Daily Grit by Wes Thorp

My grandson shows his trophies from Budapest Easter egg hunt

We celebrated Easter this year in Budapest, Hungary where we were vacationing with our daughter and family for five days.  At our rented condo near the Danube River, we made our own dinner with local wine and with a first Easter egg hunt for almost two year grandson.

Our unit was on the second floor which is the first floor in Europe.  We laid out the eggs on the groundfloor enclosed courtyard with some being really visible and some less so.  When we brought his down, he ran to each plastic egg.  It was almost instinctive.  He knew where to do.  

In this little video clip, he shows off this trophies.  They are in a hand-crocheted basket that we gave to our daughter for her first Easter.

 

Roads in war torn Bosnia are pristine compared to ours

While we were on our vacation to Bosnia to be with our kids who live there, we traveled more than 1,000 miles through their country, Croatia and Hungary.  What about the roads there?

The roads in Bosnia where they fought a war 20-years-ago seem to be just like new.  There was nary a crack, pothole or filled area that could trip up your car or truck.  At least, we didn't see any.  And the traffic was heavy in many parts.

What's the difference with Michigan?  Climate?

Their weather has to be similar if not worse than ours during the winter.  If there's frost-heaving, it's not on the roads.  The roads there are what we dream about here.  Here's a chunk of video from my Flip camera showing what I mean.

We got the red carpet treatment from our new friends in Livno, Bosnia

 

While in Bosnia, we had a chance to visit several of our daughter and son-in-laws friends in their homes.  Wow.  They know how to make you feel welcomed.

Language is an obstacle, but food seems to bridge that.  Each family we visited greeted us at the door with each of their kids introducing themselves.  We sat around their coffee table an within a few minutes we'd have a cup of Turkish coffee and some type of super-sweet pastry or cake.  It brought a smile to my face.

Then it was time for the next course with homemade sausages and cheese with homemade white bread that had real character and personality.  We had pickles, pretzels and dates.  We were told that such reaction to guests is just part of the culture.  I like it.  Here's a short video clip with our grandson at the full coffee table of Bosnian snacks.  He likes it too.

Minarets at mosques dot the landscape in Bosnian towns and villages

Bosnia is an ethnic mosaic that goes back centuries.  When we were there for our recent vacation with our daughter, son-in-law and grandson, we traveled through Bosnia, Croatia and Hungary.

The minarets that pop up in city and village neighborhoods in Bosnia are very noticeable.  We also saw churches established in the same neighborhoods.  The only place where we heard a call to worship from a mosque was in Sarajevo.  

I didn't sense religious antagonisms as much as I got a sense for bad blood that went back centuries.  I'm not sure how accurate that observation is, but the churches there don't seem to be built around religious beliefs as much as ethnic identity.

Everytime we moved around the area, you get a sense that we were walking on streets paved by a long history dating back to ancient times.  I want to read more about the role of this area in the crusades that the hatred that has led to the killing and brutalization of so many people.  Here's just one video shot of a drive through a village.

Truck and bus watching in Croatia with our grandson

We were on our way to Budapest and pulled over to get something to drink and to stretch after a longish car ride.  Our grandson needed to run around a little bit at the convenience type store along the side of the road.  

My wife held him for a couple of minutes as trucks, buses and cars whizzed by.  His neurons were popping and his neck was turning as the vehicles flew by.  Is this just a typical reaction from an almost two year-old boy?  Or is he a gearhead in the making?

He loves vehicles with big wheels, big motors and which make loud noises.  Put a dump truck outside his door and he'll watch til it leaves.  Here's grandma holding him as the action takes place on the highway.

 

Talking on Flip video in Budapest with my almost two-year-old grandson Xavier

I loved the times when my grandson Xavier and I could sneak away for at the world around us.  While in Budapest, I tried to shoot some video with my Flip camera of he and I talking together.  I stuck out my arm and pressed the red button.  I couldn't see the viewfinder.  You can see the results.  I still love it.  Next time we see him, I bet he'll be putting together sentences with a subject, verb and direct object.

We saw a lot of these--ashtrays--in Bosnia and Hungary

When was the last time that you saw an ashtray in the United States?

On our recent vacation to Eastern Europe to visit our kids, we saw them all over the place.  This is a picture of a window sill in the courtyard of the old condo complex where we stayed in Budapest.  Okay, they smoked outside here, but I bet they smoked inside too.  After a couple of forays to coffee bars in Livno, Bosnia, my clothes reeked of smoke.  I had almost forgotten that smell.  Here's a pic to help you remember what a used ashtray looks like

I told her that I wanted to live in Split, Croatia

We were spending our last day on vacation with our kids in Split, Croatia where we were going to catch a flight to Frankfurt.  And it's where I fell in love at first sight with the Adriatic Sea.

After parking their Skoda, we walked a few blocks through narrow cobblestone streets to the seafront and there it was.  Palm trees.  A waterfront cafe area that ran a couple of blocks with people sipping all kinds of stuff.  It was cool, but sunny.  I told Gladys I wanted to live there.  I was kidding.  But I want to go back.

