This year, a trip that my wife and I took to Europe conflicted with the MAX, but it was far from a disappointment.

Our trip took us to Budapest, Hungary the week of the Budapest International Wine Festival. And, it gave my wife and I the opportunity to catch up with a good friend and dagger collector, Janos, who goes by that moniker here on GDC.

Here he is with part of his awesome collection of Hungarian Air Force Daggers.

BTW, he is the one who has helped me so much in culling out the fake daggers that I had in my collection and finding real ones to take their place.

And here is Janos and his wonderful wife, Krisztina. We went to a very good restaurant called the Marble Bride.

And this is a picture of Janos and me at the Wine Festival.

It was, of course, early on, when I could still stand. To make it worse, Janos talked us into going a second time to help close down the place.

It was held in the Castle District up the hill on the Buda side... great wines, great company and fantastic views all made for a super trip to Hungary.

And, I picked up two items form Janos on this trip, a very nice transitional HJ (Eick of course) dated 1938 and a variant Fridericus trade marked Luft2, both of which I will post separately in their respective forums.

BTW, I am the devastatingly handsome, full figured guy standing beside Janos

From Hungary, my wife and I traveled to Norway to visit with her family and friends.

On the way to my wife's home town of Risor on the West coast of Norway, we stopped off at a place called Tonsberg, where not only do her sister and brother in law live, but where I was picking up a number of Norwegian NS items from a collector and dealer named Derek of Dereksmilitaria.com.

Unfortunately, the pictures I took of Derek got screwed up and I can only talk about it. But, the items that I picked up from Derek have already been posted on another thread here on GDC.

On my way back home to a frigid Canada, my wife and I took the train to Bergen on the West coast (I screwed up.. Risor is on the East coast).

My wife had a friend there who she hasn't seen for a couple of years, and I had a couple of friends/collectors who lived around there, too, so it worked out great.

September is usually a very rainy month in Bergen and most of our time there it rained, which made the touristy things a little tough to do.

But, the highlight of the trip for me was to hook up with Morten, a helmet collector who has also helped me find and acquire a number of Norwegian items, and with Carlos (Carlos1 on GDC), a dagger collector who has managed to find some amazing conditioned pieces for his collection.

Morten lives in Bergen and he had waiting for me the Military Ski Medal which I have posted elsewhere here and a new to me reference book on NS medals and pins (which will lead to a new 'want list' and more spending ).

Here is Morten, who I met for the first time at the last SOS.

And, Hans-Carlo who goes by the name Carlos and who lives about 360 Km from Bergen, drove into town and stayed overnight.

You will have seen many items posted by Carlos here on GDC and they have all been simply amazing. I had a chance to see his latest 'baby', a Bocker SA and the rare Helbig paratrooper knife.

Here is Carlos.

And, if you were wondering what it is that three guys in Bergen do when they are not talking militaria, here is a hint.

I had a great trip, met with some great people and returned home with some neat items. It almost makes up for not going to the MAX.

See you all at the SOS,

John

Hey John.

It was great meeting u in Bergen,i had a superb time.

Good to see u are safe back in Canada

Hopeful we can do it again,sometime

Great when you put names ,faces and friendship together.Looks like a good time for all.

The social aspect has to be one of the best things about this hobby. Nice to see friends from different countries and different backgrounds get together.

man, I can almost taste those beers! Going out to get a few right now...............

Oh yeah, nice stuff, best thing you could have done missing the MAX for that!
I didn't go either,with the money I saved from just the hotel I already bought a great piece from my collection!

What a trip of a lifetime you must of had. Thanks for sharing this beautiful vacation.

John,

Trip of a lifetime indeed, great pics! Gaspare's right too, those beers look so good I can almost taste them too.

Great picures and story from your trip John. Thanks for sharing .

I hope you have a great time in "Rainy" Norway
I should have been there with you in Bergen. But i have work soooooo much last 5 weeks. And i need the time with my wife and family that weekend.
Next time i hope to sit with the Beer table

All the best LH

The social aspect of our hobby is the biggest reason for me to go to the MAX and the SOS. But, this trip and the friendships were not a substitute, but were a treat in themselves.

Jarle, I expect to be back in Bergen sometime in September of next year as well. I sure hope that we could make it four around the table at the Irish bar on Brygge. I know that Morten is planning to come to the SOS next year, and can only urge you and Carlos to do so as well. There are great people to meet at both shows and one good connection can save or make you the cost of the trip.

John

[QUOTE]Originally posted by JohnZ:
The social aspect of our hobby is the biggest reason for me to go to the MAX and the SOS. But, this trip and the friendships were not a substitute, but were a treat in themselves.

I can only agree with you John and I really missed seeing you at the Max this year, so did I also missed Stephane but we will all catch up at the SOS.
BTW, great pictures of our Norwegian troops.

I'll be in Budapest next May and will also be in Sweden. In Sweden, I will be seeing my friend Nakida ( aka: Sam ) and enjoying the good life.

John, it was really good to see you in Budapest.
The photos you took in Bergen are great! I see you had a great time in Norway.
And here are a few pictures of your stay in Budapest.
Round of white wine.

Janos

A few hours later.
Round of red wine.

Picture of us, and the view from the Castle.
John,
See you next year my friend!

Janos

It was nice seeing pics of u and ur wife again Janos.Hope we meet again sometime

John, I would say your trip was WELL worth missing the MAX! See you at the SOS soon.

Take care....