Leaving Europe, Fall 2002

It's been over 15 months since our last web update. Bert was very busy and is now catching up. Although his work at Trend kept him working seven days a week, much of the work was portable and Bert took it with him as we traveled on the weekends and during vacations. The following are highlights of places we visited between the summer of 2001 and the fall of 2002.

In July 2001 we visited Auschwitz, a short bus ride from Krakow, Poland. There was much to see, including a museum with a movie and well-preserved camps that give us appreciation for the scale of the holocaust. The photo at the left shows the famous "Arbeit Macht Frei" (Work brings freedom) sign at the smaller concentration camp in the town of Auschwitz. The photo at the right is a view inside one of the houses in Auschwitz/Birkenau where prisoners were kept until they died or were sent to the gas chambers. We also walked the grounds, saw the railway siding where prisoners disembarked, and saw ruins of the gas chambers.

In August 2001 we went by overnight train to Belgrade. The scars from the NATO bombing in 1999 were still visible. It was apparent that the bombs were precise, often landing directly in the middle of buildings and completely gutting them. Belgrade is just starting to recover from the Milosevic years. The economy was still low, as were the prices. But not everything looked gloomy. This photo of the old downtown was taken from an evening tour boat on the Danube.

In September 2001 we took a road trip to Italy and then across to the Dalmation coast of Croatia. Our trip started in Italy, where, among other things we enjoyed the pizzas and gelatos. This photo was taken in Ancona from where we caught an overnight ferry to Split, Croatia.

While on the Italian side of the Adriatic, we stopped in San Marino, a postage-stamp-sized country perched on a rock. According to our guidebook, San Marino was founded by a stonemason in the middle ages and was able to defend its independence ever since. From what we could see, the masonry work and defensive walls around the top of the hill looked strong. The parking garage built into the hill and elevator to get to the fortifications were more recent. A couple of hours were enough to see this country.

Dubrovnik was the highlight of our trip along the Dalmation coast (although Split is also worth seeing). We had received many recommendations to visit Dubrovnik and we would make the same recommendation. It is a world heritage site. The town was fired on by artillery in the Croatian war of the early 1990's. Much of this damage has been fixed. The place was filled with tourists, but this didn't change its charm.

When the weather cooled in the fall of 2001, we didn't travel as far afield. Furthermore, we started having problems with our digital camera, so we took fewer photos. Around Thanksgiving we flew to Athens. Over Christmas and New Years we took a train vacation. We started in Budapest and visited Bert's relatives in Holland before Christmas. We then traveled to Italy by way of Paris and Monaco. We celebrated Christmas in Pisa and then went to Naples and Sicily before heading northwards. We spent New Year's Eve in Milan where we had trouble finding a restaurant that was open. On New Year's Day, we got our new Euros, visited the sights in Milan and took an overnight train to Budapest.

In early February, we flew to Malta. This island situated between Sicily and Tunisia is a former British colony with a history stretching back to the ancient Greeks. It has many of the characteristics of a perfect sun resort. Most buildings are sandstone and have a classic architecture. Everyone speaks English. The buses are repainted classics. As shown by this photo, most even sport tail fins. The weather in February was plenty warm. Malta has harbors, beaches and museums and most towns were very enjoyable to walk through. This photo was taken from the balcony of our hotel in Valotta.

In March, we flew to Albania. This country vies with Moldova as the poorest place in Europe. Before we left, we couldn't find much information. A US state department bulletin advised people not to travel there, but it was over a year old and hadn't been updated. There were few guidebooks available. The ones we did find said that crime was high. Our trip went without a hitch, but the place was different. When we arrived at the airport near Tirana, we managed to find a group of students that were visiting. They helped us find a way into town and a hotel--The Hotel California. About half of the cars in Albania are Mercedes, the rest were mostly Audis and BMWs. We estimate that about 100% of these were stolen. There is also a booming trade in hubcaps, etc. The country still has vestiges of the days when it was run by a xenophobic dictator. In the fields one could see small concrete pillboxes that were supposed to protect the country from foreign invasions. Although the power would go off about once every hour or two, it was usually for about 15 minutes or so, and most shops had their own generators. The mayor of Tirana is an architect who likes bright colors. Therefore, most government buildings were painted in bright pastels. To the locals, it makes them feel like they live in a kindergarten. We thought it was cute. This photo of the central square in Tirana shows a lot of the main elements of Albania, the red flag with the black eagle, a minaret (the country is Muslim), a pastel-colored government building and a statue of Skanderbeg, the founder of Austria.

