Love at first sight!

This has been a long day - I got up at 7 am to get stuff done in Split before I left, then got on the bus to Dubrovnik at 10:30 am. What a bus ride! I lost track of how many times I said, "Holy f@cking shit!" either because of the view, the drop off the side, or both! Our rest stop was in Bosnia - how cool is that? I had someone take my picture in front of the bus, but it's highly unflattering and not going here.

My landlord du jure met me at the bus station and drove me to the house. It is very very nice, I only wish I were spending more time there - a shared kitchen, a nice terrace off my room. He was very informative about how to get to the Old Town and where to eat, and anything else I needed.

After settling in I went to the Old Town (Stari Grad) and THAT is when I fell in love. This is truly a wonderful place! I walked around, then walked the city walls and took a bazillion pictures. Here's one:




Oh what the heck, here's another:



Then I had an awesome dinner of mussels, bread, and wine. The mussels were fantastic - see for yourself:



After dinner, I went to a classical concert by a quartet in a church. It was a condlelight concert and absolutely beautiful. They played a variety of music, and one piece was so sad and beautiful I was moved to tears. What a lovely end to the day: gorgeous music in a gorgeous setting.

Off to bed now (well after a 20 minute walk!) so I can lavish my love on the city tomorrow!

My Day in Split

After some much needed sleep, I woke up ready to see the city. There is a great "green market" (what we would call a farmers market) here, and I bought some tasty cherries and what may be the best roasted almonds I have ever had in my life.










And then...I walked. Allll over. Up to the Marjan, which is a park, and through pretty little streets about 6 feet wide. I stopped for a tasty lunch of tomato salad and cod stew (sorry guys, no way to load the pics from this internet cafe - but I will later). Then I walked some more, out to an art museum (sculptures of Ivan Mestrovic) and a beach (where I saw a dude take of his speedo and change into shorts - right on the beach! ).

If you haven't guessed from the above, the weather is very nice today, sunny and warm.

I was bummed to find out today that I misread the ferry schedule online or something, and I won't be able to take the ferry back from Dubrovnik. Oh well. I'll take the bus back, and then a shorter ferry ride to Hvar.

Off to Dubrovnik tomorrow!

Just a Face in the Crowd

Ugh, I never want to travel without elite status again! Even though I selected a seat 24 hours ahead of the flight, I apparently got booted out of it as a non-status, award ticket traveller, and had the pleasure of jamming myself into the middle seat of a 5-seat row. With no leg room. Or any other kind of room. Well, maybe some above-the-head-room. I am sooo committed to keping my status on American after this!!! I like my comfy seats.

I can't say I'm crazy about the United transatlantic experience overall. The seats felt very small and cramped - getting my bag out from under the seat required serious body contortions. The food was bleah; the tortellini for dinner was flour lumps in some kind of glue sauce, and breakfast was a wee little yogurt and a roll (which, I gotta give them props,was warm!).

So now I'm at Heathrow waiting for the next flight. I've made the rounds of the stores and bought some Tylenol for the headache I developed on the plane, as well as some Walkers crisps because I love 'em! and water because we didn't get watered much on the plane.