The way home....

It doesn't seem like there would be a lot to say about a day (or two) of straight driving ... but I can find something!

First ... a word about the highway/interstate/freeway/expressway ... all those words can mean the same thing, depending on what part of the world you come from.  One word missing is Tollway, or, Turnpike as it was called in my early traveling days.  As a less-than-8-year old, traveling in the suburban (that's right, my parents had suburbans in the early 60s) to Pennsylvania and back, even I could read the anticipation and increased stress levels of my parents as we approached "the turnpike".  I didn't really understand what it meant other than:

1. you had to go as fast at the traffic traveling with you, 
2. there was no place to get off the road so if you broke down it was AWFUL and likely NOT SAFE
3. you had to go to the bathroom when your parents told you to go because there was no way they could stop whenever you needed to go
4. you had to be quiet in the car because it was so stressful for the driver
5. if we did stop at one of the really expensive "rest stops" with gas stations, restaurants, snack bars, gift shops, and ICE CREAM, we were not going to buy anything (except gas)
6. you had to pay money to be on the road

BUT ... tollways, now those are dependent on how old the highway is.  Thus, this great stretch of road we were traveling in Croatia... well, we had to pay to use it.  I don't mind paying for what I use.  I don't mind paying for something that is of good quality.  I don't mind paying to use a 13-km long tunnel that saves me the 52-km drive up and over the mountain (it could be a long time before Albania has any of these).  I suspect I am not alone, because at one toll gate, with all 8 toll gates working, NS and I waited for 45 minutes to be able to pay our toll.  There were THAT many people using the road, presumably returning from their sunny Mediterranean vacations.

Second, as an American, especially one from Wyoming, I've heard a fair few stories about the German autobahn (the equivalent of the highway/interstate/freeway/expressway) where one can drive as fast as one wants.  Well, the EU does not extend the practice of the autobahn to all EU member countries.  

Our drive in Croatia was limited to less than 120 kms/hour.  Plenty fast for my taste, but there are still some people who blast through in the passing lane at probably 150 to 160 kms/hour.  Thus, it is best to check the passing lane 4 or 5 times before you actually move over (no matter what country you are in).  There will always be one time that you don't get out of the passing lane fast enough for the BMW or Mercedes or Porsche or Volkswagen that comes zooming up from behind, like some kind of Stealth bomber, and you'll be subject to their blasting horn, their gestures, and their dust.

Third, the EU does regulate the times of day that semi-trucks can be on the highway/interstate/freeway/expressway.  Thus, one can drive totally semi-free at certain times, especially on Friday evenings and weekends.  Oh, semi-trucks seem to have restrictions on which lane they can travel in as well.  If there are 3 or 4 lanes going in the same direction, they MUST stay in the first two.

Fourth, a word about German school vacations.

I searched for an image from the famous 1963 end-of-summer traffic jam.  The debacle that prompted the federal government to step in and encourage the various states in Germany to stagger their vacation schedules.  This means schools are starting their school vacations at a different time throughout the summer.  For instance, our own state of Lower Saxony did not start school vacation until LAST WEEK.  Yes, 30 July was the last day of school for public school students in our state.  They start up again on 11 September (yes, there are shorter summer vacations here, but remember, we get 2 weeks in October, 2 weeks in December, 1 week in February, 2 weeks in April, and other public holidays).  Our school, being private, is exempt from this requirement.  Also, our school is not allowed to require teachers to work past 30 June.

So, NS and I joined the crowds of German (and Austria and Dutch) travelers headed "back home" from summer vacation.  The farther north we got, the less traffic we encountered.  Smooth sailing for us!  There were countless times we looked at the throbbing streams of traffic going the other way and thought 'you've got a long way to go.'

