Odds and Ends about Albania

 Our Hotel in Albania was really great!  Here are some pictures of our rooms.  The bathroom below has the extra "European toilets."

This is me sick in bed at the beginning of our trip.

This is Lucy writing in her journal about the day!

This is a picture from the terrace of our hotel.  Notice all the laundry hanging out the windows of the apartment building.  They do not have clothes dryers here so everything has to be hung to dry.

 As I mentioned before, the buildings in Tirana are very colorful because of the Mayor who gave everyone paint to paint their buildings.  Here is an example of one of the patterned buildings.

 Everything in Albanian is spelled like it sounds so here is a pharmacy spelled "FARMACI"  These were everywhere which surprised my Dad because there wasn't a single pharmacy when he was here as a missionary.  There are also signs that say "TEKNOLOGJI" for technology.  It's kind of funny.

 They have really great produce in Albania and fruit stands are EVERYWHERE.

 Here is a man selling live chickens on the street corner.  He will come right up to your car and sell you one!

 This is a old bunker.  These used to be everywhere and the communist leaders would hold drills where everyone would have to run to the bunkers for protection.  Most of them have been destroyed recently but a few remain in some of the outlying areas.

 This is what a typical house in the countryside looks like in Albania.  Very boxy and we think they look like Lego houses!  Typically the person who owns the house would live on the main floor or two and then family or renters would live on the upper floors.

Many of the houses only have the bottom floor complete.  They are waiting to complete the top floors when family moves in or they have enough money. They also do this because the taxes in Albania are cheaper on your house if you're not finished building it.

I tried to download a video of driving in Albania, but it's not working for some reason.  The driving is CRAZY!!! Nobody stays in their lanes, nobody signals, stop signs and stop lights are optional.  Whoever gets the nose of their car out first has the right of way.  Pedestrians rarely use crosswalks but instead just jay-walk anywhere along the road (we even saw little kids crossing highways).  Drivers also park anywhere on the road and back up or even go the opposite direction of traffic.  We were amazed there weren't more accidents or people hit!

In summary:

Dad's Albanian trip HIGHS are:  Seeing all the people I knew on my mission, seeing the first stake in Albania organized and Rosafa castle

Mom's Albanian trip HIGHS are:  Meeting wonderful Albanian people, experiencing firsthand what I've only heard about for the last 22 years, spending time with my family, St. Peter's in Rome

Lucy's Albanian trip HIGHS are:  Rosafa Castle, Colosseum in Rome and the baklava

My Albanian trip HiGHS are:  Rosafa Castle, Albanian Sunsets, Vatican City (especially the Sistine Chapel ceiling), no school for a week and two days

LOWS for all of us:  Flying (i.e. long layovers and long flights, airports, lost luggage, unhelpful Delta agents), getting sick, makeup homework and jet lag!

A Day in Rome

Today, we took an early morning flight from Albania to Rome.  We arrived at seven am, took a taxi to our hotel, and set out to see the sights of the eternal city.

 This is Trevi Fountain.  Legend says that if you throw a coin over your shoulder into the fountain, then you will return to Rome someday.  Here is me and Lucy throwing our coins.

Sights we passed on our walk to the Colosseum.  The Monumento a Vittori celebrating victorious battles.  The Colonna Traiana is the large pillar behind us.




Next, we went to the colosseum. It's about 2,000 years old! It's so cool that we could visit something that old!

We got a picture with this guy dressed up as a Roman soldier. There were a lot of people dressed up in old Roman clothes. It was pretty cool.

 This gelato was pretty good. The thing that made it really good was that you could see the colosseum while you ate.

 There are a lot of great views from the other side too.

Our private tour guide, Laura Carbonara, told us a lot of cool stuff about all of the sights in Rome. She was born here so she knows a lot of stuff about the city and all of the sights.

 This is where Peter and Paul were imprisoned when in Rome.

