The Famous Old City of PULA

Awhile back, I posted pictures from our trip to Venice. In order to get to Venice, we traveled to Pula, Croatia, and it was from there that we took a ferry across the Adriatic Sea. Pula is known to be the oldest town on the Eastern Adriatic coast. At about 40 BC Pula became a Roman colony. Around 1331, the Venetians took over Pula. Between the 13th and 14th centuries there was a plague and more destruction suffered during wars. The city rapidly declined. During the 15th century it still had a population of 5,000, but by the following century it had declined to a mere 1,000. The Venetians carried away everything they could from the city - marble columns, tiles, mosaics. Pula came to be known as the "city of corpses" or the "city of the dead." It was probably while in this state that Dante came to know it and mentioned it (Pola) in his "Divine Comedy." For 3 centuries the death rate was higher than the birth rate. By 1631, Pula only had 300 inhabitants.

Pula is now famous for its Roman Arena, dating from the period of Augustus
(31BC -14AD) and it is the sixth largest remaining amphitheatre in the world. It is remarkably well-preserved and in better condition than the one in Verona. I have read that it is said to be the most magnificent structure of its kind in the world, after the Coliseum in Rome.







The Temple of Augustus stands on what is now the Republic Square. It was dedicated to Emperor Augustus and was built between the year 2 BC and the death of Augustus in AD 14.



The Triumphal Arch of the Sergii was built between 29 and 27 BC in honor of the three Sergii (Sergius Lepidus, Gaius Lucius Sergius and Gneius Sergius) who held high military and civil offices in the Empire. When the city gates were demolished in 1826 and 1829, the arch remained standing alone. It is only decorated on the city side.



Pula is a colorful city.... a beautiful part of the Istrian coast of Croatia.

Hard to Believe....

....but last week, I was actually in the city of Venice.

Country girl like me, who imagined she would someday marry a farmer and always stay in the state of Missouri her whole life, never dreamed that she would see such faraway fantasy places like Venice... but now, with a sparkle in her eye, she can say that yes, she truly has seen this fantabulous place, and she has the pictures to prove it!

The truly expansive St. Mark's Square, with the Basilica to the left, the bell tower standing majestically in front, and US, (gasp) in the middle of it all.


At one point, the pigeons all stirred and I thought I had been swept away to Hitchcock's world.


Our lovely tour guide walked with us through the maze of streets, marching us over the wooden Accademia Bridge, and on towards St. Marks' Square. On the way, we passed these impressive gondolas. Gondolas, by the way, are very unique vessels. They are not symmetrical, as their left side is larger then the right side by 24 cm. It always navigates inclined to one side. A gondola also has a flat bottom, which allows it to cross depths of as little as a few centimeters. Eight different types of wood are used in its construction and it is composed of 280 pieces. They are always painted black.


Part of our ferry ride to Venice included the chance to purchase substantially discounted tickets for a gondola ride, and not wanting to pass up such a once in a lifetime opportunity, we of course took advantage of it. I never in my wildest dreams imagined myself on a gondola in Venice, swigging champagne from a cup, with my family surrounding me, and the handsome gondolier (though shockingly headless in this photo) navigating us through the canals with such expertise and precision.


Do you think he'll soon forget such a boat ride? I hope not.


To our surprise, UPS is alive and well in the canals of Venice. See for yourself.


The carnival masks were decidedly expensive, and thinking they wouldn't fit well in my Americana decorating scheme, I passed them up and chose to take pictures of them instead. Crazy I suppose, but I was so grateful to be in Venice, to see the amazing sights, to have the gondola ride, that I didn't mind leaving the masks right where they were.

Camping at the Coast

We returned yesterday from a camping trip to Zadar, which is on the coast of Croatia. It was a short 3 day trip for the Memorial weekend. We pitched our tent within walking distance of the beach, under a canopy of pine trees. One of my favorite things about camping, tent camping in particular, is the sound of nature as I lay inside the tent. Birds singing and the wind gently blowing are two of the most awesome sounds I have ever heard. I felt so contented and at peace as Clara and I rested on the air mattress in the afternoon, listening to the breeze as it gently ruffled our tent, and the birds calling to one another above us.

