it would move 97% of the water from the danube river through a concrete channel that could then be runhrough the turbines. hungarian scientists began to realize that there would be vast environmental consequences-- pollution of groundwater tables, even surface water would be polluted. it could potentially destroy habitat for animals. and there was another issue that downriver from the dam is budapest, a city of 2 1/2 million people. in time, hunrians, through street protests, et cetera pressured their own government to slow down on their... their half of the project, so that by late 1980s, the hungarians only had completed roughly ten percent of their project, where the slovaks had pushed ahead, actually, and were almost 90% done. so this started to cate tensions between the two countries. with the hungarians not wanting it to go through and... and stopping, the slovaks came up with an option to just completely finish the dam and the whole project on their side of the boundary. kulesza ( translated ): it has produced a tangled web of unresolved ecological, political and legal problems

budapest straddles the danube river. on the west side is hilly buda, dominated by castle hill.the royal palace marks the place where one of europe's mightiest castles once stood. since the 14th century, hungary has been ruled from this spot. library congress named maui poet and conservationist w.s. merwin poet laureate of the united states. >> your absence has gone through me like thread through a needle. everything i do is stitched with its color. >> stay tuned for, "a conversation with america's poet laureate: w.s. merwin" next. merwin: you know, when you lose a child or a parent, or a lover, it is bitter -- uh, bitter, and you know you can't you know that you can't express it, but you have -- you have to, you have to say something. that's the origin of language, is trying to say something, trying to express something that is inexpressible. and i think that's the origin of ry

there are great river cruises in danube, but i have to warn you the danube is not blue.ome fishing villages great winery great monasteries and great way to see the other part of the world this you wouldn't see. >> we talk about so many picturesque crews and this one does not disappoint. it cruises up the moscow canal in russia and toward st. petersburg. what can you tell us about this. >> you start on the moscow river and you end up in st. petersburg but along the way you're going to visit some places and down the river where you visit the vodka museum. did i mention a vodka museum in russia? what a shock. then you end up in st. petersburg. what a great way to go. >> river cruises from beijing to shanghai. are cruises different in asia? >> they are because this is sort of a land and sea combination. you start in beijing but then you end up in a lot of cities. sometimes you'll flierks sometimes you'll be on the talk about uniworld rush cruises. unexpected views in this area. >> you'll be on the river. the cool thing about this is you really can't see these two places any