A Trip Down the Garden Path

Once upon a time there were four very kind and beautiful people, they were called Rane, Shobyn, Glacey and Sten. They lived in an old tall house in the far away town of Brightonia. One day the sun was shining brightly and they decided to go out for an adventure. Rane and Sten loved motorbikes and they had heard the 'brmm' of them earlier that morning, so they went out hoping to catch a glimpse of their most favourite thing. Shobyn and Glacey wanted to go out too, so they could spend money. This was their most favourite thing to do. So with happy aspirations for a bright day, they set off on an adventure.

Glacey was so happy about the day of adventure, she did a little dance of excitement outside of their tall house,

then they hopped on a big bus and headed into the town.

When they got there, Rane and Sten didn't have to look far. They saw many different people wearing special motorbike clothes. 'They look like motorbikers,' said Sten. 'Yes they do,' said Rane, 'Shall we follow them?' Sten nodded. So they followed them and they came across lots of different bikes. First they came across this bike, with lights of many shapes and sizes.

Then they came across this bike. 'That's an old one!' said Sten, 'Mmmm, but not powerful enough,' replied Rane. So they wandered on.

'Look at this one!' exclaimed Rane, 'I like this bike very much.' Sten frowned 'But it's also old, I don't like old bikes,' he said. Rane looked the bike over long and hard, all the while smiling contently to himself.

As they walked futher, something bright and orange caught Sten's eye. 'Wow, look at that one.  That's my kind of bike!' Sten cried. 'But it's made of plastic!' Rane observed, 'That's no good at all.'

Rane and Sten continued along their way. They were very excited to see many more bikes and happily looked at them all. Some time later Sten rubbed his belly 'Oh, I'm hungry he announced.' 'Me too, let's see if we can find Shobyn and Glacey.

They found Shobyn and Glacey on the beach. They had found a food market and had brought some sandwiches for Rane and Sten: Chorizo, rocket, mayonnaise and chutney. The boys were so hungry they gobbled them all up. Afterwards, Shobyn and Rane relaxed on the beach.

Glacey was clearly bothered by something.

Sten became fascinated with watching the seagulls, he clapped his hands in delight when they flew.

Meanwhile Glacey soon realised why she was grimacing, she was not feeling very comfortable sitting on the beach rocks. Finding herself a chair, she sighed 'Ah, this is much better!'

No one else seemed to find the rocks a bother, a well, Glacey must have a tender derriere.

Rane enjoyed his lunch picnic on the beach

so did Shobyn.

But something else had caught Sten's eye.

It wasn't lollies...

It was the amusement arcade. Sten likes to play the claw, becasue he always needs another stuffed toy.

He tired very hard at the games using more pound coins than he had (he had to get some change), but he didn't win anything.

Shobyn tried her luck at the Penny Pusher, but no plastic silver bracelet for her. 'Oh bother,' she sighed.

Meanwhile Glacey wanted to have a go fishing with her feet. Lots of people wer doing it, and it looked like fun.

The fish gnawed at her feet and she laughed, 'It feels like tiny feathers!' she exclaimed.

By this time, Sten was a feeling a bit sad that he had spent all his pounds and not won a thing.

Even seeing the most enormous seagull in the world couldn't cheer him up. Then Glacey had an idea...

'Let's go back to the food market and stuff ourselves silly!' And so they did.

At the end of the day Shobyn had a glass of Pimms and heaved a big sigh. 'What a lovely day we've had,' she announced contentedly, 'what a lovely day indeed.' The End.

**To those people following who received my 'A' blog post via email I hope you enjoyed it. It was a lot of hard work that one. 

I'm back, bitten by a fresh commitment and motivation to get my blog up to date. I looked at my blog record today and realised I'd posted 65 times, wowee. Far too much work there to just let it all slide. Even Glen said to me 'wow, I can't believe you hid your blog, that's bad'. Yes it was bad, very bad, but I'm back on track and ready to make it all right again.

I have so much to tell you all, and where I last left off was Greece. This was part of a tour we did with Topdeck, and from Greece we headed up through Albania, Croatia to finish in Hungary. Here's a little overview of what we got up to.

