Photos

I posted a few photos on my flikr page. You can access them at this link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/shoots1/

I know there are not a lot of them, but I mostly shot video and it is going to take me a while longer to get that up and running.

Anatomy of Trip Home

I finally made it back home. I’m too tired and don’t have the emotional resources to know how I feel about being home yet. I also am not exactly sure I’ve come to grips with what the trip means and how I was affected. I think it will take a few months to let those things sink in. I will be trying to note them over the next few months.

It was very weird being in the Denver Airport. It was even kind of weird sitting in the waiting area in Munich to board the flight to Denver. I have been away from America for so long that it was a bit unfamiliar to sit around people speaking only English. It was very strange being in the Denver Airport where everything was in English. I hadn’t been in an airport in almost a month where that had taken place.

I did run into someone I know on the flight from Denver to Billings.

Here is an account of my travel day home.

12:00 AM - put my book down and try to go to sleep.

3:00 AM – fire alarm goes off in the building and I’m up for half an hour before they finally get the alarm turned off. It was a bit disturbing because we were the first guests back in the place since it burned down.

4:30 AM – a “you have to be kidding” me alarm goes off. I start to get up and get ready for the day.

5:30 AM – my shuttle to the Munich airport leaves for Elmau

6:00 AM – Sunrise and a great turkey sando from Schloss Elmau

6:35 AM – We arrive in Munich, but it is another 20 minutes to the airport. The airport is quite a ways out of town after a plane crash in town killed a number of people. After that happened, they decided to move the airport.

6:55 AM – Arrive at the airport

8:13 AM – Arrive at gate H14 and await the boarding call for flight LH480 from Munich to Denver. By this time I have checked-in at the Lufthansa desk, gone through security, wondered the airport, passed through passport control, bought a soda – had to show my passport to buy the soda, show board pass and passport so I can go through another security checkpoint, chug soda because you can’t go through security with any liquids, go through security, get to the gate.

8:46 AM – Boarding Begins

8:52 AM – I get in line to board the plane

9:01 AM – Seated on the plane; actually not too bad for how long it usually takes to get on a plane.

9:33 AM – Wheels up on flight from Munich to Denver

11:05 AM – Lunch is served

11:20 AM – Lunch is finished – Local time in Billings is 3:20 AM

12:44 PM – Fill out Customs form. Luckily I didn’t spend over $800 in Europe.

1:00 PM – Movie Blades of Glory Starts

2:49 PM – I realize I’ve only seen 3 movies in the last month. All of them on the plane flying over the Atlantic

5:41 PM – Dinner Served

7:37 PM – Wheels Down in Denver – Local time 11:37 AM – Fight Time 10 hours 5 minutes

8:37 PM – Cleared passport control, picked up baggage, cleared customs control, re-check bags, go through domestic security

8:50 PM – Call the folks and schedule a pick-up at 4:30 PM Billings time.

10:00 PM – Hit the wall – tired of traveling

10:25 PM – Seated and ready to fly to Billings on United Flight 1233

10:43 PM – Wheels up for Billings

11:49 PM – Wheels down in Billings

12:25 AM – Folks pick me up at the airport

12:40 AM – Arrive at home. Total time in transit – 19 hours and 40 minutes. Boy am I glad I don’t have to go to work tomorrow.

The Last Day at Elmau

The last day in Elmau a group of us hike up to a little chalet not too far from the castle. The hike up was fairly steep and it took around 40 minutes. Once we got to the top, we took some pictures and then ordered some beer. It was a gorgeous day out and the view at this place is to die for.

The group from the conference that was on a guided hike ended up showing up about an hour after we did. There was a lot of BSing going on and finally someone gave Isaac a guitar. He played us a couple of songs and then gave the guitar to Alfredo. Alfredo must have played us about 30 songs. Many of the folks joined in singing. Of course I had to really belt out “Magic Changes” from Grease when he started to play that.

