Titles...

Many times, I don't know what to title my posts...Good Grief!? Oh, wait...done that one already. Speechless? Oh, yeah, done that one too. So maybe I'll just start numbering for something a bit different.

Wiley got accepted into a conference taking place in November in...drum roll, please...I SAID DRUM ROLL, PLEASE!!!....Amsterdam! Yeah, home of all things legal. Amsterdam was a place I'd visited 10 years ago for just one night. It was where I saw my first marijuana joint up close and personal - IN A STORE. I bought a painting from that store. I still have it. It's currently over the entryway into the kitchen.

Walking through the Red Light district was entertaining. There were lots of women, even more men, and quite a few of them in the leather getup typically seen in your Police Academy movies at the Blue Oyster bar. I was taken by the canal running through the middle of the city, the bustling nightlife, the heated towel bars, and I hoped that someday, I'd be back.

Wiley has emailed the Powers That Be to see if it's possible to take a spouse along (since by that time, I'll be a spouse!). While he's at a conference, I could be walking around the city, taking pictures galore. Keep your fingers crossed.

Oh My Gosh It's Been Awhile

It's been ages since I've blogged, but I literally haven't had time. I am back in the States, and to those of you who were dying to see me at the blogger meetup (I know you were, don't tell me otherwise, I won't believe it!), I let you down. Friends planned a dinner for me that night, so while Cara was able to stop in and say hi, I was not. I'm sorry.

So, let's see, where did I leave off? I believe I told you I made it home. Before I left, we spent time in Munich, which was awesome. A lovely city I would be happy to live in or visit again. Amsterdam's airport was nice, but they have bulldogs for security...I suppose that's a good thing, but when you just want to get on the damn plane, getting hauled over to a little desk and being questioned about your trip, about why you're traveling alone, about why you have no supporting documentation for living in another country is the last thing you really want to deal with.

The Memphis airport is pretty big. The last time I used it, I was flying out of the country, and I didn't really notice how big it was; this time, it felt like a very long, straight maze to get to baggage claim. Customs took all of five minutes; then it was waiting for the bags that took forever...about 40 minutes or so. Then there was the line to put it back on the belt so it could go to baggage claim. Then there was the security line. As one guy put it, "You're not in Memphis until you're past security." Thanks, man. So after taking off my coat, shoes, taking the computer out of the bag, making sure I didn't crush the glass ornament from Vienna, I get to walk through security. Oh, but the iPod is still in the bag, so I had to go back and put it in its own big-ass container, and then all was peachy. Walking, walking, walking through the airport to baggage claim, I am ready to get out of there. Finally, I spot Wiley's dad, and then his stepmom, and then we get the bags. One ended up being 56 pounds, the other 42 or something like that. Do you think they checked in Munich? Nope! The agent even gave me the exit row seat from Munich to Amsterdam, but clearly he could tell I was as short as a tomato plant. See what a little smiling can do for you? Turn on the charm, peeps, I tell ya, it works wonders.

Blah blah blah....so onto Arkansas, where the wedding will be, and on Saturday we headed out around 8 am for some breakfast at the dining hall, then a meeting with people from said dining hall. Everything goes off without a hitch, and I breathe much easier because the hall is simply stunning. Hardly any decorations will be needed to spruce it up because nature is all around, and during fall, it's nature's time to shine...well, me too, but Nature is ok with that. After that meeting, we headed to Little Rock for some dress shopping. I am so good at the squat n' pray, I could do it all day. The owner of the shop helped me into these ginormous dresses. I put my hands up above my head in the prayer position, then hunkered down so she could get the dress over me. Some dresses looked awful, especially the ones where half your back can be seen because the dress is too small and can't be zipped up. That was slightly irritating, as you had to go out in front of strangers milling about, and all could see and comment. But I got the choices narrowed down, and that was that. Then it was off to talk to the florists, which was a bit of a let-down because they were no longer independent, so it seems I can get most flowers from them, but not all flowers. No big deal, just something to deal with. Then it was off to talk to the photographer, who I think is a doll. He has a really creative spirit, so I think we're going to get along just fine, and I'm excited to have him shoot the pictures. A little while after that, we went back to the hall to see how it was lit at night and to hear the music. The hall at night is spectacular. The fun thing is that there are floor to ceiling windows. During the ceremony, it'll be light, and during the dancing, it'll be dark. The lights illuminate the tables, and the whole effect reminds me of candlelight, so I was very happy. The next day was pretty quiet - I stayed home and talked to Wiley's stepsister about decorations and invitations. She is a whiz at scrapbooking and making cards, so we asked her if she'd be available and willing to make our invitations. She's a lot of fun to talk to because she can go a mile a minute and not get winded. And I can keep up!

