teaser: Australian friends, Michele and Marlene, Bosnia-Herzogovina, Montenegro...

We hope to update soon.

Comments Fixed (I Think)

I know there are thousands of readers who want to comment on the informative and entertaining posts Mari and I have written. Up until now some of you have been unable to do so, but I think I fixed the problem. If you try to comment and can't, drop me a note and I'll look into it.

Toilets

Mari has been doing most of the heavy lifting on the blog lately - my days are split between teaching and sight-seeing, without much time for blogging. Still, I have to hold up my end of the conversation, so today I'll turn to a subject of great significance but mundane appeal - toilets.

In the States we're used to robust, manly toilets that flush with confidence and authority. Whatever is in the bowl when you hit the handle is unceremoniously pushed with great force through the pipes. Croatian toilets, even in new buildings, are much less assertive. They flush, but it's more like they are encouraging (rather than requiring) the bowl contents be on their way. For instance, even as water swirls around and out the bottom, there is always a small pool in the bowl.

So what, you say? Well normally it would be no big deal, but Wednesday night and Thursday were not normal. I contracted a case of the green apple two-step, so efficient and effective flushing became a high priority for me. You can imagine - NO! DON'T IMAGINE THAT! - my dismay with the Croatian system. However, I have come away with much greater appreciation for the U.S. plumbing industry.

UPDATE: Here's the guilty party!

9 October 2014 first blog from Zagreb

October 7 saw Mike and me out in the dark morning at 0500 to catch the RIT cab to the Dubrovnik airport for our 6 day stay in Zagreb. You may remember that Mike's classes are half  students in Zagreb and half in Dubrovnik. The class is linked by computer and small camera. The Zagreb students see him in a postage stamp size shot. Since the connection is suboptimal for both sides, he volunteered to teach in Zagreb a couple of the weeks during his stay. Of course I tagged along for the first trip and we added 3 days to the trip for sightseeing.

RIT had arranged the travel and hotel and we were promptly picked up at Zagreb airport and taken to Centar Antunovic, a beautiful modern amenity-packed conference center. Just as I was thinking, I was a little underdressed, the receptionist alarmed us saying there were no reservations for us. After feeling like babes lost in the woods, we were able to sort out that we were at the wrong hotel. Villa Antunovac is our home for the stay. No pool. Very close to the center of the city with about 10 guest rooms. RIT has used this hotel for several years and in the beginning it was a five-minute walk to RIT Zagreb. They have a new campus farther away  and now it's a tram ride with bus transfer. Mike is taking advantage of very reasonable taxi rates since he only has 2 round trips to RIT while we're here.

So you ask, "What is there to do in Zagreb?"
Our hotel is across the street from a large brewery that reminds me of High Falls.

brewery in the daylight

It has a great restaurant associated with it. At the recommendation of our hotel desk, we gave it a try after Mike returned home late from his first day of teaching. (Mike says the students actually appreciate his jokes. I chuckle at that.)

Apparently, every Tuesday night at the brewery restaurant is a planned special meeting of a local dance club. We were surprised to see senior citizens waltzing to national favorites and frugging and getting down with a little Elvis thrown in. The music was provided by one man singing. He accompanied himself on an electric keyboard set to sound like an accordion. (That's right, he actually wanted the accordion sound.) Everybody was dancing and when he started belting out Blue Suede Shoes in Croatian I had to join in. Turns out they appreciated my effort and many came over to greet us, grabbing an English speaking friend on the way to translate. The manager of the dance club has a daughter who also teaches at RIT in Zagreb and hugged and kissed us just because. We felt like celebs. This was the Zagreb we were looking for.

