned for the safety of students he knew. He said his line of sight was on almost exactly the same line as the western journalist who shot the iconic "tank man" footage.
By the way, I should note that never in our travels did our guide Yuan say anything disparaging about the CCP. Any negative connotations about anything within this blog are based on my own independent research.
Demonstrators seemed to essentially dare the ironically named People's Liberation Army to shoot, and eventually they did.
The soldiers had their orders, and the "massacre" unfolded over a few days, and not just in the Square. It was more of a Beijing Massacre, with many killed in streets around Tiananmen Square as they tried to hinder the encroachment by the troops.
Initial government estimates of deaths were "23 counter-revolutionary hooligans" killed by the military, which was revised up gradually to 197 and then over the years to an acknowledged 300.
In a country where all media is controlled by the government, the only "facts" are those established by the government, but estimates by foreign journalists and eye witnesses reach into the thousands.
It was a far cry from what the Ming Dynasty probably imagined would unfold at the place they named "The Gateway to Heavenly Peace."
Constructed in 1415, Tiananmen did indeed serve primarily as the gateway to the Imperial City.
It remains a national symbol of China.
The Square at Tiananmen was designed under the Qing Dynasty in 1651. It has been enlarged several times, including by Chairman Mao Zedong in 1958-9 who wanted it to be the largest and most spectacular square in the world.
Like Royal Caribbean Cruise ship generations, this square has been surpassed by six larger squares, including China's Xinghai Square that is about four times as large, but Tiananmen Square is still often called "the largest civic gathering place in the world."
While the Chinese Communist Party may wish to erase the Tiananmen Square Event from history, it turned out to be a seminal event in helping create the miracle still unfolding of an impoverished country that has already become the second largest economy in the world.
To avoid continued unrest, the Chinese Communist Party has adopted reforms and economic development patterned to some extent on the United States capitalist model, or at least to embrace a symbiotic relationship with the west, where they feed on our market system to undercut capitalists, even if they must do so at a loss in the near term, in order to create industrial and construction jobs for upwardly mobile Chinese masses who had formerly barely subsisted as share croppers.
Since Berlitz began publishing its guide to river cruises, AmaWaterways has dominated their rankings of top ships.
In its 2016 edition, Berlitz's list of "Top 10 River Cruise Ships" was again filled exclusively by AmaWaterways vessels.
You may incorrectly translate that to mean Ama costs considerably more than other lines.
AmaWaterways admittedly costs a bit more than some other lines including Viking, but that difference isn't significantly more, and sometimes Ama wins the price match game for specific departures when their availability is better.
Julie and I recently had the pleasure to cruise the Danube aboard AmaCerto from Vilshofen to Budapest, and the line lived up to its reputation and press coverage.
Comfortable as well as beautiful, the ship decor made us feel right at home, as did the crew.
One Evening's Dessert in the Regular Dining Room
Dining throughout the voyage proved excellent, beginning with our gourmet meal at the Chef's Table the first night.
This intimate venue for two dozen guests delivers course after course of the chef's specialties, paired with the perfect local wines.
Serving one of the best meals you may ever enjoy in your life, this specialty restaurant comes with no additional charge, and each guest on the ship has the opportunity to dine there at least once during the cruise.
Vineyard by Dürnstein Fortress Near Port of Linz, Austria
The local wines at other dinners and lunches were inevitably stellar, but if anyone enjoyed a wine from a prior night or perhaps wanted sparkling wine instead of the usual red or white choices, our beverage server Carmen happily brought those alternatives to the table.
A Unique Feature of Ama is a Refreshing Pool That's Perfect on a Hot Day.
Beer and soft drinks were also offered with lunch and dinner at no additional charge.
While a point in favor of the higher priced Uniworld is unlimited drinks of any kind throughout the cruise, quite honestly we really had plenty to drink on AmaCerto.
In fact, as I wrote on post cards (which are provided at no cost and even mailed free of charge by AmaWaterways), I occasionally found too much to drink.
