Christmas letter

December 25, 2014 or “”looking at 2014 through gelato colored and wine FILLED glasses Dear friends, 2014 has us moving forward, maybe, typical for the Bauer family...lots of playful joking, often at the expense of ourselves, lots of newly invented things and lots of travel idiocy included. First, new things: We have a new Granddaughter! Paige Marianne Bauer was born to Jake and Kim on January 22.

Around the same time, since they would be sleep deprived anyway, Jake and Kim also added a new puppy, Kula (an English crème golden retriever)

There's some of that idiocy. Mason and Kale kind of like BOTH the new things. Next, Ian and Candace moved to a new house in Puyallup (3 blocks from Liesl and Nate) and soon got two new kittens. Finally, as if the our new house weren't enough, we designed and built a new 1500 square foot apartment over the shop (come visit!) and a chalkboard stage and karaoke theatre for visiting grandkids and friends.

The kids have all tried it out. I suspect Mark sneaks up there to try it out in his underwear like Tom Cruise, but have failed to catch him in the act. All grandkids are dancing on the stage above! Unlike the rest of us, Liesl and Nate have more reasonable things to report. Cooper and Gracie are growing more fun with each day and still cute as can be (say the grandparents) They both love pre-school and Cooper will be attending all day kindergarten next fall. Cooper has become a Lego construction fanatic. He is very adept at constructing monsters, buildings, planes and other assorted imagined items. He is very very good at this. Do we have a budding engineer or architect in the family? Time will tell.

Gracie is still a very (very) quietly self assured strong willed little girl. They both love to cuddle (at times) and we enjoy them when we get a day together. Nate's job at corporate Starbucks continues to provide him with opportunity to advance and the commute by train is pretty good compared to car travel. Liesl is still practicing psychotherapy in Olympia two days weekly and her calendar is packed, a very successful business. Doesn’t she look professional?? Uh, professional psychotherapist that is!

Nate played elf and delivered presents last night Ian's new job (well, new last year) in Seattle is going well and he has had big successes with some important cases. He has been on the local Seattle NBC news a couple of times. Very weird to be getting undressed for bed and hear him speaking out of the TV. He crosses paths with Nathan on the commute train some mornings so they are enjoying their close Puyallup proximity. Candace is enjoying her retirement from the law and the three kids are certainly benefitting from lots of attention from parents and her efforts at teaching them what the schools don't.

All three are bright and active. Donovan is in kindergarten, Aidan in 1st grade and Nya in pre-school/day care a few days a week. Aidan is becoming all boy and is crazy about soccer; he is also a great big brother and led one team of the grandkid scavenger hunt this Christmas. Donovan’s sweet smile (on the right) shines through his high activity level and competes with this mischievous eyes; he is focused on art at the moment and quite productive when placed in front of a piece of paper with proper utensils to fill it in.

Nya is all about Disney and Disney princesses; she also is very strong willed and quite the athlete in her tutu/princess gowns. The family takes an annual cruise on a Disney ship and they are really looking forward to the next one in February (Caribbean). Kim and Jake have been very busy this year with a new baby and a new puppy. Paige bears a strong resemblance to her brothers (in activity, intelligence and looks) and is just now starting to get around to messing up their toys, Legos and train sets. The best is yet to come, boys!

Mason is full out sports crazy and can quote many different statistics, some I didn't even know anyone could keep track of. He got a tackle dummy for Christmas from us so as to try to protect Kale and Paige, neither of whom look like they need much protecting!

Kale is also very into sports and tackles as hard as he takes, and also likes to build things - Legos and trains rate high.

Kula likes to destroy things or dig really big holes in the yard...heh heh heh - been there and dealt with that. He is also a great water dog and wreaked havoc with our annual duck races in our stream. He is of English heritage (think stockier and shorter nose). He will be a fantastic dog once he matures a bit and is less muddy. Jake has been focusing on his work, triathlons and marathons. He completed the NY Marathon last month and is aiming at the Roth Triathlon in Germany next summer. Mark is envious of his speed, physical capabilities, and surgical skill. They still enjoy practicing together. Kim, well she has been more than busy with baby, puppy, 3 boys (Jake!) and so on, but still manages to run her businesses and take part in her own races. Admirable mom and woman combined.

