Our Arabian Adventure Continues: It is about time I came out of hibernation and let you all know that we are doing well here. Since I left home on 14 Dec, I have only been on my email VERY briefly.
My flight over was, thankfully, uneventful and on time. I had a 6-hour layover in Amsterdam and was able to get a couple of hours of sleep on a bench in the airport which really helped. I arrived in Bahrain on the evening of 16 Dec and our friends, Wayne & Diane Shurtliff, picked me up and took me to their home in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Dhahran is just over the causeway from Bahrain.
Mick drove from Riyadh to Dhahran on the 18th and the four of us left for Europe on the 19th. My poor body didn't know what time zone it was supposed to be in. Nevertheless, we had a great trip. We flew into Vienna and caught the train to Budapest.
Budapest was a great place to spend days leading up to Christmas. It is still politically correct there to celebrate Christmas, not the Holiday Season. There were Christmas fairs set up all over in their squares and the one in front of their parliament building was complete with a live, out-door nativity scene that showed every hour on the hour. The actors were beautifully costumed and they had live animals, including two camels. We could tell they were reading the account from Luke, even though we didn't understand the Hungarian language.
At church on Sunday in Budapest, we learned that one of the reasons you don't see all the commercialism is that Father Christmas had already come. He comes on 5 Dec, therefore, they can now concentrate on the real celebration.
Sunday afternoon we took the train to Zabreb, Croatia. We found this an absolutely charming city even though it was very cold and extremely icy.
Monday afternoon we took the train to Ljubljana, Slovenia. This was a perfect place to spend Christmas as they celebrate the real reason for the season. On Christmas Eve we stood on the steps on their Town Hall and listened to a live concert of a quartet called The New Swing Group. Their back-up group was a group of children ranging in ages from what looked like about 8 to 16 years in age. A lot of the music was in English, some in Sloven, and some a combination.
One of the highlights of our trip was that we were invited to a Christmas dinner at the home of Dora, one of the friends Mick made while serving as the Public Affairs Director for the stake. She fed the four of us and we had a great visit with her. She lives right in the main part of the city. Her apartment is about the size of a postage stamp, but she welcomed us with open arms.
We were going to return to Vienna via Graz, Austria, but we made a last minute change and on Wednesday went to Salzburg instead. It is still one of my favorite places. We mainly walked around and did go up and see the castle. The chess set is still there in Mozart Plazt, but is chained up awaiting better weather.
Thursday afternoon, we again caught a train to Vienna where we flew back into Bahrain. After returning to Wayne and Diane's home in Dhahran, Mick and I left for our return adventures here in Riyadh. Mick has rented a small Chevy. Believe me when I say small. After driving The Beast here before, we feel like we are driving in the bumper cars at Lagoon.
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