I see the light at the end of the jet lag tunnel. Better sleep last night, which was very exciting. I spent some of the night worrying that Romeo would try to walk down the dangerous stairs again (he did it once around midnight in a total stupor). I’m not a big fan of aggressive American litigation, but one of the perks is that our safety standards are really high. The quaint steps of this little cottage (which was totally redone inside) spirals with no hand railing of any kind. Basically a death trap in dim light.
The day started out cooler, and overcast, so we headed to Zadar which is a bigger city about 25-30 mins away. We spent the day strolling the streets of the old part of town which was crowded but cool…with little vendors and merchants scattered everywhere. Romeo bought a crochet chicken with a little egg that was seriously adorable….as was the little old lady that sold it to us (when she wasn’t selling she was working furiously on crocheting the most amazing things). She spoke not a word of English and yet happily spoke in Croatian with a big smile as if we totally understood. We smiled and nodded a lot. We haven't met even one American or English speaking person since we've been here. Perhaps when we go further south into Croatia where it's more touristy, but here ALL the tourists are from Eastern Europe.
Romeo found a dog he liked too….when I asked him if he wanted to find something else to photograph this year, he said no (it’s his way of honoring the fact he misses his dog). He also informed me that Croatia has a dog shortage (which is kind of true, they seem much scarcer here). I'm hoping that one of these completely unrecognizable words on the restaurant menus isn't "dog burger".
One of the cool things at the pier in Zadar is something called the Sea Organs... It’s essentially an art installation where holes were placed strategically into the cement blocks near the edge of the ocean, and along the sides where the water washes up (again, with no litigation the pier’s edge is just that, stairs that go right to the edge with no railing or warnings….it screams “watch out you moron or you will walk into the tumultuous sea and we could care less.” Anyway, by some magic of water and air, and holes, this incredibly forlorn “organ” sound emerges. It’s not quiet either, or subtle, it’s quite spectacular really.
We went on a wild hunt for the one yoga studio that I found online, but the address led us to some random place and the traffic was freakishly bad so we gave up. I went home and gave myself a class—which actually was super fun. I like my class, and my music is good. I made it hard, hope I’m sore tomorrow.
We cooked dinner at home tonight which was wonderful….I made a REAL salad (with "stuff" in it), and found this yummy feta that they sell in little tins with the intention that you grill it or put it in the oven. Didn’t actually do that, but it was wonderful on my salad cold. Side note, I once again ordered a green salad and a cucumber salad at lunch today, and they both came as JUST that….green lettuce solo, and cucumbers cut up—solo. Must be a Croatian thing.
John and I went on a walk tonight and he wanted to know if I thought that we’d all want to kill each other after 7 weeks together (this is the first long trip we’ve taken without ANY visitors the entire time to buffer the time). Have to think about that one, but I’m guessing we’ll either be much closer as a family, or yes, super sick of one another....or maybe some of both. Let's face it, I think I would get sick of anyone after 7 weeks, let alone two teens, who can be moody as hell. I'm a little scared for when we all three get our period at the same time, which happens every month like clockwork. Even when we physically can separate ourselves out with a big cushion, it's real rough. What's going to happen when we get it and have to drive 9 hours from Montenegro to Slovenia and are trapped in a van together? That sounds like trouble. There are some Jerry Springer level fights in our future I fear.
Signed, ME {lv}
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