Travanjska, Zagreb, Croatia

Travanjska (Aprilian), Aco's private residence. Inter beating Bayern. Write The Future, Paint the Past. HD.

Primož Hvala - Founder and partner at HSConsulting, lecturer at Cotrugli, based in Ljubljana, roots in Postojna and Ajdovščina, worked for Klinični Center, Formitas, Finance before going "incorporated". Runs marathons without special preparation, it's been a while since his scouting career, has two daughters and will one day go around the world - walking.

Romeo y Julieta - celebrating rare, yet special occasions.

Dabuda, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Dabuda, popular Asian place in the middle of Ljubljana, already featured on this blog in company of Shappa king Rok, still going on strong. Family biker's attachment.

Lennert De Waal - WebSphere Infrastructure Tiger Team member at IBM, based in Amsterdam, used to live in Zeist and Amstelveen, finished 7 years of Medical school, but did not pursue due to slow evolution of object and subject in this mastery direction, worked for KLM and CapGemini, is building his own high end audio equipment, loves his 2 years old daughter, recently read Singularity is Near, currently The World Without Us and will one day found Grameen for Europe. There are unserved Europeans out there.

Matija Krajnc - WebSphere Technical Specialist at IBM in Ljubljana, grew up in Malečnik, east of Maribor, worked at SRC before joining IBM troops, fond of getting to know people, recently read Eco's The Name of The Rose, hunter, will one day go back to following biological non-deterministic paths and rediscovering nature-sourced wisdom. Green on!

The original Turkish (served) coffee. Right next door at the (best) neighbor.

Vodenica Mulino, Skopje, Macedonia

Vodenica Mulino - very popular Italian-ish place in Skopje. Many times there's intensive discussion about IBM Software.

Darko Damjanski - IBM Software Sales Manager for Macedonia, Kosovo and Albania, Skopje native, served Yugoslav Army JNA in Vrhnika, worked for Ministry of Interior and is now working hand in hand with Toni's INet to develop software channel in the region. Avid mountain climber, has been many times on 2764m Korab and this year is planning to go on top of 100 higher Triglav. Welcome!

Delicoius Vodenica's sweet: Rasturana palacinka (shredded pancake).

LUKOIL, Straza, Macedonia

LUKOIL station in Straza, half way from Ohrid to Skopje. No ordinary stop, no ordinary journey, no ordinary crew.

Aldin Celovic - Sales Manager at AirABA in Sarajevo, Hercegovian origin, born in Priboj, Serbia, grew up in Sarajevo, for a while lived and worked in Portoroz and Ljubljana, worked for Institut Mihajlo Pupin (when Slovenia was changing from 6 to 7 digits fix phone system) and for Trimo in their Sarajevo office. Avid cinema goer, is just finishing Cotrugli EMBA used to play football until he damaged both knees, recently read Dan Brown and will one day work with UNDP on project like Bosnian Pyramid.

Hotel Granit, Ohrid, Macedonia

Hotel Granit - it looks like this in peak season, not in May. Fortunately or unfortunately. Was nice anyway, though distance to Ohrid downtown is not very appealing.

Vukosava Crnjanski Sabovic - founder and CEO of NGO LiNet, the engine behindIstinomer.rs -the truth gauge in politics, a noble idea well worth funding. Interviewed by Milena, related to Milos Crnjanski, a poet of the expressionist wing of Serbian modernism, switched MAS for FON, has 1 year old child, just finishing Cotrugli EMBA and temporarily defuses on long walks with her dog.

Dragan Bogavac - not the (slightly more) famous Montenegrin footballer, but a serious tennis player working in pharmaceutical wholesale business, born and raised in Belgrade, used to work for Pharmaciens Sans Frontier, little less known brethren of MSF, has 6 year old son being trained by Vukasin Visnjevac, is reading Welches' Winning, is finishing Cotrugli EMBA and will one day devote himself to education and coaching in personal development direction. Zen.

Whatever it is meant to mean, don't do it. Hotel Granit staff. (Meant to mean?)

Cosa Nostra, Ohrid, Macedonia

Cosa Nostra pizzeria - nice place, great location - old town Ohrid.