Still relatively unknown, enjoying a late dinner with Mike

Dancers waiting for the music to restart

"Blue Suede Shoes" and I blow my cover

One enthusiastic dance partner

Delicious grilled bacon, sausage, bacon wrapped chicken and
cevapcici  (little mixed meat sausages) with potatoes

70,00 kunas is about $12 dollars, great price

The arch over the entrance outside

8 October was a national holiday.
We heard that many businesses would be closed and Mike felt he needed to do more prep for his classes so that we would have Friday, Saturday and Sunday to enjoy. With a little apprehension, I took off on my own. I decided to walk to the old city center down Ilica Street and not try the tram. It was a 30 minute walk through a dark old section of town with 3-5 story stone and concrete buildings painted dark colors and stained by the air pollution from the frequent tram traffic. Ilica street is the most famous shopping street in Zagreb but from where I started walking it was not attractive, had some vacant store fronts and much grafitti. There were many single women walking and I felt very safe. I looked at the architecture and despite the paint and soot  noticed most buildings were decorated with stone statues, carved corbels and trim work. Yup, just needs a little scrub so the original architecture can be appreciated.  As I approached the city square named after a beloved governor, Josip Jelacic, the architecture changed and building upkeep improved. This part of the city design is more open and inviting.

Another corner with statue
on my way down Ilica street to the square

tram traveling down Ilica street

Josip Jelacic statue in the square

Some beautiful buildings facing the square

 What contrast to the first part of my walk!  The magnificent twin spires of the cathedral can be seen from all over Zagreb.

the Cathedral with some repairs going on.
Note the size of the people in front of the cathedral.

 Many sites were tributes to the area's history.

St. Mark's  Church  with gaudy roof

Stone Gate was turned into a makeshift chapel
to honor Mary the official patron saint of Zagreb since 1990 

Citizens were out in good numbers with kids and dogs. Street venders were selling roasted chestnuts and corn on the cob. Mike and I will take this walking tour Friday and visit some of the museums that Zagreb is noted for. I am especially looking forward to the Museum of Naive Art. Much naive art was painted on glass by northern Croatians when they had a break from their farming. These untrained artists had a natural feel for color and balance.

   The remainder of the day was a walking tour of the old upper town, a drink break was followed by a walk through the lower town. Lower town is very green and somewhat newer. It has many beautiful public parks arranged in an horse shoe pattern. In lower town you start to see modern architecture mixed with the old.

This was a beautiful building with shops along the ground floor. 

High end shopping

center of the building with glass domed ceiling
and 4 long halls of shops meet at the center

Some new  mixed architecture

H&M left Eastview Mall but is big here

A corner building with a corner entrance is very common

We were fascinated by the title "The Museum of Broken Relationships." True to its name there were numerous simple exhibits submitted by heartbroken men and women. Each exhibit included a short story of the heartache and a touching peculiar memento from the relationship. Many sweet young loves, or jilted lovers, many two-timers, many short or long term affairs that ended in disappointment for any reason were painfully preserved here. Dear Abby could have predicted many of the doomed relationships. This is a touring exhibit and there were some entries from the US. Each broken heart entry would live on in this museum for all eternity.

The October weather here is sunny and warm. Leaves, if they intend to be, are not colorful yet.
That's it for tonight. Stay safe and be good to those you love.

1 October 2014 Update Croatia

Patient readers:

Let's get you up to date on the great adventures.
Mike added the pictures to Maggie and Nora's blog.
The Smiths arrived home safely on schedule. I understand Andy greeted them with surprises to the house which qualifies him for husband of the year including hiring an electrician, plumber, housekeeper, just to name a few. Go Andy!!

Saturday 27 Sept. was a bit gusty! We sat outside and had a delicious dinner at Porta Restaurant.

The shrimp with truffles and noodles was outstanding. MJ had fresh trout without the head/face. Kevin and Mike had chicken and steak. The Wine and Jazz Festival is held here every year. So after dinner we went to the outdoor concert to hear Jose Feliciano and the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra conducted by Michael Kissinger. The acoustics were amazing especially since the wind was really blowing down the street. When I say street I mean the marble block paved road flanked by hundreds years old stone buildings, with porticos and carved columns, survivors of earthquakes, infernos, bombings and tourists. Behind Jose and the stage was the Cathedral which provided a humble backdrop.

