Final posts to come

I stopped writing when my digital camera got pickpocketed, losing all 3000 of my photos from Venice and all of Croatia. Didn't want to talk about it.

Saw this quote on a friend's facebook today:

‎"Getting over a painful experience is much like crossing monkey bars. You have to let go at some point in order to move forward." -C.S. Lewis

Will finish up those posts soon, I'm pretty sure I have a couple still on my ipod, the rest I'll add what I remember!

Aug 13/14 Mario Party

I'm starting to feel like were trying to cram too much of Croatia in a short period of time. I'd heard repetitive advice before leaving not to try to do too much or you'll miss what you're seeing, which has been well followed until recently. We arrived late in split the night of the 12th, and slept in an expensive cabin on campgrounds outside of the city. Unlike Venice, this one takes stupidly long to get to and the bus to get to/from is always uncomfortably crammed. Camping is cool, but the campsite is a little overdone. From the mini waterfalls and fake dogs/squirrels/animals around the campground to the resort-like beaches its all just a little fake feeling.
Yesterday morning we bought a cheap tent and switched from the cabin to this. In one Bohr the tent is paid off compare to sleeping in the cabin, but it wasn't even half as luXurious.
As we ate our cereal outside the tent, Baye said hi to a guy wearing a Cornell hockey sweater, and turned out they knew a tonne of the same friends, even one that the guy (jeff) was traveling with.
We got into the city again d noon and tried to get a round trip ferry ticket to the island of hvar. Turns out there's no late ferries back and we would've had to stay the night, and all our stuff was at the camp forever away. Plus we just invested in the tent. so we were bummed that hvar failed, and didn't even know what to do in split because we didn't feel like site seeing churches museums or buildings. We paid for an hour of Internet to try to figure things out, and I was able to finally post 11 days of blogs :p after nearly returning to camp, baye spotted 2 guys who looked beach ready, stocked with bags and towels I saw that one guy already had sand on his butt, buy for the chance that they were still heading to the beach, we decided to follow them like huuuge creepers. They led us through a cool market area, fruit and souvenir shops lining the street, restaurants and gelato stores, everything. Eventually they turned down a lonely alleyway, quite obviously to home, so we veered off and kept walking uphill. By following our feet, we made it to a lookout over the Split harbor. By then the guys we'd met at camp were on their way to town and invited us to go to the beach with them. Of course baye already had her suit on and mine was back at camp, so I had to buy another one, but it wasn't more than 20$ so nbd.

Beach was definitely not great after the places we've been spoiled with. There were barely any sandy parts and it was mostly concrete with restaurants along it, so the 5 of us split on a paddle boat with a slide on it, costing barely 3 bucks each for an hour. We brought aboard some beers and the only thing we were missing was music. Very fun idea, and especially brilliant when splitting with so many people. However, when taking off I had sneakers on still so on the edge of the concrete I had to take off my shoes and shorts before wading in to get on the paddle boat. My cellphone was in the pocket of my shorts, and before I knew it, my phone was washing in and out with the waves, having fallen out of my pocket in my haste to join the other beach-ready peoples. The battery is still ok, but the screen is all melted/washed away and I'm not certain it'll come back. It's a day later but im going to try leaving it out in the sun. No more phone for Carley :(

After the paddleboat slide we borrowed a volleyball from some other beach -goers and played in the water for at least an hour. we sat on the crummy beach for a decent time and then set out for a meal. I ordered a mix of pan fried fish. The fish came out full, heads and all, and it was really tasty but difficult to eat with the teeny tiny bones that you can't easily see.

I tried to order the famous Croatian pancakes with walnuts, which was on the menu, but when we asked the bus boy he said thy don't have desert. He looked high so we thought he was messing with us, and had a good laugh until the waitress finally came back she said 'nope the only sweets we have is me!" by then I'd made such a bug deal about no pancakes that the guys went and bought a chocolate bar for the table and gave it too us with our bill. Very nice of them :) but I still need to get me some pancakes.

That night we chilled on the rooftop of the guys' hostel in the city, where we learned a new game played with 15-16 with dice, which is kind of like a poker/gambling game. Will share when im home!

