The 70th Birthday Danube Cruise--August 2008
Andi Biancur et al.
Photos by Biancur, Van Inwegen, Smith, and Flygare
Originally envisioned as a collective celebration of ’60 classmates’ 70th birthday, the 13-day Danube River Cruise took place 11-23 August, 2008. Some went on a three-day pre-trip and others stayed for a three-day post trip. Ultimately, 18 members of the Class of 1960 and several Colorado Springs’ locals were together for the river cruise portion.
The couples who went on the pre-trip spent three days in Romania and Transylvania, going by bus north from Bucharest through Ploesti “on the trail of Vlad the Impaler,” eventually returning to Bucharest to join the river-cruise gang.
Following a bus trip to Constanta on the shore of the Black Sea, we boarded the river boat for transit through the Black Sea Canal into the Danube River. Over the next six days we visited Bulgaria, Serbia and Croatia before debarking for two days in Budapest Hungary.
The cruise provided the chance to experience life in several countries previously known as the Soviet Bloc. Food and accommodations were nice, but the best part was sharing it with classmates. We had a lot of laughs, and got through the usual minor glitches. At an afternoon gathering we raised a glass of bubbly in recognition of our 70th Birthday–whether in 2008 or not—and took this great photo.
After the cruise, Charlie Liggett added: “I just wanted to add an input regarding our recent trip with a great group of classmates and spouses. Our route took us along the Danube with a stop in Serbia. That location brought a recollection of a recitation that some upperclassman required me to recite regarding the derivation of the word ‘sir.’ I don't recall the upperclassman’s name, but, I'm sure I deserved whatever wrath he deemed appropriate. The surprising part of the story is that none of our classmates I talked to or repeated the recitation for, including George Pupich, whose ancestors hail from Serbia, were familiar with the derivation. (I hope I'm not the only one who has a memory which is still semi-intact.) As I recall, this is how it went; ‘Sir, Sir is a word derived from the old days in Serbia when certain serfs too surly to serve their masters, yet too servile to blaspheme them, circumvented the situation by addressing them by the name Sir, which I now address you, Sir.'"
Upon completion of the 13-day cruise, six classmates and wives spent three days touring magnificent Prague in the Czech Republic, “Prague is actually just about like Disney World in that the inhabitants are either tourists or guides,” opined Gordy Flygare.
Others went on their own trips: Charlie and Kathy Liggett took a train to Prague where they stayed for three days and then took another train to Vienna where they stayed in a small hotel in the Glanston area for five days; Bob and Lutzi Fischer went to visit Lutzi’s homeland; and Dale and Ina Thompson, “took off through Austria, southern and western Germany, Amsterdam, Bruges, Normandy, ending with a week in Paris (see photo at Eiffel Tower). We had one carry-on bag each, caught trains/buses/boats and stayed in small hotels."
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