Jose with Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra conducted by Michael Kissinger

Concert with light show on the Cathedral "screen"

When we first arrived in Dubrovnik I kept thinking of  Epcot at Disney World or The Bellagio in Vegas. However this place is the real thing and was the inspiration for what Disney and Vegas tried to capture.

Sunday 28 Sept. was another exceptional day.
Luci, our landlady and now good friend drove Mary Jo, Mike and me out past the airport to sightsee. We first stopped at the town of Gruda to pick up her niece, a recent college grad, who is living here volunteering for 5 months. She was visiting her grandmother and had locked her keys in the car. (been there). The five of us stopped to see Restaurant Konavoski Dvori. This is a rather large indoor/outdoor restaurant with many tables set among trees
Fresh water rushes down from the mountain in a river and some of it has been diverted through here on the way to the Adriatic. The town had used the creeks to run their grain mills in the past. These creeks and water wheels were incorporated into the outdoor seating of the restaurant and there was even a trout bed where the restaurant grew their own dinner trout. We saw a staff member come out with a net to scoop up someone's dinner.

Classy ladies room with water wheel

Back up on the road

We dropped Luci's niece (also named Luci) off at her family home so she could get her keys. Luci, MJ, Mike and I drove up to Sokol Grad a fortified city in the mountains. Patiently restored to preserve its history, it was a treasure of stone and another breathtaking view. It is worth a Google look.

Entrance to Sokol Grad, fortified city

Soldier statue with a crossbow defending the fort

View from the upper parapet at the fort

View from the top of the fort

We drove back to pick up niece Luci at her family home and she had graciously prepared tastings of grappa, rose liqueur, sage liqueurs. These were made by her uncle who has a shop in Gruda, her grandmother's town. These were very interesting. MJ's favorite was the grappa. The alcohol content is so high, it seems the grappa evaporates in your mouth. I loved the aroma and tastes of the rose and sage liqueurs. We would love to go back to the store in Gruda to purchase some to bring home for all to try. Packing wines and liqueurs in checked baggage is always a delicate matter.

Luci and her niece at the liqueur tasting

entering back of Luci's brother's house

Niece Luci in dining room of her family home
showing the back balcony with view.

This had been a wonderful day but was still not over. Luci drove us down to the coast to the town park built by the residents. It was a steep slope/cliff which had been fitted with a long staircase built into the cliff side Thestairs led down to a platform with a shelter and covered outdoor firepit. Luci's relatives and friends were already there. They had set the outdoor table and dinner was ready.
Bottles of their homemade wine were on the table.  Our hosts had prepared appetizers of salted sardines which had been previously caught, layered with salt and weighted down to preserve. These were served with olive oil, sliced raw onions and fresh bread.
The second course was a light fish bouillon with rice and bread for dipping.

going down steps to dinner

Dining table waiting for us all

another view of the dining area with column rail
All the concrete work was completed on site with materials carried down from the top.

Table with guests and covered grill in the distance

Not your ordinary wood fired grill

beautiful shoreline

This is part of the walk down to the sea.
See the steps in the foreground leading to the rocks.
The little fishing boat is the dot off to the left

The local town built all this to enjoy the cliff and seaside

Looking upwards at the rocks

The men had gone out in a boat to catch fish by net in the early morning. The fish had been cleaned and were cooking as we arrived. It is an old saying here that fish should swim three times, that is, once in the ocean, once in olive oil and once in wine. Arugula salad, fresh tomato salad, grilled vegetables (eggplant, peppers, squash) completed the main course. There was a variety of fish including our first taste of baracuda and all were delicious. Mike remarked that if I could cook fish like this, he would eat it every day. If he could catch fish like this, I would cook it everyday.

After dinner, led by Mary Jo of course, we gingerly followed the steps farther along the cliff down to the water, or rather down to boulders. Niece Luci and her cousin climbed over the rocks and went for a swim. We watched the men who had fished earlier hop from rock to rock, dive in and swim out to their boat, tow it in and carry it out ot the water to a secure place in the rocks.