Nate and I had to dash to catch the last craZy bus back out to the campsite, where we had a sleep comparable to the night in the train station. The ground was unforgiving, and it got pretty cold at night so I had to get up in the middle to try to find clothes, but worst was thati was too tall for the tent so I had to keep my knees bent, but I woke up at least three times with leg cramps. Needless to say, we really weren't "happy campers" (har har)

Today (aug 14) we left camp as early as we could. Our new Canadian friends had left us a few beers in a plastic bag outside the tent, and so I put my one extra beer in the bag with them and had to carry it separate from my big pack. But while checking out, I couldn't balance holding the bag of beer and trying to get my money out, so the bag dropped and one bottle broke, leaking all over the super busy reception We were in such a rush I just had to toss all the beers out ;( no room to carry, no time to clean up.

Eventually we made it to the ferry which got us to Supetar on Brac island and then a bus to the town of Bol, with the famous pointed beach. The hostel was homey, an apartment turned hostel, but they still had to do cleaning so we ditched our bags and head out to the beach.

The beach is famous for changing shapes with the tides/seasons, but crammed with so many people it was t the most pleasant place to be. We walked by one crepe stand way too many times, it was torture cause it smelled so good and I still haven't gotten a walnut crepe.

We passed a loooot of excursion companies, rent a boat places etc. But we quickly decided to go check out windsurfing. We split a single teacher for a on hour lesson and i still can't get over how amazing it was. SO FUN!! The instructor (Mario) was really good, he taught us all the moves on land first and then we set out for the water. It was wavy (there was a boat tubing company right next door) and there were tonnes if other boats, whether anchored or moving, but I never once felt unsafe because the instructor told you exactly the move to steer you out of trouble :). The hardest part was keeping STRAIGHT. When a gust of wind comes along and pulls your sail, it's reflex to want to pull your elbows in to counteract what you feel is going to pull you into the water forwards. it's important that your whole body stay perfectly straight and you only lean your boy weight for balance, but it's hard to get the hang of! After an hour lesson I was tired (especially after our camping experience) but wished we had more time. I really hope I get the opportunity to go again soon!! This may be a future hobby (future only because it's an expensive hobby). Ahhh I just want to go again!

We stayed at the hostel called "funky donkey", and there was such a variety of people hanging out it was incredible. Not just the fact that we met people from France, London, Spain, Scotland, brazil, Australia, new Zealand, Switzerland and more, but different ages, personalities, educational backgrounds, traveling history/cultural experience.... And we all sat on the terrace, sharing music over drinks, and then out to continue drinking on a pier lined with sailboats, and finally to an outdoor club. Baye and I left much earlier than everyone else and still didnt get to bed until nearly 2am, despite getting up again at 630 to catch our bus! I really hope that wasn't the lAt 5 hours I spend in a bed... We don't yet have accommodations in Dubrovnik, we're banking on the fact that people come up to you off the bus trying to rent out their apartment Back up plan is to pitch the tent somewhere.
Though if I have to choose between crossing my fingers on getting an apartment vs praying on getting a rental car for the way back, I'll gladly camp in order to drive Dubrovnik back up north! The car company won't tell is ahead of time because it's high season, so we won't know until the 16th whether we can rent it for the 17th ;(

Keep calm and carry on (aug 12)

Got 6 hours sleep and it was good enough. Big travel day. We originally thought we would train all the way back to Zagreb and then down to split, but someone at the desk said it made more sense to transfer at a different spot. We tried to get off the train where we were told, but the man attending te doors stopped us and the doors closed and the train moved on. we weren't too late or anything, we were quite speedy, but we said we wanted split and he thought we were supposed to bar transferred at the last stop even though we had a reservation for the one he just made is miss. He knew not a word of English and us not a word of Croatian, but he was able to communicate that the stop an hour from now will have the same train still to split. I was still happy, we were originally going to go all the way to Zagreb and back, and we still had more than two hours to kill in the train station at the fitter stop, so it didn't really make a difference. Bays was next to tears Abe was so frustrated that he 'wouldn't listen', which I was shocked by because she I usually more considerate of the language barrier. Everything worked out, it was no problem changing our reservation so I'm glad I didn't cause my body more stress.

We were confirmed to stay in a cabin at the campsite in split for a little more money than Expected because they only rent 4 person tents not 2 person. The current plan is to spend tonight in the cabin for 27euro/night, and then buy a tent for the next 2 nights. I haven't voiced my concern about this yet.. I forsee it being more trouble than it's worth, though I do t know the cost/amount we'd save I just pitch a te t instead of using their cabin, abs tents are supposedly 200 kuna (about 40 dollars if this is accurate) and we would split the cost, but then we have to share who carries it and what to do with it after the trip; does someone keep it? Can we sell it? Anyways... It might make sense for cost efficiency, I just hope it doesn't come at the price if or happiness/cooperation.