Among the places we visited was Kruje, a small town in the foothills about 30 miles north of Tirana. It has a museum of Albanian history. This photo shows the view from the museum.

We had a great time and would recommend Albania to other adventure tourists. However, it is recommended that you fly into the country. Northern Albania is still quite lawless and it is not a good idea to drive your shiny new Mercedes there.

In April, Jean and Bert took the train to Strasbourg and met Bert's parents who had flown in to Frankfurt and driven there. The joys of spending the weekend together were cut short because Bert's father fell, cut open his scalp and injured his back. We managed to see how medicine works in France. The ambulance and emergency room were free, but knowledge of French is helpful.

In May we flew to Skopje, Macedonia. This was another country not recommended by the US State Department because of a recent civil war. Things seemed to be calm while we were there. The photo at the left was taken in Skopje, the capital. Our guidebook said that Skopje has lots of hideous concrete architecture. This photo shows an example. The city also has quite a nice old town with cobblestone streets, little shops and restaurants.

From Skopje we took a day trip by bus to lake Ochrid, a resort area that borders Albania. This photo shows the lake.

We also took a day trip by bus to Kosovo. We only had time to go to Pristina, the capital, which sits in the middle of a large plain and seems to be filled with large apartment blocks. Among the interesting sights was this poster sympathizing with the Americans after the 9/11 attacks.

In June we took the train to Montenegro by way of Belgrade. The train ride from Belgrade to Bar is magnificent. It takes about 12 hours, cuts through rugged mountains, and cuts through some exceptionally large and steep canyons. We estimate that we must have gone through about 50 tunnels. The Montenegrin coast has more small towns that look like Dubrovnik. Unfortunately, we didn't take our camera on this trip.

In August, Bert made a trip to Holland. While he was there, he stayed with Oom Cor en Tante Ank and picked these strawberries (being modeled by Oom Cor).

Bert visited Olst and took this picture of Harma and Gea in Deventer.

Bert also visited Schiermonnikoog and stayed with Oma, who's still doing well at 92. Among our activities was a walk down the "Badweg" and then back to her home, after stopping for fish and chips.

Bert's work with Trend has been interesting and at times all consuming, with Jean helping out wherever she could. The new Trend factory in Hungary opened in August 2001. It is a world-class facility located in Kunszentmarton, a town that is about 90 minutes drive southeast of Budapest. From the beginning, we struggled to get the work needed to fill such a large (9500 square meter/102,000 square foot) facility. When things were still not progressing as needed and the Trend parent organization started wobbling, we decided not to stay when Bert's contract expired in August 2002. The plant is continuing under new leadership. The parent company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November 2002.

While we were in Hungary, Jean found volunteer work teaching at a nursing school across the border in Romania. This gave us the opportunity to meet and stay with Barb and Pete, a wonderful couple of missionaries working in Arad, Romania.

When his Trend contract finished, Bert started working as a business advisor to several companies. His first client was www.pool4tool.com, an internet business to business application for bringing suppliers together with buying companies, primarily in the electronics and automotive companies. This company is based in Vienna, Austria. Because this work caused him to travel to the US, he also became involved in helping John Kucera, an M.I.T. friend who had founded www.asperon.com, a company that has written clever software that helps business to business internet companies more easily create interactive websites. This company is located in Palo Alto, California. In addition, Bert has been working on two other potential companies based on inventions that are still under development. This has kept him hopping from Colorado to California to Vienna.

In July 2002, Jean returned to the US to prepare for our next adventure. Since she couldn't work in Hungary, it was her turn to pick a place and job. She spent several months taking courses, studying and filling in for a doctor in the Boulder area. The effort paid off. In November she started working in Toowoomba, Australia on a six-month assignment as a job as a "locum tenens" physician. Bert joined her in mid-December. To read more about our adventures in Australia, please go to the next story.

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This page was last updated on 12/21/02.