Kevin at the BWI airport.
My hotel room in Aalter, Belgium. It was fabulous.
The toilet/shower concept. No door on either one.
Again, my room in Aalter.
The view from my room in Aalter.
A closeup of the cemetery out my window.
New friends! Carla from Rogers, Arkansas and "Bob" whose real name is Qin Feng. Bob is from China.
Driving to work. This is Erdem from Istanbul.
Some Belgian houses.
More Belgian houses.
Yet another Belgian house.
Not sure what this is, but some neat Belgian architecture.
Driving down the streets of Aalter after work.
Carla and Amy, riding along.
Jacinto from Spain hanging out downstairs at the hotel.
My favorite chocolate shop.
These are chocolate! Yes! They look like vegetables but they're chocolate! I love this concept!
Jacinto and Bob...and some Hoegaarden and Trappist.
Amy and Carla. Kevin actually asked if anyone said anything about my Penn State hat.
Here we are again.
Lunch with the work team at a beautiful restaurant called Nobelstede.
The building.
Inside Nobelstede.
Johan and Eddy from Belgium along with Jacinto and Carla.
The whole team enjoying a fabulous lunch.
If Kevin and I ever get divorced, this will be why. I'm all dressed up to head out to the floor.
Yes, blue suede (safety) shoes.
The team has passed their test! Shutting down for the week.
A celebratory toast to finishing the test! You probably recognize Carla, Bob and Jacinto, but the other guy is new. His name is Chris. He joined us somewhat randomly for some drinks. A born salesman, he was hysterical.
Aalter was preparing for an annual festival. This was a ride in the parking lot.
Atop a building in Brussels. We stayed in Brussels on Friday night so we would be near the airport for our Saturday flights to Slovakia.
My room in Brussels.
I began my time in Slovakia by myself because I had the earliest flight. My room wasn't ready when I got there, so I had to walk around town in my HEELS. Everything is cobblestone, so this was not pleasant. I saw some neat sights, though. Check out the windows in this building.
And look, these people are preparing to do some authentic Slovak dances.
And here it is, McDonald's Bratislava.
I believe this is the National Theatre of Slovakia.
This is the bridge into Bratislava. It crosses over the Danube. Interestingly we stayed at the Hotel Danube.
Here is the big Bratislava Castle. More pictures to come!
Jacinto and Amy hanging out in the Old City. Finally some others have arrived and I have changed my shoes!
This is apparently some famous thing. This guy dresses up like a chimney sweep and people give him money.
This is a statue. There were these old ladies in front of us getting their picture taken with it, too. What was funny was that they were taking the pictures with their cell phones.
I wish I knew more about what this stuff is. Anyway, they were preparing for an evening concert.
Look at the roofs on these little kiosks. So neat.
You could hear a choir and an organ coming from this church. It was beautiful.
Authentic Slovak gear.
Carla, Amy and a pirate. Also a statue. The pirate.
A picturesque alley.
A cute little shop with a cafe in it, too.
Again, picturesque. I wish I knew what it was.
Check out the people up there! We could not figure out how to get in.
Some nuns leaving the big church.
There go the nuns.
Everything seems to be picturesque in Bratislava.
Look at this cute little courtyard that we found while walking over a little stone bridge.
Some buildings were up-to-date and restored, some weren't.
Cute little flower boxes.
Jacinto's dinner. With teeth.
Oh my gosh, the concert was UNBELIEVABLE. They did Carmina Burana and it echoed all through the city. We were at dinner outdoors, drinking wine at the time. Heaven.
The concert again.
Again, the concert.
On the way up to the castle.
Entering the castle grounds.
This crazy dungeon thing was actually visible in the last picture if you look closely.
The view from the castle as we enter the gates.
Walking up to the castle.
A greasy ugly person on the stairs of the castle.
Music is (was) very big in Bratislava. Some sort of old tool.
View from the castle.
Castle grounds.
More castle.
More view.
Great looking castle.
A cat at the castle. Looks my Nana's late cat, Mr. Snowstripe.
Inside the castle.
Part of the music museum in the castle.
An original something from the music museum.
More view from the castle.
Again, the view.
And some more view. Bratislava is surprisingly big!
Our helpful non-English speaking Slovak guide!
Carla with our very kind, but once again, non-English speaking guide. He was only the guide through the music museum part, so we didn't spend very long with him.
Another view.
And a view again. These are from the top tower.
Some old furniture on display at the castle.
More furniture.
Walking to the top of the tower. Maybe those other pictures weren't from the tower after all.
Carla taking pictures in the tower.
Ah yes, THESE are the views from the top.
Still more view.
We liked all the views. Again, the Danube River.
Photo through a cool oval window.
Some information about a crown that was moved all over the world. On the sign it said that it had been to Fort Knox, Texas. Somebody (probably an American, huh) crossed out Texas and corrected it to Kentucky.
In the "quad" of the castle.
Some people enjoying the castle.
Look at that weird pyramid thing. Evidently they keep priceless treasures of Slovakia in here. We were too cheap to tour it.
Big doors back then.
Lovely grounds at the castle.
Walking back down.
It's that building again, with the windows.
The building with the windows.
An old church. You may remember it from the pictures that had views from the castle.
A cross at the base of the church.
A house near the church. Perhaps a parsonage, who knows. Only the Slovaks know. Or at very least, only those who speak Slovakian.
A view of the castle.
A nun in Birkenstocks.
Picturesque Bratislava.
Check out that old building.
Yes, well, it's true. We just needed something fast! We were desperate!
It's such an embarrassment, but it was pretty tasty.
My room in Bratislava.
The view from my room. Check out the castle in the reflection!
More of my view from the hotel room.
A great picture of all the Bekaert Slovakia employees.
The castle as we drove across the Danube.
The class, working hard. Check out StandardsPro projected on the wall!
The group working again.
More of the group working. Evidently I wasn't working.
Enjoying a dinner of Argentine steak and wine. In Slovakia.
The group socializing and having fun at the Argentine restaurant.
The group at dinner. And some others as well.
The group once more.
Carla and COFFEE GROUNDS. Can you believe that? This was at the bottom of the coffee.
Jacinto, Steve and Eddy hard at work.
Johan, Erdem and Carla hard at work.
Bob and Stefan hard at work.
The whole group hard at work.
Johan, Erdem and Carla smiling.
Jacinto, Steve and Eddy smiling.
Stefan smiling.
Not to be left out, Amy smiling.
Enjoying a traditional Slovakian meal of duck (or goose, the jury is still out). Evidently we were there at exactly the right time of year for this meal. The duck/goose is at just the right fatness.
Here I am, working on getting to just the right level of fatness.
The group enjoying the feast.
Bob showing us how the Chinese drink.
It looks a little something like this.
Eddy preparing to imitate Bob, I think.
Yes, I think that's what this is.
The whole team on the last day. L-R is Steve (USA), Bob (China), Eddy (Belgium), Jacinto (Spain), Johan (Belgium), Carla (USA), Stefan (Slovakia), Amy (USA, duh), Johan (Belgium), Erdem (Turkey), Paul (Belgium)
The group having a little more fun in this one.
A rainbow at the plant after a big storm. This is not, of course, the plant. The view from the plant.
Can you find my mark in this picture?
A fun Cuban bar that Jacinto found. You can leave your mark on the wall! Notice that I left my mark.
Ah, driving through the Slovakian countryside on our way to Vienna. It's going-home-day!
A big windmill on the way home. There are TRILLIONS of these things. They're very impressive. So that's it! Next thing I knew I was on a plane for 9 hours. And now home again. Feels good. But truly a great trip!