Fifth, it was the same eager anticipation of getting home that I remember as a child.  The first time we spotted a sign that said "Hannover - 329 kms", it was just like being in the middle of Nebraska and seeing that first Little America bill board.  We stopped in Goettingen to see if Julian wanted to go out to eat and hear our travel tales ... he'd just eaten.  So, we continued home, stopping at our friends "Los Wiebos" to leave the bike rack off the top of the car.  The depth of their friendship showed through as they fed us dinner as well.

NS, a trooper to the very end, made 3 trips to our 5th floor apartment (no elevator), carrying the various bags, tent, sleeping bags, food (we stopped at the grocery story as we can't go shopping on Sunday ... everything is closed here), etc. while I emptied the car and found a parking place (easier said than done).

A shower, my own bed, the fan, and some outdoor concert in the neighborhood until 3 in the morning ... it doesn't get much better.

Thanks for participating in my experiment.  I've enjoyed blogging, as I suspected I would, but I did grow a bit more dependent on a Wifi signal than I wanted to model for my daughter.  I may continue blogging, but it won't be at roaminwyomansplusone!

Day 25

As we exited the toll road last night, we noticed the brown tourist-point-of-interest sign, indicating we were close to the Nikolai Tesla Memorial.  For those of you with Physics geeks in the family, you'll recognize this as being significant to one (a Physics geek that is).  How could I turn down NS's request to visit Tesla's birthplace?  Who needs an early start when there is a chance to learn more about the man who did more for electricity than Thomas Edison (and Tesla didn't try to make money on it)?

Thus, we were at the visitor's center in time for an early morning demonstration.  Evidently the previous night's storms prevented the inside lightning storm from lighting up the fluorescent lights NS and I were both holding, and the attendant left to re-set the computer, leaving us both standing there holding these arm-length tubes.  

On the wall, there was a neon light of a bird.  My understanding is most Tesla fans know that he loved pigeons.  NS believed this bird to be a pigeon and wanted to sketch it (we weren't allowed to take photos in this room), so she handed me her light to hold while she got to work.  

Me, not being an idiot, decided to put both lights down on the ground, in case something was tripped by the person knowing what was going on was out of the room.  Shortly after that the room went completely black, a loud crackle filled the room, and the previously silent THING in the room was sending small streaks of lightning out.  If I'd been holding this lights, I probably would have jumped through my skin, dropped both lights, and shards of glass would be everywhere.  The cacophony and light show went on for about 30 seconds.

Soon after, it stopped and the attendant returned, asking, "did you see it?"  To which NS explained that we did, but not the lights as we'd put them down.  She was disappointed, but I was not.

They had a great film about Tesla.  It included a heavy emphasis on the importance of the freedom and exploration he had during his EARLY CHILDHOOD years.  The experts talked about how the fields and the stream in the area before us provided the stimulation he needed to develop ideas and experiments.  perfect ammunition for the mother to tell the child, "see, TV rots your brain!"  There was a story about how one time he jumped out of the window of the top floor with an umbrella (way before Mary Poppins).  

Amongst all the displays, models, diagrams, and timelines, NS found what she was looking for - a photo of Tesla's favorite pigeon.

So, it was 11:00 before we got back on the highway, but we have some great stories, and there is nothing better than one's 16-year old declaring the highlights of a road trip in Eastern Europe were eating at the Three Broomsticks and seeing a photo of Tesla's favorite pigeon.

We drove in 4 countries today - starting in Croatia, continuing to Slovenia, Austria, and into Germany.  The Shenzen treaty means there were no passport checks, no customs checks, we just slowed down, and passed through the gates.  Toll roads, now that's a story for tomorrow.

The 24th day

Exhaustion and stress make it fairly easy to sleep.  The sound of the steady flowing water of a mountain stream right outside our window helped.  The incredibly loud clap of thunder (the kind that bring the children scurrying to the comfort and security of their parent's bed) woke us, prompted a bit more snuggling, and started our day.

