Matterhorn!!!

After visiting some friends in the Valais area of Switzerland, Melinda and I decided to take the train from Brig to the historic town of Zermatt, so we could get an up close view of Switzerland's most famous mountain, the vaunted Matterhorn. Its not possible to drive to Zermatt by the way, as it is nestled in the foot of a very secluded valley. Nonetheless, it is a highly popular spot for the Swiss and tourists of all varieties... granola bar backpackers, D&G jetsetters, and everything in between. The pic at left is Melinda standing beside the "Matterhorn Goothard Bahn" which carried us to Zermatt through the winding valleys between some of Switzerland's highest peaks.

Once in Zermatt, we took a stroll down the main street, hoping to find a good view of the Matterhorn waiting for us once we got past the many hotels, cafes, restaurants, and traditional Swiss alpine homes I like to call "Heidi houses". As we got to the end of the town, we found that there was a cable car which could take us to a lake high above Zermatt where we were told we'd have an excellent view. The cable car ride itself was absolutely hair raising... with parts that ascended the mountain at more than a 45 degrees angle! See pic below...


Once at the top, the view was absolutely amazing... I couldn't stop taking pictures. The Matterhorn loomed over us, and the clouds that seemed to steam from it gave it an almost living feeling - as if it were some fierce animal!

After taking many, many pictures of the Matterhorn and surrounding mountains, we decided to enjoy some lunch at the cafe by the Lake, which had an absolutely amazing view of the mountains all around.

There are over 30 peaks in the area of Zermatt, making it one of the best known mountain climbing bases in the world.
As we were waiting for the train home, we noticed a couple of guys with some climbing gear and packs at a cafe nearby - we had to wonder if they'd recently been on any of the mountains, or if maybe they just carried the gear around to pick up chicks!

Milano, Italia

One of the great things about Switzerland is that it really is in the middle of a great part of Europe. Beautiful and interesting parts of Germany, France, Luxembourg, Austria, and Italy are all easily reached in only a few hours drive or train ride. When a long time friend of mine and his wife got in touch to let us know they were coming to Italy, we decided to take them up on the offer to meet them in Milan (Milano to Italians!).

The trip started with a train ride south from Zurich through the Swiss lake country - Lugano, Lucerne, Como. Melinda was fascinated by the idea that as we passed along the shores of Lake Como, George Clooney could actually be staying in his villa nearby. I was indifferent to this.

We arrived in Milan on the evening of Sunday, April 6, a day before Pat and Linda, and had a really decadent dinner at the hotel. Italian custom is to order several courses - which I did, and finished with dessert and espresso on top of that. I knew after this first experience that it was going to be a wonderful visit as far as food was concerned!

The next day we met up with Pat and Linda, and decided to visit the famous Duomo di Milano, which I was told was the third largest cathedral in Europe. Anyway, its big - and amazing. We were able to walk on the roof, which was a surreal feeling strolling through the intricate archworks and sculptures that decorate the roof (see picture at right). It also offered a very nice view of the piazza below.

The day ended with another dinner more decadent than the one the evening before. On the recommendation of an Italian work colleague from Milan, we went to an out of the way place that served traditional food from this part of Italy. There were several courses of fresh vegetables, cured and smoked meats, hundreds of cheeses to choose from, and several servings of wine chosen by the owner's son, Fabrizio, who is also a "sommelier". The name of the restaurant is Boccadivino! If you're ever in Milan, go there, but be ready to stay a long, long, time.

The highlight of the next day was viewing Da Vinci's "The Last Supper", which is not a painting on canvas, but actually a mural in the church of Santa Maria della Grazie. It was breathtaking to view. The painting has been restored many times in its 500 year history, many of which did more damage than good over the course of time, but there was still a certain feeling of awe to stand in front of one of Da Vinci's most famous works, regardless of the condition. It depicts the moment at which Jesus revealed to his disciples that one of them will betray him into the hands of his executioners. It is intriguing to consider what Da Vinci must have thought about for the three years that he worked to portray this emotionally charged moment in the very earliest days of Christianity.

