Just a side note, Bob loves to take pictures of flowers. So we are sending a blog of flowers we have enjoyed here in Eastern Europe. It is springtime and everwhere there are flowers, flower gardens, wildflowers and flower vendors. At the market and along the roads people sell flowers. Also the fruit trees are in full bloom and there are lots of them If invited to visit someone the appropriate gift to bring is flowers. But bring an odd number an even number is bad luck! Hope you enjoy them.... read more

I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move. ~Robert Louis Stevenson May 16, 2009, Saturday, Mezerers Campground north to Plavinas, it is one strange/weird place. Perhaps, once upon a time, it “used to be” an entertainment/hotel/outdoor attraction for various sports; but today it is a falling apart…”used to be”. Bob didn’t feel safe here overnight, so we are glad to leave. Salaspils, a concentration camp was our first stop. “Behind this gate, the earth groans”, reads the inscription on a large bunker. A very sobering place, from 1941 to ’44 an estimated 45,000 Jews from Riga and approximately 55,000 other people including Jews from Nazi occupied countries died here. Today is a Memorial Day and many families arrive with flowers and children…it is ... read more

Wandering re-establishes the original harmony which once existed between man and the universe. ~Anatole France May 11, 2009, Monday, Trakai to Vilnius, Lithuania, “A Problem Day… Somedays are just not easy”, or “The Day Kel almost lost it”. As the rain came down, we parked and rushed to the bus, but we didn’t have the correct amount. (Why would the price change from yesterday?) Maureen rummaged through her purse and paid the additional amount, we took a seat. Ten minutes later, Maureen can’t find her wallet? PANIC sets-in as every article of clothing is being searched. As we arrive in Vilnius, the wallet is found. Chapter II On to the next problem, today we plan to leave laundry at the hotel, but we are late for the pick-up. They “MAY” come back. We leave the ... read more

It is not down in any map; true places never are. ~Herman Melville May 7, 2009, Thursday, Bialowieza NP to Gizycko, Poland’s Lake District, P.T.H. Camping “Borowo”. Another long driving day and I promise not to comment on the roads. The Masurian Lake Region has more than 2,000 lakes, which are the remnants of long vanished glaciers and surrounded by green hilly landscape. This is a lovely campground and our spot is right on the lake, calm and scenic. The campground is on Lake Niegocin in the town of Gizycko, the largest lakeside center in the region. Our search for a Laundromat is in vain. Maybe Lithuania?? It is good we have nice weather and lots of “plastic” clothes, Bob is becoming a good “washer”. May 8, 2009, Friday, Gizycko to Vilnius, Lithuania. But before ... read more

So true : “Traveling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. You are constantly off balance. Nothing is yours except the essential things - air, sleep, dreams, the sea, the sky - all things tending towards the eternal or what we imagine of it.” - Cesare Pavese We are in Riga Latvia . we are at a great campground with WIFI so we will get caught up May 3, 2009, Sunday and we are off by tram to Warsaw Centrum, the capital of Poland and the seat for legislation and parliament. Today there is a big celebration in Poland; it is Constitution Day. There are parades, bands, soldiers and horses, of course, politicians giving speeches…just wish we could understand the ... read more