In just 9 days, it will be Labor Day in the States. It’s not so much that we celebrate Labor Day in recognition of our workers. To most Americans, Labor Day represents the end of summer. So there it is, the summer will be over in 9 days and I am really wondering if it really even started. Last week in the cold of August (high of 55) my neighbor Doug happened upon a group of nude sunbathers at the Feldmoching See while bike riding. As he was describing this unexpected and amusing sight, I began to realize that this was as summer as it gets. This year there was no summer on the Autobahn.
In mining gear as we prepare to tour the salt mine in Germany, near the Austria border.
Chris decided he liked Schnitzel! Of course! It's delicious!
Can anyone else see how tall Joe is getting? Here we are again on the Rothenburg wall.
Joe, Chris and Heather taking a break on the wall around Rothenburg.
Chris and Joe at the Torture Museum. . .
Joe, Amber, Chris and Heather on the horse drawn carriage ride we took through Rothenburg.
Joe, Chris and Heather at a stop along the Mike's Bike Ride in Munich.
Friends from home. . .
We just finished a wonderful visit from our friends Amber, Chris and Heather Johansen. Chris and Joe have been friends since they were about 5 or 6 I'm guessing, not long after we moved into Garland. Chris's mom and I have since become good friends too, and it was so nice to have a friend from home visiting. Seems like Joe and Chris only wanted to ride bikes and play around, but we are in Germany, and we had to go see some things. We visited the usual places, downtown Munich with a Mike's Bike ride tour (lots of fun and all English speaking tourists.) We went to Neuschwanstein and Schloss Linderhoff, two of crazy King Ludwig's castles. We also visited Rothenburg, the oldest surviving medieval village with the village wall still intact. In Rothenburg you can walk along the wall that surrounds the village. Entering the village on the cobblestone streets immediately transports you back in time. Once in Rothenburg we immediately visited the torture museum, thinking the boys would enjoy that, however, I think they just used the time to think of more ways to torture Amber and me on the drive back in the car. . .The most exciting part of the trip for me, after just getting to visit with Amber, was our trip to Garmisch where there is a US Airforce base with a commissary full of American food. Amber's husband is retired Army and so with her ID, we were able to get in and go shopping for American groceries. Amber said she'd never seen anything so funny as Robin, Joe and me going crazy in the grocery store. More than $250 later, we returned home with Fritos scoops, Cheetohs, poptarts, barbecue sauce, fixings for hot sauce, Doritos, Reeces Peanut Butter cups, Minute Rice, and various cans of Campbell's soup just to name a few of the items. And really. . .I should have purchased more! It was so exciting, but already the Fritos and Cheetohs are gone from the house. . .it's funny the things you take for granted. We probably really wouldn't eat that kind of stuff normally, but when you can't get it, it seems like you want it even more when it's right in front of you. Don't even get me started on the new Kentucky Fried Chicken in Munich and how many times Sam has already been there since it opened only 3 weeks ago!
All in all, it is so nice to have friends visit from home. It makes the distance seem not so far. . .we can't wait to see who will visit next!!!
A Croatian Holiday on the Adriatic Sea
This time last year, I probably could tell you only one thing that I knew about Croatia, that being that there is a handsome actor on ER who is from Croatia. That’s pretty sad isn’t it? I couldn’t tell you anything else about it. . .but I can tell you more now after our weeklong holiday on the Istrian peninsula.
Croatia has been under the rule of many different countries, including Italy, Hungary, Turkey, France, and Austria. So much of Croatia has been under the control of so many different nations, not to mention different parts of the country being under the control of different nations simultaneously. Many people, often members of the same family, claim different nationalities even though they may have all been born in the same place!
After the downfall of the Austrian Hungarian Monarchy in World War I, Croatia became part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, later called Yugoslavia which was dominated by Serbian communists. In 1991, Croatia claimed it’s independence from the Yugoslavian control, resulting in heavy fighting. The fighting was so difficult that for 3 months Croatia said they would freeze their declaration for independence. However, the fighting continued. In 6 months of war, 10,000 people died, thousands fled the country and tens of thousands of homes were destroyed.
