Sarajevo bound on August 13

[Rob and Anne Johnson]

Friends--We're counting down the months until we head out on next big adventure in Bosnia. We're hoping see many new and old sites during out two years there. Onate and other places in Spain are definitely on our wish list of places to visit especially after seeing many recent photos of the area that people have posted from their recent visits to the Basque Country. Does anyone have Sheila Fritz's e-mail address as we're hoping to spend some quality time in Onate? We've been in touch with Jaime Jones and are sure to hook up with Biki and him. It would be fun rendezvousing with you all before we head out and we want you all to know that you are very welcome to come visit Eastern Europe while we're there. It was fun showing people around Hong Kong and Shenzhen while were were living in China.
--Rob and Anne (Getting ready to celebrate our 35 years of marriage and glad to have spent that first year with many of you in Onate)

[Michael Brunelle]

In 1977-78 I was with the third group of students in Oñate. There was a field trip to Barcelona in the fall, and on the way we stopped at the Monasterio de Piedra. Two years ago I took my family back and we stayed in the hotel, an old monastery that is beautifully appointed, which is next to the natural park. It is near Zaragoza off the road that goes towards Madrid. One of the highlights of that trip; I think you would enjoy it.
Belchite is another place I dragged my family, a town that was destroyed in the Spanish Civil War and left in ruins as a monument to the fallen. It is a little more isolated, in Zaragoza province but nearer Teruel in a region with miles and miles of modern windmills. I wrote about it in a blog right after we returned, and I think I will post a copy in my blog here at San Lorenzo Times for anyone who might be interested.
Mike