Marko Marković - AT Kearney consultant turning into CIO at Banca Intesa in Serbia. Growing up in Sremska Mitrovica, Strumica and Belgrade - following family following father following army job. Used to work for GDS, cherishes his son and friends, is not answering phone over weekends, just finishing Cotrugli EMBA and is reading The Bank Credit Analysis Handbook. One day he will develop his writting talent to its full potential, read tons of books and maybe tolerate authority.

Balkanski špijun - legendary Yugoslav movie. Featured on TV in Macedonia. Today.

Trpejca, Ohrid, Macedonia

Trpejca, pleasant fish-village on Ohrid lake. With the right company, comes the real warm Balkan feeling.

Diana Dimitrova - Finance and Admin manager at Melexis, automotive electronics system producer. used to work for Elite (now Strauss), PWC and AIG. Only recently jumped into LinkedIn, Facebook and Skype, has two kids and her 11 years old daughter has a new boyfriend. She loves mountain climbing, just finishing Cotrugli EMBA and is reading One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey. One day she might climb Mt.Everest. And relax.

Humble, domestic cheerleader and fish-snatcher.

Hotel Istra, Sv.Andrija, Rovinj, Croatia

Beautiful Sv.Andrija (St.Andrew) island near Rovinj, hosting nice Hotel Istra, one of the pearls on Maistra necklace in Istria, Croatia.

Zoran Puljić - Director at Mozaik community development foundation in Bosnia. Born and raised in Sarajevo, where he also lives now with his Catalan wife and 3 kids. Serbian father, Croatian mother, he fought and was wounded in Bosnian war, moves to Germany, worked and lived in Schwarzwald. Upon return worked for OSCE and USAID, was educated at London Metropolitan and is now finishing Cotrugli EMBA. He's a DIY master, travels a lot and is reading Edwards' Future Positive. Passion is my foundation and foundation is my passion. Great person to be around.

At TEDxLjubljana one week after. "If you don't plan to do sports, consult your doctor or pharmacist!" Great provocation by Urban Praprotnik.

Staropramen Potrefena Husa, Prague, Czech Republic

A tasty alien served in Staropramen Potrefena Husa. The place is very famous, very good and very crowded. All sorts of species.

Jamie Knowles - Rational Cloud Market Manager at IBM. Originally from Warwick, but spending a lot of time in Prague lately. Studied at Imperial College in London where he was president of Jazz and Rock Society, where also Brian May and Freddy Mercury played. Still plays guitar, used to work for Popkin Software and Telelogic before acquired into IBM. Reading The Mountain is Young and will one day go back to female body sculpting. Full time. Full stop.

ČMSS is a good deal. For some. All You Can Eat.

U Prince, Prague, Czech Republic

Hotel with a superb view terrace on top. U Prince. UNESCO heritage protection.

Milcho Angelov - Tivoli Automation Sales Leader for IBM CEE. Born and raised in Sofia, currently based in Prague and used to live/work in Dubai. CIS - Commonwealth of (In?)dependent States, Middle East and Central-Asia-stan used to be his work sandbox. He was in Marriot hotel in Islamabad when there was a terrorist bomb blast in 2007. Worked for ASI Company and Aircom with Matthew Walker. Big on skiing and fishing - used to have a fishing boat - and is reading a book about Toilet lid war. One day he's gonna spend a lot of time on his even bigger fishing boat - oh, thee fish behold and beware the Bulgarian "Forrest Gump".

Death row? The Green mile? Given up without a fight? Definitely not protected by UNESCO.

Staromestske namesti, Prague, Czech Republic

THE Staromestske square. Tourists, tourists, tourists. And you don't even need to find a place to sit down to have a drink.

Arden Agopyan - WebSphere Application Infrastructure Tech lead for IBM's CEEMEA region. Armenian origin, bred in Istanbul, French high school, French college, Turkish Tech Blog ardenagopyan.com. Does aggressive inline skating (yes, that's the expression), reads Michael Crichton and used to be Techno DJ. Still going out a lot and will one day have a big boat and travel the world. Tech(no) style.

iNerd alert! One of them is Arden's.

