This is me in front of Baba Vidi a fortress in the city of Vidin, Bulgaria. I was there a couple of weeks ago. It overlooks the Danube, looking across to romania. Baba Vidi means Grandmother sees. A few hours after this photo was taken I was driven to the border with Serbia about 45 minutes away and walked to the other side where I was greeted by a friend.

So I set my watch to the wrong time when I came home yesterday and it confused the heck out of me this morning when I got up. The last week of my trip started with me taking an overnight bus ride into Serbia, the bus was a really nice one and the trip was good. I stayed with friends in Subotica, which is in the north. A friend of mine who is a vet gave me my 3rd tour of the Zoo in Palic which is near by, it is 1 of only 2 zoo's in Serbia.

I am back in New York. My flight to Milan was cancelled this morning, so I had to come back via Rome. It's nice to be back, I'll try to fill in some of the spaces, starting tomorrow.

I am in Sarajevo and it has been snowing for the last 2 days, though is no real accumulation. I will be traveling tonight by overnight bus, with less than a week to go in my trip things are beginning to wind down.

More rain and even a little snow today, but I had a chance to just relax this morning, which was a welcome change so hopefully I will be more refreshed. Yesterdays and todays rain is the first I have seen on this trip.

For the first time on this trip we had rain today, but it could have been snow. I did all the same go to Mostar which is a really nice place, I got to walk on the famous bridge. You know the one that got blown up during the war. It was a nice day out and I have another one planned for the end of the week.

So I just spent a few days in Banja Luka and the weather was so warm, in fact it rose to 25 c on saturday. I cannot believe that I have been in the Balkans for almost 3 weeks and traveled all over. I was on top of a mountain called Kozara a few days ago and have other trips planned in the next few days.

Well it has been more than a week since my last post and I am now in Bosnia. The trip here was by bus and took me twelve and a half hours. I did see some spring lambs on the journey, which took so long because we were delayed at the border for more than an hour. I enjoyed my trip to Bulgaria and short stop in Serbia. We will see how things go in Bosnia.

The city of Plovdiv is surrounded by hills and yesterday I ran up one of them and got a great view.It was so nice here during the day, I see that it is cold and snowy in New York, so I am happy to be here, though there are many other reasons to be happy to be here.everything seems to be going well and I am enjoying my stay in Bulgaria. Later today I head out to the Black Sea.

I am now in Plovdiv which is about 2 hours from Sofia, I had a very nice meeting with a large group of people last night and staying in a friends apartment, in the middle of the city. I will stay here for a couple of days, but will visit another city this evening. The weather is cool at night but warm during the day.

It is early on a very beautiful morning in Sofia, I have just come back from a run in the Park of Liberty. I had a very nice talk with a big group of people last night, later a great meal and conversation with 10 of my friends, at a vegetarian restuarant called " Th eVeggie House ". I also had a meeting about maybe getting my Poetry books printed here in Bulgaria in the future.

So last night I got an overnight train to Sofia in Bulgaria, the train ride was uneventful but slow. I arrived more than 1 hour later than the scheduled time, but I have learned that this is normal.The weather here is very nice and while walking this afternoon in a park, near to where I am staying I saw primroses. Also many of the trees are just about to burst into leaf. It has only ben a couple of days but I am happy with the trip so far.

So I made it to Belgrade with a short stop in Milan, the weather here is very nice, warm temps and bright sunshine. It was raining when I got here yesterday, but everything is good  now after a good nights sleep.

My last day in New York for a while started really well. The weather is a bit like spring and I got a nice early run in. Took care of paying all the bills that will come up while I'm away, did some last minute washing and packing. I am not sure how easily I will be able to get intenet access since I am travelling a lot, but I will try to post some thing whenever I can. Oh yeah, Happy St Davids day to all Welsh people out there.