It was a magical time. I was pretty amazed at how the group had bonded over the last 23 days. We had met as strangers and here we were at this chalet as a group of old frieds. It was a powerful reminder of how traveling across Europe on this trip allowed for the connection of people on a fundamental level. I also couldn’t stop thinking about how the next generation of leaders was sitting around this table with so much in common.

I would have to say the Bavarian Alps are the only mountains that I have seen that can rival the Beartooths. They are very beautiful and may be even a little more majestic than the Mountains in Montana. The smell when we left on Sunday morning was just exactly the smell of a morning in the mountains of Montana. It really made me feel like home.

Headed Home

I'm sitting in the lobby of Schloss Elmau waiting to leave on the 5:30 AM shuttle to Munich. From there I'm on a plane to Denver. It is definitely going to be a long day.

I don't know what kind of travel conditions I will be running into today. With the bombing in Scotland, I'm thinking that travel will be a little slow. Hopefully we get out of town on time and I'm knocking on wood right now in the hopes that all goes well today.

I'm not too nervous about everything, but it certainly makes you feel a little different traveling today. I know that if I was at home, I would think the bombings were unfortunate, but that they don't really effect me. It is a much different feeling sitting in Elmau and having to get on a plane today. It was hard to get much news here, my TV and radio weren't working (but that is another story). I was able to get on the web this morning and read things over. It was helpful in understanding.

However, it brings the terrorism that is going on in England and Scotland a lot closer to home when you are in Europe when these things happen. It is not nearly as bad for me either. One of the guys traveling with me had his family arrive in London yesterday. They are fine, but he thinks it will be hard for him to join them there. Several of the people at the conference are flying through London, so there travel plans may be a bit rough today.

Well I need to get going. See you when I get home.

The Mountains

We are on the last lag of the trip. It has been a little hectic that last couple days, so I have not been able to reach a computer.

We are at the Transatlantic Conference at Schloss Elmau. I'm very happy to be here because it is in the mountains and it feels a little bit like home. The setting is absolutely gorgeous. The conference is for former Fellows to get back together and discuss transatlantic issues. There looks like some good topics and we have had a couple of good talks already. However, I'll probably find some time to get out and about.

Here is a link to the resort we are staying at:

http://www.schloss-elmau.de/

We spent about a day in Munich before we came up to the castle. Munich is a very beautiful city. It was great to have 18 people back together again and we were sharing all the stories about our trips. We also got to tour the BMW factory in Munich which was quite impressive. It looked a little like a robot factory. The robotics they have working there was incredible. We had a nice little lunch and then got on the train to Klais. That was the stop to get up to Elmau.

The train ride was great. A nice view as we headed to the mountains.

Not a whole lot else to report. I will be flying home on Sunday. It promises to be quite a long day.

Not sure if I will get a post up between now and then.

Hot, Hot, Hot

The days we have spent in Bucharest have been very hot. It has been a little over 100 the last couple of days. Coming from Istanbul, I didn't see a problem the first couple of days. However, it has been really hot on Monday and Tuesday. We fly to Munich, where it will be 66 tomorrow. It will be nice to get on the plane and land in a cooler climate.

This is as hot as it has been in Bucharest for the last 60 years, and yesterday the temp here was hotter than several cities in Africa. The average June temp in Bucharest is 68, so this is a big change for them.

We have had meetings over the last couple of days and usually dinner is with a European fellow from Bucharest. We always have very interesting conversations with the Europeans that have been to the States. Yesterday lunch was at Pizza Hut. I can say it was not much different that if we were in Billings, except the restaurant was a lot nicer and the menu had a few less choices. It was still a slice of life from home for all of us.

Today we visited the Palace of the Parliament. It is a very grand building. The Parliament is in the last week of their session, so people are quite busy. They were up late last night and will be up late again tonight. They may even go into special session if they can't reach a compromise this week. Sounds like the Montana legislature.