When we got home, I was extremely thankful for the "luxuries" that a house provides. A bathroom, a kitchen, a refrigerator, a soft bed, air conditioning.... We found out when we arrived at the campground that there were no picnic tables provided. We had to do our cooking over our campstove squatting on the ground above it. There were no fire pits either, so no campfire could be made.

The day that we departed, we woke at 6 am to the sounds of rain pattering on our tent roof. And it lasted until 11:00, all through our pack-up procedure. It was a miserable experience, but quite common in our camping history, as ~D~ was prone to lament and remind us.

We drove through the interesting town of Zadar, which was actually conquered by the Romans at the end of the 3rd century BC. When the Roman Empire split, Zadar became the capital of Byzantine Dalmatia and retained this status until the end of WWI.
Zadar suffered badly in the break-up of former Yugoslavia. The city was shelled by Serbian forces from 1991 to 1993, cutting the city off from both Zagreb and the surrounding region. Much was destroyed and the city's safety remained precarious until the Yugoslav war ended in 1995.

But today, it is a beautiful, peaceful town.



I think it has taken longer for me to find Croatia's beauty. We lived in Sweden for 18 months and found it breathtaking nearly every day we were there. If you find the wildness of Alaska beautiful, you understand something of the beauty of Sweden. Sweden is unpolluted, and abounds with natural lakes, pine forests, and crisp, clean Nordic air. Even in the city of Stockholm, I had the feeling that the countryside was never far away.



Croatia has been much different, and due to those differences, harder for me to truly appreciate. I love it most when we are out of the city and I can see the lay of the land, instead of the concrete buildings or the city buses or the obnoxious mopeds. Our trip to the coast was a refreshing change of atmosphere. I know people are flocking by the thousands now to see the Croatian coast... it has become one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world.



It surely is a beautiful place.

The Closed Castle

Have you ever stuffed your family in the car, along with your out-of-town guests, and traveled through hill and dale to see a castle, only to find out when you get there that there is a huge crane in the front lawn and that the castle is closed due to renovations? No?? Well, that's what we did a couple weeks ago.

It was a beautiful sunny day and we were enjoying the Croatian countryside as we trekked through little villages on our way to Veliki Tabor. Suddenly, in the distance, on a hill far away, the castle came into view.....


As we got closer, I could see the crane jutting up in the air next to the castle, and wondered to myself, "Why is there a CRANE by the castle, for goodness sake?" That "Oh, no, something is wrong" feeling began to creep into my stomach.

We wound our way up the castle hill, closer and closer, until the castle was finally directly in front of us. Another car (the ONLY other car) was parked beside the plastic orange fence, which plainly sent the message we didn't want to hear... CLOSED.

(Lesson Learned: Call Ahead and verify that the castle you want to visit is indeed OPEN, regardless of what the website says. This will save time and prevent embarrassment!)

Like all tourists who have traveled far to their destination, only to find their hopes dashed and their children disappointed, we made our way around the fence so that we could inspect the castle grounds. It was the least we could do, especially since we had brought our poor friends all that way to see the castle. After a quick walk around the castle's "back yard," we could see why it was under renovation... It seemed to be in need of a little TLC.



The panoramic view of the country surrounding the castle must have been even more stunning at the top of the castle's tower than what we were able to see from our on-the-ground vantage point. Katie and I posed for the camera while our children dashed off to inspect more of the castle grounds, no doubt hoping that the back door was somehow left open accidentally.



We tried to make up for the loss by zipping once again through the countryside in hopes of making it to the other famous castle before it closed, but as you can probably guess, we arrived about 15 minutes before closing time. The visit wasn't a total loss though, since we could tour the castle grounds and the lake. Katie and I enjoyed a cappuccino on the floating dock cafe while the kids and my husband rented a paddle boat and had a grand time paddling around the lake.

All in all, it was a great day anyway! We got to see two beautiful Croatian castles, and spend time together with friends that we haven't seen in a few years. I figure this was a day we aren't likely to forget since it didn't turn out at all as we had planned!

A Croatian Castle Tour

In the northern part of Croatia, actually on the Slovenian/Croatian border, is a wonderful castle named "Trakoscan Castle." We have heard it is the most beautiful of all the castles in Croatia. I think it must be true!



