We took planes, trains, automobiles, boats, and ferries from San Diego to New York to Rome to Venice to Rovinj to Zagreb, to Zadar, to Split, to Hvar, to Korcula, to Dubrovnik, to Ancona, to Florence to Cinque Terra, to Venice to New York and back to San Diego. Mercury in Retrograde, all the transitions and traveling with my five year old made this trip the logistic challenge of my life (not to mention the straw that nearly broke my husbands back - literally) but thanks to an ipod touch and a few other tricks we made it and it was absolutely the trip of a life time. The purpose of our trip was to take my Mother and Father to meet their relatives and visit the place of our heritage. There were so many reasons not to go on this trip at this time including the value of our dollar compared to the Euro (ouch!) But my sister Linda and I as well as our husbands stayed committed to our parents. The trip delivered meetings with our cousins (the highlight for sure!) and so much more. Some highlights and photos follow.

SNAPSHOT MEMORIES:

Beauty and Nature

• The quiet pristine island of Hotel Istria, the feeling of staying at a Baron’s private island. The seemingly animated seabirds. And wild lavendar.
• Hvar town, the white stone buildings, the flowers, the upscale and hip hotels and beach clubs.
• The light in Croatia is magical I could have take 1,000 more photos and saw hundreds of potential paintings
• Korcula vast and dramatic views, water, beaches and site seeing. Untouched so far, go quickly!
• Dubrovnik and the walled city. Amazingly pristine and no signs of war.
• The color of the water in Croatia in contrast to or complimented by their beautiful white stone.
• Swimming in Croatia was heavenly, different from Maui but equally as stimulating and magical. I’d like to go back and live for a few months at least!
• Cinque Terra and the vibrant turquoise water in contrast to the bright colored buildings and beach umbrellas.
• Villa St. Michelle just outside of Florence for views, gardens and charm.
• Venice (yes Venice is beautiful!) with the light hitting the buildings, green waterways, romantic bridges, and vibrancy of the most unique city I’ve ever seen.

People:

• Croatian boys and men are hot! (sorry no photos to prove it)
• Everyone smokes in Croatia and Italy
• Croatians are polite and shy away from tips but we gave them tips anyway.
• More people speak English in Croatia then Italy
• The women riding scooters in Florence in heels
• Our boat driver in Dubrovnik sharing stories of the war and showing us his war wounds on his leg
• On a boat in Istria, five young men aboard singing perfect acapella
• Angelo and his family in Cinque Terra, he captians his own boat and his family has been there hundreds of years yet he married an American named Paula.

Food, Fashion & Culture:

• Eating the mussels in every port! Rovinj had the best
• Seafood, seafood and more seafood! Delicious and fresh I even ate Sardines
• Fashion in Croatia and Italy consists of a great pair of sunglasses
• Coffee in Croatia was like mud and in both countries you have to love the push button cappuccino machines! And no Starbucks!
• Seeing “David” in Florence. I could feel his aliveness. They claim he is perfectly proportioned but I think a certain part would be a lot bigger if that were truly the case. I was in awe and he brought tears to my eyes, absolutely unbelievable.
• Coming around the corner into St. Marks Square in Venice took me back in time and filled me up in an unexplainable way. I had to fight the urge to leave everyone and everything and paint and write my way through Europe.
• Glad I had my Havainanas, the European flip flop of choice
• Risotto in Venice and the softshell crab was my favorite dish
• The self sustaining communities of Europe and how everything seems to work together in unison. And they vacation and partake in their own culture drinking coffee, eating gelato and shopping.
• Murano glass in Venice I found amazing rings and we bought a beautiful bowl

Aaron

• Seeing Toys R Us and FAO Schwartz in New York, two of the seven wonders in his world.
• Singing to his ipod on Italian trains cracking up nearby listeners
• Betting his Uncle 25 Kuna
• Saying, “Wait a minute, I’m going to take a swig of this”
• Imitating Josh from Drake and Josh yelling “I don’t look good in pink panties”
• Losing Aaron upon our arrival in Cinque Terra and to spot him in a crowd with his headphones on walking down the street in the flow of traffic without a clue! (what can I say we were exhausted?)
• Sitting in his car seat waiting for trains reading his Croatian and Italian super hero mags.
• Wanting a private train car everytime and crying when it was otherwise
• Jumping off the boat in Cinque Terra and swimming in the middle of the sea
• Saying his back was killing him so that we would carry him (again!)
• Demanding coke, stopping at vending machines and insisting on adding comic books as we were rushing to catch trains
• Eating his menta (mint) gelato at every port
• Getting excited at every hotel saying, “Mommy we have a coffee pot, we have a shower, we have a toilet as if each one were totally different
• Seeing him recognize David on TV, in ads and all kinds of places after seeing the “real David”
• Saying, “I’m so over transportation!” when our suitcases were lost from Venice to New York
• Saying this is the best restaurant ever in Venice as he ate pasta with butter for the 20th time and insisting he wanted to come there for lunch the next day