Mark and I have been trying to decide what we want to do when we grow up. We each got new associates at work (Michael Elm with Jane and JackJack for Mark, Heidi Magaro for me with Garth, Lane and Brody) Great great additions! We therefore have each cut back to 3 days a week and seem to be filling our two extra days off with shopping, traveling, and having fun with our new house. It’s expensive to retire partially!! We took the attic of the shop and made it into a really cool art/music studio/apartment. Now if only one of us was just artistic or more musical!!! I am able to get a bit more exercise in with the extra days off. I swear the weight gain must be more muscle....HA!!! Mark still works out an hour or so a day and looks like he did in high school - no, he looks better - lucky me - porn for women of a certain age. Wouldn't it be lovely if we could all be better like that?!!

We took off in September to "adventure sail" on the Croatian coast. Took Sarah Lux with us…nice to have your personal physician along! We were supposed to be sailing on a catamaran, kayaking, biking and hiking. Weather was beautiful, but no wind. Put the sails up for 10 minutes and had to take them down. We biked and hiked through national parks and kayaked around a few different islands off the Dalmatian coast and further north before ending up with 2 days in Venice. I enjoyed looking at the world through gelato colored glasses 2-3x daily…there’s that weight again.

No, George Clooney didn't invite us to the wedding, but everyone else was there! More details and some pictures of the trip can be found below. We also found time for a few trips to Gearhart and a visit with Majken in Phoenix after one of my meetings. Also, siblings, nieces, nephews and lots of friends came to our and the Judah's joint annual summer party; this time it was Mardi Gras in July.

A Dixie land band, oysters from our beach, jambalaya, costumes, snow cones for all, and idiocy was fun for all. Cooper especially loved the face painting and my brother and sister made it north for the fun.

We also had a Christmas Day cookie exchange as we used to, for those who find themselves needing a break from the Christmas Day hubbub, or need to be busy while family is elsewhere. We find this house perfect for big parties and try to have one often to let it fulfill its special purpose. Three so far this Christmas. Lots of fun!!! Finally, our family of dogs still consists of Gunner and Zenyatta. They are sweet dogs. Gunner likes to watch the elk out our beach window and Zenya likes the attention of being groomed.

Pet me mom!!! What would we do without them!?? One last picture of all the grandkids…what would we do without THEM!??? LEFT TO RIGHT: Donovan (6 ½), Kale (5) with Paige (1), Mason (almost 8), Aidan (almost 8),Nya (almost 4), Cooper (5), Grace (31/2)

Have a great holiday and please come visit. We have an empty apartment waiting for someone to mess it up! Love from all of us. Kathie and Mark, Gunner and Zenyatta (Think Kenya with a bit of Seinfeld on the end))

Day 16 Two weddings and a funeral Up early on our last full day in Italy. Caesare, our host, is up early as well to get us breakfast. He tricks us. First it looks like there is a small cereal, yogurt, juice and fruit fare ...then, when we have started that, out comes the good stuff. So, one hour, two croissants, and 2 cups of coffee, eggs, fruit and bread, yogurt and more fruit later we wiggle/waddle back to the room for a nap before we catch 4.2 to Font. Nuove and into the heart of the Venice canals. Rumor has it George Clooney is getting married today so we join at least 30,000 would-be paparazzi with cameras on sticks looking for the happy couple (I guess Brad and Angelina, Matt Damon and Bono are in the wedding party as well!!!!). Guess my invite to the bachelor party got lost in the mail. We had searched the entire city when at 11:30 the church bells went nuts. We were close by too. Well as close as you can get while winding in and over canals. We get there though and find a large group next to a bridge with a canal boat waiting in the water directly in front of them. We flank the group and … a funeral. I guess instead of a hearse there is a gray canal boat with casket on an hydraulic lift lowering it onto the boat. Actually very touching. So it’s noon and believe it or not we are hungry, thirsty, and tired. Time to sit and enjoy watching life on the canal. Then after quatro stagioni, water and wine the real wedding party shows up, well sans, Brad, Angelina, and George with what’s her name, oh, the bride. This has to be the only wedding going on today where it is not all about the bride.

