Duna Cruise

We were invited to join the outgoing Fulbrighters for a cruise on the Danube. We took the tram to the Margit Bridge and walked along the tour boats to Pier 5. There are a lot of boats, all different shapes and sizes. We found our boat the Silver Duna and also found another couple waiting for the group to arrive. They were Dr. Stephen Hanzely and his wife Belinka.

Theirs is an amazing story and worth relating. They were both born in Hungary in 1940, not a pleasant place. Stephens father was a banker and was killed in the war, after the war his family had a tough time under the communist rule due to his fathers pre-war occupation. In 1956 his mother and brother fled in the middle of the night to Austria and eventually to West Germany. His older brother had left right after the war and was settled in Fort Morgan Colorado. They were able to fly to the US on military transport planes and eventually booked a train to Colorado. Stephen said the reality set in when they waited for a day in Chicago for the train to Colorado. He said even at 16 it was very frightening. No one in Chicago spoke Hungarian, they spoke no English. Belinka's story is amazingly similar except both her parents immigrated with her and they ended up in Cleveland. They met in college and were married after graduation.

The story continues with Stephen studying Physics and Astronomy at Kent State and eventually receiving his Ph.D. You know I'm going somewhere with this....Stephen was the first Fulbright Scholar from the US to Hungary in 1994. They had returned to Budapest to take care of some family business and stopped by the Fulbright office. Dr. Bruckner, who was the Executive Director in 1994 of course invited the Hanzely's to the cruise.

There have been thousands of Fulbrighters since 1994 but it was certainly an honor to meet the first.

We visited with them on the upper deck and basically missed dinner.

The cruise was of course spectacular, you see the cities of Buda and Pest from different perspectives. We met other scholars and educators who shared their experiences.

Representatives from the US Hungarian Embassy and the Hungarian Department of State attended. The US Ambassador was scheduled but was called away, I wonder to where?

Budapest is a city of bridges, there are seven that cross the river, the newest bridge, the Stephen Colbert Bridge reminded us of the Alton bridge.

Enjoy the pics, more later.