This update has around 230 pictures from the trip, but that's only about half of all the pictures we took while we were gone! I'm sure most of you will appreciate that I only uploaded the best pictures to this site. If you'd like to see them all, email me at neilk@imsa.edu, and I'll point you to the online album of the whole collection.

We flew out to New York at the end of August, and visited with my sister, Jen, and her husband, Twan. We stayed at their place for a few nights and saw some sights in the city. Then the four of us flew to Slovenia. We spent two weeks traveling through Slovenia and Croatia.

30 August to 2 September 2002 -- New York City

While we were in New York, Julia and I dragged Jen and Twan around the city to see Ellis Island and the WTC site. We didn't take any picutres of Ground Zero. It was a rainy day. A wide line of people wound around the site, and we waited in the puddles to get to the viewing area. I'm sure most people have seen pictures of it, but it's something else to stand in front of that huge hole in the ground.

We took the Liberty Ferry to Ellis Island. The Ferry we took left from Battery Park in lower Manhattan, and stopped first at Liberty Island and the Statue of Liberty, then at Ellis Island. The Statue of Liberty has been closed since 9/11/01, and it may never again be open to the public. A bunch of people did leave the ferry -- you can still visit the museum. We took a few pictures of the statue from the ferry, but we didn't get off at the Libery Island stop.

We got off the ferry at Ellis Island, just like my great-grandparents a century ago. We saw where the immigrants were processed, and where they stayed while on the island. We also visitied the research room, and looked up my ancestors in the database. The research room was a bit of a disappointment -- their records are just a copy of the data available on their web page at www.ellisislandrecords.org . But that site is a fantastic resource for anyone doing research on their family tree, provided of course you have family that passed through Ellis Island.

3-4 September 2002 -- Lake Bled, Slovenia

Our first night in Europe was at Lake Bled. Julia and I were on a separate flight than Twan and Jen, so we agreed to meet at the Lake. Both of our flights were to land at the Brnik airport, which is near Lake Bled. Julia and I had a layover in Zurich, but Jen and Twan switched planes in Vienna. And they missed their connection.

Jen and Twan were supposed to get into Bled before Julia and I did. But when we got to the hotel, they weren't there yet. So Julia and I wandered around and snapped a few pictures near Bled:

Julia and I eventually found out what happened to Jen and Twan:

At first, the airline wanted to connect them through Sarajevo, which didn't make any sense at all becaue Vienna is closer to Brnik than Sarajevo is. Jen and Twan ended up flying to Klagenfurt, and the airline paid for a taxi from Klagenfurt to Brnik.

We finally met Jen and Twan at a cafe overlooking the lake, and we ordered a round. After that trip we all needed a drink.

Lake Bled is a resort town that's popular with the Slovenes as well as European vacationers from other countries. We heard quite a bit of German spoken, and some Italian. We even heard a little French. The lake has a very old church on an island in the center, and there is an old castle on a tall bluff overlooking the lake.

We only spent one night in Bled, but we all agreed that the scenery was absolutely beautiful and well worth a second visit.

4-6 September 2002 -- Dolenjska, Slovenia

Dolenjska is a region in Southeastern Slovenia. It's known for its rolling hills, and is one of the two major winegrowing regions in Slovenia. Cviček wine is a specialty of Dolenjska, and we sampled it extensively during our trip.

While we were in Dolenjska, we stayed in Dolenjska Toplice. It's a spa town popular with Austrians back in the 19th Century. We spent one night soaking in the thermal baths, which was quite nice. The grounds also had a large chess set, and Julia took a picture of a match between me and Twan.

We decided to visit Dolenjska because my great-grandmother, Anna Remus, was born there. She lived in a small village near Kostanjevica Na Krki. Before we left the states, I called my grandfather's cousin - my first cousin twice removed - who lives in Canada. Her name is Sophie. Sophie gave me the address of the house Anna was born in, and told me that her sister, Amalija, still lives there - in a village named Jablance.

We visited Kostanjevica Na Krki on the 5th. The town is on a small island lying in a loop of the Krka river. The town is one of the oldest and smallest towns in Slovenia, with a charter going back some 750 years.

We found a church on the North side of the island with a monument to people who died during the second World War. We found that three from the Remus family in Jablance died in 1945.

We went into the tourist information office in Kostanjevica, and I asked about directions to Jablance. The young lady opened a map and showed me how to get there. And off we were to Jablance.

Of course, it all looked much easier on the map - a straight shot down the one road going through Jablance.

We were looking for Jablance 2. I thought we were on the right track after we climbed a hill and passed Jablance 16, then rounded a corner and drove by Jablance 6. But then we drove for a long while and hit Jablance 8. Clearly we were doing something wrong.

We went back and parked the car near Jablance 6. Jen and Julia took some pictures of the small buildings near Jablance 6 while Twan and I scratched our heads. Then an old man walked up to us. Of course he didn't speak any English, but I managed to tell him what we were looking for. Once he understood, he started speaking very rapidly, gesturing down the hill and back the way we came. He kept saying Bela (something), and I asked "Bela Hiša?" (white house). He shook his head, and repeated Bela (something). Julia handed me my Slovene dictionary, and I looked up the word. It was "roof". We were off, down the hill, around a corner, up another hill and suddenly in front of Jablance 2.

I got out of the car and walked towards the house. An older woman was walking towards me. I began "moja stari..." (my great...), and she finished "mama, Anna Remus." It was Amalija, my grandfather's cousin.