We timed our ascent just right. Our hostesses had cleaned up and were preparing coffee to go with a delicious sponge cake that Luci had baked. Sponge cake is a specialty here and Luci's was perfect.
We took some pictures of all of us, thanked them all and were driven home after this master class of Croatian hospitality.
What else is there to say.

We wish everyone could have this experience.

Mari

26 September 2014 catch up blog

26 September 2014

Hello All

About this blog: I edited the pictures in this blog. You can teach me new tricks!

Food news:
We continue to find new restaurants and dishes to try. Black risotto colored by the ink in cuttlefish had been recommended and was a must-try. I tried the black seafood risotto in 2 restaurants. It was delicious but rather salty. I'll have to try again. On the other hand, we were served a hearty, delicious black bread this morning at breakfast. I do not know what made it black and will have to ask next time.

Visitors:
During the hike up Mt. Srd. Wednesday Maggie (10 yrs old) was kind and very protective of Mary Jo and me (bringing up the rear) and stayed behind to keep her eye on us.

Here is one of several men working on a private residence
who had to carry cement and masonry in wheelbarrows up and down many stairs

There were about 700 steps prior to the long switchback path to the top adding up to about 90 minutes hiking total.

Me bringing up the rear, hiking the switchbacks nearing the top of Mt. Srd

There were bronze plaques with the stations of the cross at the turning points of the switchbacks. You may be able to see the one behind me in the distance.
We had a lunch at the Panorama Cafe at the top with views of the mountains in Bosnia to the east, Montenegro to the Southeast, Dubrovnik to the Southwest and a number of Dalmatian islands to the West, The war museum was heartrending and changed the way we now look at the city. It is more evident to us how much damage was done. As we walk around the city now, we notice where there have been repairs to the roofs and walls. They are still rebuilding many areas as I hope you will see in the pictures.

                                                           Views from the top of Mt. Srd

Looking at Montenegro ("black mountains") in the far distance

The fort and communications tower were severely damaged 

during the war and had to be repaired

Looking south on Dubrovnik

Looking North, Bosnia is on the other side of these mountains

We took the cable car down to the level of the steps. We were very proud  of our adventure up the mountain and that we had missed landmines and snakes.
Wednesday evening Mary Jo  and Kevin invited our landlady Luci, their landlady Doda and her son to a get-together at their apartment. We partied outside in Doda's beautiful garden and visited for several hours. Mike left early to attend a reception for the RIT Croatia Dean's List students.

Party at Antuna Masel 1, left to right are Kevin, Luci, Tae, Mari, Mike

Thursday Tae wanted to run and was concerned the crowded city would not be fun. She took a special trip to Lokrum to run the dirt path on the island in the morning while the girls, Mary Jo and Kevin ate al fresco at Posat restaurant. The Game of Thrones production crew had rented the entire parking lot adjacent to the restaurant for their trucks and unloaded  gear while they were eating. Security guards were on patrol. Google Game of Thrones Dubrovnik if you would like to see them filming the King's landing segments in town.

Prop wagon load 

readying set for Game of Thrones behind barricade fence

A few of the Thrones production trucks

This morning Tae, Maggie and Nora took off for home. The girls missed their dad and their guinea pigs. It was hard for Nora to leave the ice cream shops behind. We will miss them. They were full of energy and saw things with their young eyes that we would have overlooked.
Mike and I just got back from the concert at the Rector's Palace. Tonight was a group of 5 musicians and a jester all in costumes playing medieval music on medieval instruments. The program was The Magic Compass. The music started out with ditties by Dubrovnik composers and took us on a path to Italy, France, Holland, England. We apparently ended up with both a broken compass and a broken clock and heard an arrangement of "Take Five" played on the quaint instruments. It was fantastic.

Orchestra chairs in the atrium of the Rector's Palace
where they perform most nights

Stone hand rail holder at the Rector's Palace

S

Christopf Campestrini guest conducting
Picture taken from our seats behind the violins

Daytime snapshot inside the Rector's Palace
showing the 1st balcony 

2nd balcony where many in the audience stand
or sit on the ledge to listen

Have a good weekend everyone!