We drove up there this morning and spent the day walking up the hill to the castle, touring the inside, and walking the paths around the lake that is situated behind it.



There was a wonderful little restaurant on the lake where the guys enjoyed a hamburger and I shared a pork cutlet with ~D~. It was a gorgeous sunny day and the temperature around 60 degrees.



The castle was built in the late 13th century, but was badly damaged during a family clash, then restored between 1840-1862. The boys were especially in awe of the knight's room, the hunting room and the arms collection with firearms dating from the 15-19th century. The castle contained a large group of portraits showing more than ten generations of the Draskovic family and their relatives. I especially enjoyed the portraits of the children. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures inside the castle!



The back of the castle, with the beautiful lake...



On the way to the castle, we drove through "Krapina." You can imagine how glad I am that I don't live in a city with a name like that! This church really stood out as we passed by, though it is a common fixture in every Croatian town. To me, most of the Croatian villages and towns look the same as you drive through them... just like this....



They seem plain, quaint and quiet. There are no billboards, neon signs, or golden arches towering above. No Walmarts, no fast food chains, no coffee to go. Services are few and far between and are recognized by the blue signs advertising what will be available a few kilometers ahead. Other than that, there is nothing but houses and a church here and there as you drive on and on and on. It is so utterly different from the U.S.

Sometimes we really like it.
Sometimes we wish for a Taco Bell to appear out of nowhere.

Scenic Slovenia

I guess you could sue me for false advertising...but I hope you won't.

In my last entry I wrote of my excitement about visiting Lake Bled. A friend here suggested that place to us, so we researched it on the internet, but we ended up deciding to stay in a small town just a little north of Bled. Of course, I KNEW THAT when I wrote about it, but my brain got stuck on the idea of going to Bled, and I was convinced we were still going there. I'm not sure what exactly is wrong with me, but I think this same brain malfunction caused me to send two wedding cards to a friend. At first, I filled out a card way ahead of the actual wedding date, then set it on my desk, ready to be mailed at the appointed time. The time came and went, and in the meantime, the card disappeared mysteriously. I emailed this friend to ask if she had received the card, thinking it had been mailed by someone else in our house, but this was not the case. I guess I filled out another card and mailed it to her. A couple weeks passed by, and lo and behold, the missing card shows up in the bottom of a drawer where it must have landed after falling from the desk. And not remembering that I'd already sent dear married-by-now-friend a card, I sent her ANOTHER one! Isn't SHE special? That's what she said when she emailed me and thanked me for BOTH of her wedding cards.

All that to say, I think I'm starting to worry about me.

And now, onto the rest of the story....

Kranjska Gora, a small village at the foot of the Julian Alps, was a quiet place to kick off our boots and rest awhile. That is, Clara and I rested, while Dad and the boys tromped off to the mountain everyday and skied to their hearts content.


There was no real snow while we were there, only the artificial snow from the snow cannons covering the slopes. It has been a warm and green winter in most of Europe! The little town was hopping though, with excitement over the women's slalom event being held that weekend. I believe an Austrian took first place.



We stayed at this Bed and Breakfast, owned by a very friendly Slovenian couple.


Breakfast was a mix of coffee or tea, orange juice, fruits, croissants, cereal, bread, cheese, tomatoes, sliced cold cuts and yogurt. My favorite part of traveling in Europe is staying at B&B's. In the U.S., I thought of them as romantic getaways. But here I find it an interesting way to meet the locals and find out what the people in any given area are really like. They are so hospitable and kind, can usually converse well in English, and they provide many helpful travel tips. When we leave a B&B, we feel like we are leaving friends. Case in point, the couple from the B&B we stayed at while visiting Italy last year sent birthday greetings to Clara ON her birthday. I do not even recall sharing what her birth date was with them, but they remembered and they wrote us.

One afternoon, Clara and I went walking around the town and discovered this little bakery, called Kala....



It was the most beautifully decorated bakery I've ever been in. The walls were a soft yellow, and paintings of flowers graced the interior. A cappuccino machine brought forth a magnificent cup of "white coffee," and paired with a slice of warm apple tart that Clara and I shared all made for a memorable occasion. I really felt like I was on my first "date" with my daughter. It was a place I would have taken my mother. It's the little things in life that mean so much!