I parked the car, and the four of us followed Amalija into the house. She had all of her pictures out on the kitchen table, as well as a note she had just received from her sister in Canada -- telling her that I was coming.

Amalija sat us all down, and we talked. She didn't know any English, so I ended up doing most of the translating. We ended up talking for a few hours, but I think we could have said everything in 5 minutes if my Slovene was better. Amalija brought two 1.5 Liter water bottles to the table. One was filled with water, and the other had been refilled with cviček she had made with grapes from her farm. We finished the bottle of cviček, so we might look a little tipsy in the pictures.

After we left Amalija's, we visited a monastery nearby. We bought a few bottles of pear brandy from the monks. They monks put bottles over the tree branches in the spring, and allow the pears to grow inside the bottles. So when you buy the brandy, the bottle has a fully grown pear trapped inside. Better than a worm, I think.

6-9 September 2002 -- Split, Croatia

We ended up taking a train across the border into Croatia. Then in Rijeka we borded a ferry bound for Split. Below are two pictures of Rijeka and the boat. We spent the night of the 6th on the ferry -- the trip from Rijeka to Split took about 12 hours.

This stop was originally a "maybe" when we were planning the trip, but then I talked to someone who lived there. Kate Stainer, whom I met last summer, lived in Split for two years. She told Julia and me all about the town, and we decided we needed to make a stop there.

In Split we spent some time hanging with the locals. Unlike other tourist towns along the Croatian coast, people actually live in Split. On the 7th, Julia and I were stitting on a bench across from the Riva. She was writing and I was drawing. A group of 5 girls sat down across from us. Every now and then, two of the girls would get up and walk in front of us towards the water. But they would come back behind us, and they stopped to look at my drawing. I would turn around, and they would run to their bench. Eventually Julia grabbed my pocket phrase book and talked with them for a bit...

We saw what remains of Diocletian's palace in Split. He built it after he retired as emperor of Rome in the beginning of the 4th Century. It started to fall into ruins before the Slavs migrated south into the region. Once the Slavs moved in, however, they used the remaining structures to support their own construction. Split is a fascinating city; buildings from the 16th century on are supported by ancient Roman walls and arches.

In Split we also visited the Ivan Mestrovic museum. He was a Croatian sculptor who lived in Split up until WWII. The museum doesn't allow photographs inside, but we did take some picutres outside the building and on the walk.

9-11 September 2002 -- Hvar, Croatia

On the 9th we left Split on a Catamaran bound for the island of Hvar. The trip only took about 50 minutes -- Hvar is just south off the coast from Split.

At the taxi stand we met Neil Hunter and his friend, Charles. Neil is a moviemaker from England, and Charles writes movie reviews. It turned out that we were both staying at the same hotel, so we shared a taxi. The next day, the 10th, the six of us hired a water taxi to one of the Pakleni Otoci (Islands of Hell), which are a group of small islands near Hvar. You can see the Pakleni Otoci in the first picture below, which was shot from Hvar. The other pictures just below were all shot from the Pakleni Otoci.

Our hotel in Hvar was one of the best we stayed in, and it was very reasonably priced. But we didn't spend very much time in it. Here's a shot of the view out our room window:

We had dinner both nights in Hvar Town, which is Hvar's largest town. The architecture has a definite Venitian influence; note the Venitian style tower with 1 window on the first floor, 2 on the second floor, etc. There is also a castle on a hill overlooking the town. The first night we were in Hvar, we climbed up to the castle and took some pictures. We also took some pictures of the town, dinner, and the walk from the hotel to Hvar Town.

11-13 September 2002 -- Dubrovnik, Croatia

We left Hvar on the 11th. The four of us took the main coastal ferry down to Dubrovnik. Just below are a few pictures from that trip down the coast. It ended up taking about 8 hours. On the way to Dubrovnik, the ferry stopped at Korčula (Korchula) and I took a picture of the walled town. Under Kate's suggestion, we had originally planned on staying on that island for a few days. However, we decided on Hvar instead. It might be nice to visit Korčula some day. It's the birthplace of Marco Polo, and looks like a nice place to vacation.

The ferry landed in Dubrovnik at about 4pm, and we made our way to the hotel. Before dinner Julia and I went down to the hotel patio, and I took a few pictures as the sun set behind the old walled city.

We spent two nights in Dubrovnik, which isn't even enough time to scratch the surface of this historic city. Centuries ago it was called Ragusa, and it was a free city sandwhiched between the Turks and Venice. Neither power could let the other control such a rich city, so they agreed that the Ragusans would be free. Citizens of the city were given free access to trade throughout the Ottoman Empire. For centuries much of the trade between East and West passed through the port in Ragusa. The city became very wealthy, and you can see the rich history of the city in the pictures below.

13-16 September 2002 -- Ljubljana, Slovenia

It took the four of us a day and a half to get from Dubrovnik back to Ljubljana. We borded the main coastal ferry early in the morning, and finally arrived back in Rijeka the following morning. The ferry called at Korčula, Hvar and Split before the sun set, then went up the coast through the night. None of us were in top form when we got off the boat in Rijeka.

Ljubljana is the capital of Slovenia. We spent two nights there. On Sunday we followed the Lonely Planet walking tour of the city and took pictures of the sights. We climbed up the hill and saw the castle. Every Sunday, antique merchants set up a market along the river. We stopped by to shop and take a few photos.

We left Ljubljana, bound for the United States, on Monday. We had some space left on the camera, so Julia and I took a few pictures at the airport: