Friday, May 30, 2008

Night in Budva

We were very, very lucky when we pulled into traffic-jammed Budva after our very long day in the car. The first hotel we tried, Hotel Oaza, had a room available and we took it. Oaza is located just across the boardwalk area from the marina and about a hundred meters from Stari Grad (old town - all the towns with fortifications from medieval times are called Stari Grad in Montenegro). It turns out that there was a World Powerboat Championship race the next day, and the whole town was partying before it, along with a few thousand tourists/race enthusiasts. There was a concert bu Russian girl group (Eurovision contestants in 2007) Serebro (pictured here), a fireworks show, and a bunch of dazzle.

So we ate dinner, walked around Stari Grad, listened to the music, and my companion took a lot of pictures. This one is from Stari Grad looking back out across the bay toward the south end of Budva. If you look closely (or at the bigger version of the picture in this set), you can see the race sponsor's name in green laser in the sky by the mountains. Neat trick. After a few hours of the walking around bit, we went back to the hotel for sleep. I'd recommend this place. The room was big, even had two bathrooms (one with jacuzzi), and breakfast was included.

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Second Flower Done


I got the second flower done on this before we headed out for the trip, and the third one started. The leaves on it were pretty easy closed fly stitches, and I think they came out pretty well. There's not enough contrast in the raspberry colors for the flower, though. I picked them out of my stash. It looks good, but not as punched up as it should. The bud on the right hand side's started; it just needs its leaves.

First Afternoon of the Trip






We left Pristina in the morning headed for Peja and got there around noon. It was a hot and dusty trip, and kind of sad, too. There are the remains of a burned out Serbian village on the side of the road. My companion said it was done during the 2004 riots. Whatever and whyever it was done, it was a sad thing and the remains are still being pulled apart in time honored fashion to build new things. After turning north at Peja, we decided to stop for lunch. I have pictures of the food (really!) but won't be able to add them until I can download them from my phone, which means either I figure out how to download the Windows Mobile 6 for Vista package without corruption or I get to the States and email them to myself for free. Either way, they'll be up when I do. Edited to include food pictures:
Or my companion can loan me his micro SD card after reading this entry and let me upload the pictures that way. He had the trout; they keep several schools of them in the aqueducts at the restaurant. You can see them swimming as you come in and at the front of the reception hall across the road. When someone orders trout, the cook literally comes out and scoops one up. The sauce on the steak was very good and the bread underneath is typical of what you get in Kosovo; several shapes, same bread. It's got a chewy crust and a very white center. We also had salads (huge ones) with the meals.

To continue... the restaurant was a lovely little place on the river just past Novo Selo. Its name is Vala & Drinj's and is owned by a father and son. Lunch was delicious. My companion had a trout which he watched getting caught (how fresh is that?) and I had a beef and mushroom dish. The son/brother of the owners came over and talked to us. He was soooo happy to see Americans, especially one from New Jersey. It turns out that he now has American citizenship and lives in Somerville, NJ, where I used to teach high school. He works at a restaurant there called Ciao Bella. I'll have to go visit it and see him.






The food at the restaurant really was great and the view magnificent, but you can see the kind of road (track) we had to drive on to get there. This is typical of both Kosovo and Montenegro once you get off the main roads.








At the Kosovo checkpoint for the Montenegro border, we saw this friendly dog. Her mate and puppies were not too far away in the shade. Border checkpoint crossed, we went over a mountain before getting to the Montenegro checkpoint. A whole bunch of hairpin turns and beautiful views in between, of course. If you want to see more of the pictures of this part of the trip,go to my companion's flickr set. There are some awesome shots.




What should have been a six hour trip from Pristina to Podgorica turned into an eight plus hour trip due to scenes like this. There were multiple tunnels being enlarged and at every single one of them we were required to stop for up to half an hour to let traffic pass from the other direction. Gorgeous mountain views, at least, but still! Lots of time with the car turned off and just watching things. We get to do this on the way back, too. I'll talk about Budva later in the day and post some pictures from that.






Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Back on the Net

I'm back on the net for the next three days then off for two then home. We've driven from Pristina to Split! I'll have pictures in the next couple of posts, but for now you're going to have to make do with my stitching. I got more done on the fifth band now, but I'm going to be doing some frogging on it. I really don't like how light the outer hearts are, so I'm going to change them to my medium shade of green. It'll make them stand out more on the gold. Will probably do that tonight or tomorrow night here on the veranda at our hotel.

Sunday, May 25, 2008

More Petals


Two more petals done on this; I should be able to get more done on the trip, perhaps even complete the flower. This is my last scheduled blog post. I might not be able to post again until the first of June, as I'm off on an adventure. Will share pictures and such when I get back, if not before.

Saturday, May 24, 2008

Blue Bubbles


I progressed some more on these bubbles. There are sixteen squares and I'm still on the first. The series ends at the end of the year, too! It's only available in the Marquoir German yahoogroup. I'm liking how it's turning out over one, even if it's going to be tiny.

If Not for the Americans...

He said he'd be dead instead of fixing my wall. I was told I'd hear people tell tales of gratitude to the Americans, but this was the first one I heard since being here. He told me how the Serbs had burned down his house and he went from cousin to cousin and finally Macedonia to get away from the Serb army. He saw the bombs from the NATO planes fall, and he was so relieved to be able to live. He'd received no real education - the Serbs didn't allow Albanians more than the rudiments. No real future, no hope. All that changed with the Americans. He's worked for the mission for over eight years. His house is very near completion - he's been rebuilding it himself with the money and skills he's learned from the Americans.



I felt embarrassed. I wasn't personally responsible for any of the things that happened then, and I'm just here as a guest. We can't understand what they've gone through. It's been a century and a half since there's been a war on American soil. 9-11 is the closest we've ever come. I hope it never gets any closer than that. The whole thing left me proud of my country and embarrassed that I couldn't do more.