Opatija, Croatia

Toward the last half of our trip, we spent four lovely, relaxing days in Opatija, a seaside town along the Adriatic coast in the northwest of Croatia. Getting there was a bit of a challenge, as there are no direct flights or short bus rides within the country, but it wasn't nearly as bad as we'd expected. From Venice, we journeyed to Trieste, which is just about the furthest east you can go in northern Italy. Off the train, and straight onto a bus that crossed through Slovenia and into Croatia (Opatija is only a short 76 miles from Trieste, but the border-crossing lengthens the trip). The bus wound its way through mountains and lush forests, ascending so high up that the temperature dropped several degrees. It was really quite an amazing sight.

As we pulled into Opatija, we oohed and ahhed at the charming hotels and boutiques, and the gorgeous view. Speaking absolutely no Croatian (despite our efforts to listen and practice with our language tape at the bus station), we looked around hopefully and found that English was spoken widely. Lucky us. Exhausted, we grabbed a taxi to our hotel. "I hope we're staying at one of those cute ones we saw!" I said. As we pulled up to Hotel Ambasador, we groaned. It didn't look as nice as the photos - kind of older, ugly, and straight out of the 70s. Just about the ugliest hotel on the entire strip. Oh well, hopefully it's nice inside, we thought.

Sunrise on the balcony, writing in our trip diary.

Oh my, it was so much nicer than we imagined. Very lucky us. Our room was located in the adjacent Villa Ambasador, a much more attractive building with wonderful rooms (if you ever stay here, I'd highly recommend this place).

From our balcony: lazy, relaxed-looking sunbathers

Hotel pool: image borrowed from www.opatija.net

Just off the boardwalk, you could climb right into the sea for a swim. Or, if you wanted to do it more resort-style, you could hang out by the pool. We swam, lounged, and people-watched, and I did this some more while D was at his conference. The first time I took a dip, it was shockingly salty (I suppose it makes sense to flush it with seawater, being next to the Adriatic and all). It was so salty that little crystals of salt were forming on my skin and brows.

I don't know what D is waiting for, but I'd better get ready to eat

When we weren't being absolutely lazy, we walked around the downtown strip and sampled the local dishes - fish soups, fresh seafood risotto, grilled fish, and more. The local currency is Kuna, and we truly had no sense of its value because nowhere in our guide book did it say what it was equivalent to. We finally spotted a sign on a fishing expedition signboard that said 75 Kuna or 10 Euro, so we worked off that number the rest of the trip. The weather was hot and sunny, probably the nicest we'd had all trip, and also seemed to be a perfect growing climate for a strange combination of trees we'd never seen together: palms, pines, and deciduous ones. Another Opatija (and maybe Croatian) obsession seemed to be chocolate. There was chocolate EVERYWHERE, on every menu you could order from 37 flavours of hot chocolate. Crazy.

We went swimming at a public 'beach', which was pretty much a concrete lying-about area with steps leading directly into the sea. There were even some cute little fishies in the little swimming hole:

D's lily white toes seeing sunlight for the first time in months

On another day, we walked by the local yacht club to see what all the sailing folks were up to. When we got bored, we ate more delicious seafood at the club, this time an unknown white fish in wine sauce, calamari fritto, and more fish soup. Mmm, fish soup.

D looks longingly at the boats...

While we were there, the Euro games were on and Croatia had won against Austria on this particular night - sports fans are the same everywhere. The whooping, honking and other festivities carried on a while, and was a lot of fun. Oh! I almost forgot to tell you that we were interviewed poolside by the local TV station (I guess we were pretty obviously tourists) who asked us which team we were rooting for. Croatia, of course, we said. I wonder if we ever made the news?

It was hard to leave the relaxing pace in Opatija, but we had to make our way back to Paris, so it was time to say byebye to our little resort getaway.

Venice

It really is as romantic as everyone says - bridges overlooking the canals, gondolas, old cathedrals, public squares, outdoor cafes and restaurants and gelato stands do their best to charm you as you sigh with pleasure. I'd been expecting the worst tourist trap of all time, and that our stopover really was just to see what all the fuss was about, but I found myself wanting to stay longer.

