Paris, for the first time

A van from Slovenia to Venice, a confused Italian-style loading onto a Jetstar flight to Paris and now I am here in this pretty city. My hostel is okay, they have a wine and cheese party every Friday night and I got there just in time. They called it a “wine tasting” party but it was a wine DRINKING party.

I can see the Eiffel Tower from my room, at least the top of it. My first day I walked to the Eiffel Tower and along the Seine.

I walked down the Champs Elysees and found the Egyptian obelisk from Luxor. Now I have seen them all. It is located on the Place de Concordia. This is the site where they killed the King and
Queen.

I am living on wine, bread and cheese here. All very good. I hope to have one good dinner before I leave.

Sunday was beautiful, went to Mass at Notre Dame and went to an inter-faith service at the American Church. They had a rock band play some great songs and used English….my French is not so good.I spent one day at the Louvre, this is a massive place. I only saw part of it and someday I hope to get back there. The building is so beautiful, the French have beautiful buildings.

My last full day in Paris….took a bus to Sacre Coeur at Montemartre.  Beautiful view of this amazing city. Then a bus to the Arch de Triumphe. Walked up to the top and enjoyed the vie
Home tomorrow, my trip is over and what a trip it was…14 countries and loved them all!!!

Zagreb and Slovenia

I have now been to all former Republics of Yugoslavia (southern Slavs) except Montenegro. This past month has been hectic. Tomorrow I leave Slovenia via Venice and head to 6 days in Paris.

I took a train from Zagreb and arrived in Ljubljava, Slovenia. I met the owner of a hostel here in L-town when I was on Croatia and she told me how nice Slovenia is so I came here.

It is a beautiful hostel in an old mansion in the middle of many Embassies. I took a walking tour of the old town and it is a very nice place.

The Capitol

The hostel has an in-house tour operator so I bought a day tour. We went in an Alpha-Romero up to the northwest of Slovenia. We saw the world’s biggest ski jump. We also went to Bled located in the national park.

Bled

We visited a chocolate factory and I bought a couple of bars. The lady who sold me the candy was old but had beautiful blue eyes. I could not help myself, I told her how pretty eyes she had. My tour guide translated for me.

At a hunting lodge we got to see a couple of brown bears, the male weighs over 300 kilos.

Brown Bear

What a great day seeing Slovenia. Makes me want to come back here someday.

So today another tour was conducted and when they returned the guide told me that the lady at the chocolate factory was moved by my compliment and sent me a gift.

Slovenian Hospitality

What a wonderful country this is.

Dubravnik

A long bus ride from Sarajevo to the somewhat mysterious fortified city of Dubravnik in the south of Croatia on the Adriatic coast. I was lucky to stay at a family run hostel up on a hill. What a change.

Dubravnik

The Dubravnik Backpackers Club was such a nice place to stay for 3 nights. The mom, Milka, made eggs, French Toast, yogurt and fritters for us each morning. The sons took us on little trips and I really enjoyed the Old Town. They use Dubravnik as the settings for the Game of Thrones. The Old Town is beautiful, plenty of old stone houses and walls.

Dubravnik Old Town

After 3 nights I got a bus up the coast to the City of Split. I understand why people say Croatia is a great place to visit. It hugs the coast and has many beautiful structures.

Split from the hill

So now I am off to Zagreb, then Slovinia. Somehow I will get to Paris on May 10, 2013.

I am tired, want to see my grandkids and open up my new home in Wellfleet.

Split Theatre

Bosnia

Petar and his mom drove me to the bus station in Uzice and I took a ride to Sarajevo through the most amazing mountains, tunnels and gorges. When I got to Sarajevo I had to find a bank to change my Serb money to Bosnian money. I caught a trolley to the bridge where WW1 was started.

Famous Sarajevo Bridge

My hostel was okay and it was in the middle of the tourist section. Plenty of people walking the place, drinking coffee, eating outside and shopping for expensive things. 
Bosnia has plenty of mosques but the call to prayer is not that loud and not that many ladies have their heads covered. I rode the tram all the way out to the western edge of town. I found a 4 mile walk way, lined with trees, with horse carts taking people back and forth. When I got to the end of the walk I found a nice park with swans and waterfalls. I had a nice lunch there and felt so good.

Bosnian lunch

The next day my Cape Cod friend Branislav “Mr. B” came to my hostel and drove me to the same park in the western end of the city. So I walked the same place again. No problem I enjoyed the walk again.

Branislav's visit

We then went to see the Twisted building. This is the tallest building in Sarajevo. We went to the top and it was very windy. Nice to get a view of the city.

Sarajevo

The next day I got a cab to the bus station and off to Dubravnik, Croatia I went.