This photo is of a piece of Roman wall near a market place in Sofia, Bulgaria.
First day back at work after my trip. Woke up bright at 2 am. Managed to doze and sleep for another 2 hours. Didn't seem to bother me to much at work though, of course I will probably be struggling to keep my eyes open soon.

I am sleepy. It has been a long day up at 5 am, made a wrong turn on the way to the airport, but made it in time for my flight. A quick transfer in Zurich and a nice flight to New York. My head thinks it's 2 am in the morning now, so it will be an early night before work tomorrow.

Today I begin my journey back to New York. I have a flight this afternoon to Slovenia where I will spend the weekend.
I really that this trip has been quite fruitful and I will give more news when I get back to NY.
Last night I was invited to have dinner with an old friend. We had not seen each other for a couple of years and I got to meet his wife and daughter.

After Brcko I went to Banja Luka, which is the capital of Srpska Republika in Bosnia. I have been there a few times in the past, but this time I noticed that there seems to be a lot more construction going on. I guess this means more foreign investment. The second morning after arriving I woke up to snow, but it did not last long as the day warmed up. On one of my runs while there I went by the river which is very swollen from winter rain and snow melt.

Last weekend I entered into Bosnia, I was actually in a place called Brcko, very close to the Croatian border. It is an interesting place because it is like Washington DC in that it is a district and is able to make laws. One of them is that dogs have the freedom of the city and there is a 500 Euro fine if you harm them, so there are a lot of dogs.

went for a nice run this morning by the river in Skopje. It is still a little cold, but is getting warmer and the Sun is shining, which of course helps.
I met with a small group of people who wanted to here about my experience with running and meditation. I am staying with an old friend who runs a small number of gift shops here.

First internet access in a week. I went into Bulgaria for a few days, where I got to experience a lot of nature. It did turn cold just before I left and there was snow. Travelled by bus to Macedonia today and it is still cold and rainy, but they do say it will get warmer.
My sister's dog Shadow was put to sleep yesterday, he had been sick for a while. He will be sadly missed he was a real character around the house, but I think he is happy now.

So I finally got some internet access time. I went from Rijeka to Zagreb for a few days where I had a good time. I am now in Belgrade, I arrived yesterday on a really nice train which cost me about $30. I usually take a bus but this was so much nicer. A freind of mine recently opened a vegetarian restuarant here and I got to have lunch there. Oh and the weather is really warm so that is a extra bonus.

Went for a run this morning and the wind was so strong that it almost blew me over a couple of times. Then to top it off it snowed this afternoon. Though I have to say I am having a great time and will be a little sad to leave in a couple of days.

Well after a short train ride I am now in Rijeka, Croatia and just like it was when I left the last time I was here, it is raining. Well it was when I got here, today it is not, but it is quite cold.

I went with some of my Slovenian friends to Germany this weekend. To a place near to Hiedleberg. The drive took us 10 hours due to some heavy traffic near Munich and Stuttgart. We had a great time and I would definately go there again. Unfortunately I did not get a chance to run so my streak was broken at 60 days. The next day I started again, so we will see how it goes from here on.. Tomorrow I travel to Croatia to visit with my cousin.

Flight to to Zurich was pretty smooth and because of the strong tail winds, we actually got in 1 hour early. I got to take a look around the airport, thier are a lot of shops selling chocolate and watches, as you would expect. I am now in Slovenia a little tired but happy to be here. It is much warmer than in New York, so that is nice. Will post when I can.

Well it's a bit of a cold goodbye. The temperature this morning was 18 F ( -8 C ) with the wind it feels like 3F ( -16 C ), so it felt pretty cold when I was out there running my 5k.
I am pretty well set to go, just a little more packing. I always think I haven't packed enough and when I'm there I think I have too much. I have to be prepared for all kinds of weather, but at the moment I hear that it's quite warm.
I will post when I can. Will be back in New York in the Spring.

Last day at work this winter. Tomorrow I switch winter in New York for winter in Europe.
The late night of a couple of nights ago seems to have thrown my sleep patterns off, I had no problem waking up this morning, but was kind of sleepy all day. The did however go by quite quickly. Of course tomorrow when I fly to Europe my sleep patterns will change again, but then my focus will not be on going to work.
I have a lot of loose ends to tie up before I leave, which I will hopefully do tonight and tomorrow morning.
My run started off a bit laboured this afternoon, but ended quite well.

For one reason or another I got to bed late last night and as a result I only got 3 1/2 hours of sleep.I got through the day at work OK though. On the way home I did buy a new travel bag, one of those that looks more like a suitcase. When I did get home I thought maybe the one I got was a little too big, but as long as when I fill it with stuff it doesn't weigh a ton, I'm OK.
I felt really tired when I went for my run so I only did 1 1/2 miles, don't want to get injured before my trip.

Well I ran 5 more miles in the afternoon yesterday which gave me a total of 17 for the day, just like last Sunday. Later in the evening I had a craving for ice cream, so I went to Baskin & Robins and got 2 scoops, it was yummy. Though I think as a result I had a crazy dream last night. I dreamed that I was in some kind of race and I had a chance to win it, but in order to finish the race I had to take a C130 transport plane over some mountains to the start of the final lap. I woke up before I finished.
We had nice weather today in New York, a little warmer. I did feel my legs when I was out running, but it felt good.

I finally got to see the Hippy Nuts perform last night. It wasn't the whole band just Kathena and Tim, but they were great. They played at a place called Banjo Jim's on 9th St and Avenue C. It was actually to celebrate Harvey's birthday, a friend of there's.
Utpal had a medical procedure yesterday and didn't feel well enough to go for a long run this morning, so I was on my own. You can see from the photo that there was quite a lot of snow out there, but sunny.
I ran 12+ miles, making our usual stop at 7 eleven, but for only 1 hot chocolate this morning, I did discover that they have mini marshmallows though.
On the way back I remembered some thing Utpal said 2 weeks ago, that we don't see any Birch trees in Queens, I said there are some. So he challenged me to find 2 on the way home, I did in fact find 3, all on the same street.
Well with just 4 days to go I am actually getting excited about my up coming trip.

Well even though the course seemed to be pretty much cleared of snow, the 2 mile race did not take place this morning. I'm not exactly sure why but the race officials didn't turn up. I went out for a 3 mile run anyway and plan to go out for another one this afternoon.
I've spent some of the morning and early afternoon listening to six nations rugby on the BBC. Otherwise it's been a lazy day for me, I guess we need the odd lazy day now and then.

When I left for work this morning everything was covered in snow. There was about 2" ( 5cm ) on the ground. At 5:30 in the morning there is a profound silence as the snow falls.
By the time I got out for a run in the afternoon there had been a change over to light rain. It was a little warmer and there seemed to be a slow melt going on. The streets were slushy and puddles that I ran through were icy cold.
I must say there is a little concern about going into Serbia in about 3 weeks time, but I've been in that region before when things are going on and been OK. There usually is a little tension, but I do have some Serbian blood in these veins, so that probably counts for something.

I had a good day at work, even though it's a bit slow at the moment. That just gives me a chance to catch up on some of the little things I don't have time for when we're really busy.
The walk home was nice, a little cold but bright sunshine and blue skies. Funny though I had a poem come to me and it was about Death, I think it was kind of positive though. After I came back from my run later, I got a poem about Promises. I am getting pretty close to completing my latest collection of poems.