What surprised me most was how unbelievably different Venice was from where we just were. It's a small enough city that you can get around on foot easily, which made it ideal for our very brief stay. D and I spent exactly 1 day in Venice, far too short, but our budget wouldn't really have allowed us to stay much longer (a not-very-fancy hotel will run you at least $200/night). We stayed at the Hotel Atlantide, close to the train station, so that we wouldn't spend too much of our precious little time dragging our suitcases across the city. The hotel was nothing special, just a good basic room with clean sheets and everything you really need, but I would steer clear of the buffet breakfast - probably the worst we'd eaten in Europe. What was funny was that just last night we were watching Michael Palin's Around the World in 80 days and noticed that he stayed at exactly the same place! What a coincidence.

Wandering through the narrow streets

We walked through the narrow streets and wound our way down through the Rialto Market to the Piazza San Marco, mostly just taking in the views of the hundreds of canals, boats and bridges along the way.

Pasta coloured with squid ink, beet juice, saffron and other things. I bet only tourists buy these, but they were still fun and pretty to look at.

Rialto bridge and market area

Piazza San Marco was lovely, but as expected, an absolute tourist zoo, with the most English we'd heard being spoken our whole trip thus far. The tourist thing to do appeared to be posing with the pigeons eating out of your hands, but to me it looked like they were going to be eaten alive (the little kiddies looked scared). That, or dressing your small children in the striped gondolier souvenier t-shirt and straw hat and then making them pose with the pigeons. Luckily, I limited my tourist shopping to some Murano glass trinkets.

Basilica San Marco

Side of Doge's Palace (I think)

Cafe in the square

We had some very nice food in Venice, much to my surprise, because I'd heard and read a lot about places offering 'fixed tourist menus' and was worried we might not be able to escape it. When you wander about 15 minutes away from the train station though, you start finding some delicious places to eat. What made it a challenge, however, was that the menus ceased to have any English on them and we had to rely on an awkward combination of pointing, a bit of Italian, English, even French, and pointing and nodding. It all worked out in the end.

Can you believe these are marzipan fruit?

Spaghetti al Nero di Seppia

We had a great dinner at a little place called the Trattoria Allantica Mola, following suit with other diners by ordering the squid ink pasta with chunks of tender squid,a Venetian specialty (later I found out it was cuttlefish, which is similar). We sort of accidentally ordered the grilled fish of the day, without any idea what is was, how it would arrive, how big it was, or how much it cost (D had also just accidentally ordered a whole bottle of red when he said, 'vino rosso per favore', so perhaps this contributed to our ordering enthusiasm). Lucky for us, the fish was an exciting surprise, and absolutely delicious. I think I was most thrilled with watching it fileted tableside, so neat! There were four fishies on the platter, along with some grilled scampi:

Speedy filet and deboning work.

Sadly, we never found out what we were eating, but it was delicious, and at that point we'd shared a whole bottle of wine, so it was lost on us to bother asking any questions we may later have been glad to have asked. We were pretty happy.

I leave you with my favourite sneaky shot of Venice:

'A mullet so fine the man next to him appears to have fainted' - D

Milan, Italy

When in Italy, eat gelato. As much as you can, because it's that good. Gelato, which contains about 50% less milkfat than North American ice creams, has a dense, rich taste. It's intensely fruity, flavourful and smooth, and it's good at pretty much any counter. When we crossed the border, eating gelato replaced my daily eating of pastries. I was thinking of writing a little blurb about frozen desserts, but there is such a vast literature on the subject that I didn't know where to start to give it any sort of justice. Let's just look at the yummy picture and I'll tell you what we did in Milan.

Strawberry & Tiramisu

We hadn't planned our trip around truly experiencing Italy, instead using a few days as an opportunity to stop in two famous cities en route to Croatia. It was too short, but still worthwhile - we'd love to visit again, next time for a longer stay. From Paris, we took the overnight train (a gruesome experience if you're in the bottom bunk of a 6-person sleeper) and stayed at Hotel Berna, which seemed very upscale compared to our stays in Paris and Venice. Our day started bright and early:

Two days in Milan meant limited time to see the sights, so we started at the Duomo, a massive gothic cathedral that took four centuries to build. It was about 7am, and nothing was open yet, except a McCafe, so we stopped in to have a cappuccino (D was appalled that our first coffee in Italy was at McDonald's, but even he'll admit to being impressed - a real coffee bar that made real coffee beverages. No egg McMuffins to be spotted anywhere). We did eventually have coffee somewhere a bit more impressive.

