JOURNAL 5

www.oldendorff.com _If you want to take a trip like this, click on this link!

Wednesday 21 April 2004

We are still anchored in the middle of the river. The bridge watches have been extended from four to six hours. They have this watch at anchor in case of problems. There is no tender or launch so we are all required to stay on board until we get to Portland.

Captain Jan Konecny

Jan is 43 years old and is from Slovakia. He grew up in a village close to Vienna. He likes Vienna and showed me photos on his laptop of his trip there with his wife and children. They stayed in a hotel across from the Stefansdom (cathedral).

He likes:

• opera
• classical music
• classic rock
• bluegrass

He told me he is a "cosmopolitan" man. He lived two years in China supervising the building of a ship. Part of his maritime studies took place in Hamburg. He has sailed all the way to Norway's North Cape, been up the fjord to Trondheim and visited Oslo. He is an interesing supper table conversationalist. He says the average wag in Slovakia is $200 a month and that is why he is on board and not home with his beautiful wife. Without communism he must now pay for health insurance. I asked him if he wanted communism to return and he said "no".