Monday saw me leaving Arkansas, and of course, I got lost. I took a wrong turn on the bypass - but hey, when you want to go north, you follow the signs that say north! After an hour, I got a little worried that I hadn't hit the main highway yet, and sure enough, I goofed, but I was able to correct it pretty easily. I ended up going through Mountain View, which was one of the towns that got hit by the tornado. The fire station was gone, the hospital roof was gone, centuries-old trees were torn out by their roots and on their side....I've never seen such devastation, and it was creepy seeing just where the tornado's path was because everything else around it looked fine. So after winding my way around the hills in Arkansas, I finally made it to KC, where I got to see my Dixiebella kitty and see my friend Cara! The night was pretty uneventful. Tuesday was the day that I ran around all over the place...another dress shopping experience, where I finally decided on the dress I'm getting, and then over to talk to the jeweler about my ring. Guess what? The price of gold rose to $950 an ounce. Guess what that does to platinum? Makes the price of that go up too. In between his talking to Wiley and me, which was about a month, the price of platinum doubled. Doubled!!! But I was able to get the setting I wanted, and now he's looking at stones for me. Phew!

In between the dress and ring shopping, we stopped by Oak Park Mall to do a little browsing, and I realized, with a bit of horror, that I hate shopping with people when I'm shopping for something for myself. It was an awful realization. I used to enjoy shopping greatly, and yesterday I walked around Zona Rosa for just a bit to get a few things, but I don't want people with me now when I shop. Nor do I want to go for hours and hours. I think it's bizarre...perhaps it's culture shock.

Since then, things have slowed just a tiny bit. I seem to have caught the KC Cold, and if you've been reading me for awhile, then you know that I have a deviated septum that acted up in Sarajevo and am now terrified I'm going to get another sinus infection, so I try to keep it clear all the time. With a cold, that proves difficult. Sleep has been a little hard, but today I'm feeling better than I did yesterday.

Tomorrow I leave for the cold bitter north of Iowa to visit more friends and family. My eldest niece informed me she bought a house, so I'm very excited to see it. And I get to help her with the curtains! I will eat Maid-Rites, and we will go cheese curd hunting as well as shopping, which could be interesting, considering I don't like shopping with people...but that's really only for myself. So we'll see how that goes. So that's why I've been absent. But I see all of you have been writing away...I only had about 170 posts to read! Now I'm going to watch the Golden Girls and sip more tea and have something to eat. It's hard to eat when you have a cold. Nothing really sounds good.

Catching Up

I'm not even going to my Google Reader...I haven't read any blogs since Wednesday, and I'm sure you've all been pouring your hearts out on your blogs.

Me, I've been a travelin' gal.

Wiley and I spent last Monday through Friday in Munich. What a glorious city. The weather was great, the food spectacular, and the souvenirs plenty. Quick recap: went to a couple of castles Tuesday, shopped a bit on Wednesday (found more garam masala for Indian food, yay!), went to a soccer game on Thursday, and said our goodbyes on Friday. Wiley put up links to the castles, soccer and Munich to the right.

While I'm not a sports person (I'm way too competitive and not a good sport at times), I have to admit I had a good time at the soccer game. The ubahn ride to the stadium was fun - there were guys in kilts already drunk along with guys in red jerseys also drunk singing at the top of their lungs all crammed in like sardines in a car. But while waiting to get felt up by a woman, I noticed just. how. short. I. am. I really wish I was a bit taller. I felt like a midget.

Friday was a long day. I flew from Munich to Amsterdam and got grilled by security for not having documentation proving I lived in Sarajevo. "You have to have documentation to get back into the country," the blonde-haired woman yelled at me. "Where is your husband? Why isn't he with you? Where's your eticket to get back to Munich?" I was a bit flustered, and I worried that they were going to haul me off and interrogate me and make me miss my flight, but she finally let me go. Oi vey. The 10 hour flight from Amsterdam was a bit long, especially after 6 hours, but I arrived without any problems. Customs and baggage took almost an hour to get through after I landed. My iPod held up the line because I didn't take it out of my backpack. Normally, I feel bad for holding up the line, but by this time, I had been up for over 24 hours straight and I just wanted my bags and a bed. I finally got my wish and slept 6 hours before waking up.