Other sights we saw were the "Red Castle", the Teatro Alla Scala, and the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. The Castle is an historic center of Milan that served as a fortress when it was built in the 15th Century, and is now a famous museum, which houses the last sculpture of Michelangelo among its famous works. The Teatro Alla Scala, also known around the world as La Scala, is one of the most famous Opera houses in all of the world. The Galleria was an amazing architectural work, created in 1861, consisting of a glass and steel covering of the streets which connect the Duomo and La Scala (see picture above). It became a model design form for similar structures around the world, and continues to be used in modern design even today.

Most enjoyable of all though, was the chance to see Pat and finally meet his wife Linda. It was great fun for both Melinda and me to spend a couple of days with them in such a beautiful city, enjoying the sights, food, history, and great conversation. Pat's an incredible guy who flew fighters for the Navy for over 20 years, on active duty and in the reserves, has had a very successful career in international law and business, and is an avid and skilled sailor who has cruised and raced sailboats for over 60 years! On top of these accomplishments, he's a very nice, sincere, and honest guy!

Trip to the "Riggi" or... "wow, those are mountains!"

Melinda and I decided to get out of Zurich for the day, so Melinda consulted our "Switzerland Rough Guide" and planned out a trip for us to the top of a mountain called the "Riggi". We took a train from Zurich that went along the shore of Lake Zurich, then along Lake Zug, then finally came to the town of Arth-Goldau. From there we took a tram for about 30 minutes to the top of the "Riggi" which is a mountain of about 1860 meters (approx 6000 ft). The views were spectacular, as you can see in the pictures.....

Above: The view of Lake Zug from the train.

Above: Waiting for the "Riggi Tram"....

Above: View from the top of the Riggi to the Northern Alps

Above: Heidi's grandfather's house in the background??

Above: Melinda with an Alpine Lake in the background

Above: Lake Zug

Above: Northern side of the "Riggi", overlooking Lake Zug. Photography by Melinda (I had to say that)

Above: Melinda enjoying a bowl of "gluwein" (hot spiced wine)

Above: Sunset from the "Riggi"

Above: Waiting for the "Riggi Tram" to take us down...

London Calling

In mid-January, Melinda and I packed our bags (too many of them) and headed to London for my first three weeks on the new job. For the most part, I worked way too hard, and Melinda saw so much of London that before it was over she was giving strangers directions on what underground lines to take to the major sights in the city. It wasn't all work for me though, and together we had some fun evenings at a couple of jazz clubs, ate at some great restuarants, saw St. Paul's cathedral in great detail, and visited the exhibition of the Chinese "Terra Cotta Warriors" at the British Museum. The more interesting thing we did together was to rent a car and drive from London to the English Channel coast. Let me tell you, for an American, driving English style is NOT just getting used to the "wrong side of the road". Its sitting on the right, having your passenger on the left, the shifter on the left, and learning to stay in the center of the lane without the references you've been using ever since you learned to drive! On top of this, finding my way through London streets and English roads is by far the most challenging navigation I've ever done. Hint: get the GPS option on your rental car. It is worth every pence!

We found our destination and had a nice, relaxing weekend. While the towns where we stayed aren't the most posh of the English seaside (think a notch up from the Jersey shore), they are quaint and quiet in the wintertime. We spent Saturday doing not much other than walking the few miles on the cliffs and beach between Broadstairs, where we were staying, and Ramsgate, the next town down the coast.

The next day we had all intentions to rise early and drive up the 150 miles or so to Brighton, and see more of the coast along the way. Although we did rise early, we only made it about 70 miles due to the rather slow going on English lanes that are hundreds of years old, and sometimes only wide enough for traffic in one direction at a time. We managed to make it to Dover to see the famous cliffs (see pic below), and a little further on down the coast before we had to head back north towards London.

Then... and now...

Since I haven't made an update to this in two years, I decided to stop procrastinating on filling in past info and just "get on with it", so here goes an attempt at bringing things up to speed in a far too brief summary. I'll start where my previous post left off... just after Christmas 2005, when I had just finished a visit to Poland (Warsaw and Krakow).

I began 2006 with celebrating New Year's Eve in Budapest, Hungary with several colleagues from the MBA Enterprise Corps who were working in Bulgaria. I came down from Krakow, Poland by train and met them in Budapest (see pic at right). After much wandering the streets of Pest to find the perfect spot for our New Year's Eve celebration, we settled on that good old expat standard - the Irish Pub. We had a great time, but I think by the next morning EVERYONE was ready to spend the first day of 2006 in a very quiet, peaceful place... physically and mentally.