Not sprite (aug 11)

Today was a dream. I can now say I've experienced everything I expected Croatia to offer (except for the national parks) and it was even cooler than I could've hoped. Now the next ten days will be an adventurous discovery of even more coolness.

This morning we got up really early for a 25 minute walk to the bus station and then a 1.5 hour bus to the island of Krk. Here, we boarded a boat and had a 7.5 hour tour/excursion.

The views were out of this world, and thus impossible to capture on film despite using a quarter of my memory card. The water SO BLUE But really crystal clear, you can see the bottom so easily it seems the boat will always scrape it but never does. The mountains and cliffs are bright yellows and some are covered in trees.

Soon after leaving the harbor, the skipper came sound with small Dixie cups and a large, perhaps 3-4L plastic bottle called lemon-lime. He offered it to us, and remembering my moms advice to get those electrolytes, I gladly accepted and he filled my cup. I went to take a big sip and had an unpleasant surprise that it was straight vodka and not sprite at all. Having most f the boat speaking German no English, I think everyone found me quite hilarious because, according to baye, he had offered it a s schnapps ;which I dint know what that was anyways, but apparently everyone else in the world knows it's homemade vodka). How was I supposed to Hess this by him pouring me about 6 shots worth?! Well we laughed for a good 5 minutes abs considered finishing it before I came to my senses that I would probably Go to the hospital If I drank any of it in my current condition, so instead I held onto it for a ridiculously long time before subtly dumping it over the side of the boat. Drunk fishies.

Our first stop was my dream come true. We jumped into the crystal waters and swam a short distance to a cave. As we swam under we eventually reached a spot we could touch with our feet and kept going through, with the water staying the same level to our chests (but with waves rolling in) and the rock cave getting closer in to our heads. The rock underneath was wider, so you didn't feel as claustrophobic, and once we made it through one small spot the cave widened again and even came up to a very small rocky shore with sunlight coming in from above and green vines growing in.

The captain swam in with us, picked up one f the smooth white rocks off the ground, and explained
'you make a wish. You wish on money, you wish on boyfriend, you make a wish. Pick a rock. For wish on little boyfriend rake little rock, for wish on big boyfriend like me, take a boulder. Put the rock up in the cave with your wish'.

A) he meant it when he said you'd need a boulder to represent a wish on a boyfriend as big as him. Wait til you see photos.
B) he teased me when I picked up a small one saying 'you wish on little boyfriend?!?!'. I picked the small one cause I disnt want it to fall! A lot of people had made wishes before us, of course, and so finding a little ledge to leave your wish was difficult, even more so for a larger rock.
C) after the teasing I made a second wish on a bigger rock. So there.

You can only imagine the number of photos I took in here with a waterproof camera. Yowza.

We swam back to the boat, and tried home made sardines on bread Most people liked it but I wasn't a fan. Verysalty. Though supposedly tonnes of nutrients in the bones.

It was gorgeously sunny and with the boat in motion we dried off fast and it was not too hot and not too cold, just perfect :)

The next stop was translated o be called seagull island. The Rick of the island was all vertically jagged rock, but there was a spot between two of the rocks you could swim through. The side our boat started on was about 30m deep, and it was a decent swim to get to the rocks, where it gradually shallowed to a rocky bank (very difficult to stand/walk on the rocks, smooth from the water and covered in algae. On the other side of the bank, as you go through the narrow channel, the bank drops off, to 200-300metres the captain said. The skipper found a few extra masks for us, which was incredible to see Literally everything. Omg that water was clear. There were urchins and fish, rock orations and just endless blue!!

The skipper picked up some shells, claws, old urchins from the bottom and let me gave one of the shells. If i remember correctly, He told me that in croatian they call it saint peter's ear. Apparently there's a bible story where he cuts off his ear, ad the shell really does look like an ear! He also showed me small holes along the outer ridge of the ear, which he said the number tells you how old it is.

We dried off on the boat again and set off for the restaurant. There were people from Germany, Austria and holland on the boat (and maybe some others for the people I didnt get to talk to) and they were all super nice, of course. I think the only mean person I've met so far (since the people who are annoyingly pushy or just so friendly it's creepy fall in completely different categories) would be the guy who ripped m off for 2 bananas in the Venice market. Apparently we were the first Canadians on the ship, too!!