Oh well, by 3 not even two scoops of gelato could revive our aching legs. Back to Murano and find those earrings Kathie saw yesterday in one of the 75 glass shops we were in. Took a while, then ... Success. Woke up in time to go find more earrings and lass gCherries. Glass cherries are our tree ornament for this year. Then off to find dinner because bodyguards are not letting us go to the “B” restaurant we have gone to the last 2 nights. We went to Duomo across the canal from our host’s church. My-Oh-My. Did we have the 3 hour 5 course great local restaurant or what? Bellini peach prosecco , bresaeola with arugola and parma, Sea bass with tomatoes, shrimp with skinny tagliatini, house wine, coffee gelato, tiramisu, and limoncello. Sorry, I can’t be expected to remember anything more. Be thankful we made it back to #77. Check on the M’s, read the mail, and shut ‘er down for the night, to rise at 3 a.m. to catch the water taxi and plane. See you all tomorrow (give or take a few time zones).

Love Mark and Kathie

Day 15 Turning for the home stretch, grazie. So time to pack and leave Croatia with our final 2 days in Italy. I was going to give you a big line about setting our iPhone alarm to get up early for the ferry to Venice and missing it because the internal clock on the iPhone was still on Oly time. Shauna and Majken, Kathie would not let me do it to you again. Up early and with the exception that it seems the bags have been eating at the same restaurants we have and weighing more, able to lug our bags to the ferry. Nice quick 3 hours without any crazy events. Easily through customs and pop out on a canal. Imagine that in Venice. Then somehow we figure 2 short water taxi rides and get to the island of Murano. Kathie figures the little island just a mile or so from Venice will be special at half the price. Now I am not sure about half the price put it is twice as special and we don’t have to share it with 30,000 other tourists. Staying at Murano Palace. Sort of like Harry Potter going to town and squeezing between two buildings #76 and #78, then apparating through a door into #77. After a 15 minute introduction to Murano and Venice complete with 4 generations of family history and 1000 years of church history we are up to our room, unburdened of 2 weeks of dirty stuff and off for lunch at what turns out to be one of the innkeeper's son's great restaurants. So as slowly as you can say tagliatelli with mixed fish, cheese olives and balsamic vinegar, proceeded by real Carpaccio on a bed of arugula smothered with shaved parmesan and rinsed with prosecco and we have been converted to Italian. Good thing we have all afternoon to walk this off before we have to go back and do it all over again. Suspect they will be out of prosecco (don’t know how that could have happened) but hope they have some other flavor☺ Does anyone need anything made of glass? I mean anything. Have never seen so many shops selling so much glass. If the earth shakes here they will be sweeping up broken glass through the entire 21st century. Wander up and down canals and over bridges complete with little old men playing accordion, take photos without people in the way, visit extraordinary churches, almost cry witnessing a little old lady dragging a class chandelier down the street shattering as she tried to pick up the pieces, pass numerous outdoor glass exhibits by local masters and even get sucked into a glass blowing demonstration.

Liesl, remember your little glass horses. We watched a guy make one in maybe 90 seconds tops. Orange hot (1300 degrees when he starts) I don’t remember if that is F. or C. As Kathie says, who cares at that temperature? When he is done it looks like a horse complete with colored mane and tail and he puts it on a stone table to be admired. Looks normal to us. A few minutes later, as a demonstration to the group gathered not to try to touch, he places a scrap of paper on top and it bursts into flame. I guess when they say it takes 2 days to cool they mean it. Oh well dinner just two hours left for sea food risotto, wine, panna cotta with forest fruit, and lemoncello. Early to bed as Venice is to be concurred tomorrow.

Day 14 - Nutella?