The high points of 2006 were trips to the Greek islands, Scandinavia (Helsinki, Tallinn, and Stockholm), Luxembourg, Serbia, two trips to Turkey - one for sailing and another to explore Istanbul. The picture at left is of me with friends Ryan (MBAEC Bulgaria) and Norm (MBAEC Azerbaijan). I was fortunate to have many family and friends come to visit me in Romania. The pic below is of me with my sister Jennifer, in the town of Beirtan, in Transylvania.

By the time my consulting contract was up in July of 2006, I was ready to return to the U.S. and begin law school - then the inevitable twist of fate happened. Earlier in that same month, I had visited some friends in Sofia and became aware that a US/UK commercial real estate company was building a major office development in Sofia, and had plans for expansion throughout Southeastern Europe. As it turns out, they needed an Acquistions Associate, and made me an offer. So, what was planned to be a permanent trip back to the US turned out to be just a three week visit before starting a whole new experience in Bulgaria!

What to say about Bulgaria? Well, not to insult anyone’s geography skills, but just in case any are wondering, its located just south of Romania, and north of Turkey and Greece (see map below).

It has a beautiful coastline on the Black Sea, and a mountainous interior which has a fast growing ski tourism industry. It’s really quite a beautiful place overall. Like most Eastern European countries, it is still, to some degree developing from its communist past. For foreign companies, like the one I worked for, this presents a lot of opportunities to provide products that Bulgaria truly needs. Modern commercial and residential real estate of all types is one of those products.

When I started the job in September 2006, as an Associate on a team of five people, the project was essentially a concept. By the time I left in December 2007, as Director of Acquisitions and Asset Management co-managing a team of ten people, the project had been designed, ground had been broken, bank financing achieved, and a 50/50 joint venture formed with a major international institutional investor. The very best part of the professional experience was working with the my team of co-workers and professional colleagues in Sofia. I was the only non-Bulgarian in our office, so it was a true “immersion experience”! Along the way, I met and worked with a lot of great people from Bulgaria, and many other countries in Europe, made some very good friends, and had a lot of fun. The picture below was taken at my American friend Bryan's wedding to his Bulgarian wife Maria.

The best part of 2006 and 2007 was the time I was able to spend with my girlfriend Melinda (see picture below, taken in Prague in Feb 2007), who I began seeing seriously shortly after I moved to Sofia.

Even though she is Hungarian and lives in Budapest, she wasn’t so far away that we didn’t get to see each other at least a couple of times a month, and to travel a lot together. Over the course of the year we went to Paris, London, Vienna, Prague, Croatia, Munich, and some great places in her native Hungary as well. By the time 2007 came to a close, both Melinda and I knew we wanted to be together permanently, and so on New Year's Eve, in Vienna, I surprised her by proposing, and she surprised me by accepting!!!

The best trip of the year was a week long sailing charter from Split to Dubrovnik, in the Adriatic Sea, off the coast of Croatia. Melinda and I, along with 6 other friends (who came in from 4 different countries), chartered a 42’ foot sailboat and hopped down the islands along the Dalmatian coast. Our happy, if not always fearless, crew is pictured at left. In seven days of sailing, we went to five different islands, and experienced a little bit of all the sailing in Croatia has to offer: sunny days with fair winds, secluded harbors with nothing but a small family restaurant, remote island towns hundreds (if not thousands) of years old, famed 35+ knot Croatian “bora winds”, incredible food, and spectacular landscape (see picture below). If you’d like to know more, my friend and first mate Joel Froese has written a nice summary of the trip on his website: (http://persistentitch.blogspot.com/2007/08/hrvatska.html).

Another place I visited this year was the battlefield at Verdun, France. If you haven’t heard of Verdun before, it was the site of some of the fiercest fighting of the First World War. Over 300,000 French and German soldiers died there between February and December of 1916. Because of such awful death tolls as this, the First World War was called the War to End All Wars. We know all too well that unfortunately it hasn’t happened that way.

Very fortunately, I was able to spend most of December at home with my family in Louisville, Kentucky, enjoying an extended holiday break and spending a lot of time with family that I normally only get to see for all too short visits. Since I left for Europe in 2005, I now have a niece (2 years old) and a nephew (6 months old).