The restaurant was in a small fishing harbor, very cute. I suppose if I'd ordered a fishy dish I would've enjoyed the food better, but they started at 110 kuna and I didn't bring enough cash so I got an palette, burnt, instead. For the last hour of our trip we had 5-10 minutes of very light rain, our first rain since arriving in Paris. We stopped at golden beach, and I chose not to swim this time because it was getting cold and I only had a t-shirt, not even a towel, but it was still a beautiful view.

We had another 30 minute ride back to krk, where we were allowed to drive the boat like children... Captains hat and all. The photos are terrible, but it was still fun.

As we pulled onto the harbor, the misty rain made a HUGE full arcing rainbow overhead. It really sealed off the day quite nicely

We got a picture with the captain before we left. I'll share when I can, because he was exactly the image a captain should be, but in a speedo. So awesome.

The next bus back to town didnt leave until 930pm, and after catching an 8am bus to the island, it made for a very long day. we go home shortly after 11 and tried to pack everything up before morning, where we caught a cab to the train station at 6:50am. Travel day begins.

Taste some Croatian men (aug 10)

The pains were gone the next day, during which we thankfully had nothing 100% planned so I could theoretically take a break. I still had to eat very little and simple foods, and after a measly breakfast we had to move rooms since we re-booked. Going up to the 3rd floor and moving my bag was exhausting, and I slept for a 3 hour nap after. When I woke up, I was able to shower and it took me an hour to wash about 5 articles of clothing in the sink. We had to arrange our bus tickets to get back to krk island on Saturday (tomorrow), but the bus was a lot longer walk than I remembered and this was harder on me than I could admit to baye, who I sensed was already bored with me being weak. On the way back from the bus station we stopped for groceries where I was able to get some fruit and bread to munch on.

After a small break at the hostel, it was a ten minute (normally 5 minute) walk to the beach. Again I was blown away by the beauty of the water and the rocks and I was glad I came to sit here in the end, case I'd almost taken to stay in and mope in the room while baye went.

While on this beach we people watched for about an hour. As it started to get cool out and people were leaving, an older guy, leathery tanned and in a blue speedo, both so typically Croatian, invited himself right beside us and asked us where we were from as he sat down.

He tried chatting for way too long, not cluing into the awkward silences and smiles and nods suggesting untie convo was over. With the little english he did speak, we understood He worked on a contract for one of the transport ships and had been to Canada (Montreal) before. He tried suggesting more places for us to see, and told is that Canada was beautiful and so are we beautiful girls. He made jokes (again in very broken English) 'Canada is too much drink, too much dance, too much sex'. We laughed, but he laughed and went on something about sexy Canadian girls. Time to get outta there we said to each other through eye contact. Before we could make an excuse he was asking us what we think of Croatian men. We honestly said we dont know because we don't know any Croatian men... To which he told us 'agh, but you should taste the Croatian men!'

We thought this was awkward but funny, and I understood it as a mistranslation and tried to explain to him that I understood he meant 'try', but it is a funny translation in English to say taste. He laughed and said
'Why not?!'. And u will never know if he just didnt understand me and had funny English, or d he meant for is to literally taste men from Croatia. But we did eventually slip away.

We had been recommended a nice restaurant down by the water. We felt a bit out of place there, since it felt like a very local spot and weird for English people to be there, but the servers were very nice. I wasn't yet up for seafood, bit tried to catch up on my vegetables since they're actually pretty hard to come by I Europe.... Lots if fruit, not so much veggies. I'm hoping it won't be too long until I can get on tasting some I'd the local specialties, mostly seafood.

We got back way later than I'd hoped for being so exhausted, and got to sleep for about midnight despite an early start for our boat tour the next day!

Taste some Croatian men (aug 10)

The pains were gone the next day, during which we thankfully had nothing 100% planned so I could theoretically take a break. I still had to eat very little and simple foods, and after a measly breakfast we had to move rooms since we re-booked. Going up to the 3rd floor and moving my bag was exhausting, and I slept for a 3 hour nap after. When I woke up, I was able to shower and it took me an hour to wash about 5 articles of clothing in the sink. We had to arrange our bus tickets to get back to krk island on Saturday (tomorrow), but the bus was a lot longer walk than I remembered and this was harder on me than I could admit to baye, who I sensed was already bored with me being weak. On the way back from the bus station we stopped for groceries where I was able to get some fruit and bread to munch on.