We visited Papa Joe's Pizzeria a couple times.



This was both fun, and frustrating. We discovered very few restaurants in Slovenia, and this is true also of Croatia, that have high chairs for babies. Clara is in the "discovery of all things wonderful" stage, and this includes all areas of restaurants, under the tables and everything on the floor. There definitely is nothing of interest at the table we have chosen to sit at, so why should she be forced to sit there? (Her logic, not mine.) Eating is one thing. She prefers to sit in our lap and do her eating from our plates. But a baby doesn't eat for long, and she sure doesn't sit there and wait patiently for food to arrive when there is so much exploring that needs to be done. The first night in town, after ordering our food and seeing that eating out was going to be a horrid adventure, I gathered up little girl and we walked back to our room. The guys brought our food later and we ate our pizza in the comfort of our bedroom!


The downtown area was a pedestrian only part of town. This is a good idea, I think. I wish more of our towns in the U.S. were set up like this. It's good to stroll down the cobblestone streets, gaze in store windows, or sit on a bench and have a look at this old church without having cars zoom by and disrupt your thoughts or mess up your hair.



There you have it. Scenic Slovenia. I want to go back. Wanna come with me?

Next Stop:

Lake Bled, Slovenia

Our main purpose for this little adventure is to provide the boys in this family (both the little ones and the BIG one) a chance to do some skiing. I may squeeze in a couple hours myself, but I am afraid it will be more falling than actual skiing. Clara and I will stomp around in the snow together (this will be her first encounter with the fluffy, white stuff), sightsee, and maybe see if she is interested in sledding! We have heard that Lake Bled, in spite of its gory sounding name, is actually a very beautiful place. I can't wait to see it! I'm sure there will be many sights worth photographing and sharing with you later.

Hope your New Year is off to a grand start!

Why I Love Homeschooling:

Fabulous field trips!

For instance, we just returned from Garmisch, Germany! My husband had a work conference in Garmisch, so we tagged along for the week. We drove through Croatia and Slovenia, through the mountains of Austria, then through the farmlands of southern Germany until we arrived in Garmisch. Garmisch is nestled in a valley beneath the tallest mountain in Germany, which is named Zugspitze, and towers above at 2,964 meters. Garmisch-Partenkirchen hosted the 1936 winter Olympics. Many people go there on holiday and it is a real skiing hot-spot in winter. We have even made plans to go back in the winter and ski there!

While my husband was busy with the conference, the kids and I ventured out into the cozy little town. There is an army base located there, so of course, we wanted to check that out. It was a small base, but it had all the necessary stuff. We strapped Clara into the stroller and walked around, breathing cool mountain air, and stepping on freshly fallen orange leaves. Autumn was just beginning to make its grand appearance, but it was warm enough that week that we never needed a jacket. I love the crisp, cool days of this time of the year!



I was mesmerized by the paintings adorning so many of the buildings and homes in Garmisch. The colors were incredible and the scenes were many times biblical ones. Sometimes a whole wall was taken up this way. I had never seen anything like it. Red flowers bloomed happily in window boxes, where the four-paned windows had painted gables. Cows grazed on the mountain grass with their cowbells jingling around their necks. Even though the population was roughly 25,000, it seemed like a small town, where we could easily drive around with a simple map. In fact, our boys took turns navigating and taking us to places of interest.




One morning we rode up the mountain in 2 passenger ski lift cars and hiked our way back down, winding our way to Partnachklamm Gorge. It was exciting to see the boys understand the meaning of the word "gorge." The gorge was beautiful with its narrow mountain walls, raging river below, and sometimes little waterfalls which fell from the heights above us. Sometimes we stooped over to get through short and dark passageways. Clara was with Dad in our Baby Bjorn front carrier the whole time, which she loves.

We ate at Gasthof Fraundorfer on the last night of the conference. This was a true cultural experience! Nearly everyone, except us, guzzled beer from their enormous beer glasses. I ordered the Bavarian specialty of smoked pork chops, mashed potatoes, and saurkraut. I have always enjoyed the tartness of saurkraut on a Reuben sandwich, but I sure couldn't eat the whole pile of it they heaped on my plate that night. It was good, but way more kraut than I needed! The chops were tender and tasty, and the mashed potatoes had a little mysterious topping of some kind (flavored, buttery bread crumbs??) which made them quite good. While we dined, we were treated to the music of an accordian player, and later on the traditional leg slapping-dancing of two young German gents who were stationed right beside our table. My legs hurt after watching how hard they slapped themselves and the bottoms of their shoes to put on a show for all of us tourists. Whew-eee!



