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Laura and Paul arrived back in Calgary after a 14 hour marathon from Helsinki. We left Ed and Lil at the Frankfurt airport, with hopes that they would be able to find their way to the train station and get seats to Bonn. Bonn is where their friend Margit lives. They are visiting her and will come back in a few days from now. After we get over the ten hour time difference we will be back to our lives as before. We will talk to most of you soon. Paul... read more

Here I sit broken hearted at the lack of advancement of the technology in this country. The access is slow and overly expensive. No pics today. We all continue to do well. St. Petersburg is a very nice city but not as clean as Moscow. The hermatige was amazing, but so was the Kremlim Museum. Well try to send a pic later from a different cafe. Buba - we are trying to phone but it is not working - we hope all is well. We'll try again later. Paul... read more

Today we are in Kiev and we leave tonight for Moscow. We have been unable to write as often as we would like due to the fact that there are few internet places available. We were in the mountains the last we wrote. Yaremcha is supposedly a ski resort, but we are not sure how any industry such as that would survive there. Certainly no where near Banff or Jasper. But the food was excellent as was the vodka. We ate in a smoke house that really was! We were almost black when we emerged, but didn't care much because the shishkabob, fresh mushroom salad and corn meal with cottage cheese dinner was fantastic. The next day as we drove to Lviv, we stopped at the very center of Europe! North, South, East and West. Our ... read more

hello all, we are still doing well. our trip to the mountains was relatively uneventful. The gorgeous environment we were expecting did not materialize. Places were quaint, but not well kept or interesting. THe beer was good, vodka good and food also good. THe way of life here is far behind what i thought it would be. The infrastructure is poor, many building are half done or mostly decayed. Gardens grow, but the weeds are competing for space. Harvesting of wheat is still done with a scyth(sp) and piled up in stookes. Women are working everywhere doing the labour, men drive horse drawn carriages on the highways and we had to stop a few times for cows walking down the middle of the highway. It is interesting, but not what I would have expected from the ... read more

Hello! We are in a little town called Uzgorod just across the border from Hungary and Slovakia. OUr hotel is wonderful and right in the town center. The women are dressed up as much as they can and with their bodies, they are quite capable of it for the next year of their life or so. Our dinner last night was huge, Paul and dad had breaded veal that had things rolled inside and they were HUGE. Dinner for all four of us with drinks was about $20 and we were in a restaurant on the river Uzh. The topilet paper are rolls of uncolored crepe paper that we would hang for decorations. No kidding! Mom and I just bought a lipstick each and the cost was $2 total. So, things in this little town are ... read more

We have arrivedin the Ukraine. The border was easy and so far the beer is cold and tasty. The weather is hot,but we have a very good hotel with AC - thanks to Laura's work. Lily's language skills are very valuable and we would b e lost without it. However the reading skills of La and Paul are helping to keep us in the know. Tonight we drink more beer and try our first vodka and eat holopshi and perogy??? Tomorrow we tour this little town. We will try to post photos tomorrow.... read more

Hello all, Everything is great. We are in Budapest eating and drinking and participating in the BudaFest days that are in progress. The weather is hot and sunny, so the beer really helps. We are healthy and recovering from our jet lag. Today is church and museum day. Yesterday was a city tour and we now understand the lay of the land. Tomorrow we will be having a thermal spa day with massages and mineral springs and more beer. Hope every one is fabulous.... read more

Hi everyone. Paul and I have arrived back ın Istanbul after arrıvıng thıs mornıng on the over-nıght traın from Ankara. We left Antalya on Saturday and took the nıght bus. Lets just say that we are really glad that the bus rıdes are over and that we wıshed there were traıns all over the country. On busses, the drıver smokes and we pre-booked seats on a full bus rıght behınd the drıver so that I wouldn't get sıck - HA! Never have I smoked ın my sleep before thıs! But,we arrıved ın Cappadocıa to amazıng surprıses. Cappadocia ıs a wonderment of faıry chımneys that have unıquely eroded from a pre-cıvılization volcanıc area. The result has been an area where troglodıtes havelıved for centurıes. As Cappadocıa was near the sılk road, the towns people had tunnels under ... read more

Laura is wrıtıng a message now as I set up the photos.... read more