Days 12-14

Day 14 Where have you been all my life? So today is all about me and all about food. Well, sort of. Several years ago we went with the family to Oaxaca, Mexico and had a great tour of the ruins and the town. As part of the tour we spent time in the local market where there were seemingly hundreds if not thousands of baskets full of what looked like small red/brown/orange peppers but were in reality grasshoppers. Then we had lunch. Then, you can believe it or not, my family let me eat some of those same grasshoppers washed down with margaritas. !5 years ago we had the pleasure of going to Scandinavia with Liesl’s soccer team and the girls loved Nutella. No one let me have any. Now, I have always been under the assumption Kathie took good care of me. She always seems to have done a nice job of feeding and clothing me. I have always trusted her. But, after breakfast today the light has been turned on. NUTELLA, where have you been all my life? Now I see. Feed me bugs and deny me Nutella. I think I have found the new meaning of life. So much for the ranting’s of a chocolate starved old man. Woke to a little rain so off to see the best-preserved Roman ruins this side of the Adriatic, in Pula.

Sort of eerie going under the sand floor of the arena where you know the gladiators could hear the crowds and the foe whether it was man or beast. Good place to have been for the mild rain we had. Came back to Rovinj, and a nice day at Casa Garzotta. They have been great to us. Bags packed and much needed showers taken. Off to last dinner in Istria. We saved the best, and believe me, the best for last. Nice dinner of fish special of the day with truffle sauce and filet with green pepper sauce. Oh and the bottle of Riesling and then we were sauced. Seems to be a theme here. Gelato, pay our last bill and get rid of all our left over Kuna (next time we come they will be on the Euro) get our packed lunch for the ferry and off to an early bed with the ferry for us at 6 am. Final stop, Venice, on a much too short trip to Istria.

Day 13 ½ Droning on in Area 51 So how spooky is this? To crazy to believe. Kathie and I are sitting at a window table in a very small restaurant on an even smaller winding hillside street in Old Town Rovinj. We are talking about the new US/allies air strikes and what place drones must also be playing. So Kathie tells me about the next phase in Drone technology. Seems that with the exception of a baseball bat which can take out low flying types like the ones sold at the mall, radar jamming makes them crazy and the military is now working on autonomous ones with face recognition software that are immune to jamming by enemy computer technology. Then the next step, to imbed sensing capabilities so they can team up like bees or ants to attack in swarms without having to be directed. Trying to comprehend the meaning of all of this when we hear this buzzing noise and figure a small motorcycle is about to climb up the narrow winding street outside the window. Turn to check on the passing scoter and look straight into the 2 flashing red LED lights of a Drone. It hovers outside the window for a short 1-2 seconds then flies on up the street. I swear to …..How spooky is that. Had not even gotten half way through my glass of wine. What rabbit hole have we fallen down? Day 12-13 Where are we and how did we get here? Dear diary. Please forgive me for not visiting you for 2 days. I have been confused - Sort of like living in 3 completely different worlds. Has this ever happened to you? You go away for vacation and then when you come home the trip seems almost like a dream. The last 3 days have sort of been like that for us. Kathie spent much of the drive 2 days ago summarizing, if that can be done, the complex relationship between geography, economics, religion, ethnicity and European history that is Croatia, and the rest of what we sort of understand as the former Yugoslavia. A shortcut from Plitvice National Park to Opatija was like slow motion through the lifting fog of war. Houses, barns or for that matter entire villages shot up and burned out with not a sign of life now or for that matter likely for 15 years. You know as you pass people, entire families, perished there. Didn’t just go away as some say but died a gruesome death. There is not a plow, a cow, not even a cat to be seen. How then could we drive out of these battle-scarred mountains into Opatija, the Victorian “Monte Carlo” of Croatia. I guess when the Rockefeller’s where going to San Moritz and Monte Carlo the Austrian royal family was going to Opatija. To stay at the Savoy, complete with spa, our own beach, our room over the water, and our own parking at the front door was sort of a trip back 100 years. One could get used to this sort of stuff. To sleep, perchance to … Yesterday we then had the pleasure of visiting Motovun. A14th century hill town pops out of a delightful river valley that services as a transportation and agricultural lifeline for central northwest Istrian peninsula in Croatia. Rick Steves tells us it is the birthplace of Mario Andretti. I can figure out how he learned to drive curves but not how he learned how to drive faster than 5 miles per hour. So after all this Disney sort of setting how could we expect more. Well, all it takes is to enter a 2-3 mile tunnel and when you pop out the other end, pump the break and the gas peddle 3 times and you get your wish. You arrive in Rovinj - What Dubrovnik used to be. No big wall to walk around but what it lacks in walls it more than makes up for in food, shinny marble squares, winding narrow shop lined streets, friendly locals, and great gelato. Doing the best we can to absorb it all.