Slap Dancing at "Oktoberfest" in port of otherwise placid Vilshofen
The first evening, AmaCerto's crew hosted an Oktoberfest-like party at the port of Vilshofen, with two beers or sodas per person.
An Oom-pah-pah band and slap dancers made it into a small version of the famous Munich harvest celebration.
After that great party, the Captain welcomed us with champagne in the lounge. Our amiable cruise director Federico went on to give us an overview of the cruise including available excursions before we went off to dinner.
As mentioned previously, we dined at the Chef's Table that night, having received the invitation from Head Waiter Alex when he happened to be the crew member to lead us to our room the first day. He and George delivered the courses with good-humored flair, and the wine went down all-too easily.
An evening of two beers, two champagnes and who knows how much wine had the predictable effect. The next morning came with a headache, but a couple of ibuprofens and fresh cappuccino had me back in the game before the delectable breakfast.
Illuminations Cruise in Budapest, Hungary
On another evening, when we returned from an optional concert excursion in Vienna to hear wonderful chamber music by Strauss and Mozart in a small, palatial venue at which there was complimentary champagne, Ama hosted a late night buffet of beer with sausages and goulash that I forced myself to pass on.
I also skipped free beer during another German celebration one morning between breakfast and lunch. All the food was terrific throughout, but there's a limit to how much I can eat and drink without negative consequences. As Clint Eastwood said, "A man's got to know his limitations."
Anyone who didn't have enough to eat or drink on this cruise must not have been paying attention.
By the way, it should be noted that whether in the dining room, the lounge or the sun deck, there are always more than enough seats, so you never have to arrive early or elbow for room.
At meals, AmaWaterways also gives a thoughtful nod to single travelers, who may relish the opportunity to travel solo if pricing isn't prohibitively high.
Vienna, Austria
Many of the tables have five seats rather than four, so a single traveler need not feel like the odd-woman out.
One such single traveler, Vivian from Manhattan's Upper West Side, was delightful company for us one evening. She was always thoroughly engaged in this wonderful vacation any time our paths crossed.
From the outset, AmaWaterways makes their intention to welcome singles clear: standard window category D and E rooms are often available without single supplement, which makes Ama offerings actually cost less for single travelers than many other river cruises.
There are select instances where single supplements are waived for balconies and higher categories, but those are rare.
The staterooms are comfortable and include free internet plus interactive TVs featuring extensive movie choices and music catalogs (Mozart, Moody Blues and many more).
Each dual balcony room features a small traditional veranda just large enough for a cafe table and two chairs, plus a separate French balcony (sliding glass door opens so that you can stand by a railing without leaving the comforts of your room).
View of Converging Rivers from Fortress in Passau, Germany
That way, if it is a chilly day outside but you still want to take in some fresh air without cooling the entire room, you can go on the veranda, but on the other hand, you can just open up the room to the river breezes any time you prefer that instead.
After partnering with Disney for select river cruises geared toward families, Ama has remodeled some rooms to accommodate triples and even added some adjoining rooms.
By the way, the Category E room (non-opening windows only) that we had was quite comfortable.
Our room steward Nicola kept our room impeccably clean in a very unobtrusive manner, and when we saw him, he always shared a smile.
We spent little time in our room, however, preferring the top deck on sunny days and the lounge at other leisure moments while cruising.
Julie in Salzburg
And, of course, this being a river cruise, most of our time was spent in the quaint villages and historic cities along the Danube.
This brings up another defining aspect of river cruising, the approach to shore excursions.
While all river cruises feature at least one introductory excursion per port, AmaWaterways frequently has full day excursions including lunch or the opportunity to take multiple excursions on the same day at no additional charge.
AmaWaterways also makes a point of having excursions available for different tastes and fitness levels, such as easy-walkers, late-risers or active travelers.
I thought perhaps "active" would be something of a joke on walking and hiking tours but was proven wrong repeatedly.
Bratislava, Capital City of Slovakia
Active guides took us at truly fast paces. We saw quite a bit in a short time, giving us free time at highlight spots, which the younger (at least in our minds) set of river cruisers greatly appreciated.
Immaculate new buses manned by remarkably skillful drivers ---parallel parking a motorcoach in a space with only a couple of feet to spare? No problem! --- and knowledgeable guides whisked us to more distant starting points, so we didn't have to trudge meaningless miles trying to find our way to remarkable sites.
Afternoon ride to Klosterneuberg Abbey in Vienna
Ama also offers bicycle excursions at no additional cost, and I was quite surprised by the speed of the ride I took.
We rapidly covered 7 1/2 miles to visit a very cool monastery, although from what I heard, we happened to be an unusually fast group of six (plus two guides) on that particular excursion as compared to larger groups that slowed down to accommodate some stragglers on the prior day's 22 mile bike excursion.
Our new friend Roberto from Brazil, who wasn't much younger than me, continually drafted our athletic guide Wolfgang, as if he were out to win the Tour de France and pushing the pace.
The ride back was even faster.
I would have needed some of those Lance Armstrong "vitamins" to keep up, but the leaders would occasionally pull over and wait for the rest of us.
A second guide trailed the group to make sure all of the dogies got along safely.
If you want to cycle without the structure of a tour, there are bikes with locks and helmets available at no charge throughout the trip.
On our particular cruise, there was actually a Backroads bicycle tour group imbedded within the guests.
Bratislava Church Stained Glass and Statue
Backroads Tours (yes, we represent them, too) cost more than a standalone river cruise, but their guests basically bicycle all the time in shore and sometimes parallel the route of the ship as she makes scenic cruises through castles and forests. The ship serves as their nightly lodgings. You know if this type of trip would suit you.
We had dinner with a very nice couple from Minneapolis who were on the Backroads trip. They personally had special bikes with electric motors (furnished by Backroads) that could be kicked on to supplement their leg power and enable them to keep up with the more hardcore cyclists.
AmaWaterways should be on your short list of river cruise choices no matter who you happen to be, but if you are single or an active traveler, give them special attention.
Napoleon championed a new meritocracy with systems of justice designed to make everyone equal under the law, so of course the royal families of Europe, including the Habsburgs, felt their feudal order was now being threatened in their own back yard as well as across the ocean in far-away America.
A series of coalitions formed to take down this upstart who had no legitimate claim to power by "royal blood."
Napoleon dealt with these threats, keeping territories captured during the successful defense of his realm through successive coalitions.
Unlike Hitler's detestable rule by fear, Napoleon and the common people in the territories he subsequently conquered saw him as a liberator.
Strolling through beautiful Bratislava
When the Third Coalition met with utter defeat at his hands, the Peace of Pressburg was declared on December 26, 1805, under a treaty between Napoleon and Holy Roman Emperor Francis II, a grandson of Maria Theresa.
So total had been the defeat that the Holy Roman Empire itself, the last official vestige of the amazing Roman Empire, collapsed entirely.
Emperor Napoleon's son by Austrian Archduchess Marie Louise, was called "King of the Romans" from birth, inferring that the Roman Empire almost resurrected under a Habsburg descendant, as royal family lines have occasionally reclaimed thrones in the past.
That was not to be, as royal blood apparently demanded that royal kingdoms destroy Napoleon and all that he stood for to stem the tide toward a more egalitarian world, even if it might have eventually evolved full circle back to the Roman Empire.
The eastern branch of the Roman Empire based in Constantinople (modern day Istanbul), which by historians came to be called the Byzantine Empire but considered themselves Romans, had ceased to exist with the Fall of Constantinople in 1456 at the hands of the Ottoman Turks.
When Suleiman the Magnificent came to power as the 10th Ottoman Sultan, he set his sights on expanding deeper into Eastern Europe and beyond.
To those ends, Suleiman's army decimated the Royal Hungarian army at the Battle of Mohács in 1526.
In retreat, Louis II, the 20 year-old King of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia, fell backwards off his horse riding down a steep ravine. He landed in a stream, and the heavy armor he wore for protection in battle proved to be so heavy that he couldn't stand up before he drowned.