Today was a fun-filled day of wedding planning, but I'm too tired to tell you about it. Suffice it to say, it involved strangers looking at me in wedding gowns that were not zipped all the way up, talking to the dining hall people about the reception, and meeting the photographer who had a black cat that was friendly. Now I must sleep again.

Mostar Pictures

Look to the right and you'll see the link, and you'll also see the minaret we climbed up to take some really neat pictures of the town. I thought I just might die coming down those steps, but it turned out all right; just a little dusty.

Gone to Heaven

Wiley and I took a trip to Mostar yesterday for the day. We went with Prof and had a great time walking around the city. The weather was around 60 degrees, the air was clean, and the mountains surrounding us were beautiful. Unfortunately, a member of my family didn't survive the trip: my little point-and-shoot Canon Powershot A70. It took two pictures on the bus and then gave me this photo...pretty, yes, but not quite what I was going for. The nice thing about the Canon was the fact that it could fit in my purse without any problem. The dSLR is constantly slung around my neck, which not only makes me look like a tourist, but is also a bit heavy. We have to go back to Mostar because both batteries were out of juice, and I need a picture of the Stari Most (a beautiful bridge) lit up at night. And the sun setting on the mountains was so unusual - the sky was a light pink, and the white snow on top of the mountain just popped. It was like looking at strawberry ice cream with whipped cream on bottom. I'd swear it was Photoshopped if I didn't take it myself, but of course, taking it myself wasn't an option, so I need to go back! I will post pictures of Mostar as soon as they're uploaded to Wiley's computer. We had a lovely time, though I'm sad my little camera won't be making the trip home with me. So the hunt begins for another point-and-shoot. Jill at Up in Alaska was given an Olympus, and she's taken beautiful pictures with it, but I don't think I need something waterproof, shockproof or weatherproof (though now I'm wondering since I don't know why my camera died, other than it was over 7 years old). So I'm also thinking of another Canon Powershot. Small, as well as powerful, is what we're going for here. If anyone would like to recommend their camera, I'd love to hear (or see).

The Friendly Skies

Lately, I've gotten a kick out of Jet Lagged, a blog from the NY Times. The most recent post is about being jammed into a seat and all the fun things you might get to deal with.

I'm looking forward to flying home already.

This is the one time it is GREAT to be a short person.

Wonderful Dubrovnik

Wiley and I took a spur of the moment trip to Dubrovnik last weekend. The weather forecast looked good, so off we went. We got to the bus station at 6:30 (because bus is the usual way to travel here) for a 7:15 departure, and after an hour and 15 minutes of waiting in the freezing-my-toes-off cold, the bus finally arrived. The driver said the battery had died and he’d spent all this time charging it up. After another hour on the bus, I could finally wiggle my toes without pain. We called the Begovic Boarding House where we were staying and told them we’d be late and settled in for the ride. About an hour out of Sarajevo, we turned a corner and all of a sudden, sunlight hit us and stayed with us for the entire ride.

And what a ride it was! The scenery was beautiful. Our Lonely Planet book said the view was nicer from the train and that the bus ride was less than great, but I really enjoyed the scenery. I always wondered why people had lots of clementines whenever we walked around. Then I saw the groves of clementine trees. Thousands of them! And lemon and orange too! Not long after spotting those, we saw the Adriatic. All I can say is wow. What a glorious sight.

We arrived on time in Dubrovnik, and our driver was waiting for us. When we told him where we were from, he said, “Kansas City is where they had that big chemical explosion last year.” It seems KC makes international news at times. We were shown our apartment, which had one bedroom and a twin bed in the kitchen. Unfortunately, there was no ventilation, so we had to heat each room with the single space heater provided us, and the first night, I was mighty cold. But the apartment was very nice and inexpensive to stay. It’s in a little area called Lapad, which is about 2 miles or so from the old part of Dubrovnik. We walked down to the beach, watched the sun set on the Adriatic, and then headed to a place called Atlantic for dinner.

Dubrovnik is a happening place in the summer. Party, party, party, but in the winter, it’s much quieter. We had the entire restaurant to ourselves for about an hour, and then another couple came in and sat in a different part of the restaurant, so then we had half a restaurant to ourselves. They served great Italian. We actually went there for dinner Saturday night as well.