PlaNinata SPA Hotel, Ribaritsa, Bulgaria

PlaNinata SPA Hotel is a great place in Ribaritsa near Teteven, Bulgaria. Check more photos on their website, where also this one was taken. Kudos to Nina.

Ivo Penev - Software Architect at IBM Bulgaria. Used to work for Latona and Prepay Services. Finishing his MBA at City University of Seattle in Sofia. Swimmer, used to do a lot of programming (also in competition), has 2 year old son. Ivo, not Ivaylo.

Colorful program at PlaNinata. Young singer leading the group.

Barbakan, Warsaw, Poland

Barbakan restaurant in Warsaw. Barbakan is actually barbican which is "a semicircular fortified outpost" in Warsaw. Good food, great beer, excellent company. And an appalling picture - rushing to get back inside.

Randolph Moorer - Newly assigned WebSphere Manager for CEEMEA region at IBM. His father was in navy, so he was growing up all over the world. Atlanta college, living in Florida now, not golfer anymore (What free time?), Used to work for CSX and then 25 years of IBM. He's in the Canon side of digital photographers divide with his 40D, travels a lot with his family (14 years old son) and were recently in Peru. Does running and will one day fly to space as a tourist like Dennis Tito, while building orphanages on back on the earth. Quite a vertical span.

Daily servings of Sushi, delivered fresh to IBM Warsaw office. 20 zloti for cold fish delight.

Žabec, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Žabec - (= male frog), a quick business lunch place, well hidden in the cellar of Bežigrajski Dvor. Yes, I did not make this photo(s) - I borrowed it from their web site.

Urška Škraba - Undersecretary at Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning. Vodice offspring, Ljubljana raised, Gorenjska-Dolenjska mix. M.A in Social Science/Ethnic studies at FDV, used to teach English in elementary school, before she learned really well to navigate through EU presidency and EU bureaucracy organized chaos. Reading Dan Brown's Lost Symbol, excellent amateur bowler (5 strikes in a row - beat that) and has 12 years of serious dancing behind her. One day she will have a tutoring company, private kinder garden and care service for elderly. Care-o-rama.

Some companies have on-site massage places. IBM in Poland is one of them. Meeting rooms meets Thai pressure pleasures.

Klub Preserne Zdravljice, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Klub Prešerne Zdravljice. Odd ambient, weird name, great food. Home-hom-om-nom-nom.

Gregor Rome - Advisor of director at Eco Fund. Ljubljana bred, worked for ACH, IBM, Electrolux and S&T, innovative carnival mask maker-wearer, avid urban cyclist, blogger, sifting through Vale Novak Montignac book, getting second child in June, works with bikes, pimping them up (see below), learning proper jazz guitar, has recording studio and manga drawing experience.

Pre-pimp-up hot rod as-is.

Post-pimp-up hot rod to-be. Photoshop concept.

Tukan, Sofia, Bulgaria

Tukan. The pizza place. According to Alexander, the best pizza in Bulgaria. Aha. Peshterska is not very recommended. Go for Burgas 63. TheRakiaSite.com agrees. :)

Nedko Petar Kolev - WebSphere sales specialist at IBM in Bulgaria. Sofia native, roots in Haskovo where they make Astika beer, Bocconi graduate and IBMer since. Known as joke dispenser, is reading a book about Bulgarian diplomats eating ducks from Hyde Park in London, is getting info from bg-mamma.com - like millions of Bulgarians. Will have lots of kids, travel and produce movies.

Alexander Madzhirov a.k.a. Sasho - WebSphere BPM Tech Specialist for IBM CEE region. Plovdiv origin, one of the founders of perfumery and cosmetics association in BG, worked also for Center for Democracy studies, Applied research and Communication fund, IDS Scheer and was director of Masters program at New Bulgaria University. Knows the author of the book that Nedko is reading, collects instruments, many sourced from muzikant.org, has 1 year old malek Sashko, shoots rabbits and squirrels with Stoeger X50 air gun, reads Bulgarian chronicles by Tsanev. He will add more fishing, more university and more selective consulting, while watching series like Desperate housewives and movies like Lie to Me. Amen.

Why the long face, Carlos? Hefty.