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Day 1 - Me and Tom Hanks

It’s been a LONG day!  Robyn picked me up at zero-dark-thirty (translation - 3:15 AM) heading to the Richmond airport.   We might hit a deer on the interstate in the dark, but we were not going to hit traffic!  Robyn, like me, prefers to arrive early for flights.  Everyone arrives 1 1/2 hours before domestic flights so we arrive TWO hours early!  Aren’t we smart but tired! We are heading on a LONG awaited trip to the Galápagos Islands via several days in the Amazon rainforest along with Quito, the capital of Ecuador.  I have waited 49 YEARS for this adventure!  As a freshman at Wake Forest, the biology department invited students to spend spring break in the Galapagos.  I thought I would go another time, and they NEVER went again!   Robyn and I started planning this trip in 2017, but we were way-laid with a visit to see Michael and Robyn’s brother in Dubai and then to Africa.  We booked the Galapagos trip for March of 2020, and we a...
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Serbia! Final Exploration & Day 26!

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Today is my last delicious breakfast in the Balkans since we leave for the airport at 4 AM tomorrow.  Our itinerary indicated a European breakfast each morning which I confused with a continental breakfast.  I’ve learned it is vastly different!   Stale pastries and maybe a muffin with cereal and yogurt versus hot eggs, bacon, sausages, waffles, fruit…oh, the fruit!, multiple pastries, smoothies, roasted and fresh veggies, smoked meats, and cheeses..and on and on.  I even had pickles a few mornings! Since it is our last morning meal together, I bring the smuggled persimmon with me!  I cut it and offer it to the others, but only Robyn is brave enough to try it.  It is filled with tiny seeds, and I think it has absolutely no taste.  Robyn thinks slightly peachy.  I don’t think my poor misguided hope for a new taste sensation has been realized!   We catch a bus for the Church of St. Sava, a relatively new Serbia Orthodox Church built over th...
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Serbia! Wine and Honey & Day 25!

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I leave Novi Sad today for the final two days of my Balkans adventure.  The destination is Belgrade, capital of Serbia and once also capital of Yugoslavia, and the largest city in the country.  Before we arrive, we will be visiting a few sites. The lovely village of Sremski Karlovci has flowers,      colorful linden trees,    and a stork’s nest on a chimney!   I believe I mentioned in an earlier post that storks spend the summer in different coastal areas in Croatia but also here in Serbia.  I’ve seen some nests on street lamps and chimneys but always from the car windows.  This time I grab a picture! The public water fountain wasn’t needed by the time it was installed, but it is lovely on the square.  The lion heads spouts are Venician due to an Italian artist.   There is a prominent Serbian Orthodox monastery, and we see some of the young men, future priests and monks, dressed conservatively in white shirts and ties....
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