Last night, eager for more water fun, and not quite sure if we are contacting the local Croatian mafia or the real thing, we make arrangements to Kayak today, Wednesday . Dealing with Darko over the interne and this morning we get picked up by Bo Bo. As it turns out Bo Bo is the Croatian world cup mountain climbing champion biker; he doesn’t ride professionally now but was proud to tell me that 3 years ago when Contador won the Tour de Italy he did the toughest mountain stage climb in a record 47 minutes and Bo Bo did it the same year in 52. I pointed out to him that it looked like for a professional biker he looked like he had come through it all with all his arms and legs in one piece. He then pulled back his shorts to reveal a 6-8 inch ugly scar on his thigh and signs of knee surgery. Not a sport for the faint of heart. Sadly according to him the only sports you can make a living at in Croatia are soccer or basketball so he now also leads kayak tours as well as doing 40-60 miles a day in the mountains. So Bo Bo puts us in our kayaks along with a couple from Ireland and we get instantly transported back to the 14th century for a 4 mile paddle around the Rovinj archipelago, 5 small islands and a light house in the harbor that protects Rovinj. So we spent the day Island hopping complete with walking tours of 14th Benedictine monasteries and 19th century villas. Lunch and swimming. Hard to figure out if you are dreaming or in some sort of strange time warp. You know when you are dreaming and maybe you are flying or running? For some reason when I run in my dreams it is in slow motion. I know I am dreaming but it still seems real. So we are paddling in a pristine harbor. We put in on a small island where 14th century Benedictine monks built a monastery. We climb to the top of the remaining tower and look out over a crystal clear blue Adriatic that almost melds indistinctly with the sky, interrupted only by 15 or so white sails at the horizon. A dream, or is it. Then you again get shocked back to reality when you realize the clouds overhead are not clouds at all but contrails. Not the 1 or 2 you might see over Olympia on a perfect summer day but 20 or more, all starting in one place and heading the same direction. Then you recall the morning news that the US and its allies are going to Syria from the US base in Italy. Again the signs of mans’ inability to get along with man. The last 3 days have sort of been like a long dream. Drifting in and out of the fog of wars past and present, gliding in our personal boat from the 21st back to the 14st century and back again. Sort of disorienting. So back in our 16th century room in the old town of Rovinj. Another great meal and to early bed. Have tomorrow all planned. Off to the best preserved Roman amphitheater from 100 AD. That should help us figure out where the H… we are.

Day 11

Day 11 So, we woke up today to a wonderful breakfast and took off for Opatija. Today, we saw the real Croatia. Not the tourist towns on the coast selling Chinese trinkets, but the country struggling to adapt after a horrific war. A bit of history first…when we came to Yugoslavia in 1973, it was a mix of countries pasted together after WWII. Tito had been a partisan fighting the Nazis. He was socialist, but outside of the Russian controlling parties. He had a vision of uniting the southern (Jugo) Slavic countries into one country – Yugoslavia. He was brutal in putting down the opposition and consolidating power after the war, but after the initial years of power, Yugoslavia worked. The US didn’t like him because he wasn’t in the NATO camp, but the Russians didn’t like him either. He and a number of other leaders from around the world kept their countries non-aligned…they played the big countries against each other quite well. Now, Tito had married together the cultural, ethnic and religious groups that lived on that coastline we drove. In 73, the coast was rich, the interior poor, but eating. The cultural backgrounds were extensive There were the Roman Catholics first brought to the area by Charlemagne, from France, which were later supported by the Austrian Habsburgs. The byzantine empire brought Eastern Orthodox Christianity, and the Ottomans brought in the Islamic community. When the Roman Empire split in the 4th century, you got a catholic west and orthodox east. The Ottomans invaded in the 14th century and further divided the Christian North from the Muslim south. The Croats, Slovenes, Serbs and Bosniaks are all Slavian, but of many different religions. It gets even more confusing as you add in the various languages, cultures, and non-slavic peoples. Add into that, though, history and the battles that have raged for centuries and it gets worse. Then Tito died…oops. No wonder it exploded in 91. First Slovenia seceded, in a relatively peaceful election process in 1990. They wanted the communists out and to be a peaceful independent nation. The Yugoslovian Army, young and inexperienced, lost a ten day battle and Slovenia was free. Then came Croatia…not so simple. A former Nazi took control of Croatia; the Croat nazi group (Ustase) had badly mistreated the Serbs in WWII. The Serbs in Croatia would not stand for this new threat and fought for their own freedom – they joined the Yugoslavian Army in droves. In fighting back, they utilized the same techniques of massive slaughter the Nazi based Ustase Croats had used in WWII. And so the battle for blood, vengeance and ”getting even” was off and running. There is lots of information out there about the Dubrovnik siege and the battles the various groups fought for years. 20 years out from the last peace treaties (some of which are still tenuous), driving the small (one lane) back country roads tells another story.