This defeat brought central Hungary under Ottoman control.
Transylvania became a semi-independent vassal state of the Ottomans and eventually a "suzerainty" under the rule of both the Ottoman Empire and the Habsburgs.
The remaining Kingdom of Hungary was primarily modern day Slovakia, including Pressburg plus Transnubia, an area east of Vienna along the Danube encompassing modern day Budapest.
Separate Hungarian noble groups elected two Kings almost simultaneously for "Royal Hungary": Slavonian noble John Szapolyai, who would become known as Hungarian King John I, and Habsburg Archduke Ferdinand I of Austria, who was brother-in-law of' the recently deceased Hungarian King Louis II who was married to Maria of Habsburg.
John and Ferdinand both claimed to be King of Hungary.
Suleiman was not finished, and whether because he thought Ferdinand had stretched Hungary too thin with his power grab or because it simply fit his general plan, in 1529 at the absolute zenith of Ottoman power in Europe he went after the Austrian capital for the first time with the unsuccessful Siege of Vienna.
These unresolved, less-than-absolute claims of sovereignty by the Habsburgs as to who ruled Transylvania and Royal Hungary would seem to fall under what our guide in Vienna referred to as Austrian compromise as opposed to German compromise. In that case, he was talking about a popular Viennese chocolate cake and conflicting claims to be "Original Sacher Torte" versus "The Original Sacher-Torte." Austrian compromise means living with ambiguity until the situation can be settled later, whereas German compromise would require immediate satisfaction, even if that would mean a duel to the death over whose cake was the original.
As it turned out, the talons of the Habsburgs overcame occasional setbacks like those at the hands of Suleiman and Napoleon, clinging fast to Hungary through World War I.
In 1699, at the culmination of the 15 year Turkish War, the Ottomans withdrew entirely from Hungary, marking the first time they had lost significant territory after centuries of expansion.
Pressburger Schloss (Bratislava Castle), which was just across the border from Austria, served that purpose.
As her successful reign progressed, Maria Theresa began remodeling Pressburger Schloss in the ornate Rococo style she preferred
Getting back to the promise at the end of my last lengthy post, Empress Maria Theresa's favorite child was Maria Christina. Both strong-willed and extremely intelligent, "Mimi" was the most like her mother.
Her parents ensured Mimi received an excellent education, and she developed to be a fine artist by any standards, irregardless of her royal position.
Add in her beauty, and it becomes obvious why her siblings might be a bit jealous when their mother treated Mimi as her favorite.
Like Maria Theresa, who had been allowed to marry for love, Mimi eschewed unions with more promising Princes to marry the younger son of the King of Saxony (Poland) rather than the heir apparent to the throne of a more significant prospective ally like France.
Albert of Saxe-Teschen was merely the Duke of Teschen, a title that would proceed to be held by Habsburgs for future generations.
However, they did not marry until 1765, when Mimi's father had passed away, possibly indicating the Emperor never gave the final green light to the marriage.
Mimi and her hubby moved to the beautifully refurbished Pressburger Schloss in 1766, and acting as a mother-in-law who wanted her favorite daughter to be married to a successful man, Maria Theresa appointed Albert Governor.
Because the Governor needed more space, a new palace in Classic style was built inside the walls.
Further upgrades included gardens similar to Schönbrunn Palace plus summer and winter riding schools along the lines of the Spanish Riding School in Hofburg Palace in Vienna.
In addition, Maria Theresa upgraded the furnishings, adding more valuable art.
While she visited there in keeping with her promise to live there part of the time, this remodeling would seem to be primarily for the benefit of her favorite child while at the same time providing mother and daughter the opportunity to maintain their close relationship.
Maria Theresa died in 1780, and the next year Mimi's brother Emperor Joseph II eliminated the position of Governor and moved many of the treasures to Vienna.
Did sibling jealousy weigh into those decisions?
In any case, Albert and Mimi took some treasures with them to Brussels for Albert's new position as Governor of Austrian Netherlands (modern day Belgium).