S2 decided he would be the one to brave the morning rain to forage for food, get the additional umbrella from the car, and see exactly where we were.  He returned over 45 mins later oblivious to the continued rain.  It was not the dark ominous storm of last night, but an early morning rain shower, with edges of clouds clearly visible and blue sky popping through in places.  

This was like a dream come true for him.  He had slept in a UNESCO World Heitage site.  The ancient city of Kotor had a wall surrounding it (going up the steep mountain right behind it), watch towers, a moat (we crossed over last night), stone walls were everywhere (hey, even the walls of our room were stone).  It was built be the Venetians during their rise to power. (There really is a lot to learn about European history).  We ate our breakfast of corn flakes, packed up and headed out.

Searing intense heat (or so it seemed to me) and 110% humidity greeted us as we packed the car and proceeded down the coast toward Croatia.  I became totally captivated by the fjord like setting of the drive, that incredible blue-green Mediterranean color of the water, the cafe sized docks perched on the water, where people were reading newspapers and drinking their morning coffee.  This was a place to come back to!!!

Out of Montenegro (they use Euros so we were re-supplied) and into Croatia.  Traffic was certainly picking up here, and the scenery, the sun, and the water were probably the reasons.  We drove past Dubrovnik as if we see it everyday, but we knew the last two places we stayed were very similar based on a stop we made here in 2006.

In less than 2 hours we were at another border - a Croatian border with Bosnia Herzegovina.  The war that went on here (in the former Yugoslavia) for much, much longer than it should have (I believe the rest of the world should have stepped in with more force much sooner) was far more complicated than history books can tell us about.  Yes, Croatia got a great coastline that a tremendous number of money-wielding Northern Europeans want to visit (for good reason) which undoubtedly helps embrace capitalism and consumerism.  Of course, Serbia would want some of that, as would Bosnia.  In the end, Serbia got no coastline, but Bosnia did.  So for 45 mins or so, we were in Bosnia.  Passport checks were perfunctory only, and no one asked if we had cigarettes or alcohol.

Back in Croatia, we continued on until we had a road towards Bosnia, and drove to the border (less than 10 kms) to leave S2, his bicycle, and all his gear.  It probably took him 45 minutes or so to get everything packed the way he wanted, separate the needed documents, fill up his water bottles, arrange the maps he needed, and hug us good bye.

And thus, he started home through Bosnia, Serbia, and Slovenia on his bike, and NS and I started the drive home through Slovenia (her 41st country), Austria, and Germany.  I hoped we could make it out of Croatia that day, as the expressway started soon after we left S2, but it is a LONG country, and we only made it as far as Gôspic.

Day 23 and the long awaited Albania

It must have looked rather comical as we walked through the NARROW cobblestone streets, S2 pushing his bike with one front pannier, one rear pannier, a huge green duffle bag across the back rack that I held with one hand as I carried the Albet Heijn grocery bag, our food supply, and my purse in the other hand, while NS bumped along with her backpack and her standard 3 bags (map bag, cord bag, and toiletries bag).  We were headed to the car.  

This old town section of Ohrid was indeed picturesque, and absolutely captivating to those people from Wyoming who know wide open spaces.  Imagine no place to park on a stone path that is wide enough for about a car and a half, where any slightly wider spot is taken by a parked car.  Our car was safely in a real parking lot, atop a small hill, near a constructed overhang, seemingly built to provide more parking.

Based on his experience of parking yesterday, S2 opted to leave the bike OFF the car and follow me down the teeny, tiny streets to avoid the low hanging wires and the other low clearance places.  Thus, with me driving, slowly and deftly, he followed on the bike, until I got stopped by a car making a delivery.  It is all part of the Meditterean lifestyle.  We can't be in a hurry, there isn't enough room to be in a hurry.  I just had to wait until the delivery was finished before I could proceed.

What a great bright, sunny day!  Perfect for the latest adventure!