Isolated houses and small hamlets are destroyed and still empty of people. Bullet pock marks dot the buildings that still stand. Everywhere on road sides are large black marble plaques listing the numerous dead from the area in small print. Fields lay overgrown and unused. Through it all, you know people died here, some of them forgotten and un-mourned. This was chilling. Perhaps the most memorable hours so far for this trip. This is truly why we like to travel, to try to get the more real story of what different people are experiencing, not the local news bite. As stated in Day 3, when looking at the past, there are no good or bad guys here, just a toxic mix of political, religious, cultural, economic, ethnic and multi-generational stew…stirred with fear. One good point, the younger generation seems to have moved past this, at least in Croatia. We have noticed Croatia seems to have little left of Croatia in it, American styles, music, food and so on. We hope the peace is not at the expense of losing their culture…altogether an interesting day. Kathie

Day 10

Day 10 The Wild Wild West So after fretting about the threat of rain and the closure of Plitvicka National Park, we decide to stick to our best laid plans and head into the mountains for a day of trekking. Lovely drive up into those limestone mountains we have been looking at the whole trip.

Park is an aberration of nature, topography and chemistry. Seems moving water over limestone allows for the formation of calcium carbonate while still water remains supersaturated. As a result you get the Yellowstone effect at waterfalls where it precipitates out to form white coverings on rocks. In this case we didn’t see anything like Yellowstone except what seemed to have deposited on the bottom of the electric boats used to ferry you around and the painting of what looks curiously like an American Native American in the Hotel lobby.

Geology has created 16 lakes cascading off the Eastern side of the mountains and an amazing set of waterfalls connecting them. Because of the recent heavy rains many of the trails were closed so instead of 6 we got 3 hours and an electric boat ride on our little friend Slap here and didn’t even need to have CaCo3 scrapped off our bottoms. With all the time we saved we went back to the hotel and took strategic advantage of this great little corner shower with small tub enclosure to do a very much-needed “load” of wash. The Italians will not be able to smell us coming now.

Rain holds off for the day but boy what a lighting storm after midnight. Windows flashed all night. Kept waking me up so of course I would have to check on the progress of the Hawks with each flash and somewhere around 3:30, way to go Hawks. Now if the M’s could just close the deal. Oh, and it seems the curse is broken. Internet still up and running. Maybe I better not push my luck and just post this. According to Wikipedia: Calcium carbonate is a common substance found in rocks in all parts of the world, and is the main component of shells of marine organisms, snails, coal balls, pearls, and eggshells. We didn’t’ see any coal balls either but we are keeping our eyes open just incase.