After a small break at the hostel, it was a ten minute (normally 5 minute) walk to the beach. Again I was blown away by the beauty of the water and the rocks and I was glad I came to sit here in the end, case I'd almost taken to stay in and mope in the room while baye went.

While on this beach we people watched for about an hour. As it started to get cool out and people were leaving, an older guy, leathery tanned and in a blue speedo, both so typically Croatian, invited himself right beside us and asked us where we were from as he sat down.

He tried chatting for way too long, not cluing into the awkward silences and smiles and nods suggesting untie convo was over. With the little english he did speak, we understood He worked on a contract for one of the transport ships and had been to Canada (Montreal) before. He tried suggesting more places for us to see, and told is that Canada was beautiful and so are we beautiful girls. He made jokes (again in very broken English) 'Canada is too much drink, too much dance, too much sex'. We laughed, but he laughed and went on something about sexy Canadian girls. Time to get outta there we said to each other through eye contact. Before we could make an excuse he was asking us what we think of Croatian men. We honestly said we dont know because we don't know any Croatian men... To which he told us 'agh, but you should taste the Croatian men!'

We thought this was awkward but funny, and I understood it as a mistranslation and tried to explain to him that I understood he meant 'try', but it is a funny translation in English to say taste. He laughed and said
'Why not?!'. And u will never know if he just didnt understand me and had funny English, or d he meant for is to literally taste men from Croatia. But we did eventually slip away.

We had been recommended a nice restaurant down by the water. We felt a bit out of place there, since it felt like a very local spot and weird for English people to be there, but the servers were very nice. I wasn't yet up for seafood, bit tried to catch up on my vegetables since they're actually pretty hard to come by I Europe.... Lots if fruit, not so much veggies. I'm hoping it won't be too long until I can get on tasting some I'd the local specialties, mostly seafood.

We got back way later than I'd hoped for being so exhausted, and got to sleep for about midnight despite an early start for our boat tour the next day!

Surface souvenirs from Rovinj (aug 9)

We splurged and rented a car. With plans to check out on august 10th in time to board an intrepid sailing tour on the 11th, there was a lot to see and it was most efficient by car. Lucky baye and I both grew up on standard vehicles because I think that's all they have here (we didn't ask for either or, just got stick). We first drove to the nearby town of opatija, where we walked along the coast and through a small park with the villa annilese.

Our second destination was Pula. On the way there we passed a guy and girl backpacking. We decoded to pick them up, and sound out they were from Austria in a backpacking race! They had to get to a city kind if close to pula, so I guess our hour drive helped them out quite a bit. We dropped them at a kind of crazy intersection, so regrettably we got no photos with these cool cats, but we certainly were a bit jealous if their adventure!!

When in Pula we saw one of the largest amphitheaters left in the world. We only stayed long enough to do a walk around it before skipping off again, back to the winding highways that swerve around and through forested mountains, windows open and good music. What a life.

Third we continued to Rovinj, which I am so glad I requested, because I was able to check off the bucketlist exactly what I thought Croatia would be like.

Rovinj was hot, and we walked through a small harbor to get to a rocky coast. People were laying on various flat places in the rock (this isnt rocky like pebbles in place of sand, more like giant rock slabs). Baye already had her suit on, but I had to go find a place to change. I wandered through town, when I crossed an open door to a patio with a table and chairs and a menu on the table. A woman crosses the doorway, we made eye contact, and in my simplest/most polite English (not knowing a word of Croatian) I tried to ask if there was a place nearby that I could change (holding my swimsuit up to show I wanted to put it on), hoping she'd say it was ok to come into the restaurant to use their bathroom. She looked at me confused, not understanding english, so I tried again with the miming, this time adding the word toilet (most languages understand this, but never bathroom). She seemed to get it but called for a man, I assume her husband, for help communicating since he spoke some english, and he immediately invited me in so I could change. The second I stepped inside I clued in that this patio was not a restaurant patio, it was their home, and I felt so badly. When I faced from their patio into the house, I got nervous, feeling like I was invading a stranger's home. He saw me hesitate and said don't worry, nobody else is here so go ahead. I had to pass through their whole house to get to the bathroom at the back and I changed as quickly as I could. I thanked them over and over, wishing I knew the Croatian word for thank you, and they waved me off with smiles. and that is just the beginning of the niceness if people in Croatia.