I'm off to bed now... More to write about this trip later though!

Back in Time

We're going back in time, to the first week of September....

We arrived in Sweden two days before my birthday. Our flight was the last one leaving from Bergamo that night, so we didn't arrive at our friend's house until after midnight. Dave was waiting for us though, as he always does and greeted us from his front porch. We had to wait till morning to meet his new addition to the family, who is now a blonde headed 18 month old little boy, with the cute nickname of Dan-Dan. When he met our Clara, they hit it off and were best friends the whole time we were there. It was so cute to watch him come up to Clara, put his head next to hers and snuggle with her. Sometimes he wanted to sit on her lap, which she did not find amusing. He would stand beside her, aim his rear end towards her lap, and PLOP, down he goes. Sometimes she was able to make a getaway while he was in the downward motion, and he was surprised to make a landing on the hard floor!

We had such a wonderful time in Sweden. It was one of the few times where we've taken a trip somewhere and it actually felt like a vacation. You know how it is when you go "home" to visit family. That it is not a vacation. Sure, its fun to be with your family and see everyone, but it usually isn't restful or relaxing. Everyone needs to be seen and had dinner with. If its Christmas, we have to juggle our calendar to squeeze in all the dinners and parties for his side and my side of the family. Anyway, the point is, hanging out with Dave and Karin at their house for a week really felt like a vacation.

The boys and the dads always have a yardball competition and several evenings worth of Kick the Can. This is, for my kids, the highlight of the visit. This year, the dads won the yardball tournament and it was a low blow to the kids. The kids nearly beat them, but the old dads came back in the end and saved their reputations. Yardball is a variation of baseball, played in Dave's backyard.

Dave loves to cook and he prepared many special meals for all of us. On my birthday, we had grilled steaks. One night Karin whipped up a mushroom sauce, made with the mushrooms that we picked from the forest that day. It was so delicious (that comes from a girl who has never even liked mushrooms!)

We spent a day wandering around Stockholm. We drove by our old house on Lidingo, ate at one of our favorite restaurants (a Mongolian BBQ), bought the boys their favorite Swedish candies from the grocery store, and spent some time reliving the memories of the 18 months that Stockholm was our home. We dropped in on old friends, and visited our church on Sunday morning. One of the ladies who attends church with us was kind enough to host a gathering of our old Bible Study group friends. How wonderful it was to spend the evening together again, eating, talking, and sharing with each other. They enjoyed seeing Clara... several of them threatened to keep her, but we insisted that we couldn't part with her.

Karin took me shopping in Nykoping one afternoon. Just the two of us! We shopped at H&M, where I found a few things for Clara. We enjoyed a cup of coffee and a muffin at a wonderful cafe. And the drive there and back was a beautiful one. I love the old red color of the majority of Swedish homes and barns. It is especially gorgeous in the winter with the snow all around. The air is so crisp and clear, the sky is a pure blue, and the trees and grass add the perfect summer shade of green to bring it all together in a way that is a feast for your eyes. I am really drawn to places like that. It was very hard to say goodbye to it again, knowing that I would be returning to a noisy city atmosphere. God definitely did not make me a city girl!

We also spent a Sunday at Grona Lund, Stockholm's amusement park. It happened to be a very busy day there. We could hardly move through the crowds and there were long lines at the food shacks and to ride the rides. But even so, it wasn't nearly as bad as a Six Flags. The boys never spent more than 30 minutes in line. They had a great time, especially ~D~ since he had grown taller and was able to ride a few things for the first time.

We are so blessed to have Dave and Karin's friendship! Without their kindness and hospitality, this trip would not have been as wonderful as it was, and likely would not have happened in the first place! Just being together with them in their home was a special joy and we pray that there will be many more times in the future that our paths will cross. (Dave and Karin: If you guys are reading this, thanks again for everything and we love you!)