In 1783, Emperor Joseph II moved the seat of power to Buda (half of today's Budapest) and the Hungarian Crown Jewels to Hofburg Palace in Vienna.
Stripped of its treasures, Pressburger Schloss became a Catholic seminary.
In 1802, the aging seminary became a military barracks housing 1500 soldiers. That made it a target for bombardment by Napoleon's forces in 1809 after Austria joined Britain in the Fifth Coalition to break the French Empire.
Austria had stayed out of the Fourth Coalition, abiding by terms of the Treaty of Pressburg, but no peace lasts forever, it seems.
By the way, all of the photos in this post are from our port stop in Bratislava (formerly known as Pressburg), except the last one which is a picture of Bratislava from the AmaWaterways brochure.
When Julie and I arrived in Nashville, our effervescent granddaughter Emma greeted us in the lobby of the airport-close Red Roof Inn.
Emma's daddy Laszlo soon joined us.
At Shoney's diner, we found the daily special was a 70 cent cheese burger to celebrate their 70th Anniversary, and we knew we definitely weren't in California any more.
Son Jay and his girlfriend Sasha arrived on our flight, but they celebrated their October birthdays with a night on the town and a penthouse suite at a downtown hotel. They wouldn't be joining us until the next afternoon, after Jay concluded meeting with Universal Music's Nashville division, which was his reason for going to Nashville and the genesis of this family reunion.
Emma's mommy Gina, however arrived in the morning. Gina, Laszlo, Emma, Julie and I drove our Thrifty Rental Car to President Andrew Jackson's estate, where they're currently celebrating his 250th birthday. That hasn't garnered as much attention as Central Europe's feting of Maria Theresa's 300th birthday, which we had recently experienced on our Danube River cruise.
In order to take time off school, Emma's teacher had been promised Emma would experience some historical places, and the home of Jackson, an outsider President to whom Donald Trump has been compared both favorably and unfavorably by some pundits, made a logical first stop.
I had just finished reading a novel, The Jefferson Code, which included passages about the factual failed assassination attempt on President Jackson as part of a presumably fictional multi-generational conspiracy by pirates, so once again I found that my reality bent to touch on something I had been thinking about.
The second place Laszlo had told Emma's teacher she would visit was the full sized replica of the Parthenon, as it appeared at the time it was completed.
That wasn't a big surprise to my subconscious mind, because another book I had recently read was The Day Democracy Died, a very interesting historical story about the greatest naval victory in the history of Athens which turned to disaster for the generals due to mob mentality.
Emma, however, was most excited about swing benches near the large lake of Millennial Park beside the Parthenon, and she wasn't all that eager to see the gigantic statue of Athena or the museum pieces inside the Parthenon.
You may wonder how a full scale model of the Parthenon came to be built in Nashville, of all places.
Millennial Park had been completed in 1897, to celebrate 100 years of Tennessee statehood, and as with other turn of the century era celebrations, Nashville wanted to not only celebrate modern technologies but to pay homage to history, in this case the most famous structure from the birthplace of democracy, ancient Athens.
Reading that placard brought to mind a similar description of City Park in Budapest, built to celebrate the 1,000 year anniversary of the arrival of Hungary's ancestral Magyar tribes from central Asia, which included monuments to historical architectural styles found throughout Hungary.
That type of serendipity seems to constantly unfold or me, beginning first thing in the morning when I do my crossword puzzle and find clues that reference something I had discussed or heard recently.
And it doesn't apply exclusively to trivia.
If we think about happiness, that is what we find at every turn, and I'm happy to say all my children have tied into life streams of positive synchronicity, too.
After taking time to find some fun in the beautiful park surrounding the Parthenon and touring that impressive replica, we headed over to the 4 bedroom house on the outskirts of Nashville which we had rented for the next four nights.
Like a song where other instruments gradually enter the arrangement as it moves forward, we were soon joined at the house by Jay and Sasha, and later that night, daughter Amy arrived from New York City.
Why should you cruise on AmaWaterways?
Confronting the Nazi Past in Linz