We explored the beautiful, museum-like outdoor shopping arcades that were home to all the famous fashion houses. It seemed a bit surreal. The fashion in Milan was quite different than in Paris - much flashier, Versace-ish style looks, and many more high-heeled women.

Too cute. How much is it?

Plenty of cute little Smart cars, this one with a flower motif

Large groups of expensively-dressed tourists roamed the shops, buying up tons of Vuitton and Armani. How people afford to cloth themselves in fully designer fashion, I'll never quite understand. That said, we did have fun window shopping, marveling at the outrageously expensive items.

At 5pm, most bars begin serving complimentary tapas with drinks. Some places even go so far as setting up a whole buffet of crostini, pastas, pizzas, brushetta, grilled vegetables, sliced meat and cheeses and more. An inexpensive way to eat if you're traveling on a budget. We greedily fit in another meal though, late in the evening. We gobbled up some excellent spaghetti carbonara (the real thing with eggs, parma and cheese, no cream), gnocchi in a rose sauce, simply grilled fish with lemon, and Milanese cutlet (pretty much wienerschnitzel). Strangely, a group of tourists from Cleveland also happened to be eating in the restaurant, complaining a little too loudly, 'This isn't like any carbonara I've ever had at home!' Good grief, you're not at home, you're in Italy. Whose dish do you think is more authentic? I felt embarassed. We pretended not to speak English.

Next stop: Venice

I should mention that it rained pretty much the entire time we were in Milan, which put a bit of a damper on the tourist mood and resulted in far less pictures (we stayed in Venice only one day but it looks like we were there for far longer than that). People seemed surprised when we told them we chose Milan, I guess because it is quite industrial and not as romantic as Rome or Florence. But it made the most sense for us, as it connected easily to Venice and then Croatia. Annoying tourists aside, Milan was fun - I wish we'd had another few more days there. Next city, Venice!

Paris, we miss you already...

View from our room

We're back in Columbus! Actually, we've been back for almost a week now. I've missed blogging - I think this is the longest I've gone without posting something. We've been having fun catching up with old friends, meeting new friends, and getting back into our routine. Jewelry class was on Wednesday, where I gave my copper bracelet some final buffing (I love shiny things) and started my second project. Devon and her husband were in town (soon to be neighbours!) and we all had dinner together at Spagio Cellars , and then on Friday I stopped by the Pearl Alley farmer's market for the first time this week, which was great and oh-so-close - literally just down the street. Then Saturday, we lounged poolside at Jay and Sonja's. Such a hard life, I know.

I have other exciting news too! If you remember, just before I left, I was hired as a freelance cake decorator. I have yet to do any work for the owner, but much has happened during my absence. She is planning to move into a new location, building it up from scratch, and wants my help on a more regular basis - hopefully full time in the fall. The only downside is that I'll be moving in a short 5 months, and there will probably be many delays, so who knows what will actually happen. Anyhow, it's a great opportunity and I'm pretty thrilled about seeing how a bakery gets set up. Even if the store takes a while to set up, she's got some wedding cake work for me in July - there are 3 weddings that I'll be helping out with, and I'll also likely be going back to the other bakery at some point. Hmm, at this rate, I may never go back to land of psychology.

Meet Mr. Domo, a monster, and also a USB flashdrive

Ok, enough with updates. The other reason for my blogging delay is that every time I think about posting, I become completely indecisive about what I should include (a.k.a., Too Many Vacation Photos). So, after much procrastination, I think I'll just show you some photos we took during the first leg of our trip, which was spent in Paris, and save Italy and Croatia for another day.

Canneles at the Marche Bastille on a Sunday

It was our second time in Paris, and I like to think that we are developing a bit of a routine, which we'll build on in future trips, revisiting our favourites and continuing to discover new things. You may notice that most of the pictures are of pastries, picnicking, drinking coffee and sitting around in gardens...we must look incredibly lazy. But really, it's not laziness, it's just a more balanced and relaxed way of life. No one in Paris brings their laptop to the cafe. People aren't checking their blackberries or texting each other every second. There are so many people out in the gardens at lunch that I'm certain they don't eat lousy microwaved lunches at their desk. When was the last time you ate your lunch at the park? If you are going to spend time in Paris, then I say do as the locals would.