Sweden is a beautiful country. None of our relatives or friends were able to come visit while we lived there. They missed an opportunity of a lifetime! Though it is expensive to fly there from the U.S., it is worth every penny to see this place with your own eyes, to breathe the Nordic air, and to walk through its forests. I am so thankful for the year and a half that God allowed us to live there. I hope that someday I'll look back with the same fondness for our time here in Croatia!

Bergamo, Italy

This is the Bed and Breakfast we stayed in a few nights, just outside of Bergamo, Italy. The house is actually the orange building in the middle. They have an amazing grapevine swinging down and across the front entrance. It is over 70 years old and still produces grapes that the owners pick and eat, even making their own wine. It was in a charming little Italian village, situated on a beautiful lake. The weather was warm, around 80-85 degrees and sunny. Flowers were still in full bloom everywhere and the Italians were out in full force suntanning on the beach.



Our room was bright and clean. Our only discomfort was the mattress, which was thin and extremely hard! We had our own bathroom, which was nearly as large as the bedroom! The bathroom had orange tile and an orange light bulb in the ceiling fixture. I'm not crazy about the color orange, and mixing it with hot pink was definitely an amusing twist. The owners brought breakfast to our room each morning on trays. We had small pieces of toast with jam or ham, yogurt, corn flakes, Nescafe, orange drink, cakes, and little Italian biscuits. The bed and breakfast is owned by a young couple who don't have children. They travel during the winter months, working from their laptops. This year they said they will spend 5 or 6 months in Thailand!



Clara and I are in front of one of the towers that belong to Castle San Vigilio in the hills of the old walled part of Bergamo. The tower was open for us to walk through and it cost us nothing to look around and rest on the benches, where we could look over the city of Bergamo.



Think gas prices are high in your State? There are 3.8 liters in a gallon, and Italy uses the Euro, so its like paying $6.35/gallon! Ouch- That hurts!



We are getting used to the European way of eating pizza. The pizza is brought to you, uncut, on a large plate. This pizza is cool since it looks like a fish! ~D~ ordered a Margarita pizza, the kind that only has sauce and cheese on it. We miss American pepperoni pizza. We found a couple places in Sweden that served pepperoni pizza, but it is hard to find. The boys usually play it safe and just order the cheese pizzas!

A Castle in Slovenia

We enjoyed a little visit to Mokrice Castle in Slovenia last weekend. We are only about an hour away from the Slovenian border.


Mokrice is first mentioned by historical sources in 1444. The name comes from the word mokrota, meaning marshland and springs.



There is an interesting legend from the 17th century about the Countess Barbara Moscon and the towers of this castle. She was said to have thrown herself from the top of the tower after a tragic love affair. Supposedly, on every feast day of St. Barbara, an old Turkish cannonball, fired by the spirit of the unfortunate Countess, would roll around the castle courtyard three times! The cannonball lay in front of the castle entrance until the Second World War, when it was taken to the Historical Museum in Zagreb. There is a memorial plaque to Barbara Moscon on the retaining wall of the Chapel of St. Anne, pictured below....



The medieval Chapel of St. Anne, with its Baroque interior.

In 1941 the castle was occupied by the Germans. When they left in 1945, they took with them most of the valuable items from the Knights Hall, furniture, paintings and even the stoves and fireplaces.

Mokrice was nationalized after the war. It became a home for children orphaned by the war, then it was an old people's home. In 1952 it was turned into a restaurant. Today it is owned by the state and managed by a nearby spa complex. The castle is a 4 star hotel with 29 rooms, four of them in the tower and a beautiful restaurant with seating for 150 guests, stretching across three halls.

It was a thrill to walk across the drawbridge and into the castle courtyard. Our first castle experience - we can't wait to see more!

A Peek Inside our Croatian Home

Our living room. We did not choose our house (it was assigned to us.) It was also fully furnished. The glider rocker is mine, however, since I wanted to be able to rock baby Clara in it.




My kitchen.... most Croatian kitchens are very tiny. I would have expected a larger kitchen in a house the size of ours. You can see our fridge is about the same size as me!! I also have a mini dishwasher and oven. You are looking at the whole kitchen except for a small cupboard to the right.

That's all for now! I'll post pictures of several other rooms later!

