More Pictures Online

Here is the link to more pictures from Greece, Macedonia, Serbia and Romania. Hope you enjoy! http://s1196.photobucket.com/profile/mikeandalla/index

Bye Bye Balkans

Hello all! Glad you're here! Here's what we've been up to since the last post. We've showered!! And have had a warm bed since family got a hold of us. We spent a day in Macedonia...not the night though. It looked a little fishy. Mike didn't like the people. We didn't really blend in very well like we do everywhere else in the southern countries. (We won't have such an advantage in the rest of Europe) the people were darker but maybe we weren't dark enough. Mike blamed my bright colored clothing...but I think it was just because it was a small town and everyone knew each other. We saw the city of Ohrid. In which was Lake Ohrid. That reminded us of Tahoe too. Just because of mountains surrounding the lake. It was beautiful. I've heard that Macedonian and Bulgarian could be the same language, they're so similar...it's true. We didn't talk to people but people talked to each other. They had t-mobile there. They were our wifi provider. We hadn't seen it in any country before Macedonia or since then. Kind of interesting. We drove up to Skopje but never really made it to the center of the city. Got a little lost and so we explored the outskirts by car. After being in Ohrid and driving around Skopje we kind of got a feel for the country and we didn't like it too much. Mike thought it best not to spend the night there. We found out later that there are friends of a friend that could have taken us in and showed us around. Would have been nice but from the research we did on Skopje there wasn't too many things that interested us so it's ok. Drove to Nis, Serbia for the night. 

In Nis we spent a lot of time looking for skull tower! It took way too long. Google maps was off. Had us wandering through neighborhoods looking for skulls. With the help of multiple people we found it. Only to find that they didn't take credit cards...or Euros. So we went to find a bank. When we finally had everything in order we were the only ones visiting! The man unlocked the place for us and waited for us to finish to lock up. It was a little bit awkward. This tower is built of the skulls of Serbian heroes that fought against the Turks; In remembrance of them. It looked a bit like Halloween. There were 4000 skulls used. Not that many remain intact. Serbian I also understood. With the Russian and Bulgarian I know it really helped make sense of it. Speaking and understanding are on two totally different levels though. So directions were given in Serbian and policemen spoke to us in Serbian. I was proud of me. 

We continued on to Belgrade. There we just wandered. Hung out in a really busy park and saw some of the sights. Didn't do too many touristy things here but that's just fine with me. We had some really good pizza baked in front of us in a brick oven and hung out with some coffee while we people watched. We saw this one billboard very many times. I commented on how it was Serbia's favorite...then mike says "that guy looks like an old Vlade Divac" turns out it was Vlade Divac! Some billboard for the foundations he's started back in his homeland. He's a star there! After that I'd smile every time I saw that billboard. 

Grandpa with my brothers

From there we drove to Temerin to stay with family. There was a family there and another a half hour away in Becej. We stayed with each for a couple days. Mostly what was talked about was family. It was very interesting for mike. I barely understood what the plan was much less what was being discussed. Mike was really cute...I loved seeing him so excited about something. He loved learning about his family's history and meeting some of them. He has family trees from both his grandma and grandpas side of the family. One of which goes back 5 generations. I was so inspired! I've always been interested in genealogy and I've always wished we had something for our family. So one of the nights as mike discussed family I started my own family tree! It only goes as far as grandparents...and I only know a few of one grandpa's siblings. Not nearly as much as I should know. I don't even know my cousins from my dad's side...or aunts and uncles. The ones that didn't migrate to the states I don't know...it's a sad sad thing. I know a ton about mike's family though!:) Mike discovered that he's got painters and authors and sculptors and musicians in his family. We got to see some of the works of these artists. It was really special. Looking through old photographs and making comparisons in appearance...who inherited whose looks, hearing the stories of what they did and how they lived and died; From what was translated it was a really touching experience. I can't imagine how much more so for Mike. Being in the land of his grandfathers gives you a sense of who you really are. We are so grateful for the opportunity to do this!

The bigger city near Temerin is Novi Sad. We explored that for a day. It was fun. There is this huge music festival held here every summer. Exit festival is what it's called. It lasts a few days and we looked at previous artists and were impressed. Arcade Fire, M.I.A, Mika, LCD Soundsystem, Arctic Monkeys. Were among some of the ones that popped out to me. They say it's the biggest music festival in Europe...or maybe it was just southeast Europe.:) either way...we really wanna go!!! It's only half hour from where the family is so we'd have a place to stay. The coolest part...it's held inside a fortress!! I think we'll make it happen. 