Getting down to the water again, it was SO WARM! With encouragement from the locals we jumped off cliffs (for family, it was about the same height as the small jump at the rock on papineau lake), but took us a lot of nerve to jump initially just because of the water!! The water here is so so so clear that the bottom looks so shallow. Even standing a foot off of the water, I thought i had to scrunch up when I first hopped in (probably looking quite foolish to the locals) just because you expect the bottom to be right there. It was even worse knowing how deep you'd go with a high jump, but we never ended up touching! Climbing back up the rocks was difficult, mostly the part getting out of the water, so I got a few scrapes on my knees and my hands. One of the locals teased that I had souvenirs from rovenj.

It was so fun, and we got chatting with 2 men from Rovinj, a guy a bit older Than us and his dad. They were both so calm and chill, liked to share stories, and invited us to play some rummy card games with them. They told us about cliff jumping in other nearby places, about injuries and risky jumps they'd seen or done, about islands they thought we should go see, and that we should be more careful as we go more south. The older gentleman was saying how Rovinj and other northern Croatian cities really enjoy the tourists and are more welcoming, but they start to get more bitter in the south and won't be as nice he said. I suppose that makes sense because apparently the two big destinations are split and Dubrovnik, so they would get all the beach goers all the time.

We took some pics before slipping away, hoping to make it to three more destinations despite it already being 5pm. We tried to go to Birjuni national park, close to Rovinj, but we would've had to wait an hour for the next trip to the island and it was going to cost 210 kuna per person, so with 2 other cities in the agenda we decided to pass up his park since there are a couple others we planned on going to anyways.

We had to drive back through Rijeka, and we wanted to try to get to the risnjak national park, close to where we stayed actually, before checking out the largest Croatian island, krk. getting to opatija, pula and Rovinj was easy because we just had to follow major route signs and the towns are small. But teres no driving directions to the national parks kn street signs, only to towns, and without a map, navigating this got tricky. We decided to skip te park again after our delay, since it closed at ten and it was already nearly 9pm and dark out. So out to krk we went.

When I was driving on the highway (again through the mountains), there was a curved portion, like an on ramp but just linking highways, that had suck long supports to a lower part I'd the highway that you felt Luke you were driving over air. Correction* we were diving over air. It was intense.
It was also during this trip that I got my heartbreaking news that my sailing trip couldnt be booked. I had wanted to do the tour so badly, and I did my research into Croatian companies as well, but intrepid's was the best deal. Nate didn't make up her mind until that morning, so I ad sent an email, but by the time I called he said he had tried first thing and booking was all closed. I even tried calling intrepid directly, but no use. I was so bummed and frilustrated that I hadn't just booked it off the bat, and blameful of my travel friend for having to wait for her. It didn't mean as much to her as it did to me.
In Krk we were exhausted. We'd seen and done a lot, and it was half past 9. We wandered through, not expecting it to be as wildly packed as it was. There was a fair set up, booths selling trinkets and fair food, beer tents, a live concert and more. We passed an entire roasting cow/bull even. There were a lot of booths set up selling excursions. At first I was so frustrated I didn't want to see them, but for some reason I walked up to one with a woman who looked really nice, but only spoke Dutch or German it something (certainly not English). It was for a 1 day tour, one of the sites (the blue cave) being something I wrote down as a must-see in Croatia, and the price was right. For 180 kuna (30-40 dollars) you would spend 7 hours on the boat with sight seeing. It was for Saturday, though, meaning we would have to figure out sleeping arrangements for the next two nights and stay in town instead of driving on. Bit we decided to sign up.

For the ride home, we both decided coffee was a good idea, but thus us also where things started to go wrong.

t was good coffee, but I had a terrible reaction to the caffeine. Even as I finished the last sip my stomach started hurting, and in the 20 minute walk back to our parking spot my stomach was becoming increasingly painful.

It came in waves, my stomach clenched in pain and would cause me to hold my breath sometimes while I was talking, making it sound like I had the hiccups apparently. We were both out of water, so we stopped at a gas station 10 minutes down the road. I bought a bottle of water and took both an advil and a Tylenol, but by this time I was in tears and yelling in pain. Bate was inside chatting with the gas station attendant guy, nit realizing how badly I needed to get home. She has my medical papers and knew from the start what to expect, but with no physical symptoms I think it's hard for her to ubderstabd why I'm in pain. I made it home, debating what steps to take next. I was able to borrow a cooler pack from the hostel, which I honestly think saved me. I held it for 3 hours against my stomach until I finally fell asleep.

