Blogs from Croatia, Europe - page 142

Rovinj, Istra, Croatia We spent 2 days in Rovinj, Croatia. Nice place. Small and peaceful. Cobblestone streets and a beautiful little harbour. The first night we stayed in a hotel about a mile out of town. I am beginning to see a pattern here in the unwired world. The only hotels online in a place like Rovinj are big monstrous modern aberrations or old world palaces catering to people who are happy spending 250 Euros per night for a place that has no relation to or flavour of the land they are visiting. These hotels might as well be in Miami Beach or in London. There is almost nothing both quaint and close-in for under 200 Euros per night. Since you need to be on the ground to find the unwired places, the pattern works like ... read more

We passed up on the trip to Pula and decided to take the day to go to Baska on the island of Krk instead. We tried to swim on the way to Opatija in the town of Crikvenica, but drove through the whole beach area and could not find a parking spot. Opatija...was as I expected...pretty lame. The first night was HOT. It might have been the hottest night of sleep I have ever had in my life. I am not sure any of us slept...it was literally that hot. We shopped a bit that first night. The next day we drove to Baska to swim and then had supper in the town of Krk. Krk was ok...we then got back to Opatija right before a huge thunderstorm..which was nice because it cooled it off for ... read more

Ciao Bella! To quote Fatboy slim (who we will be seeing in a week) "You´ve come along way baby" ...... and we have! To quote Jack Johnson we are "Sitting, waiting, wishing" in Sloviania´s capital Ljubljana, "Writing to reach you" to quote Travis. Right, Rome . . . . . Roman Forum, Check.... Colloseum, Check.... Ice Cream, Check.... St Peters, Check..... Sistine Chapel, Check.... Pizza, Check.... Spanish Steps, Check.... Trevi Fountain, Check..... Traditional Italian food, Check.... Pantheon, Check..... Cara, Check.... BOOM! After our sight seeing extravaganza in Rome we jumped onto ferry no.2 and made like a bannana and Split. Croatia´s coatal capital, Split includes a mountainous backdrop, a rocky coastline and a UNESCO protected walled old town. While browsing the many tat market stalls of Split, we happened upon an old, old snorkel seller. She ... read more

Salut, Puisque je suis parti et revenu, il me semble intéressant de faire un retour d'expérience et d'apporter des éléments de réponse à la question que je me posais avant de partir. Nous étions donc 2 garçons, et nous sommes partis de Toulouse direction Grèce le 3 aout, en voulant revenir dans 3 semaines environ. _ trajet Toulouse- Aix 30 min d'attente, et à Aix au bout de 5 min, au péage, un camion s'arrête, et un chauffeur d'origine bolivienne nous prend, et nous amènera jusqu'à Milan. Il était super sympa, content de nous avoir (et nous de même), il nous a fait dormir avec lui dans son camion et demandait aux routiers croisés sur les aires s'ils ne pouvaient pas nous avancer. Les camions n'ont qu'un siège passager, alors il faut que le chauffeur soit ... read more

This entry is a reflective one about the prevalence of English in Europe these days. Our trip began in the Netherlands where essentially everyone speaks English. As one older Dutch gentleman said to Lenora when she complemented him on his English - "well we have no choice". I recall saying to Lenora that we were spoiled by being in the Netherlands first and that once we arrived in Hungary and Croatia it would be a different story. Well, I was wrong. I teach a course at UNB called Bilingualism and Education and do a module on English as a global language. We read and discuss how English has essentially become the communication tool for speakers of different languages with respect to various countries including China. Nonetheless, I was really taken aback by how many people in ... read more