The Summer of 2002 was packed. It kicked off with a trip to the Grand Canyon with my hiking partner for life, Vicki. Then on to Europe for Spanish classes, thesis research, and a backpacking trip with Andre.

Vicki had extensive experience hiking the desert, and I had experience backpacking in Alaska, so we put two and two together and came up with....uh....two people lost for five days in the largest gorge on Earth.

"Heat Kills" 

or

"Where not to send an Alaskan to hike"

"Queen of the Canyon"

"Perspective"

"Lookin' out my front door"

"No pain"

"Study" Abroad -- perhaps the greatest contradiction in terms ever conceived. 

"Practicando"

"Study a broad"

(just kidding Heather :)

"Portugal Road trip"

"Scenic Lagos"

"Lagos II"

"Lagos III"

"cerveza, playa y sol"

After all the IIS Language kids went home, Don was left by himself to work on his Masters Thesis.

Let's just say that Seville is a very, very quiet place in August. In addition to interviewing Spaniards and doing web research,  I had plenty of time to stare out my window and watch the cars go by as the sun came down on this ancient little city.

Seville>Cadiz>Prague>Budapest>Croatia>Bosnia>Slovenia>Vienna

On August 13th my buddy Andre arrived in Spain and the adventures began. We had a plan: Party in Prague, hike the Alps....your typical college European trip. Then the floods came, and our plans changed. Our mission was Bosnia. Along the way we suffered on the beaches of Spain, waded through Prague, and weathered Turkish Baths and Goulash in Budapest. Finally, the dueling themes of paradise and Armageddon in the former Yugoslavia made for memories that neither of us will ever forget.

The pics are thumbnails, so click on them if you want to see the actual picture. Just use your "back" button to return to this page.

Spain

"Suffering on the Beaches of Spain"

Suffering until 4AM, that is. Can you find the two Americans in this photo?

Me, Dre, Enrique (the crazy guy who runs the Hostel) and two new friends

Andre's International Relations

Dre and I getting ready to be leaving on a slow train. Ever notice how he always gets to stand next to the girls???

Eastern Europe:

"Dinner in Budapest"

"Budapest"

As Prague was recovering from the flooding Danube, Budapest was on the verge of being submerged by the floodwaters working their way downstream.

You can thank Andre for this shot. Definitely not a Vegetarian

Six hours in a cattle car on the slow train to Zagreb, Croatia.

Andre decides he wants to watch a movie on the laptop. Needless to say, there were dozens of people crowding around to stare at the movie. 

The Streets of Zagreb

Dubrovnik:

Dubrovnik is paradise. Period. The Island (above and below) was the source of much friction between Andre and I when I decided to swim to it without telling him. I started from the beachfront on the far left of the picture.

Not being an Olympic swimmer, It took me a good hour or two to reach the island. Completely exhausted, I decided to take a break and hike to the top before my swim back to the beach. Many hours later, upon my exhausted return, there was an attempted homicide by Andre. I am still apologizing for that day.

The damage to our friendship wasn't anything a bottle of wine wouldn't fix, though.

Dubrovnik was definitely one of the most unforgettable cities of the trip. The old part of town is completely encircled by a castle wall, and the architecture inside looks like it hasn't been altered in hundreds of years. 

The city is well-lit at night, making for some amazing colors and textures.

The Harbor

Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina

After several wonderful days of relaxation in Dubrovnik, Andre and I pressed on to our destination: Bosnia. Dubrovnik had seen some damage during the 1990s (it was shelled by Serbian Artillery), but it was unimaginable what total devastation existed just a few short hours from Dubrovnik.

The Damage:

"Attention: Dangerous Ruin"

"No Roof"

"Still no roof"

"Bulletholes"

The Politics

"USA = Murder ???"

The Lives

"1973-1993"

Coming across the grave sites was the hardest part about being in Bosnia.

"1918-1992"

For every picture I took of a gravesite there were hundreds of graves in the many cemeteries woven into Mostar.

"1951-1992"

Some were Christian crosses and some were Islamic moons.

Everyone came from different times and read from different books.

Yet they all faced the horror of 1992.

"23"

This is the grave that stung me the most. As I looked upon 23 year-old Coric's grave with my 23 year-old eyes, I tried to imagine...

And then I tried to remember to be thankful.

Hope for Mostar

Our last evening in Mostar Andre and I had dinner across from this mosque along the river. We listened to the Muslim call to evening prayer as we were finishing our meals. If we didn't feel like we were in a different part of the world before, we did then.

Slovenia

After such relaxing and intense times down on the Balkan Peninsula it was such a pleasure to travel north to Slovenia, where a friend named Eva, who I met in Spain, had so graciously offered to show me around.

Naturally, before I left I wanted a picture of my beautiful Slovenian tour guide. Yet she was not very thrilled about having her picture taken at 7AM. I was afraid this would be the only picture I have to remember her by...but later she was kind enough to offer to email me a "better" picture....

<sigh>.....so much for U.S.-Slovenia relations.