We left for Arad, Romania on the 7th of march. The route that Google maps gave us told us to cross a border that has been closed for over 10 yrs. We aren't liking Google much these days. We arrived to a house full of people...and that was just like 4 of them! Mikes dad's brother and his mom's niece got married and had 13 children! So the families are double related. I'm loving it so much here! I feel right at home. Not just because of how wonderful and welcoming the family is but also because it reminds me of my family. The way things work in big families is the same. The bonds between the kids is similar. The way the parents are. How much fun they have when they're together. I can't explain it well...I've tried explaining it in my journal and I just can't. There is just something about all of them...I almost feel like they're my brothers and sisters and I can't quite pinpoint why that is. By the end of day 2 I was able to name all of them and almost in order!:) 2 weeks here and I still haven't met everyone. We've been having fun with the kids. There are a few younger couples that like to hang out so we've been doing all kinds of things with them. Went to a nearby cave which was really neat. Mike's been doing all sorts of boy things...hunting and other sports, exploring the forest by night. I've been spending a lot of time at the mall and various coffee places. 

Its kind of slowing down now...people have to get back to their lives. We're looking into day-trips we can take from here. Still waiting on the citizenship paperwork to arrive. We don't have a plan as of right now. Hoping to figure it out soon because we don't want to overstay our welcome...hope we haven't already done that!

Well that's all folks! -Bugs Bunny

Hello Hellas!

Early morning on the 17th of February we left Bulgaria. It was all so very sudden. Our plans for how it was going to happen didn't really pan out. We were getting really close to our 90 days in the country. With some research and a couple visits to the police station we decided it best to leave Bulgaria with a few days as back up for when we need to return for mike's paperwork. So we had 1.5 days of packing franticly, moving out of the apartment, deciding where it is we would go, tying up loose ends such as bills and rental agreements and things of the sort. It was very straining on the nerves for me. Mike seemed excited more than anything. Excited for the adventure of the unknown! Once we had a semi plan I was excited too.

We called my aunt in Athens and she arranged for us to stay with her! She doesn't have her own place, lives where she is employed so it was a little complicated. This aunt is my dad's youngest brothers wife. My uncle died about 30 yrs ago leaving her with a 1.5 yr old and a really big baby inside. She delivered the day after she buried her husband! Her story is a very hard one. I am soo happy that I got to know her/meet her. Haven't seen her since I was 5. I just knew her from what my parents would tell me. She is an amazing woman. You would not believe the running around she did for us! We have never and will never again be waited on like that! And we will never forget all that she did for us. Our time in Athens was so special to me because of her. I was so happy to come home in the evenings and just talk to her. She is usually so lonely. Alone in the country...supporting her kids back home in Moldova. She has no one to talk to and was so happy to have company! I was honored to be that company. And was a little ashamed of how she was treating us...like we were royalty or something. I felt uncomfortable. I really came to love this woman. We were able to stay in Athens for a long time because we didn't have to buy a single food item or pay for stay.

We stopped in Thessaloniki and Meteora on our way to Athens. Thessaloniki was nice but we weren't too impressed. Meteora was amazing. There are these monasteries built on top of mountains that look like fingers of rock are coming out of the earth. You have to look at the pictures, it's unlike anything we've ever seen. 

In the 9 days we were in Athens we did a lot of sightseeing. We did the usual of course such as the acropolis and all the city's historical sites. It was interesting to see a place with so much history! The ancient world. There were bits of ruins everywhere you looked. Their building of the subway station took a long time because as they dug they kept bumping into ancient artifacts that were 2.5 thousand yrs old! (for example) There were many modern buildings that had fenced off pieces of old houses or something right next to it. Or just walking through the city in between the regular buildings will be a tower or something from 2000 yrs ago. We went to the Olympic stadium they built for 2004 and ran into a ton of the fenced off pieces of the ancient world. It was neat. 

We also traveled out of Athens quite a bit. We did 3 day trips. One was to the city of Marathon where there was once a battle and an Athenian man ran back to Athens to bring the news that they had won. It's a little over 20 miles from Athens. That is where we get the word marathon, from the battle of marathon:). Greek history is full of stories like that which is what made this trip so fun, I've never liked history this much. 