The Adratic caught my eye.  We were directly across the water from Venice, Italy.  But, I was also taken with Diocletian's Palace.  I remember his name, but I don't remember specifics.  I think he was kind of the Richard Nixon of his day.  Or maybe Nixon dreamed of being this old Roman Emperor who really had a taste for houses.

His palace is amazing.  It's now filled with narrow alleyways where there are small shops for everything.  I'd definitely put it on my "see again" list.

 

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Our kids in Bosnia drive a Skoda

We drove more than a thousand miles while on vacation with our kids who live in Bosnia.  We travelled through their country, as well as Croatia and Hungary.  Their vehicle is a Skoda made in Czechloslovakia.  It resembles a Honda CRV.

It has a diesel engine and it's built for the mountain driving that we did on many days.  It held the road and made the up and down curves like a Porsche.  I'm not a big mountain driving person.  Usually mountain driving does wonders for my prayer life.  Maybe, it was that I had confidence in my son-in-law's driving while we passed on curves on roads where the edge went down quite a ways.

I'm not sure about the mileage because of the conversion from the metric system, but it seemed like we didn't stop for diesel fuel very often.  And, oh yeah, they have full service gas stations.

 

My first Ikea experience was in Budapest, Hungary

I was still an Ikea virgin.  I can't believe that I've never been to one in the United States and had to wait till I was in Budapest, Hungary. 

We were on our way out of Budapest heading home towards Bosnia and saw the signs for Ikea.  Our kids had a list of items that they could get there, but not where they lived.  We stopped.  I was enthralled.  I had a combination of feelings, including the time when I was in a LasVegas casino with my son and had trouble finding the exit.  It was built to keep you inside.

The assortment of merchandise was incredible and so was the thought that you had to assemble most of the bigger things you bought there. It was a perfect place to take an almost two-year-old grandson.  It was a visual feast for him.  I took a bunch of pictures.  By-the-way, when we got home, we went to the Ikea in Canton, Michigan, just west of Detroit.

 

 

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Be ready to pay if you have to pee in Budapest, Hungary

When we were in Hungary with our family, I was very careful about having that third cup of coffee.  If you have to use the restroom in a public facility there, you have to pay.  While at Starbucks, I had to navigate a locked facility where you had to provide the combination numbers from your receipt.  At the Budapest Zoo, I went to the restroom and there was a lady there collecting about 75 cents.  The Budapest City Market was no different.  The cost was about a buck.  Here's my Flip video of the sign:

I'd like to see St. Stephen's Basilica in Budapest again

 

It was raining pretty hard when we finished supper at Vapiano's on the Pest side of Budapest.  We were walking through the narrow streets filled with people towards St. Stephen's Basilica and a Starbucks next door.  It was the night before Easter.

With an almost very active two-year-old in hand, we walked up the steps of the basilica where they were conducting mass.  It was packed with worshippers who were standing.  It was amazingly beautiful in a Vatican City sort of way.

We stayed in the very back for a few minutes and then left for Starbucks and a hot cup of coffee.  While drinking our coffee, we could hear the a gathering from the church conducting a vigil through the streets singing hymns.  I'd put this on my list to see again the next time we go to Budapest.  Here's a picture of the inside taken by my son-in-law on his iPhone.

 

The basilica was packed on the night before Easter.

 

 

Next time you're in Livno, Bosnia, try the "burek"

I have a feeling that we just scratched the surface of the very small restaurants and coffeeshops in Livno, Bosnia when we were there to visit our daughter, son-in-law and grandson.  I'd highly recommend a dish called "burek" which was described to me as a Bosnian fast food.

It's made from thinly-rolled dough with various stuffings and fashioned into a snake-like shape and then fried.  It's served with a liquid kind of yogurt.  It was great.  It was more fun eating with our almost two-year-old grandson who has an enthusiasm for eating.

We ate this dish at this very small eatery and ate it at another time when we got together with our daughter's neighbors.  I'd rate it as a "must try" when you are in the area.

 

 

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Here's where I spent Palm Sunday in Bosnia

Walk in the front door of the Stop Caffee in Livno, Bosnia, the first thing you notice is the smoke.  It reminded me of the Last Chance Bar and the Town Tavern in my hometown of Bay City, Michigan. Everybody smoked.  

It was Palm Sunday morning when my son-in-law and I sidled up to the bar where they serve Turkish coffee that coud kickstart a Mac Truck and homemade honey brandy that was amazingly good.  I really enjoyed the conversations with the guys sitting next to me.

I learned about daily life in a country that 20 years ago was embroiled in a war that was later described as one of the worst genocides in recent memory.  The country had also broken away from its Communist past and has been struggling to find a new identity.

What I noticed most was a gray, gauzy filter that seemed hanging over everything.  Unemployment is way north of half and confidence in government doesn't exist.  There's not much to look forward to.