For years, Albania was the place no one could go.  Their border was sealed tight, and I remember stories that they only had phone connections with Greece.  They didn't want or need anyone else.  Mother Theresa might be the most famous Albanian.  When she decided to devote her life to others, she asked to go to the poorest place in the world, her own country being among the places with  'the least' of many things.

In 2006, we took the kids to Croatia.  We flew in to Zagreb from Moscow.  We spent the first night at a youth hostel.  It was a far cry from the lovely youth hostels of my first European experience in 1983.  The reviews on Trip Advisor talked about Kosovoan refugees taking up a whole floor.  I can't say that I felt it wasn't safe, but I can say it wasn't the first European youth hostel experience I wanted for my children.

Our room had 4 sets of bunk beds.  We claimed our 4 beds at one end of the room. KO lay down on the bed, and started reading the graffiti on the bottom of the bed above him.  "Know anything about Albania? Email me at ...."  It has become the measure of absurdity in our family.  Whenever we are staying in a dodgy hotel, or eating at an uninspiring restaurant, or are uncertain about how to proceed, one of the children announces, "know anything about Albania?"

Today was the day we went to Albania.  It was less than an hour outside of Ohrid that we took our place in line to leave Macedonia.  It's always a bit confusing that we have to go through immigration and customs to LEAVE one country, travel between 'no-one's land' to the next immigration and customs set up, and go through the same thing again.  On this trip, we are typically asked if we have any cigarettes or alcohol, and if all we have in the back are clothes.  This was no different...apart from being in Albania at the end of it all.

What do I know about Albania now?  

1.  Mountains - it is REALLY mountainous!  They must have some of the best road engineers in the world that are planning, designing and building incredibly smooth, easy to drive, roads up and down mountains.

2.  Car washes - if you want to get your car washed, go to Albania.  They must have more car washes per capita than any other country.  I'm not talking about high school fund raisers.  I'm talking about hoses connected to water taps at gas stations, restaurant parking lots, auto repair places, shoot, at any wide spot in the road.  I kid you note, during one 2-km stretch I bet I saw 25 car washes.  Consequently, the one Albanian word I remember is 'lavash'.

3.  Pill boxes - during their paranoid Communist time, they built something like 40,000 small, concrete enforced and covered, fortifications, with horizontal slits big enough for a gun to stick out.  My best explanation is they look like the top of a Dalex (for Dr. Who fans, who I'm finding more of as I get older).  Some were decorated with colors (now fading) and I swear one had 'Tattoo' painted across the top, and appeared to be someone's shop.

4.  Shopping Mall - Yes, Eastgate shopping mall is alive and well in Tirana.  Suddenly, all the mystique of Albania is gone.

5.  Overhead Electric lines - be careful!  They may not know about optic cables here yet.  In some places it looked like each individual apartment's connected line was making sure the building did not fall down.

6.  Road signs - they put them up BEFORE the road is finished.  Thus, our Tirana by-pass experience ended quite abruptly, literally, as in the next section of construction will have to remove several high rise apartment buildings.  AND, the road sign that pointed to our destination in Montenegro, Prague and Berlin (1907 kms) took us eventually to a dirt path.

We wanted to get through Albania and Montenegro today, so we kept moving, stopping to spend the equivalent of 8 euros (leftover Macedonian money that we changed at the border) on food .. At a supermarket and a road side fruit stall (best grapes I ever had).

Next border crossing:  We had to weave our way through MANY parked semi-trucks to find the exit point for cars.  At one point we were dutifully waiting behind a semi, the only vehicle in the lines of parked traffic, going the same direction as us.  The local, in the car behind us, communicating impatience with the car horn.  

And with that, we were through Albania.

Next up, Montenegro.  Check it out on a map ... It is not that big and also very mountainous.  Carmen seemed the happiest she had been in days, although, I was never quite sure if she would be taking us over the winding mountain roads, or through the long tunnels.  It was extremely dramatic to come out of one of those tunnels and find ourselves face-to-face, so to speak, with the Adriatic Sea.