Two was Delphi, Itea, and Arahova. Delphi was a town that a famous fortune teller from the ancient times lived. She was well known for her predictions. Many kings would travel to see her before war, for example, to see how they should proceed. There is a scene in the movie 300 where king leonidus travelled there to seek her advice. Itea was a little beach town and Arahova was a little mountain town. Reminded us of South Lake Tahoe, only without the lake and built on the edge of a mountain. I really liked the feel of the place. Relaxed and so so pretty. Loved walking the streets and peeking into shops. I think the reason I liked it so much was because it was different than the ruins we've been looking at for a week. 

Trip three was Corinth, Mykines, and Nafplio. Ancient Corinth was built around 500BC. We went and saw the old city and the stage from which apostle Paul spoke to the Corinthians. That was most interesting to me. Mykines is where historians believe the  first civilization of main land Greece began. There was an old castle there that was built 1300BC. A lot of the modern governments and language are attributed to the Mykinians. It's crazy to see how old some of these sites were and to think that this tribe was around even 400 years before king David and Solomon ruled in Jerusalem is amazing. Nafplio was the first capital of modern Greece and it also had a massive medieval castle on top of a mountain. We explored the castle for a few hours, the views from there were amazing. 

Monday afternoon our time with T. Anya (aunt) had come to an end. Leaving was a little hard. A lot harder than I thought it'd be. To think only 9 days prior I hardly knew the woman but leaving was just as hard as it was to leave family at home. We drove back to Corinth for just the night and early morning we started heading to Olympia. Olympia was pretty cool, a bunch of ruins in my eyes but with a ton of history. The history of the Olympics. We saw the exact place that the Olympic torch is lit for the Olympics. I may just not pay attention to things of the sort but I was so amazed at the fact that they light the torch here every four years and fly the flame to wherever the Olympics are that year. I thought that very interesting. Mike and I had our own little Olympic race in the original Olympic stadium! We had to do it!:) and it was so fun! From there we drove towards the Ionian Sea and stayed in Patras for a couple days. It is the 3rd largest city in population. We explored a bit and found wifi at a coffee place. My favorite though was hanging out in the back of our car on a huge pile of pillows/blankets and watching the sunset. Had an awesome view of the Rio Antirro bridge (the largest suspension bridge in the world with a toll fee of 13.20 Euros..."scammers" mike says). We left the Patras area early Thursday morning and started heading up north. Today we stopped in a couple random little towns. We found another little coffee shop and used their wifi in exchange for the purchase of 2 cappuccinos. We liked the sunset setup so much that we did it again today!:) today's was better. We didn't see a soul in the 3+ hours we were there. Mike read, I wrote, we ate, mike skipped rocks, I watched, we took pictures. It was absolutely amazing!! My favorite of all the moments we had in Greece!

We're leaving the country very pleased! I loved how nice everyone was. We read that the Greek are a hospitable people but we didn't expect so much! One family gave us (complete strangers) a free place to stay and for a week!! Another family was so awesome in spending time with us, showing us the sights. The dad of this family was in the restaurant business for many years...the cooking he did for us was so so amazing! I was just in awe! They were so sweet! I mentioned that I'd like to learn to make tzatziki...the next time we saw them what did we do? We made tzatziki! I love that old man! 

We're living in our car. Everyone we tell feels sorry for us or something...but  I think it's great!! It's like a very cozy, very little home. The only complaint is the not so warm nights. But we've figured it out. With each night we get better at it. We have a pretty complex system of cold air blockage and cushioning and other means of comfort. We fit very well. We have a wagon, a ford mondeo, maroon. Slept in the car a total of 4 nights combined. This trip it's been 3. The further north we go the colder the nights will get though. We'll have to sightsee fast or get more creative.:) The plan is to stay in the car unless it's super cold or we're in dire need of a shower. We're gonna make our money last!:) Been 3 days, it's getting close. Baby wipes won't cut it for too much longer. We are slowly making our way up to Romania to see mike's family. The plan goes like this: Macedonia-1 day, maybe 2. Serbia-same. Maybe longer, depending on how many families we visit. Mike's got family there too.

We are having the greatest experience ever! It is so great to just be free. No plan really, no time frame, no obligations. If we want to detour and see something along the way we're free to do that. If we like a city and want to stay an extra day we can. I've always wanted to live like this! It's so fun!