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Published: September 15th 2005
Dana and Grampa
Finally arrived in Amsterdam! Just one flight to go, but Grampa doesn't want to go - he just wants his "bagaje" -(baggage)We made it to Dubrovnik, the first big stop on our trip. Our flight here was actually really short; not because we slept, because we didn't. It was short because we had the priviledge of taking care of "GRAMPA" Marcel.
GRAMPA Marcel:
We noticed this little Grampa in his suit and tie right away because he was in the row behind us. He was in the middle of a 5-person row and he was really scared and really short! Unfortunately, he was only there for a few minutes! About 30minutes into the flight, he decided he needed to get off. He was pacing up and down the aisle, trying to get to the doors. He was talking loud about something or the other, and I noticed Dana start sinking down in her chair! No one knew what he was saying, because it was (guess what)- ROMANIAN! Dana got to explain the whole situation to him -- even though his watch worked fine (he said it was a very good one, from JAPAN) he needed to wait. She also escorted him to the bathroom, ordered his food and drinks, and we walked him ALL the way to the gate in
Amsterdam and made him sit there, which was NOT as easy as it sounds. At one point, he started SMOKING and told us that everyone does it, the signs don't mean anything... Once we got onto the final leg of the flight to Bucharest, he fought the flow of oncoming passengers to get up to the front of the plane and found us. . He was really mad, yelling "why did you put me on this plane? All the devils in hell would not have done this to me! I need to get my baggage and go to my house." He thought we were already in Bucharest! Grampa was a little confused- he's 90, will be 91 in November.
BUCHAREST:
We arrived in Bucharest on the 13th and stayed with Lili for the afternoon. We had a really nice lunch and then had ice cream at the big new fancy mall. The mall was originally designed as an eating hall in the days of Communism. It turned out to be just the right size for a mall! We hung out at her apartment and she made us take LOTS of food for the train, which we really appreciated.
LONG TRIP: Bucharest - Belgrade - Zagreb - Dubrovnik. This was a bit roundabout, but due to construction and flooding we were unable to get a straight answer if the Belgrade-Bar-Dubrovnik route would work. The only major mishap was my face plant into a crosswalk on a busy street in Belgrade while walking down hill FAST and going completely out of control! My body got ahead of my feet and my backpack added to the momentum of my upper body. It was NOT pretty. I bonked both of my knees, scraped my hands and my guts, but other than that was OK. It was a miracle I didn't get run over by a car. The trains were pretty good overall but the bus made me barf, so we'll try to stick with trains now.
DUBROVNIK: We found a nice room with a "gramma" in Dubrovnik. The bed is a bit squishy, but it's only $10 so we don't care much. It has a nice bathroom and a hot, dry clothesline. We walked around the city walls, which were really old, high, and cool. Took lots of pictures. We also dodged cruise-goers in the old town for a few hours.
Lili FEEDING us in Bucharest
Lili, Dana's cousin, sent a lot of food with us for the train. We really appreciated it and the samwiches were really good. We are now sitting around waiting for the crowds to go down (they all flock to the ship when it's time for the FEED)- RUN- FOOD! We'll venture out in a few minutes and check the situation. Next we'll be on to Korcula Island, Mljet Island, and then Split. We should be emailing again by Split. I hope you like the pictures.
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Dina
non-member comment
Split!!
First time when I read about Split,I read it like...split!!!(I was thinking where next!). Sounds like a lot of fun!!