Albania is crazy, the people are very nice and it is cheap. The roads are a mess and you see all the different farm animals on them. This includes people walking on the main roads in the middle of traffic. I assume this is why the speed limit tops out at 50mph. There is garbage everywhere that they burn to get rid of. Most of the buildings are in some state of being built but everyone seems to drive a new Mercedes Benz.

The old town section of Berat is beautiful and we had a great hotel room with probable the best toilet in Europe. Monique could not figure out how to flush until she found the rope hanging out of the ceiling. The people are very nice always willing to help. The drive here looked like Monterey and Chalone including the grape vines, olive trees and such.

There are a lot of Italians here and the women LOVE the 3rd M and he eats it up. Talking about the 3rd M, he has a new tooth so now I call him snaggletooth. Him getting a tooth on the trip has not been ideal but he mostly has been his usual self, no phasin.

Originally sent as an email on 26th August, 2014