On Saturday, we went to the old part of Dubrovnik and walked around the walled city. There were lots of shops, places to drink coffee, and a lot of washed stone. I don’t know why, but it seems that every place that has stone streets feels a need to wash them. We had coffee and tea and then walked along the top of the city walls. Talk about neat! The entire old city was laid out before us. Afterward, we stopped at a restaurant right next to the harbor and I had some cheese and olive oil with bread while Wiley had all sorts of crustaceans in rice. He said it was delicious, but to me it looked like rice with ketchup and bad-smelling crustaceans. But then again, I don’t like seafood. At night, we returned to take some pictures since the stone walls were outlined like the Plaza for Christmas. The shots didn’t turn out very well, but it was nice to see.

On Sunday, we took a two hour ferry to an island called Mljet (that’s Mil-yet to you, but really there’s no “I” in between the M and the L), where we walked around the national forest and questioned our sanity while listening to absolute silence. There are two lakes in the national park, known as Greater and Lesser Lake (and no, I’m not kidding). In the middle of Greater Lake is an island with a 12^th century monastery on it that you can visit. Of course, being “winter”, no one’s there, so we could only gaze at it. We had lunch at a little restaurant where again we were served cheese with olive oil and bread. I didn’t like this cheese as much, but what was fun was the myriad cats running around. I saw one, and then it would run off, and I’d see another, and it would run off. When we were served our food, not less than 6 cats surrounded our table. Two of them were so small – very petite and under 6 pounds, like my little Dixie, but even smaller. And they weren’t kittens. I was tempted to take them back with me, but Mljet is a nice place for them to live. The temperatures are very mild; not like in Sarajevo. When we got back to Dubrovnik, it was dinnertime, so we had dinner inside the city walls at Mea Culpa, the best pizza place in town. It was very good, and our waiter looked like one of Wiley’s friends.

We left Monday morning to come back to Sarajevo, and the city must’ve been sad to see us go because the sun hid behind clouds all day. I know I was incredibly sad to leave, so I’m scheming to get a vacation home along the coast somewhere before prices get even more outrageous. Anyone interested in going in with me?

So that was our trip, and now we’re back, and you can view some of the pictures here. I took over 700. There’s no way I’m uploading all of them!

Sretan (Sray-tahn) Bozic (Bo, like Bo Duke, z as in “pleasure”, and itch), which means Merry Christmas!

Upcoming Review of Weekend

Wiley and I went to Dubrovnik for the weekend. I need time to formulate everything so I tell it just right, and I have to upload the pictures. I took well over 700, but don't worry, I'll only post the best ones. Let me just say this: if I ever own a vacation home, or vacation apartment, it will be here.

Flying

Every so often, I look for a flight home when it's time to go, since I came on a one-way ticket. Today's flight took me from Munich to Memphis in the middle of May. The first time at the site, I went with a roundtrip ticket. Total price: $808.00. Then, just for giggles, I clicked on one-way. The price for the same flight? $4200.00. What a ripoff!!!

Viennatime

This weekend will be known as Viennatime. Tomorrow, we are on a bus for 15 hours, starting at 8 am. I hope we don't run into a traffic jam on Bosnia's seemingly only road out of the country. I also hope that the Slovenian border patrol strike doesn't affect us too much. But I have two books and an ipod

The weather looks to be awesome: rain and snow showers all weekend with a high of 40. I will love this in my wool coat. Must pack umbrella and consider a poncho.

I'm excited to go (so much food to try - chestnuts, gluwein, gingerbread - and sights to see), but the excitement is tempered because my boy, Rewind, had to go back to the vet yesterday because he was still throwing up. His food has now been switched to something wet and stinky, but I'm told he kept it down yesterday. Thankfully we'll be traveling half of the day while his catsitters are sleeping, so if there are any updates, I should get cell reception by the time they're up. So have a good weekend, and I'll be back Monday.

Home Sweet Home

After a grueling 12-hour busride that started at 8:30 pm, we are finally back home in Sarajevo after spending the weekend in Graz, Austria. I think I actually preferred the night bus. I didn't get a whole lot of sleep, but since I was trying to sleep, the time passed somewhat more quickly (not to mention we didn't have to get out of the bus each time we crossed a border). But I'm starting at the end, and that's wrong!

Ok. So enter Thursday morning. Wiley and I pack a suitcase and head out to the bus station. Bus ride is pretty uneventful save for the mom and daughter in front of us who recline into our space...perfectly their right, you'd say, and normally you'd be right, except I was the one behind them. I hate doing that to people, so I notice when it's done to me. And I wish I had my camera at the ready because in Republika Srpska (Serp-skah), we drove through the most gorgeous landscape. The road was carved out of the hillside. The hills were on fire with yellow, red and orange leaves. Below was a river with crystal waters in parts (and was kinda dirty in others). And it was the only time it was sunny on the bus. Alas, I have no pictures to show you of that. We arrived in Graz, Austria, around 8:15, about 45 minutes later than we were supposed to...which is what happens when you cross the border into Slovenia, then leave Slovenia and get questioned as to why you're passing through Slovenia, and oh, you live in Bosnia? Can you show us your residence permit, please? No matter that it's 35 degrees outside - everyone else can wait. Board bus again, pass through Croatia, then finally get into Austria. Wiley's friends were meeting us at the train station (right next to the bus stop), and Wiley tried to send a text message, to no avail. But have no fear! The Graz train station is connected - not only do they have trains, they have a bookstore, a McDonald's (and no, I didn't go once), a grocery store, and an internet cafe. So Wiley checks his email to make sure the number was correct, and then tried another friend whose number he knew was right. Nothing. This was when we realized that our cell phones, since they're now prepaid, don't let you use them outside of Bosnia. But we can receive phone calls and text messages...we just can't call out or send our own. Coming to grips with this, Wiley goes into mild panic mode, which is somewhat funny because usually I'm the one who panics, and he's mild-mannered. This time, he's combing his fingers through his hair at a frantic rate, while I say casually, "Well, I'll go see if I can find your friends," and walk around the train station. No luck. I come back in, and Wiley's still-frantic fingers are typing and running through hair, when I turn around, and out of the corner of my eye, see the back braid of who I think is Wiley's female friend. So, rather than create a scene, I stalk. Very quickly, I follow this chick (who I've met once, back in May) to the grocery store, and I watch her. I have a sack full of food that we brought with us, so I'm not about to step foot in the busiest grocery store in Graz right before closing time. She is standing there, trying to get someone's attention in line. Just when I think that this isn't who I'm looking for, I spot Wiley's guy friend, who is very easy to recognize, in line, and I go screaming into the grocery store, sack full of food be damned. When I called out Chick's name, she turned around to see some crazy woman with her arms outstretched, speaking a mix of German and English a mile a minute. Then she realized who I was and reciprocated the hug. I ran to get Wiley, who was in line paying for the internet and phone usage, and then he went into the grocery store to get a little food - Friday was an Austrian holiday, so EVERTHING except what's at the train station is closed. Wiley's poor friends had been there since 7:30, waiting for us to show up. We finally got out of the station around nine and headed over to the apartment Wiley's friends graciously offered us for our stay.

And let me just say that the next time we go abroad, we're living in Graz and we're renting this apartment. It was perfect. Dark bedroom, not on a busy street, only a floor up, big kitchen by European standards, nice hallway, a spare room and a living room, all decorated to coordinate beautifully.

The weather all weekend was awful. We went to Riegersburg castle. Lovely castle. Cold. I used to really really like castles, but they're so cold, so forget it. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, so all I have are outside pictures.

Autumn in Austria is the best I've seen so far. You'll see when you view the pictures when I get them uploaded. After the castle, we had lunch at the equivalent of a winery. I had some hot chocolate and some sturm, which is wine made out of the first picked grapes of the season and sugar is added to it. So to me, it's perfect, but I'm told you'll get the runs if you drink too much. We had a potato that was fried and shaped like a teardrop on top of lettuce and turkey strips. Wiley and I intended to split, but I didn't like the potato thing that much, so he let me eat the turkey strips which were breaded in pumpkin seeds. So now I have a new recipe to try!! Wiley's friend drove us around the countryside more, and then dropped us off at our apartment.

Saturday was a day of shopping. I got some new Ecco walking shoes, which so far, are great, though I wish there was a slight heel. I feel so short all the time now. We also looked for a new winter coat for me, as well as some sweaters, but I didn't find one damn thing. Not one. Turns out leggings are in, long, light sweaters are in, and military-style jackets are in. The double-breast is big this year. For people who have a shelf, the double-breast is not the best look. Guess whose jacket is in before it was popular? Yours truly. So I'm looking for a wool coat that's single-breasted and cuts off right at the knee or just above (like an inch), preferably with a hood. Think I could find it? Close, but no cigar. The sweaters I found that I liked had no shape, as in they hung from the shoulders so anyone could look like a linebacker. I also tried to find slippers and a replacement earring, to no avail. However, I did find yarn, so I have a whole bunch to use for crochet. And we found an American grocery store, where I found microwave popcorn. We had some soup - pumpkin for Wiley, which was great, and schilcherwine soup for me, which is made from grapes that only grow on volcanic soil. Also tasty. Dinner consisted of french fries and a turkey cutlet breaded in pumpkin seeds!! In a non-smoking part of a restaurant, no less.

Sunday found us going out with Wiley's friend that took us to the castle Friday. We stayed at her apartment in May while she was in the US, visiting New York and South Dakota with her students. The apartments in Graz are so darling. I've found two I could easily live in. We had lunch at a place nearby, where I had a pork cutlet breaded in the pumpkin seeds...it was a weekend of fries and pumpkin seeds! Then we had dessert at this little gelateria. It's cold outside, and I want ice cream. Don't ask me why. But it's darn good. Then we walked around a bit, found a cha cha class taking place. All we heard was, "Eins, zwei, cha cha cha," but we thought maybe it was coming from the Kunsthaus (art house), so all three of our faces are plastered against the glass, looking in, and all we see are people at computers. Then I looked up and saw people dancing on the second floor of a building. Think "Shall We Dance?" Seriously. That gave Wiley and me the idea to find a dance class in Sarajevo. "Jedan, dva, cha cha cha." I can just imagine not understanding dancing commands. But that'll make me a stronger follower. Sunday night we met another friend for a quick drink at a little wine bar and then ate pizza with the ones who picked us up from the airport, which is always fun because there's limited English knowledge. I can work on understanding German...which I understand fairly well, though when Wiley's friend said something about Protestants, I thought he said in addition to the boarders being Protestant, he was, so he took them to church, but he really just said that they were Protestant and he knew of a church they could go to so he told them about it...potato, pohtahto, I say.

And on Monday, we finally got some stinkin' sun, so I was a photographin' fool. Since I've taken lots of pictures of Graz before, back in May, this time I didn't focus so much on the town, but more on the leaves around town. So if you were looking for street photos or pictures of buildings, don't click on the link. You'll only be disappointed. We had a turkey kebap, which I think is one of God's greatest inventions, then went home to clean the apartment and headed to the train station to board an overnight bus. Today, I feel good - nose seems to be improved, no pain in feet, stomach is happy with M&Ms that were bought in Graz. Now we go grocery shopping.

One, Two, Three, Hike!

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, today Wiley and I went hiking - take heart, there were no landmines on this mountain, though we did pass the site where they were checking for mines. We went to this itty bitty town called Lukomir, which has one road leading to it, part of it just gravel, which is closed during wintertime because there's too much snow. Can you imagine living for 6 months with no contact? Think The Shining: all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Anyway, we saw lots of shepherds and sheep and herding dogs, and just tons and tons of scenery.

Ok - so at 9:15, we're picked up at a bus stop near our apartment, where we meet Lawrence, our guide, and a character. In our troupe, we had a total of eight people, one from Holland, one from Norway, one from New York, one from Switzerland, and I don't know where Lawrence and his other guide was from - I assume here, but that may not be so. Everyone was really nice, and we found out NY was a playwright as well as an ad writer (and she stayed at Halvat House, where we stayed our first four days here), and Holland and Norway were both journalists. So we start the trek out of town in our bus - held 9 people very comfortably, and was not a huge beast of a machine - US, take note! It's really hard to describe the experience. We had fields of gold, a beautiful day, a couple dalliances with rocks that didn't want to hold under our feet, a lovely lunch on a little cliff (my cookies were a hit, especially with Lawrence), my hiking boots didn't hurt my feet and in fact my feet didn't hurt once all day (so I'm now wearing them all the time in the house, hee hee), some silences where it's just you and the world, a traffic jam with sheep...sometimes it really felt like we were in the middle of nowhere. We did not see the river that flowed through the canyon, but we got to see the canyon, and if you want, you can view some of the pictures I uploaded here. It's hard to believe that this landscape is really about a half-hour out of the city hustle and bustle. The company that sponsored this tour is Green Visions. They have lots of other tours too, so it wouldn't surprise me if we go on more of these tours, especially if we can get Lawrence! You can check them out at www.greenvisions.ba .

Bye Bye Bye

Well, today's the day we leave for other worlds, so I won't be posting for a few days...need to find an apartment first! Say some prayers that the weather clears so we don't miss any of our flights! Bon voyage!