Albania has only emerged from a strict communist regieme within the last 10-20 years. It's a country that is still finding its feet in the global community, but one that has been racked by a lot of poverty and corruption in the past. After the borders came down and movement out of the country was allowed, many people immigrated to western European countries, to escape the poverty and to get ahead. These days, on the bumpy dirt roads around Albania you will see many grand old Mercedes cars driving along. It is said that during the period of unheaval and migration, many people returned from places like Germany with their luxury Mercedes, more often stolen than bought. Another interesting thing about Albania is the dolls or teddy bears some people hang from the roofs of their houses. This practise is believed to ward of evil spirits. Alas, I was never quick enough to get a photo of the poor bears. And a third interesting fact is the concept of yes and no: yes is a shake of the head and no is a nod, certainly not we're used to (nods head).

Albania is not a typical tourist destination. If you want to see the raw day-to-day life of an Eastern European and Balkan country then this is certainly the place. There are no theme parks and 'cultural' centres here. Albanian has made a bid for the EU, and they were deemed a possible candidate. They are currently undertaking lots of internal renewal in a hope to attain the stability that will allow them to achieve this status one day. I hope it happens for them, It would be nice to see more of these countries stepping up to the plate with the Western European super countries.
A few images of Albania:

These concrete bunkers dot the countryside. They are a relic of the communist regieme and served the purpose of shelter during the threat of invasion. This is so strange, having been built from the 50s to the 80s, the leader at the time had the parnoid belief that other countries intended to invade Albania. I just can't imagine it, living a life cut off from the world, and knowing no more than what existed in your immedidate environment and what you were told by others. What always seems to come with communism is corruption, leaving the everyday person in utter poverty. You can sort of get an impression of the appearance of the countryside from this picture. And we drove along the only two-way road in the country. It makes you wonder what's going on inside the borders of North Korea...

Fast food restaurant, does the logo look familiar?

Wanna pedestal fan, pick your own off the side of the road!

In Albania's capital, Tirana. After the collapse of communism, the next mayor of the town had been an art teacher at the local universtiy. His idea was to brighten up the otherwise dull, concrete buildings of the once communist city, with the paint and colour and design. There were tonnes of buildings painted with all sorts of pictues and designs. It gave the city a more cheerful vibe.

The cheapest tours you can get are the camping tours. We camped in all sorts of places, but come Tirana in Albania, with another couple we shared a two bedroom, two bathroom apartment complete with kitchen, dining and lounge, just for the night. It was pretty ritzy compared to a tent. Just shows the cost of living in Albania...

From Albania, we headed into Croatia. This is such a pretty little country, and leaps and bounds ahead of Albania in their bid for EU membership. It's hard to realise though, that only about 10-15 years ago this area was ravaged by war. I remember learning about the war in Yugoslavia (now Bosnia, Serbia, Croatia and few other separate nations). This was way back in grade 7, when we read about the horror and devestation experienced by a young girl our age (then 12), called Zlata. You would never know 'nowdays that these things happened. It's crazy how authoritarian a government can be and, correspondingly, when the need arises, how powerful the everyday person can be, especially when efforts are combined. But far from war and destruction these days, Croatia was a pretty amazing place.

Entry to the old city, you can see the city wall and the bridge over the moat

A water cistern, icy cold

Part of the harbour and the city on the hillside

One of my artistic attempts

Pretty little laneways in the old town

This is where they do the cliff jumping - ARed Bull comp every year

Glen preparing to cliff dive, NOT!

And an afternoon at the beach, more crystal clear water

A stop off in Zadar to see the Sea Organ. An urban installation that uses the ebb and flow of the water to create sounds.  Youtube it, it's amazing.

Another installation, 'Greeting to the Sun'. Powers the lights on the esplanade.

And a day spent in the Plitvice National Park, wandering amongst the lakes. It was a warm day, but no swimming allowed.

So pretty

A day spent wadering amongst nature

City view

My attempt at artistic photography

A fountain of red wine, wow.

A city of statues

Typical architecture - the side of a cathedral

So much gilded work in this cathedral

House of Terror. Chronicles the atrocites faced by the Hungarians (amongst others) during WW2 and other significant historical events.  A real eye opener.

Those who lost their lives, mini framed photos form a row along the museum

The market building, for fruit and veg and a ton of souvenirs.  I love the tile patterns on the roof

Eating (very average) goulash

Glen enjoying the talest ice-cream ever

Babushkas