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!