(aug 7/8) bums in the station

Today was our last day in Venice. We had to check out of camping at 10am and take our last bus into the city. I had paid for an Internet code at the campsite and was allowed to stay and use it, which caused some conflict when I had no support to research out next accommodation and had to go I to town to pay the same amount again at an Internet cafe despite having already found all the same information while searching from the wifi at camp. Oh well.

We locked our big packs at the train station and spent our last say wandering the streets, shopping. Our train left at 9, but we really only had to kill time from 2pm onwards after booking a hostel in Rijeka (a couple hours outside of Zagreb). Part if this time was spent eating if course.

Our train had a transfer between midnight and 6am in Austria. When we arrived we saw another schedule for a train to Zagreb at 4am instead f 6 so we decided we were going to see about getting on that one when the time came.
At first we tried sleeping on the metal benches inside the station. They had armrests in between, so you couldnt lay out on it, and even with a travel pillow it wasn't doable. So an hour later I pulled out my sleep sheet, already dirty from camping anyways, and slid down to the floor, trying to sleep between my big pack and leaning against the bench. Still no luck. After being disturbed by a few people on and out of the bathroom, I noticed that more backpacker had joined our ranks on the train station floor, but they were obviously new experienced than us. Many had thin foam roll-outs because they were campers, nearly all had sleeping bags, and all had put their sack up against the wall, used it as a pillow, and were fully stretched out on the floor. Well, they looked comfy enough cause they were all sound asleep. I tried to find my own little nook like this, and managed to get 20-30 mins of sleep before baye woke me at 330 to go check about the train.

Waiting at the station, We met two 19 year old Aussie girls who were going he opposite direction of us, having finished a sailing tour in Croatia and off to Italy for the rest of their 6 MONTH trip. One of the girls' dad owns an environmental education company in Sydney, so I swapped emails in case I want to apply in the next year :)
After their train left, we weren't allowed on the 4am train to Zagreb bc it was a reserved sleeper train, so we waited outside on the bench for another 2 hours for our actual train. For the first time in a month, we were freezing. I had put on a sweater, my windbreaker, and wrapped m legs in my sleep sheet and I was still so cold. So with sleep count at 30 minutes, we slept on the 6am train until about 10am in Zagreb, and transferred again to Rijeka.

We chose Rijeka because there were a few cities on the northern coast we wanted to see, but could likely do in day trips from Rijeka instead of changing beds wert night, and Rijeka still has a decent amount of connections to other cities. Rijeka I a port town, so moat if the views in this city are of monstrous ships carrying freight... But the mountains trees abs water we saw out the train window on the way to reijeka were breathtaking.

In a total of 13 hours, we'd been through 4 countries and had or passports stamped twice: Italy, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia. Only on Europe :)

We dis go out for dinner when we got checked in, a place recommended by the front desk girl. I got what the waiter recommended and it was to die for, but meant for at least 2 people to ear I think! It was pork rolled and stuffed with ham and cheese, with really cool sauces and potato wedges Mmm!!

Glass and lace (aug 6)

I woke up crazy early because there was a lot of construction/machinery noise about 6am. I showered at 630, allowing me to avoid a shower lone for the first time! And then ate dry cheerios at 7am cause the little market didn't open til 8 for me to buy milk. I killed 3 hours writing post cards and catching ip on journal entries, and by the time baye got up at 1030 I was anxious to go into town.
I started getting worried about my toe, where my blister had been getting progressively painful and there was now purple and red blotch all around it. I put pen around the outside to make sure it wasn't spreading, and set out to the pharmacy. Here they only have pharmacies or hospitals, no doctors offices, so locals ask pharmacists first. When we finally found the "Farmacia" it was quite challenging to describe my concerns that it's infected/how should I treat it, because my Italian vocabulary consists of hello, thank you and youre welcome, and the pharmacist spoke no English either. Luckily there was a nice woman behind me in line who was able to help translate that I just needed to keep cleaning it (not infected).

Put a dent in my wallet today at the post office... In fact, today has broken the bank all at once, because up until now I've been pretty good at saving.

I bought a 12hour pass for the vaporetto/bus system today, and went to 3 different islands.... Lots of boating. I finally got to so some wandering/exploring on my own, and it was a very successful day!