The politics over hear is still quite different. They are fairly new to politics as they have only had it since about 1990. A lot of people still run for Parliament because they can make money. They have no interest in serving, only lining their pockets. It makes it difficult to do the things they need to do to move their government and economy ahead. But like I said before, they are making progress and we always seems to forget in the States how long it takes us to make any real change. Our time line for fixing Social Security is much longer than that reform would take in Romania. They have a pension crisis looming and I would bet they fix theirs before we fix ours. Anyway, here is a link to some info on the palace.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_of_the_Parliament

Social Event of the Season

I've have been anticipating going to a wedding in Romania since I received my itinerary for the trip. I thought it would be one of the great cultural events on my trip. Thus I'm a little torn over the wedding I got to go to. On the one hand, I attended the "Social Event of the Year" in Romania. The wedding was between a member of the Romanian Parliament and a top model. So this was a very big deal for Romania, and I am blessed to be able to attend the wedding.

On the other hand, this was anything but a traditional wedding in Romania. It was, by far, the nicest wedding I have ever attended.

But let's start with the ceremony. The ceremony was at an Orthodox church and there were a ton of paparazzi at the wedding. There must have been 20 still cameras, 15 video cameras, and three people doing interviews. During the ceremony there was never a moment when the cameras and flashes weren't going. The ceremony was in Romanian, so I didn't understand any of it. There were three attendants for the bride and groom. Also, his godparents performed the role of best man and maid of honor. At one point they wore crowns for a while. There were four priests performing various duties throughout the ceremony, a choir up in the balcony, and they danced in a circle around the alter a few times toward the end.

Barely anyone at the church sat down during the ceremony and if you did, you missed seeing anything. Not that there were a ton of people there, but everyone else was standing. The ceremony lasted about 45 minutes and then we shook the bride and groom's hands. After that it was back to the hotel to freshen up for 15 minutes.

We then headed north out of town for the reception. It was held at the summer palace of the former dictator of Romania. There were tiki lights lining the roads, so I knew it was going to be a party.

We were dropped off in front of the biggest outdoor wedding tent you could imagine. There was a lounge area with couches, two open bars, the seating area which held 41 tables, there was a stage and dance floor, the nicest outdoor bathrooms you have ever seen (I mean nicer than some indoor bathrooms), and a kitchen area, all under the tent.

We shook hands and had a picture with the bride and groom, then mingled among a few people. We were seated and had to wait about 30 minutes for the rest of the guest to be seated. A few estimates that the group came up with: 450 - 500 guests (One of which was the President of Romania, the mayor of Bucharest, and 20 Members of Parliament), and 150 wait staff. None of us was brave enough to give an estimate on the cost.

We were served five meals through the course of the evening. They called them courses, we called them meals as each was a large plate of food. About 3:30 AM we had traditional Romanian BBQ to go with the Romanian Folk music. There were four different bands throughout the course of the evening. There was also a lady that was supposed to come in from New York to sing, but she missed her plane.

The wedding cake was to die for and even though I was completely full by that time, I still couldn't stop eating wedding cake. There were also a couple of rounds of fireworks. I'm sure I'm missing a couple of elements, but I hope you get at this point that this was a blowout of a party and the Social Event of the Year. The only thing more I could do would be to put up some pictures, but at this point I can't download them.

We got home at about 5:30AM as the party was beginning to wind down. I don't think we were border line impolite, because quite a few people had left by then.

It was certainly a great experience and one I won't have again in Romania. At least I would expect as much. It was a lot of fun to be there and I'm glad I had the opportunity.

The rest of the trip in Romania has been going well. You can certainly tell you are in Eastern Europe. There are still signs of communism every where you look. There is also progress everywhere you look. It is going to take some time and money for Romania to catch up with Western Europe, but they do have a lot going for them.

Tomorrow we are back at Parliament and have individual meetings. Then on Wednesday we travel to Munich on the way to the last stop on the trip. I have to admit that I'm getting ready to come home. I'm really looking forward to the conference, because I think it will sum up our experience. But it will be nice to be back in Billings.