Hello everyone, "Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away." My adventure is almost over. It is hard to believe that I have been away since early April of last year. In eleven months I have travelled 23,000 km. and that's not counting the plane flight from Canada to Europe and back. I visited twenty-five countries and wore out four pairs of walking shoes. Life on the road is filled with uncertainty--especially when I didn't plan hotels, etc. in advance. It gave me the flexibility to stay longer if [View Full Entry]

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Hello everyone, I took advantage of a low-cost airline and spent a weekend in London and another weekend in Paris. The Parisians are losing their reputation for rudeness--at least that was my experience. Every person that I approached for help was very kind. Many even offered assistance when they saw me staring at a map or looking bewildered in their subway system. Speaking of their subway system, here are some interesting facts. Every day their trains travel the equivalent of three times the circumference of the earth. Since the subway opened in 1900, the number of passengers totals twenty times the [View Full Entry]

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Hello everyone, Napoleon called Istanbul, "The centre of the world." Half the city is in Europe, the rest in Asia. Connection is with a bridge across the Bosphorus Straight. The three big things to see in Istanbul are the Sultan's Palace, Blue Mosque and the Grand Bazaar. Dolmabahce, the Sultan's Palace took thirteen years to build--1843 to 1856. Six Sultan's lived there. It has 385 rooms, 43 halls, 68 toilets, 600 paintings and 1,427 windows. One of the staircases has crystal spindles holding up the bannister. The most impressive part is the Grand Ceremony Hall. The domed ceiling is forty metres--more [View Full Entry]

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Hello everyone, I spent two weeks over Christmas and New Year's in Turkey. The news leading up to my visit involved their entry into the European Union. The sense I got from BBC/CNN was that Turkey wasn't meeting some of the requirements and so an invitation had not been issued. The people I spoke with over the two weeks said that they didn't see a benefit in joining. They also don't necessarily see themselves as European--more of a combination of Asia and Europe. They thought that there were two real reasons that an invitation hadn't been issued: Turkey has a huge [View Full Entry]

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Hello everybody, I was lucky enough to visit Greece twice--in September and again in November. One shot is a street scene with the preferred mode of transportation--motor scooters. Also, pictures of the "unofficial" form of pet ownership. People look after dogs and cats, but their don't actually take them home with them. They supply food, water, even collars. The dog was keeping cool on the marble floor of a shopping centre. The cat has it made hanging around the owner of this store. Other pictures you will recognize as the Olympic Stadium in Athens where the opening and closing ceremonies took [View Full Entry]

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Hello everyone, I started my adventure in the former Soviet countries without knowing what to expect. It has been an eye opener. How did the Communist system get so strong? Under normal circumstances, it probably wouldn't have landed more than one or two countries, but times weren't normal. Many countries had been under seige for up to five years. Each day they left the house wondering if it would be there when they got home. Their lives and that of their families were threatened every single day. When the Soviets liberated them from Germany, at least the bombing stopped. In the [View Full Entry]

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Hello everyone, There are an estimated one and half million Gypsies in Romania. It is politically incorrect to call them Gypsies here. They are now called The Roma. Their origin is not clear, but it is thought that they came from India in the 13th century. They have the colouring and features of people from India. Many are still nomadic, but many are trying to fit in. Some are well-off, but most live on the fringes of society. They often set up camp close to landfill sites and mine plastic, metal and copper for resale and recycling. The government gives them [View Full Entry]

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Hello everyone, The highlight of my travels through Bulgaria was at the town of Veliko Tarnovo. It goes way back and has a huge fortress. Visiting during the day was okay, but at 9:30 most evenings they have a light and sound show. The music was specially written and covers the history of Bulgaria. The entire structure--cathedral, walls, gates are lit up with lights coordinated with the music. In all they use 630 km. of cables powering 2500 colour projectors, 140 flash lights, laser rays and 6 mechanical bells. The show lasts about half an hour and is just wonderful. Even [View Full Entry]

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Hello everyone, If someone asked me what stands out about my visit to Romania, it has to be Ceausescu Palace in Bucharest. It was built in the 1980's, but Ceausescu was executed when it was 70% finished. At 3,000 plus rooms, only the Pentagon is bigger. Some rooms are the size of a football field. There are 280 chandeliers; one weighs five tons. All 600 doors are solid wood, many elaborately carved. Ceausescu felt strongly about using only materials from Romania. He liked silk, but their climate doesn't lend itself to silk worms. So he built a lab for the sole [View Full Entry]

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Hello everyone, Bulgaria is more like the former Soviet block atmosphere that I had expected. You still see horse carts and horses instead of tractors in fields. They use shepherds instead of fencing. They are trying to get on track--hope to join the European Union in 2007. Their history during WWII is a little different. The government chose to support Germany rather than Russia, but the people wanted to support Russia--Russia had liberated them from Turkish domination back in 1878. The damage from bombing was actually done by Russia. The Soviets still liberated them and they became part of the Soviet [View Full Entry]

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