Impressions of Greece

We drove south from Bulgaria into Greece on our own personal bailout mission for the Greek economy.  Exiting the lush mountains of Bulgaria, we immediately noticed a difference.  Although greener than we had expected (at least in the North), Greece had smaller mountains, larger valleys, and less vegetation.  Here are Continue Reading

Impressions of Romania

• Romania appears less developed than the other countries we’ve been to in the European Union, including other former Communist countries Poland and Slovakia. • It is common to see people driving horse drawn wagons in the countryside and smaller towns.  For many, this appears to be their primary form of transport. Continue Reading

Impressions of Hungary

The Hungarian language is very different from those of its neighbouring countries which speak Slavic languages.  Hungarian is more closely related to Estonian and Finnish which share a common history from when the Huns invaded the region in around 500 CE. The Kingdom of Hungary existed for 950 years before Continue Reading

Impressions of Slovakia

We passed though Slovakia for our 2nd time. We were here last October briefly, visiting Bratislava for 1 day only.  Thankfully we had more time and better weather this visit. Here are some of the things I found interesting… Slovakia is a narrow, landlocked country in Central Europe. It is Continue Reading

Impressions of Luxembourg

We recently visited Luxembourg after leaving France.  It’s a small place, so it didn’t take long.  We visited the only major city, creatively called Luxembourg City, in this tiny country of just over 2500 square kilometers.  Here are some of our impressions. Luxembourg is a landlocked country surrounded by France, Continue Reading

Impressions of Germany

Germany has a lot of similarities to Austria.  After about a week in Germany, here are some of the things we’ve noticed. Germany is a financial powerhouse of Europe, despite spending a fortune to re-integrate East Germany since 1989.  There are still considerable economic differences between the former East and West. Germany Continue Reading

Observations about Vietnam

The government here is communist (or heavily socialist), but the economic system is capitalist. Vietnam has been repelling invaders for the last two thousand years — the Khmers, Chinese, French, and most recently the Americans. They are fiercely proud of this fact. Vietnam is one of the largest rice exporters Continue Reading