Exotic looking cheese

On our first trip, people thought we were crazy not to go up the Eiffel Tower, go inside the Louvre, or visit Versailles, but the thought of battling the herds of tourists really didn't appeal to me. So, this time, we only did a little bit of touristy stuff, and spent the rest of the time relaxing, enjoying the delicious food and beautiful public spaces, and walking about the city.

Rainy day at the Louvre

Why I dislike visiting tourist attractions: Hoards of tourists crowded in front of the Mona Lisa

Jardin du Luxembourg

Public bicycles you can rent by the hour & drop off at any of a multitude of locations

Lunchtime formules come with a sandwich, drink, and dessert: Apricot tart

Eating, eating, everywhere eating: Falafel sandwiches on Rue des Rosiers in the Marais

The obligatory Eiffel Tower photo

Copper Bracelet

Zdravo!! We've made it to Opatija, Croatia, the last bit of our trip. It's beautiful, sunny and beachy here.... totally different than Milan and Venice. I'll save trip pics for after we get home. It has been a relaxing day (a very welcoming change after 3 days of hopping on and off buses and trains hoping we are on the right one). D went off to his conference today, and I spent the day wandering around town, swimming, napping and reading. And blogging! It's been harder to blog than I expected, and a lot of the little internet cafes don't let you upload things from USB ports, but at least I can keep in touch somewhat.

Surprised to see a crafting post? I uploaded these images before I left so I'd have something to blog about in case I couldn't post new pics. So, here is my mostly finished copper bracelet...looking much better than I could have ever expected!! With one class left before our trip, I was pretty determined to get a lot done in that afternoon, and it was a nice surprise to discover that that finishing steps were much quicker to complete than the sawing and filing.

After filing each piece, I sanded it and then hammered each one into a dome shape to make slightly curved, following by some hand polishing with something I can't recall the name of at the moment. I could have polished it to a higher shine but being impatient, I left it as is. Maybe I'll do a little more polishing when I get back, but as it is I'm happy with how it looks!

Yay! It doesn't look like poo!

Connected with an extra long tab

We begin our trek back to Paris on the 11th. In hindsight, it was a rather stupid decision to travel home this way, as sleeping overnight on the train in second class is not all that glamourous or comfortable. Followed by a 7'hr flight. Lots to talk about under the heading of: Things we Learned about Traveling. Have a great rest of week, and talk to you all soon!

Finished: Shetland Triangle II

D has taken the camera to Australia, so I am making do with the webcam this week. After much procrastination, I finally got around to blocking Shetland Triangle II. I don't know what took me so long - I have been wearing it all week!

Pattern: Shetland Triangle from Wrapstyle

Yarn: Alchemy Yarns Bamboo, 3 skeins

Needles: US6 circulars

I love the colour, drape and texture of this bamboo yarn. I had never knit with it before, but it suited this pattern well. It felt a little stiff between the fingers and I thought it might be splitty, but it behaved itself well. Again, the only mods made were adding 5 more pattern repeats (I attempted to use the shawl percentage calculator but failed miserably) and leaving out the last pattern row for the edging. During blocking I was a little worried when it released a fair amount of dye, but after drying it's still got a subtle sheen and the colour has remained quite vibrant. I think I'll be able to get a lot of use out of this knit - it will be good for wrapping around the shoulders on cool summer evenings, and will solve the problem of wearing sleeveless tops and then freezing to death in an overly-airconditioned room. And I'll probably be taking this with me to Paris, the land of fashionably-scarved women.

With this being our transition year, it made sense to do some traveling now, before moving and starting new jobs. We went to Paris a few years ago for our honeymoon, and have been wanting to go back ever since. The pastries, cafes, beautiful old monuments, museums, parks ... and of course, stylish scarves. Hence my scarf knitting. D and I will also be traveling to Opatija, Croatia and will likely spend a few days in another city close to the Croation border - perhaps Venice, Trieste, or even Vienna.