A couple of the guys were interested in the Cadilac assembly plant in our town and the plant where they make the GM CUV's.  Cars seem to be a universal language.  

Why didn't we go to church?  There were no choices.  I wonder how many people in the Stop knew the story of Palm Sunday and what happened in the week after.  I'd be anxious to go back next year with a bunch of palm branches and see if people ask.  I'd love to share the story where real hope for the future comes from.

 

This is where I spent Palm Sunday this year.

 

 

Homes we saw in Bosnia were heated by burning in a wood stove

 

Home heating woodpile at one of my daughter's neighbors.

Driving by homes in Bosnia kind of reminds you of driving through northern Michigan where many homes depend on burning cut wood for some or all of their heat.  

 Home after home had their own generously endowed woodpile where people of all ages could be seen with an arm full of logs to stoke their furnaces.  Heat from the fire then goes through duct work and to a system of cast iron radiators which are reasonably warm as long as the fire doesn't cool down.

Our daughter and son-in-law's flat on the side of a steep hill leading to serious mountains has registers which were warm during the day and when the fire weakened during the night their home got cool.

During a coffeeshop conversation, one of the Livno residents said that the country freely cuts down the trees and uses them to burn.  But, it is doing

The wood furnace that heats my daughter's family home.

nothing to replant and replace those trees.  

 

Sounds like a tailor-made situation for the Michigan State University Department of Forestry that has led the way in helping our state and others keep a continuing supply of trees for all kinds of uses.

Have countries that rely on wood for home heating ever run out of wood?  What happens then?  There seemed to be a lack of concern about that in various conversations.  

Bosnia government seems to be suffering from an inertia that comes from being split among various ethnic groups to administer and lead.

Some thoughts as I start blogging about our trip to Bosnia, Croatia and Hungary

 

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We are home from our trip to Bosnia in Eastern Europe to visit our daughter and her family, incuding our almost two-year-old grandson.  It was an amazing adventure that took us to the Bosnian country-side deep in the mountains and to Sarajevo, to Croatia and to Hungary and Budapest where we stayed for several days.

My head feels like it's ready to explode in a good way with all the things we saw and the experiences we had.  

It's one thing to visit with your married kids in an American city, but a different and nuanced experience to visit in an Eastern European country and culture that had been under the thumb of communism and ten experienced a rugged war where people are still trying to reach a sense of normalcy and hope.  My head this morning doesn't have this all organized in a nice thoughtful essay.

I feel more like Hunter Thompson, the father of gonzo journalism, pouring forth a stream of consiousness about his various experiences.  Here goes in a bulleted sort of fashion and there will be plenty more to come as I sort through my notes:

• We were in a small cafe in Livno enjoying some ice cream when a group of Turkish soldiers came in for lunch at one of about four tables there.  They were part of the UN force that's trying to help Bosnia recover from a war that left serious fractures in the economy and the culture.  In the close quarters, our grandson who has a mile-wide smile and curly blonde hair hollered "Ciao" to one of the generals who then offered his uniform patch to him.  It was that little smile that crossed cultural chasms and helped the world seem more friendly.  
• On Palm Sunday morning, my son-in-law and I went to the Stop Cafe in Livno where the guys get together for Turkish coffee, homemade honey brandy and local beer.  The bartender's name is Nikolai who is incredibly friendly to an American who's filled with all kinds of questions in a place that's saturated with cigarette smoke.  The conversations there were filled with real life intermingled with talk about cars and trucks.  Lots of people drive Skodas there.  Ever hear of it?
• I've heard of people realing driving fast on the Autobahn, but now I've experienced it.  Wow!  It didn't seem like we were going in the neighborhood of 100 mph, but we were.  It should be noted that the roadway was much better than anything we have in Michigan.  However, the toll for using it seemed pretty high.
• Everybody seems to heat their homes with wood burning furances.  Outside everybody's house is a stockpile of wood and you see men and women, kids and adults, young and old going to the woodpile.  We were warm while we were there.
• My son-in-law Adam is really a quality guy.  He and I had lots of chances to talk and compare notes on a wide variety of topics.  I've seen his heart and I've watched him interact with the people he works with.  He really loves my daughter.  He's a great dad and he loves Jesus Christ.  I know that early in their relationship, I played the role of the "father-of-the-bride" who was wary of the guy marrying his super-pumpkin.  I'm really proud to have him as a member of the family.  His mom and dad should be really proud.
• What a woman!  I am really proud of my daughter and the person she is.  She's still the same beautiful, wonderful super-pumpkin, but all grown-up who has excelled in her various roles.  She and Adam have turned their everyday life in a challenging country into a daily victory.  Their love for God and for each other is reflected in the face of their son, our grandson.

I have much more.  This is a start.  I will share about our visit and overnight in Sarajevo and our lunch in an outdoor cafe where I ate cevapci with my grandson on my lap with the trains, trams and buses going by next to us and with hundreds of pigeons flying overhead.  More to come.