Where am I?

Well I am in Venice...Or more like the maze they call Venice. Seriously if you did not have a map you would get lost for days...Okay may a slight stretch but still its hard to find your way around when there so may side alleys and canals and deadends to deal with.

Okay I know most of you guys (there is no apostrophy on this Italian keyboard so please bear [sp?] with me) grip is that I have not updated this thing in a few days. Well its going to be a few more until I fill in the rest of the details on how I got to Venice and other fun things like renting a Scooter watching Croatia win against Poland and other fun things. So as soon as I get wireless internet or something like that I assure you that I will give you all a recap. Ciao

Travel update written 6/13

The Friday Adventure

Jetlag really got to us this morning. We woke up around 5:30 and couldn’t go back to sleep. Though that was definitely not the first of things that we were concerned with. We had to leave Durmitor and we hadn’t booked any hotels along the coast. So while we waited for breakfast to be served at 7:30 we got our things packed so we could get out of dodge at a moments notice. At breakfast we talked to the lady at the front desk and she gave us some advice on where to stay and told us that she would call the travel agency to get the ball rolling, the only thing we had to do was to make sure we caught the 11:25 bus to Podgorica. The ride down the mountain was just as fun as the ride up. A road filled with potholes, on coming traffic on a one lane road, and a bus that is almost flying down the mountain makes for an excited ride.

When we got to Podgorica we walked over to Lucky Tours which hooked us up with our hotel in Zabljak. The lady looked frazzled, apparently she had worked all day to get us a place to stay in Kotor and Dubrovnik with things not quite going to plan. She was unable to find us a room in Kotor so she had to book us a place in Budva and Dubrovnik she could find anything less than an apartment in the center of town. Of course MaryAnn and I were cool with both, the only thing is that I hadn’t looked up Budva when I researched Montenegro so I didn’t know what to expect when we got there. Well let me tell you coming in to Budva was jaw dropping. The bus is going though mountain valley after mountain valley that is covered in chaparral and all of a sudden we make a turn and we are on top of a mountain that drops about 1000 feet right in to the ocean with a city below with orange terra cotta roofs everywhere. To quote MaryAnn, “This what I came to Europe to see.” The 10 minute ride down was amazing as we went switch back down giving everyone a great view. When we finally got to the Budva bus station we had a car waiting for us to take us to the hotel. So with in 5 minutes of being in Budva we were on the patio for our room enjoying oceans view, though be it were pretty far back it was still an ocean view. So we throw down everything and make a B-line for the water and in the course of doing so we find Stari Grad, which is apparently Budva’s old walled city that is now filled with shops and restaurants in small alleyways with the Adriatic just on the other side. So after exploring for hour or two we finally have our first ‘dinner’ out and we went to town. Afterward walking down the now lit alleyways it give you the strong sense that you are Pirates of the Caribbean ride walking. After escaping into the wilderness in Durmitor we have definitely found the Europe we were looking for starting with Budva.

So today we move up the coast. We’ll have lunch in Kotor and end the evening at our apartment in Dubrovnik! You got to love this place.

Trip so far! Podgorica/Durmitor

Okay so now that I got the last of the catchup posts taken care of this is the first update to date post and possibly the last until I find internet again. So after we got into Podgorica late (thank you Jat Airlines!) we slept until about 6 am! Damn you jetlag. Though it was nice having the whole day ahead of us. While MaryAnn was getting ready I decided to walk around a bit and found a cool little trail along a creek that I took some col pictures along. After breakfast MaryAnn and I went looking for a travel agency to get a hotel in Zabljak, which I couldn't pronounce to save my life, though no luck. We did find the Millennium Bridge which is the only thing worthy of putting on a post card for Podgorica. We set off from our hotel in search of the bus station and in the process of getting lost we found a travel agency that got us two nights in Zabljak and also were really nice even giving us Fanta while everything printed out. The bus ride to Zabljak was about 4-5 hours with a bus change but the second bus is where the fun began. Beautiful views and a bus driver determined to get us there no matter if there wasn't a road or if there was on coming traffic on a one lane road.
After getting to our Hotel we woke up today ready for a hike. MaryAnn and I went on about 10 mile hike through Montenegro's only national park, Durmitor. Durmitor is also a UNESCO site means that it is even more unspoiled. It was so quiet and peaceful that you almost forget that you are on the other side of the world from anybody else we know. On the way back into town it started pouring on use so we were drenched by the time we got back to the Hotel. So tomorrow it is back down the mountain with a final destination of Kotor lined up for tomorrow. I try to keep you all posted but have patience since I never know when I find internet.

From Tuesday (Arrival)

So we got in to Montenegro...what the hell I’m I doing I’m tired as hell. Good night 12:17 am 6/12

From Tuesday (Belgrade)

Belgrade, Serbia

So we are chillin’ in Belgrade’s Tesla International Airport, which architecture is the best of the communist era. The flight itself seemed like a zoo since it seemed that no one wanted to sit in their seats for more than five seconds, though for MaryAnn and I all we wanted to do was nap after a full day of travel with still two more flights to go. Next stop Podgorica, Montenegro and the start of the real adventure.

Montenegro or Bust

Well we finally made it to Heathrow and I write this enjoying a beer. Well 'enjoy' is relative since the bar was out of Guinness and I was forced to get a Carling, the Coors Light of England. But a pint was needed after all the American flights yesterday. Since the last post we had a stop over in Chicago where the lone bit of excitement was me being a bull in a china shop and breaking glasses at the Fox Sports Bar next to our gate. So now its off to Belgrade where just a few months ago the Serbs set fire to the US embassy...guess I should bring some marshmallows.

Still Still Here

No Boston for us, which I guess is not the end of the world. Though we have to go through Chicago O'Hare (also known as purgatory). Our 7 hour cushion in Heathrow has shrunk to 3 1/2 hours. Anymore delays and I'll be starting in Oxford Early.

9:50 am

Update

Still here at 11 am...GRRRREEEEAAAAAT (insert sarcasm here)