Chapter 23Our first weeks in Montenegro slipped by quickly. Jean Claude’s house was beautiful, standing atop a cliff overlooking the Adriatic. The country looked a lot like Trieste, the city at the extreme northeast tip of Italy where I had planned to end my trip. We found the residents to be friendly and did not have language problems as they were used to seeing people from western Europe and the US who had homes here. Many even spoke English or French. The sunrise each morning over this arm of the Mediterranean was gorgeous, and we usually stood on the balcony to admire it. We spent our days in relaxed fashion, usually swimming in the pool or going for a bike ride. We seldom went out. We had all that we needed right here in the house: each other.
About a month after our arrival, a lette