There was no mistake, we were looking at all things Mediterranean - the sea, the air, the houses and hotels, the food at the road side stalls, the flowering plants that line the roadways, just growing wild!  A big difference for me, were this incredibly high mountains jutting out of the sea, making the road really cling to the side of the mountain, requiring extra concentration and certainty of where and when to pull off, because you were either going to plunge down (if you went left) or climb an incredibly steep drive (if you turned right).  Add to this, a HUGE dark cloud gathering on these mountains, and we knew our idea of getting to Croatia today had to be abandoned.

Not a problem, we needed to learn more about Montenegro anyway.  As I checked The Kangaroo Hotel for an room (no luck), the skies opened up and it began raining, not cats and dogs, but lions and tigers and bears (oh my) and there might have been a giraffe or 12 as well.  We were trying to navigate these narrow roads, full of tourists without umbrellas and cars wanting to get to destinations quickly, while the city's drainage system, or lack thereof, was showing just how effectively it did not work.  Despite the umbrella, I found nothing after more than 5 inquiries (again, a country putting up, signs to something, I this case, hotels, before they are finished), I was totally drenched, and the rising waters had me nervous about the potential damage to the car's engine.  S2, the driver, seemed in total shock, and I decided we had to get out of this town, despite this storm and the impending darkness.

We ended up in an apartment in the old town part of Kotor.  For me, it was a relief to see my family safe, dry, and warm.  I knew the morning would probably bring a "where are we?" In more ways than one.

That incredibly sunny morning seemed a long time ago.

The time has come to start home.....

NS and I looked at maps last night, and looked at turn around points for us.  We felt like this was it.  Based on potential routes home, the number of border crossings each would require, the condition of such roads (we can actually take 4-lane highways most of they way, certainly once we make it to Serbia or Croatia), and the fact that I'll be the lone driver, we decided it was time.

S2 looked at our proposed route and decided on his drop off point.  it will be in Croatia.  Thus, we were up (early) and on our way.  It wasn't too far, an hour or two, to the Macedonia border.  We left  Bulgaria with no problems, but Macedonia wanted proof of insurance.  that is the elusive green card for the automobile.  Having none, they offered to sell us 15 days of insurance for 50 euros, or suggested we go back to Bulgaria and drive through Greece to get to Albania.  We opted for the insurance.

Our first meal in Macedonia

So, into they country formally known as The Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia, or FYROM, if that is too much of a mouthful.  It all has to do with Greek objections to the claim on the name Macedonia.

It has a very Mediterranean look and feel, dry, hot, red tile roofs, plenty of flowers growing wild, and ones tended to as well.  We noted lots of water springs by the road.

FYROM is one of the 7 countries in the world that uses the Cyrillic alphabet.

We had a bit of a bad day with Carmen.  The satellites appeared to spend a lot of time asking, "where in the world are you, Carmen San Diego?"  Between the satellites losing her, and her not recogniIng most of the roads we were on, she spent a lot of time telling us to make a U turn.  Even as we knew we were getting closer and closer to Lake Ohrid, our destination, she kept telling us to turn around.  I think we were on a LOT of new roads.

I don't know what to tell you about Ohrid, other than if anyone ever asks you if you would like to go there, say YES!  We're staying in the old city, about a minute walk from the lake (yes, we took a dip I. It this afternoon).  It must be a HUGE vacation destination for people from all over the area, because it is HOPPING.

NS announced today that she reckons part of why we have managed to stay married so long is because we don't own a car.  She thinks we are at our worst when we are driving in cities, or narrow places.  Out of the mouths of babes!

We're going to attempt 3, possibly 4, border crossings tomorrow!  Wish us luck!

It's Been 3 Weeks now

Mostly an uneventful day - we had our Bulgarian breakfast (after S2's morning bike ride). Packed up the car and headed for Sophia.  