Day 9

Day 9 No sunscreen needed☹ We have been so fortunate. Even the first few days we were here it rained but didn’t disrupt anything. Well we wake to the clouds rolling in and they were not alone. Packed and went into Hvar to shop and have breakfast. Ended up at a street side café having a great 2-hour breakfast watching the boats in the harbor bob and jive around and listening to the thunder roll. Thought we caught a little break. Definitive word there being thought. Quick to the bank for Kuna, the local market for a chocolate croissant for me and almonds for Kathie, the market for a Coke and we have lunch on the ferry covered. We have only been in Croatia twice now, ’73 and 2014, and both times witness two amazing lightening and thunderstorms. It would be OK if it stops before we board the ferry to Split. Writing while waiting in the car for the ferry. So much for waiting for the ferry ride to eat the croissant. Hope you get your swim in today Sarah. We sort of got ours in while shopping and didn’t even need to step off the dock to do it. Starting to get a little concerned. Seems a little bit coincidental that two Internet systems I have been on have gone down. Sort of 3-on-a–match kind of stuff. Hope no one is tracking me. I guess we will find out if the system goes down while I am checking on the Oregon game. For the weekend: go Ducks, M’s, and Seahawks. Wish me luck as well. Going out to buy an umbrella if there is one left in Split. Majken just tells me she is following the weather channel and I guess we are having the worst rain in the last 50 years. Great. We did have a great 5 days on the boat.

Hvar is Dubrovnik without the 20,000 tourists, bad wine, mediocre food, ??? waiters, and unfortunately with rain. Made it on the ferry surrounded by trucks, big trucks with trailers this long. Oh that is another bad worn out joke. Made it on the ferry and had a very peaceful crossing to Split. Actually even got a little sleep. Good thing. Needed all our wits about us to do battle with Nuvi over where Villa Diana was. Now Nuvi says go 6.2 K on bla-bla-bla. And we think we are there. So we go round and round the same oval looking to the inside all the time passing the Villa Diana over and over again on the ouside. Sort of Pink Panther-ish. Oh well, all is well that ends well and it did end well. Place is very nice. Would you expect any place Kathie found to be anything but? The rain has continued to hold off so we head out to see the Diocletian Palace. That Diocletian would turn over in his grave if he could see it now. Filled with little stands selling made in China stuff to thousands of tourists form China. Did get a kick out of one souvenir saleswomen telling off a Chinese tourist who was trying to bargain with her. Crappy souvenirs yes. Pushy tourists even more. Put it all together, better in ’73. Back to a nice B&B. Quiet dinner and a good night’s sleep. Worried about the rain and going to Plitvicka National Park. Part of it is closed because of the rain but we will go anyway. Correct decision, but more on that tomorrow. New mantra: if you continue to worry about yesterday, tomorrow will never come. Where the H…. did that come from? Maybe the 1/2liter of house red w

Day 8

Day 8 “Under the bell” You can tell when I post by the size of the type. If it is large, then I am writing in the morning when the room is dark, my eyes are blurry and I don’t have my glasses on. Well actually haven’t had them on all vacation. Makes it hard to read the menu but fortunately Croatia has English everywhere so usually I can figure it out. That sort of crystalizes something we have noticed but not figured out until maybe day 8. In 1973 when two naive bright eyed kids came down a rugged Dalmatian coast they discovered an amazing stone city on the Adriatic. Now of course we were not the first to discover Dubrovnik but there were not 20,000 others carrying iPhones on sticks discovering it at the same time. Not quite the same this time. The city was lovely and the water was just as blue but the crowds and just the Croatian-ness of it was missing. So Americanized. Sort of like you find a great foreign restaurant and then Rick Steves finds it, puts it in his book, the rest of the world descends on it, and before you know it, it is overrun and ruined. We wonder if the 1991 war just blew the ethnicity out of Dubrovnik and when the toxic fog of war lifted the 21st century swooped in and took its place complete with American music around every corner. Got up early and crammed all our getting dirtier stuff in a bag (some socks will never be white again). The start of a new day has to begin with a visit to Dolce Vita where we get the house specialty of Swedish pancakes wrapped around vanilla ice cream covered with fresh fruit, whipped cream, and fruit syrup - all washed down with coffee latte. Have grown to like breakfast. Then it is off we go. Sarah, you are a true friend. You could have been sleeping in or swimming but instead you make yourself come with us for breakfast and then help schlep our stuff up out of the Old Town to the car rental place. Hope a day at the beach is time enough to heal your tired feet. We get our little white Audi 3 TDI wagon and we zip north on an adventure to rediscover that hidden jewel on the Adriatic.