In 1992, help from the United Nations arrived and Croatia became a member of the UN. However, violent fighting continued until 2000 when the long held government of the Democratic Union was removed. The country has now been democratized and continues to deal with war criminals with the help of the EU and UN.
The culture of Croatia is therefore a mix of many different cultures. Croats are generally Roman Catholics, while Serbs are Eastern Orthodox. However, according to research information, Roman Catholicism is making a comeback, and most churches have large consistent attendance every Sunday.
Also, one year ago, I probably could not have told you what large body of water surrounded Croatia. I think I could have told you I had heard of the Adriatic Sea, if and only if you said “Adriatric Sea” first! Now, I can tell you all about the Adriatric Sea, and how beautiful it is. The Adriatric sea is part of the Mediterranean and is deep blue and incredibly clear – however, unlike in the Gulf of Mexico or the Carribean, I didn’t have to worry about Jelly Fish or sharks! The beaches of the Adriatric are not sandy, but rocky – making it difficult sometimes to find a comfortable position to sun yourself. However, we did eventually find a small sandy beach on an island, but we think we have decided we (except for Sam) prefer the rocks over the sand – sand is too messy!
Because of the location of Croatia on the Adriatic Sea, we ate seafood every day! Sam, Robin and I have all discovered that we love calamari – I think we ate it almost every day we were there. One night I ate mussels too, and they were quite delicious. Everytime I smelled the calamari in Dallas at a restaurant, it smelled awful! No wonder I never would try it – but now we are hooked – of course it didn’t stink here!
Wine, olive oil, grappa and truffles are important items in Croatia. I can say we tried all but the truffles – the seafood was just too good to stoop to eating mushrooms! A tour of the wine country of Croatia for the adults proved to be a great day and we all returned with plenty of award winning Croatian wine – at unbelievably low prices. Croatia does not export their wine, so there is no other way to try it unless you travel here.
We stayed in a beautiful villa in Morgani, so called because of Captain Morgan, a pirate who sank his ships in the canal nearby and came to start a new village. On every drive to Morgani we passed a village wiped out by the Black Plague of the 14th century. Legend has it that the pirate Captain Morgan buried his treasure in the remains of the plague village where it remains. It was too hot and humid for us to stay long enough to dig for the treasure. . .I must say, it is an amazing thing to see the remains of this village and to walk where so many lost their lives to a disease that we have all read about in history classes.
Croatia is a beautiful country, full of amazing history, culture and food. It is a country that continues to recover from years of civil war. It is already a tourist destination for those “in the know”, but 10 years from now, the whole world will be visiting this beautiful country. And Croatia is preparing now and will be ready!
On the last night we made smores, Croatian style!
A view of our villa. It was so beautiful and yes, this was all ours for the week! One highlight was our visit with our neighbors who shared with us some homemade wine and grappa. It was so much fun talking (or lat least trying) to them.
Delicious Croatian wine waiting to be bottled.
Acres and acres of vineyards cover the countryside.
The first stop on our wine tour. The lady uses a "thief" to take wine from the barrel so we can sample it. This particular wine has not been bottled yet and won't be ready for a while longer.
A view from the village.
The Islers and Haines families in the village of the Black Plague.
Inside the village. . .
The remains of the village destroyed by the Black Plague. Legend has it that the pirate, Captain Morgan, buried his treausure here.
Can you tell we're having a great time?!
Joe, Luke and Jake had a go at para gliding. The captain of the boat spent some time in Houston and Galveston before he settled down with his wife here. He is a big fan of the US.
A day of water sports . . .Sam loves the jet ski!
Gladiators of the 21st century? Perhaps. History tells us that gladiators were much smaller back then than they would be today. . .
The site for many gladiator fights. . .
The oldest remaining outdoor coliseum in Europe is in Pula, Croatia We walked through here with a friend of Kate's, also a native Croatian, who told us some of the history.
Joe got a chance to do a little diving too, but he isn't old enough yet to do it alone, so the instructor took him for about 10 minutes and they didn't go as deep, but he still loved it and can't wait until he's old enough.
"Mom, stop taking pictures of me in this wet suit!"
Sam and Zach prepare for their discovery dive. . .they hated wearing wet suits, but you have to wear them because the water gets really cold when you go deep.
