It has now been over five months since we last updated our
webpage. We could come up with lots of excuses, but instead let us summarize
what we've been doing.It has now been over five months since we last updated our
webpage. We could come up with lots of excuses, but instead let us summarize
what we've been doing.
Most of the time, Bert and Jean have been working. Helping the
Hungarian company that Trend purchased (G.Form) to become a world-class
operation has not been easy. There is still a long way to go. We are now
finishing the construction of a new 100,000 square foot building (pictured here)
and hope to move most of the production there in the next several months. Jean
has also found a project for the times when she is not helping Bert. She now
teaches once per month at a nursing school in Arad, Romania. This was arranged
through a Christian mission located in this same area.
During the last six months, we've hosted several guests. In
late March, Bert's parents came for a couple of days. They had flown to
Frankfurt and then taken the overnight train to Budapest. By the time they
arrived, their jetlag was completely gone. This picture was taken in a Japanese
restaurant we visited in Vienna prior to them getting back on the train to go to
Frankfurt and then Holland.
A couple of weeks ago, Bert's uncle Gerard and partner (Loes)
visited. Gerard and Loes tought us about the architecture in Budapest
(Secession). They also found the antiques market. This picture of Gerard and
Bert was taken in January when Bert was in Holland. Here Bert and Gerard are
having a videotaped discussion about the impact of "Marketing in the
Consumer Economy."
Since we are not resident, we can only be in Hungary for up to
182 days in a year. This encourages us to find other places to spend our
weekends, vacations and holidays. Because of its proximity, great cafes and nice
places to stay, we've spent many weekends in Austria. We even found a place to
ride our bikes on the weekends. This picture was taken in Neusiedl am See, which
is a short hop across the border and is in the wine-growing region of Austria.
For work, we've needed to visit Ireland, Austria, Switzerland and Spain. In one case, we drove over the weekend to Belgium and then flew from there to Dublin (which costs a lot less). On the way back, we visited potential customers in Switzerland and Austria (near Salzburg). Bert was so busy during this trip, he never had time to take any photos.
We have managed to do some traveling for pleasure. One of our
goals has been to see some of the countries in "the neighborhood"
while we are here. This quest took us to Bosnia during April. 
We flew into
Sarajevo. Since all of the hotels were booked, one night we stayed with a
retired couple in their home. Although they only spoke Bosnian, with Bert's
Russian, and them acting out the sounds of the guns, we were able to get a
reasonable picture of what it had been like living under siege for four years.
The picture at the left shows the catholic church in the center of town. In
front of it is one of the many chess boards we've seen. These have inspired us
to take up chess ourselves. The photo on the right shows the remaining rubble of
the Oslobodjenje building, the newspaper in Sarajevo that continued to publish
throughout the siege. There were quite a few other buildings that were equally
bombed out.
While we were in Bosnia, we also took a bus to Mostar. Riding
through the countryside gave us a further impression of the damage caused by the
war. Here is a picture of the famous 15th century bridge that was blown up by
the Croats. They have built a temporary suspension bridge in front. Mostar still
felt very tense. Several days before we arrived, there had been an
"incident" in which UN Stabilization Force vehicles had been attached
by Croat separatists who are trying to take control of "their" piece
of Bosnia.
In early June, we also took the opportunity to spend a weekend
in Moldova. This is a country that is far off the beaten path for tourists.
Chisinau, the capital is a very pleasant town with parks, good restaurants and
an enormous market, right across the street from our $25/night hotel. This hotel
was our biggest expense in Moldova. Everything else still seemed to be at prices
reminiscent of communist times. The bus fare from the airport was $0.16 per
person, for example.
While in Moldova, we also took the opportunity to visit
another town and tour the countryside. For about $2.50 we took a two-hour bus
ride to Tiraspol. Although in name, Tiraspol is part of Moldova, in practice it
is the capital of a independently-operated government (Transdniestria) that is
one of the last vestiges of Soviet-style communism. This region is majority
Russian and Ukrainian and did not want to be part of an independent Moldova.
With the help of a Soviet army battalion, they managed to create their own state
and have their own currency. The main streets are still named after Lenin, Marx
and the October Revolution. The currency is still from communist times (although
it isn't worth much). The factories proudly display their Lenins, although it is
not clear if they produce anything of value. To cross from Moldova to
Transdniestria one has to go through a border checkpoint. We received only a
3-hour visa, so our visit to this bankrupt piece of history was rather short.
This web update is being written in Northern Finland. We have
spent the last week on what has felt more like a real vacation. Because it's
summer, we decided to see if we could escape the heat and head north. We bought
tickets to Helsinki and a guide book and figured we'd work it out from there.
This picture, and the first one of Bert working on the computer, were taken at
the cabin we stayed in.
Our first step was to take the train to Rovaniemi, just south
of the Arctic Circle. From there, we rented a car and drove northwards. Here are
photos of typical scenes from Northern Finland. It is generally flat, with lots
of forest, rivers, lakes and of course, reindeer.
We drove as far as Nordkapp, the most northerly point in
Europe. It is more than 71 degrees north latitude. Although it is on an island,
the Norwegians have managed to build a car tunnel almost 5 miles long that goes
underneath a water channel to get there. Here is also a picture of Jean sticking
her finger in to the Arctic ocean.
From Nordkapp, we drove along the fjords to Tromso and then
went back inland to Finland and a bit of Sweden to get back to Rovaniemi, drop
off the car, take the train back south and then fly back "home" to
Hungary. Here are two typical pictures of the many miles of Norwegian fjords we
traveled through.
Finally, a big thank you for all of the emails we've received from many of you during the last several months. We apologize if we did not always reply as quickly. We have had several problems with computer viruses, but think we're now over the worst of it.
Best regards, Jean and Bert
P.S. Since the time of our last update, our web server has moved to our condominium in Colorado. While our "master webmaster" Bert's brother Mike, is cycling through the U.S., around Australia, New Zealand and India (see www.fietstocht.com), Bert's father (John) has been doing the web server maintenance and updates.
This page was last updated on \\\04/26/01.