Camping at Plitvice

We went camping Friday night. Yes, just for one night! We drove to a beautiful national park in Croatia called Plitvice Lakes. It was the most beautiful place we have been to so far in Croatia.



We pitched our tent at the campground there, rolled out the sleeping bags and had a restless night of sleep on our sloped spot. When we woke in the morning, our boys had slid halfway down the floor of the tent and ~N~ snaked his way back to the top edge. It was quite comical, he looked like an inchworm in a bag! Camping at this park (and maybe it is this way all over Croatia?) was different than in the U.S. We didn't drive around looking for a numbered spot to call our own. Instead we drove through the campground and looked for any grassy place that was appealing to us. It was a busy night... all of the flat, shady spots were taken, so we made the best of it on our little slope. We drove our van across the grass, down a hill, and into a grove of trees where about 3 or 4 other tents were already set up. Clara slept as good as can be expected, snuggled next to me in my sleeping bag (actually, hubby and I had twin size air mattresses, quite comfy!)



We did not bring food, as we had decided to keep it simple with the baby on this trip. We walked to the restaurant, where only one other family was eating. At first we thought it was closed, and were ready to accept this European aversion to breakfast. When we realized it was open, we saw that they had what they called "self service." On the buffet table you could choose from thick slices of bread, sliced cheese, cold turkey slices, canned fruit, oats, corn flakes, instant coffee or tea, and tomato juice. This was a costly breakfast, at 50 kuna ($9) a head, and 25 kuna ($5) for kids. We should have brought our own breakfast, if nothing else!!

After breakfast, we lounged at our campsite awhile. I put a big blanket on the ground under our shade tree for Clara to crawl around on. She nursed and had a nap there while the boys rode their scooters around and picked out a snack at the market. I read a few pages of my book, The Siren Queen by Fiona Buckley.

When Clara woke up, we packed up the tent and all our stuff, then drove about 6 km to the first entrance of the national park. We were ready for our 3 hour hike (which took us 4 hours and 45 minutes!) I put Clara in our front carrier and held an umbrella over us for shade. Dad carried the backpack that contained water, snacks, camera and diapers. Our first view of the waterfalls was breathtaking. They were gorgeous! Most of the time we were walking on a board path, and sometimes just a dirt trail. It was a hot 90 degrees or more, but we were in a forest with lots of trees which kept us shaded a lot of the time.



Towards the end of our hike, we ate a meal of what they called "chicken on a spit", pork cutlet, 2 hamburgers and 2 orders of french fries. The chicken was delicious! We topped it off with ice cream, and then boarded a ferry to cross the lake. More walking to get to the tram which would take us back to the park entrance. Well, it would have if we had gotten on the right tram. We unknowingly boarded the tram that took us all the way to the other end of the park!!! Ack! And with a tired, hot and sweaty baby! I stripped her down to her diaper and she enjoyed grabbing at the shirt that belonged to the man who was standing next to us. He was hiking with a small child himself, and often smiled and cooed at Clara.



Realizing our mistake after we got off the tram and things didn't look familiar, we did the right thing and ASKED SOMEONE FOR HELP, then got right back on the dumb tram and rode back down again. We got off and had to walk another 20 minutes or so to get back to our van and the wonderful cool A.C. Whew!!!

On the way back home, we stopped at a little waterfall area/swimming hole where Dad and the boys jumped in for a little cool-down. It looked like fun, but Clara thought the water too cold for her taste!




I'm glad we took the time to get out of the busy city for awhile. I always love the night sounds as we drift off to sleep in the tent, and also when we wake in the morning and see the trees with the sun shining through them, the call of the birds, and the fresh dampness of the morning dew. So simple, so peaceful, so refreshing! Thank you Lord, for the beauty of Your Creation. Open our eyes so that we may see your Glory!

Welcome to the Zagreb Zoo!

Yesterday the temperature was a cool 80 degrees, a perfect day for strolling through the zoo. Many of the animals were having their afternoon siesta, but we found a few who were wide awake and happy to interact with people... like this enchanting little otter!



~D~ loved seeing the tiger. Clara didn't seem to notice we were at the zoo. To her it was just a walk outdoors!





I have to say, these were the most interesting critters I ever layed eyes on:





Clara's zoo visit tip: "When you can't hack it anymore, lie back and take a nap!"