Next we went into the Vatican City. It's really not a city, it's its own country. We didn't have to show our passports but we did have to go through security. The dome of St. Peter's basilica is in the background.  The following pictures are parts of the Vatican Museum which is incredible.

 This is the hall with the tapestries .  All of the ceilings were so beautifully painted in every room.

 Another cool shot of the beautiful ceilings.

 This is the main square in front of the Vatican. It's called St. Peter's Square. Every Wednesday, the Pope comes to speak there.

 This is the La Pieta inside the St. Peter's basilica. It is very large but it looks small compared to its surroundings.

 Everything in St. Peter's basilica is so massive and ornate.  It's the largest Christian church in the world.

 Every hour, the guards trade shifts at their posts. We got to watch it happen. Pretty cool. I don't know how they stay so serious, I would just burst out laughing in the middle of the ceremony.

We were all super tired when we got back to our hotel. It was a very fun and full day. (We didn't know my dad was taking the picture).

Last Day in Albania

 This morning, we visited Skanderbeg's grave. It was very cool with a mosaic art of the Albanian flag in the background and a replica of his helmet and sword on top of his grave. On the walls are bronze shields with the names of all of the battles he won (there were many more than you can see in this picture).

 This is an ancient baptismal font. Lucy is excited to get baptized in March.

This is the outside of Skanderbeg's grave site. It is very green in Albania.

 This is the Rozafa Castle in Shkoder, Albania. It was so amazing. There were no rules, no tour guides, and no fences. It was so cool to just explore. There were so many secret passageways and hidden tunnels. It was so huge and it took us hours to cover all of its grounds. I'm sure we didn't and I hope we'll be able to go back someday!

 This is a deep well! We had fun dropping lots of rocks into it.

 The castle is up on a hill which is a great battle strategy.

 These alcoves reminded Lucy of the Von Trapp family singers at the festival.

 For some reason I love all of the archways and the architecture of these old buildings. They're so unique.

 There are so many dark passageways and hidden tunnels. It was so much fun exploring. Good thing we had cell phones to light our way!

 This is the chapel part of the castle. You can still see the altar!

 Behind this arch, there is about a several hundred feet drop. It was really fun. Everyone else is scared of heights…

 There are so many miraculous views from every tower and look out spot.

 We all thought that this shot kind of looks like Ireland. It is so green and beautiful with all of the lakes and seas in the background. Including the city and countryside in the background too.

This castle was very much the best part of the trip for me. It was amazing. Definitely something I want to go back and see again another time.

 There was a cool museum by the castle. It had many artifacts that people had found inside the castle and a 3D map of it. They've found a lot of artifacts in the castle area that date all the way back to 2,000 BC!

It was cool to go in the museum and learn a little history about it.

These are called Halva. They're an Albanian dessert. Personally, I thought that they were disgusting, but the rest of my family loved them. To me they tasted like airy cookie dough clumps with no flour. It's actually kind of hard to explain what they tasted like. Not my favorite dessert though.

This is Lucy with Jimmy, the owner of our hotel. He is super nice and hospitable. He made special Albanian byrek for us this afternoon. Byrek is an Albanian pastry made with cheese or vegetables or meat inside.

Later, we went to Alketa and her husband Gerti's house. They have a cute little  three-year-old son too. My dad taught Alkata and her sister Erinda when they were fourteen and ten. It was fun for my dad to see them again along with Alkata's family. Erinda came too, but unfortunately her family couldn't come. They are very nice people. 

 We ate dinner out on their rooftop terrace. Most people in Albania don't have a terrace and it was super pretty up there. It was fun eating up there, even though it was cold.

She got each of us our own pizza! 

Most Albanians traditionally serve dhalle, which is like drinking salty, watered down greek yogurt.  My Mom thought it was okay, but my Dad could not stand it (he always struggled with it during his mission). I only pretended to drink it just to be nice. Lucy didn't even try it… 

It was great to end our trip to Albania with a traditional Albanian feast with a wonderful family. We're off to Rome early tomorrow morning...