In January 2008, Melinda and I will be moving to Zurich, Switzerland where I will start work with the real estate investment arm of a global American investment company as an Asset Manager in the new office they are opening in Zurich. I’ll be involved in real estate investment projects throughout Europe; however much of my time will be focused on Central and Eastern Europe. We’re both looking forward to discovering Switzerland and making trips to the neighboring countries. The job will actually start with a few weeks in London and a trip to New York, but we hope to be living in our own place in Zurich by mid-February. All are welcome and we really hope to receive a lot of visitors!!!

What’s the biggest Polish city in the World?

(Chicago! Joke told to me by a Polish guy in Krakow)

My Polish adventure began on Dec 26, when I left the US on a flight bound to Warsaw, via Amsterdam. It didn’t begin very smoothly. As the airplane was taxiing into the terminal in Warsaw, the pilot came on the intercom and said (exact words), “Welcome to Warsaw, and thank you for flying KLM airlines. We will be at the terminal soon; however I have some sad news for some of you. Because of a computer malfunction, about half of the baggage did not get loaded onto the plane in Amsterdam. We apologize for this, but if you will contact the agents in the terminal, they will be happy to assist you.”

Fortunately, I had packed some clothing in my small carry-on backpack so that I wouldn’t have to get into my large backpack during the one night I was planning to spend in Warsaw. To the credit of the KLM representatives in Warsaw, they got my bag back to me within three hours, which is a lot better than the full day it took the Louisville, Kentucky Northwest office to get the same bag to me when it failed to arrive with me on the flight home.

Warsaw is a great city, and I tried my best to spend my time there seeing as much as I could, but Poland in the end of December is bitter cold, and I have to say that the most I could take at a time was a couple of hours before I had to duck inside a café for some hot wine or tea. I had dinner at a jazz club the first night I was there and enjoyed some perogies, the Polish national dish. The next day I visited a museum of photography, the tomb of the unknown Polish soldier, and spent a lot of time walking around the old town area before I had to board a train to Krakow that night. (For some pictures of Warsaw, click here: http://www.okcomputer.org/gallery/album23)

On the way to Krakow, I encountered the most sincere and enthusiastic display of helpfulness I’ve ever experienced in all the traveling I’ve done. To set the scene, I was in a typical Eastern European train compartment in which there were six seats. At some point, I asked one of the people traveling with me if they could speak English, and fortunately, she could. I then asked that if I called a hostel on my phone, would it be possible for her to talk to the staff there and ask them if there were any rooms available for the next three nights. This soon turned into a full on telethon conducted by her and the other two people in the compartment to find me a suitable room! Despite their efforts, which lasted for about 45 minutes, there didn’t seem to be any rooms available at any reasonably priced places.

Well, as luck (or fate) would have it, I was greeted as soon as I got off the train by an older Polish guy who introduced himself as Ted and proceeded to tell me at great length about the spacious apartment he had for rent. A little questioning revealed that the apartment was actually more like a room in the apartment that he and his wife owned and lived in. It wasn’t what I’d consider an ideal situation, but I agreed to take a look and see if I liked it.

It turned out to be a bit run down, however at 50 zlaties per night (about $16) the price wasn’t bad, and if I turned it down, I had no idea how long it might take to find another place. Besides this, they seemed friendly, and I knew that at their age they were probably both on government pensions and could use the money – so I decided to take it. More about the apartment situation later...

Krakow turned out to be a great city! With the snow covering everything, it had a very “Christmas wonderland” kind of look and feel. The city center is a walled town, with cobblestone roads that lead inward from all directions towards the center square, each one passing through a massive gate as it comes into the city. A massive castle called Wawel overlooks the old town and the river that snakes behind it. There are cozy little restaurants of all varieties and excellent jazz and music clubs throughout the city. One of the highlights of my visit was a classical music concert in a beautiful (but very cold) church! (To see my pictures from Krakow, click here: http://www.okcomputer.org/gallery/album160)

A more somber fact about Krakow is that it is located about an hour away from the largest of the former Nazi death camps: Auschwitz-Birkenau. I had every intention of seeing the camp, but the weather took a bad turn and it began snowing harder than I’d seen yet. Instead I decided to take a look around the old Jewish quarter of town. This is the area where thousands of Jews had lived prior to World War Two in a vibrant community that was hundreds of years old. By 1945, the Nazis had killed or imprisoned all of them. Now, only a few hundred Jews actually live in this area, but it has recently experienced a rebirth as a center of Jewish culture in Eastern Europe. The modern residents of the area are mostly students, intellectuals, young professionals, and artists. I had a traditional Jewish dinner at a restaurant called Aleff, which was so good and filling that I actually fell asleep for a few minutes while I was waiting for dessert!

