The Aussies, Croatia, and Me

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Okay, okay, technically I'm not in Croatia anymore. I would have put in an entry there, but according to Croatian business hours, if you are open until 4 p.m., you actually close at 2. Since leaving Sorrento, I've been having an Aussie/Croatian cultural experience. I headed to Bari to catch the ferry to Dubrovnik and on the way met an Aussie guy (no, Mom, I'm not marrying him!) named David who was doing the same thing. Since we were both heading to the HI hostel in Dubrovnik, we ended up spending quality time in Bari waiting for the ferry, on the deck class of the ferry, and for a couple of days in Dubrovnik. Dubrov. is a really beautiful city, now that they've repaired a lot of the bombing damage from the war. It's all white stone, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. I spent a day on Lokrum island also, which is a national park just 15 min from Dubrov. Anyways, while there, I met an Aussie girl, Rebecca, who works in London. We were both going to Hvar island, which is further up the coast, so we met up in Split and took the ferry to Hvar. Everyone rents out private accomodation in Croatia. Pretty much the second you step off the plane/bus/ferry/train someone is asking you if you need a room. We ended up taking a really nice double room with kitchen, bathroom, and terrace from a woman, with the added bonus of it being only 80 kuna per night (about $15) and she gave us a ride there so we didn't have to take the bus to the main town. Had some good beach time there, wandered on ancient Roman streets, ate lots of seafood, slept in for once, and generally, we had a great time. Yesterday night was the ferry back from Split to Ancona in Italy, so we prepared for going from a nice rented bed, to sleeping on the ferry floor. Love the deck class, really I do. As it turns out, Rebecca and I were a popular combination on the ferry. The Croatian server in the bar is practicing his English on us, the carabinieri officers are giving us chocolate bars, and this weird American tour group returning from a pilgrimage are buying us beer and offering us the spare bunks in their cabin. So it was great, we actually got to sleep in a bed, and we got to Ancona about 7 am today. The rest of today for me has been spent getting to Venice, finding a hostel, and wandering around. Maybe it's just because I'm tired, but Venice reminds me of Christmas. It's decorated all ornately, and also there is lots of stuff to buy. Maybe I'm just on crack, though. Anyways, that's pretty much what's been happening. Sandra and Denise, I sent you postcards from Dubrovnik, but I may have accidentally put insufficient postage on them. Remind me to recap them later 😊
Drop me a line, preferably frequently, since I think hotmail is still being mean to me. If anyone can send me an invite for Gmail, I may change my address.

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