I first took the vaporetto to lido again, but quickly changes my mind; I got too much sun yesterday and didn't want to be on the beach again So I went and hopped in another vaporetto back, which took me the other direction from Venice to get to the island "Murano". The entire island makes glass, and I got to watch people blowing/making glass vases! It was beautiful work! Store after store sold glass jewelry, dishes/bowls and artwork. I don't know how they compete with each other. I got a couple souvenirs but I thought I'd try in Venice again for certain earrings and a necklace I oft have time to find

After a long time in murano (I had to go in every store to compare prices, of course, and still never make up my mind) then I took another long vaporettoto Burano, skipping an island in between (which I supposedly all cemeteries anyways)

Burano was SO COOL. I wish I got more time there bc I only walked around for about 30 minutes b all the houses. Are so brightly colored, it makes for fantastic photos. The island is knob for making lace, and similar to murano, there were a lot of little shops selling very similar items, with patterns that I might call crochet, but they had dresses, fans, scarves, belts, you name it, in Italian silk and hand made lace. I caved and bought a pair of decorative scarves.

So I've already blown €110 in a day, but it wasn't over. I still needed dinner and planned on an evening show.
It took me forever o find my way back through th square of San marco to where the theatre de San gallo is, but a nice Venusian helped and I made it in time.

The play, called 'Venizia' had corny Acting, and despite it not really being what I expected, it was pretty cool because j learned a lot about the history of Venice. Some parts went by too quickly for me to catch/remember their facts, but there are a few that stand out to me.
Apparently the Venusian masks with the long hooked noses used to be worn by doctors in the plague, where they would stuff the nose with herbs to protect themselves while they identified bodies/illnesses.
I need to look ip again the lion of San Marco (with wings), because they told us the significance but I forget it... however, apparently I can remember thy there are 2636 lion statues around Venice... So I should probably find out why he lion is so important.

The play went through a timeline of tradition and custom that arose through historical events, touching on famous people who lived here or died here or just liked it here, including Vivaldi and Casanova.

I didnt have time after the show to grab dinner before I met Nate for the bus home, or so I thought. I toon another vaporetto through the grand canal, which is even more spectacular at night, with lights shining on the buildings, street lights glowing in the background, and passing live music At various points along the way.
I waited for half an hour for bate to meet me at the station, even though oft there half an hour late myself, and our bus left 5 minutes before he got there, so we had to wait ANOTHER half hour before we could get a way home. So I was upset because I was starving and tires and could've grabbed food after all. I feel like she owes me for the amount of waiting I've done today; I have now waited 4 hours this morning to go j to town, then one hour at the bus stop, plus wasted time wandering in the morning in Venice (though this part was my fault for not having the guts to tell her I wanted to buzz off)

Tomorrows another day, with more $€$€ to spend!

Let's go to the beach let's go catch a wave (aug 5)

We changes it up from the city scene and went out to the island of Lido. Lido is almost entirely beaches, so i soaked up the sub while handwriting my journal entries and reading for Croatia.

I had pizza and a drink at the beach-side bar, and while I read alone at the table (baye went biking instead) a guy asked if he could have the seat across from me (I was taking up a 4 person table in the patio) He worked for costa cruise lines ad an engineer, and I asked him to tell me about the crash and also about the rumours of being taken over by pirates. It was hard to understand with language barriers/thick accents but still interesting.
He invited me to play "beach ball", a common beach sport in Europe I'd seen a few times on he beach in Barcelona, too. Ira basically ping pong in the air (with no net or anything) but with bigger pAddles and a heavier rubbery ball that looks like a squash ball but bouncier. Another thing European beaches have a lot of: topless women and men in speedos, both regardless if age or body type.

That night, as planned, Baye and I set out for a supermarket, picked up a bottle of cheap red wine (~€4) and each got things to picnic on. We had trouble locating a grocery store and stopped to ask waiters who were standing on the street waiting for customers. One offered to walk is because it was close. At first we were very thankful for his niceness, but by the end I'd the night we were joking about things we wouldve rather done (such as pee our pants) to get him off our backs. He just didn't stop talking!! He wanted to teach us more Italian words, and have us teach him English, which would've been cool if it weren't so annoying. He kept listing countries, asking if we'd heard if them, and was always shocked when we had. And if we kept silent during conversation, implying we werent interested in the topic, he would just keep rambling until we replied.

Our Romantic picnic on the side of the canal near the brick wall garden was spoiled, cause he followed us there. I still had a nice cheap dinner of fresh bread, salami, and sweet cherry tomatoes, but would've been better watching the night boats pass in silence (with the exception of the music from the neighbouring restaurant of course).

We finally got home to wait for a shower and do laundry (which we've been forced to do every day in this stinkin heat), and slept to the sounds of crickets :)