Rich and Tom
Be afraid, be very afraid.

so after leaving Istanbul I took an overnight bus to Sophia, Bulgaria.  Not a real big fan of the communist era cinderblock high rises.   Combine that with chilly, wet, winter-but-no-snow conditions and well, I left.

I took a night bus (well two actually, I had to change busses in Nis, Serbia) to Sarajevo.  After two boarder checkpoints where my bags were searched (it was so strange to have my bags searched at a checkpoint with such a domestic aquarium of fish to the right of me against the wall just behind the x-ray machine), I arrived in Bosnia-Hercegovina in early morning. Refusing to take a cab or tram, I ended up walking for some 10 km into the city center.

The mountains here are beautiful.   The whole town is boardered by them.  As I walked I could see the pock marks on many buildings of the ravages of war.  Bulletholes into the concrete walls.  It was strange to see brand new windows in the buildings with those scars.  they were so apparent.

After passing the bridge where Gavril Precip shot the Archduke Ferdanand (by the way, it was a bad idea to kill him) I found a hostel.  I fed myself, watered myself, (had not eaten or drank anything since lunch the previous day) I set off into the bazaar in the old section of town.   That is the news distilled thus far.  Tomorrow I am hoping to travel north to Zagreb, Croatia. and then on to Italy.

But that all could change as…hey…Im in Sarajevo.