Not sure but I think we may have found it. 3 hours north of Dubrovnik is the Island of Hvar. After a short 30 min ferry ride, (we were just about the last car on, but more later on that one) we land at the south-eastern end. Our destination, Hvar City, is on the northwestern end, 90K away. Hvar is an ancient, long, skinny, rocky island. You can put the emphasis on any of those adjectives. Amazing net like web of huge rock walls covers the entire island. In the past (back to Greek ownership times) they served as property boundaries, and now serving mainly to boggle the tourist mind. Where there aren’t walls, there are piles, all meant to scrape a few square feet of soil to plant. Several years ago Kathie gave me an Audi driving school weekend for Christmas. The weekend consisted of mainly a 2nd gear racing experience. That’s not to say you went slow, just tore it up in second gear. Remember all those who got on, and therefore off, the ferry ahead of us? I sort of took that as a personal challenge. What if someone got to the gelato stand in Hvar City ahead of me? Sort of like the 24 hours of Le Mons only this was the 90 minutes of Hvar complete with 2 lane road (and I use the words 2 lane and road loosely) the occasional garbage truck, bus, bicyclists, lots of potholes, and an amazing long tunnel that likely cost me a win. I think if I only had that last mountain leg I could have caught and passed those last 2 motorcycles ahead of us. Oh well, handicapped as we were, starting in the last row and finishing 3rd isn’t bad and the gelato stand had lots to spare. Sort of found our apartment by Ouija board as Nuvi was on a break. Must have been too many j’s and z’s in the street name. Off for a quick explore of the old port town (now this is Dubrovnik 41 years ago) and then to dinner. Our host at the apartment recommended a restaurant at the top of the mountain overlooking the Adriatic with an amazing sunset view of the collection of small islands splattered like pancake batter in front of you. Makes for a natural protected harbor and great water taxi beach exploring. We will spend all tomorrow haunting the old town but for the rest of the evening we need to refuel. Our host has made reservations for us at dinner and preordered the traditional Croatian mixed vegetable and meat dish “under the bell”. For three hours an iron pot filled, and I do mean filled, with lamb, veal, potatoes, onions, peppers, eggplant, zucchini, and of course enough salt and garlic to make you eat the entire dish (serving for 6-7 people) is covered with a metal bell and glowing coals and simmers in a wood fired open oven. Talk about super-size me. But given 3 hours, a great sunset, superb wine and the best of traveling companion ever we made a gallant effort. Sort of like the road race to get to Hvar City. Almost finished the entire pot but left a little for the restaurant dog mournfully howling in the distance. Wound our way off the mountain in the pitch black dark and in bed at 8:30. This Croatian road racing/eating thing is exhausting. But, we could get used to it.

Day 7

Day 7 Last day in big D Slow day but learned so much. Kathie lost her eye patch somewhere on main street last night. But her pink eye seems to have resolved and the cat lab tests returned showing he didn’t have rabies. Had a mild case of bird flu but no rabies.

First ones on the wall at 8 this morning. Beautiful. Almost entirely repaired wall and roofs after the 1991 war. Went to Defenders Museum dedicated to the 200 or so mainly 17-30 year old men who lost their lives defending the city from the Serbs/Montenegrins/and Bosnians who were trying to take over Dubrovnik. Have heard both sides and still can’t figure out who may have been more in the right. Will have to study more. I realize I keep referring to 19a, our apartment in the Old Town of Dubrovnik, so thought we would put a photo in. We are sitting on the steps outside with the apartment on Kathie’s right. Off to a vegetarian restaurant for lunch – Nishta. Hate to say it but very good. Kathie says her Ratatouille was the best meal she has had in Croatia all week and that is saying something. We are all satiated and couldn’t even muster enough energy to stop at the gelato stand on the way back to 19a. Short power naps then off to Buza 2 bar to meat the Luetkehans for a sunset glass of wine. Lovely setting for a rendezvous. Very fortunate as they loaned us their Garmin for the rest of the trip. How good is that? Now I have someone else to blame when I get lost next week. Trip is half over. Pack and leave Dubrovnik tomorrow heading north up the coast. Sarah gets three more days on the beaches and at the gelato stand here. Hope we can find a way to get all those souvenirs in the suitcases and up the hill to the car rental place. So, now I, Kathie finally have to say something for all those who are concerned about me. Please don’t worry. Mark has a touch of early dementia and is confabulating mightily. I and the cat are both fine!