Today's activities started with a guest lecturer discussing Slovakia's resurrection after Communism fell. The gentleman was born in Bratislava but educated in Boston. He returned to Slovakia to run his own consulting firm showing international companies how to develop their businesses in his country.
We thought his insights were terrific and one of the highlights of our trip. We wished Tauck had had more discussions like this one. He walked us through each year of his country's recent history and the tremendous successes they have had with democracy. They have state of the art automobile production plants all run by robots. The Porsche Cayenne is produced and assembled here for the U.S. market.
After the discussion, we were off to do a walking tour of the town with our VOX's in hand. Our guide was incredibly animated and we enjoyed her a lot. Here are some of the sights she showed us.
Our tour of the Primate's Palace and its six splendid English tapestries depicting the Greek legend of Hero and Leander was the 2nd highlight of the day (photos not allowed). Our guide's sense of humor in describing the story each panel was telling was hilarious. We would have normally just walked by these tapestries with barely a glance. Her storytelling helped us understand why the tapestries are considered the town's finest work of art.
Tauck arranged a respite after our long hot walk. It was time to enjoy a beverage and a local pastry filled with sugared pulverized nuts, all on Tauck.
There was sufficient time after our tour for some free time. Jeff and I went shopping and then headed back to the ship for lunch and to escape the incredible humid heat.
At 3:45PM, our boat pulled out of Bratislava to begin our 137 mile voyage to Budapest. Tonight was also our last night onboard the boat before we transferred back to a land tour. The farewell cocktail reception featured fresh shucked oysters and all kinds of toppings. Delicious!
Afterwards, there was a set dinner with a wine pairing for each course. We throughly enjoyed the night. We unfortunately had to finish the night by packing up our suitcases.
Goodnight.
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