Random:

• They have pink paper towels and toilet paper in Croatia
• Kimberly Clark is the paper towel dispenser in EVERY bathroom in Croatia and Italy
• Croatia is the cleanest place I’ve ever been, even the walled city was spotless
• Croatia’s roads are wonderful
• Italy’s trains are awful - they bathrooms flush onto the tracks on the older trains

Trip Highlights

• Seeing Lion King in New York - Aaron’s first Broadway play. Seeing Aaron in the Toys R Us in Times Square and FAO Schwartz (two of the seven wonders of his world!)
• The mussels in Rovinj and staying at Hotel Istria like having your own private island. The birds in Istria seem with unique personalities.
• My parents meeting their cousins for the first time. Our Croatian cousins live just outside Zagreb in a tiny village called Majia Bastrica where my grandfather was born. My father’s cousin and his son did not speak English but their sons did and we had a distant cousin with us from Zagreb who helped translate not to mention help us find them in this obscure village. They shared wine with us (lots of wine!) which they made themselves. Everyone seemed to have their own vineyard. They also took us to what I call, Wine Forts, where the men sneak away and drink together. They cooked all the dishes our grandmother use to make which of course I can not spell or say! Aaron loved the farm animals and being in the country exploring and we enjoyed the beautiful country side that is as beautiful as Tuscany. There is also a famous church which the Pope visited and overall it is a very spiritual and joyful area (go there!) As we were wine tasting one afternoon, it came time to try to the red wine and one of the Franks (my father’s name too) took coke and poured it in my red wine. I was aghast and he motioned, drink drink, so I did and it tasted like Cherry Coke - a Croat tradition, who’d thought? Then as we were leaving they began giving us everything from a slab of bacon which I call a leg of bacon and a 45 lb jug of wine (see photo). They showered us with gifts and love that was priceless! Kind of morbid but driving by a graveyard, the largest gravestone read, “SIMUNEC”, our family name which I grew up with no one having or being able to pronounce and in this little town we were one of the major families.
• Seeing Hvar town for the first time. It is a quaint, pristine port village with white stone buildings and beautiful boats. Like Rovinj, Hvar leaves you with the feeling that it is your island. We stayed at Hotel Amphora, a hip and groovy newly remodeled hotel where nearly every woman employee was named Ana and where we got upgraded to the best room in the house with panoramic views of Hvar and neighbor islands. Every hotel we went to my parents were automatically upgraded and we wrote it off to their luck as this trip is truly the highlight of their life but then I realized it may have been our Croatian name! Once I mentioned we wanted to be near our parents we were upgraded immediately!
• Our whirlwind one day trip to Korcula was amazing. It is an untouched paradise with beautiful bays, beaches and coastline. There are wineries as well (great wine) but the food is unfortunately just ok.
• Dubrovnik was elegant, beautiful and stimulating! Two days is not enough. I’ll stay at least three next time! The walled city was magnificent and we saw it from a boat and walked it as well.
• The Italian trains were the greatest challenge but left us with funny memories. One of which Aaron and I were stuck on one end and Stan on the other with Italians screaming and throwing luggage over our heads. Instead of fighting, I went with the flow and threw our luggage as well, pushing Aaron forward against his will and reunited with Stan - hopefully no long term damage was done to Aaron as he collapsed with exhaustion.
• Florence was amazing and the most challenging place for Aaron and Stan. Stan carried Aaron though out the entire city on his shoulders. Our saving grace was the Carousel, a huge toy store and pet store which Aaron enjoyed. I’ll have to see the inside of Florence next time.
• Cinque Terra was exactly what we needed to rejuvenate. We all loved the water and swam most of the time. We explored the other towns by train and boat but not foot this time. I loved staying in Monterossa.
• Venice for me was magic. I didn’t notice what other people complain about, I was enveloped in a place that felt surreal. I think I’ve had past lives there for sure.

PHOTOS