So, you might be wondering how things went staying with Ted and his wife? Well, they turned out to be a little crazy. Apparently, they like to get drunk and fight with each other. Ted seems to get the worst of it, as I saw her give him a few good punches in the chest. Although she doesn't know English, she seems to react strongly to the words "my wife", because thats when she knows he's talking about her. Ted explained her aggressiveness by saying she has "German blood". So much for Polish-German relations!

Turkey finally welcome in Romania!

American Thanksgiving Turkey, that is.

Thanksgiving is truly one of those genuinely American holiday’s that must be 1) celebrated no matter where you are and 2) must be shared with those around you. What is it though that makes Thanksgiving so much more successful than say, Flag Day, or Columbus Day? From a marketing perspective, a must have product feature for a good American holiday is an emphasis on FOOD. Since most Europeans think Americans are gluttons, my American friends and I in Romania decided not to let them down.

So on Saturday the weekend after the real Thanksgiving weekend in the US we hosted around twenty-five Romanians to my friend Brian’s place for a party that included a full on Thanksgiving meal that would have made Martha Stewart proud. This is no small feat in Romania, as some things, such as cranberries, cannot be found anywhere in the country. So literally, there were a few items that weren’t just American, but were really brought from America. Of course, the beverage selection was rounded out by a few Romanian additions, such as tuica (very strong alcohol distilled from fruits) and plenty of Ursus beer. (For some pics of the event, click here: http://www.okcomputer.org/gallery/Turkey-comes-to-Transylvania!)

No Thanksgiving would be complete without reflecting on the origins of the holiday, and I did my best to help our Romanian guests understand where it comes from. I diligently told them the whole story about how the Indians helped the first colonists in America learn to farm the new land, and that the feast was a celebration to give thanks for the successful harvest. I explained that the Indians had been invited so that the colonists could show their gratitude for the help they had received. After this I couldn’t help but notice a few “are we the Indians, then?” looks. At that point I decided it might be best not to tell them about how the some of the colonists got greedy and eventually went on to take away all of the Indian’s land and send them to live in special camps called reservations!

Holding back the Turkish invaders!

Just about everyone knows the legend of Dracula, but most people don't know about the REAL Dracula. He was Vlad Tepes, and he was called Dracula because it meant "Son of the Devil" - his father was called Dracul ("The Devil"). Both of them were rulers in medieval Transylvania, but Dracula got the most acclaim because he was particularly ruthless. As a matter of fact, he was also called "Vlad the Impaler", a name he got because he thought a particularly good way to make the Turks think twice about invading Romania was to defeat one of their armies and then impale the Turkish soldiers on wooden stakes for the next Turkish army to come across on their way through the mountains. He actually could have also been called "Vlad the Skin-You-Aliver" or Vlad the Boil-You-Aliver" since he liked to do those things to his enemies also. I'm sure he got pretty good service at restaurants.

All legends aside, it seems one of the main occupations of Translyvanians was to hold back invading Turks, so other than using gruesome torture methods, they also built some cool castles. When they couldn't swing building a full on castle, they would fortify their town's church to be used as a refuge in case of a seige. These castles and churches, some ruined and some intact, are scattered all over the countryside around Sibiu. One of the more interesting castles is at a town called Slimnic. It is the ruin of a castle that was the site of several battles over a period of hundreds of years. It changed hands many times, and standing in the ruin, or looking out of one of the few intact towers, its easy to imagine the valley below swarming with enemy soldiers. Our project works with local organizations to enhance these sites by installing signs in multiple languages and increase access by developing tour routes that visit these sites. Click on the link for pictures of Slimnic and other fortification sites http://www.okcomputer.org/gallery/album156