The outskirts seemed to exude prosperity.  New highways, construction on roads that showed they would be bigger and better, huge hardware and building supply stores, large shopping malls, glass, chrome, consumerism, capitalism, whatever you want to call it.  

With Carmen's help we were able to drive right to Ploschad Nevsky, park the car, walk inside the cathedral, have lunch, wander through the flea market, admire the artists' paintings, and be on our way within the two hour parking limit.  

Boyana church was the next stop.  It had redwood trees planted there in 1907.  They weren't the purpose of the visit, just a notable sidebar.

From there it was on to the Rila Monastery, started in 927.  During the Ottoman Empire it was this secluded monastery that kept Christianity and all things Bulgarian alive.  There is no doubt, the paintings/frescoes were incredible.  It is massive, seemingly a fortress by the aerial view on the postcards.  We didn't have enough cash to stay the night, so we headed up the road to the campground/bungalow park.

Whew! Talk about rustic, talk about basic, talk about no frills, talk about simple!  I'll spare the most gory details (like the condition of the communal toilet and shower) and tell you about the beds.  Let's just say, my first thought upon laying down was 'I better not turn over at all, this bed could collapse.'  

After dinner (S2 cooked spaghetti in the well equipped kitchen, well, the stove was a bit slow for him so he used our cook stove), S2 asked me if this was the second worst place we stayed.  I asked incredulously, "on this trip?"  He meant ALL our travels.  I laughed and said, "second worst?  What do you think was the worst?"  He recalled a room in China, where we had to wait for a ferry.  The bed was merely a metal frame with a rattan mat on top.  I reminded him of the place in Nepal where they had to chase the chickens off the beds and out of the room and he couldn't even stand up straight in the room.

No one could complain about the temperature.  We were in the MOUNTAINS and got to wear long pants and sweaters.  The neighbors were incredibly friendly.  They invited us over to share some homemade wine and Raika (the local firewater).  The 4-year old with them was not the least inhibited by the linguistic communication gap.  We just shared enthusiasm as each new star appeared in the sky.

Day 20

Big surprise - S2 was up early and went for a bike ride.  We had to ask NS nicely to try and leave her wad of sheets and blankets, and help us pack up and get ready to go.  The day was heating up but our 9:30 departure at least got us on our way.

Carmen cooperated with my ten different destination entries so that we could go the way we actually wanted.  This included the 100+ kms on one of those lovely new Bulgarian highways.  It was a bit unsettling, however, to find so few exits.  Would we be able to get off where we wanted?

Fortunately, yes there was an exit at Starry Zobaga, and soon we were heading into the foothills, where it really was much cooler.  We stopped at Kazanlak for S2 to look at some Thracian tombs.  Who are the Thracians?  They were here before the Romans.  You know how all that early world history is so hard to remember .. The Sumerians, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, why are today's borders so much easier to remember?  Anyhow, this tomb dates from 4000 BC.  S2 returned with a gift for us.  He claimed it was a Thracian railroad spike.  I asked, "they were here before the Romans with railroads?"  Without blinking an eye,  NS claims, "that's why the Romans got rid of them, they were jealous of their trains."

We called it a day quite early today.  We found a non-guidebook, non-Carmen accommodation with a pool.  We were all in it by 4 in the afternoon.

The young desk clerk, clearly tickled that her English was helping her communicate may have got in trouble with her parents for letting us have the matrimonial suite for 3 people.  NS is loving the couch, the big screen TV, and the huge overstuffed bear. S2 reported the clerks very shyly asked, when looking at his passport, where his name was.  She admitted it was her first time seeing a U.S. Passport.

So where yesterday we were on the beach with hundreds of people, today we were the only ones poolside, enjoying the late afternoon sun.

A funny story for middle-aged women (others may not find this as funny or interesting): I had to buy some tampons at a highway gas station (yes, for me, you can stop laughing now).  The 'owner's manual' was in 13 languages!!!!