All the railway staff were in impeccable uniforms in Croatia. We were told by our Croating relatives that previously most of the "uniformed" jobs were held by Serbians. They said that Serbians liked to be in uniforms.

A little village and our first real sign of spring, on the train between Zagreb and Split.

Kosovo railway station - no, it is not actually in Kosovo.

There was a lot of snow on the central mountains of Croatia.

The Station Master at Gospic.

As you travel between Zagreb and Split you are constantly reminded of the recent war with Serbia. You see the effects of small arms fire everywhere.

It was very cold and we passed through a blizzard in the Central Mountains of Croatia.

A high mountain village.

A viaduct as we drew closer to Split

How they grew so many grapes in that rocky soil! I have never seen so many rocks anywhere. The rock walls were usually a few meters thick - they had to put the rocks somewhere!

I told you the ground was rocky!

More small arms damage to an outbuilding.

On the Adriatic Coast the hills are still rocky. You often saw these little churches on a hillside but a long way from the village itself. It must be something to do with masochism and penance!

The beautiful blue Adriatic

Villages nestled into the hillsides

The ferry trip to Dubrovnik was just spellbinding.

You can see how rocky the ground is but somehow people have cleared the ground and made it fertile.

In Poland the snow was much deeper.

These concrete fences were everywhere in Poland - and there were many styles. This was on the way to Auschwitz and surrounded a little shrine to Mary

Lots of snow in Poland!

It snowed quite heavily as we travelled between Warsaw and Cracow

In the Polish countryside.

A castle on a hilltop in Slovenia

A very typical "garage" in Slovenia. This wood and lattice style was used for garages, for food barns, in fact for almost every kind of outdoor shed.