Remy picked me up from the train station and drove me to his little apartment in a high rise just over the border in St. Genis-Pouilly, France. I dropped off my bags and then we headed to CERN a he had to get back to work and I wanted to use the internet. He went to get some water and two French firefighters came into the office, said something in French to me to which I could only nod, opened the window (mind there was a storm raging outside), looked around, closed the window, and left. It was weird. A few hours later we left the office with some of his coworkers for the CERN cafeteria where we had a couple beers, met more people, and then went to a pizza place for dinner. I had pasta with tomato sauce of course. I tried ordering pizza with no cheese in Croatia and that didn't work so I'm not risking it again. After dinner we headed home.
In Allston, Remy had a single bed. This is part of the reason we spent most nights together at my apartment (and Taylor pig RIP). In France, he has a single bed that is actually somehow smaller than his American single bed. It's freaking ridiculous trying to sleep on that thing with a 6 foot 6 inch tall man. Not comfortable.
He had to work during the week so the day after I arrived I spent alone in his apartment doing my laundry and reading The Secret History (recommended by former roommate Brian). At night I watched the Daily Show and Colbert Report projected onto the living room wall with Remy and his roommate. It was raining in Geneva when I arrived and stayed that way until Friday when I decided to head into the city and check it out. I saw the giant water thing which sprays water 400 feet into the air and walked towards it. I then found the botanical gardens and spent about 4 hours reading the Secret History laying in the sun. After traveling constantly it was great to just lay in the sun and not feel like I was wasting time not touring.
During the weekend it rained all day to Remy and I stayed inside hanging out and making runs to the grocery store and bakery for croissants and pasta. I helped him and his roommate find a bar for the empty end of their living room in this giant thrift store like warehouse called the farm. I found The Autobiography of Alice B Toklas by Gertrude Stein and Harold and Maude (the book) for about 2 bucks total there as well. Saturday night we went into Geneva with some of his friends to meet up with some UN interns and get some drinks. The first bar we went to was an "Irish" pub where everyone was American, Canadian, Australian, or British. We didn't stay there long. Next was a more chill bar with cheap drinks where Remy and I both would have liked to stay longer but the UN girls wanted to meet up with some of the male coworkers at this squatter bar area so we left after a drink. The girls informed me that Geneva used to have a lot more squatter bars but the city had been cracking down on them so there were only a few left. They were in a little strip of land where the abandoned buildings were covered in graffiti (Remy said it was the only place in Geneva where he had seen graffiti) and there were little make shift stands selling some kind of street food that I can now not remember (it wasn't vegan though!). We went to a bar right by the entrance called "Shark". When we got there the DJ was playing some good 80's stuff but by the time I emerged from the gross bathroom he had moved on to shitty techno. Remy and I drank some really cheap beer that tasted like piss (worst beer ever according to Remy) and watched the euro peens dance like spastic seniors. I had had about 8 beers and this point and pretty much passed out in the car on the way back. Sunday we were going to head into the city but decided to chill and watch the latest James Bond on the projector before his friends came over to watch NFL football on the projector. I did more laundry and got ready to leave for Italy the next morning.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Northern Italy and Switzerland
We ended up staying in a trucker's motel in Slovenia because it was late and we couldn't find anywhere else. It was kind of like a decent hostel but my father was pretty grossed out by it. My mom accidentily put zit zapper in her eye instead of her eye drops. Thus was our night in Slovenia.
The next day we drove into Italy and stopped in Padua for lunch. At first I thought Padua was just a crappy city but once we found the old town with the giant square filled with statues and a little moat I decided it was quite lovely. We had lunch at a little restaurant off the square where no one spoke English. The food was pretty good. Afterwards my mother and I walked through the square and took some photos.
Then we drove on to Verona. We parked and walked into the old town, past the arena, which is the third largest Roman amphitheater to have survived antinquity. We strolled down the main shopping street into a big Piazza where there was a tourist market that my parents said was not there when they visited Verona years ago. We sat at a cafe and had a drink while people watching and then walked down to an archway to see the whale bone which hangs there. My dad claims there is mention of the whale bone in Romeo and Juliet but I can't find any info on this online so I'm not sure. Afterwards we walked up to see the supposed house and balcony of Juliet Cappulet. There's an archway before you reach the courtyard that is covered in love letters and graffiti to Juliet. I took a picture of my parents by the Juliet statue and the balcony. Apparently the actual story of Romeo and Juliet was written into two novellas before Shakespeare made it famous, so perhaps it is a true story afterall. Verona was quite nice and I'm glad I got to see it.
From there we drove into Switzerland. We passed Lake Cuomo and arrived in Lugano where we had a room for the night. We were all pretty exhausted from days of driving so we had a low key night with dinner at a local pizza place and then a nice stroll along the lake. Lugano seemed very beautiful sitting between the Alps right on a lake but we didn't really have a great chance to see it during the day as the next morning we got back in the car again and headed for Lucern.
I had a bit of a freak out in the morning when I couldn't find a room anywhere in Zurich online so I had to cough up a lot of cash for a double room in a budget hotel in Lucern instead. When we arrived at around 11 am we walked across the Chapel Bridge, the famous covered bridge for which Lucerne is apparently known. The outside was covered with flowers and the paintings on the inside show daily life in 12th century Switzerland. We had lunch at an Italian restaurant just across the road from the bridge, ironic because Lucerne is in the German part of Switzerland not the Italian part which we had just left. It was a nice going away lunch as my parents were leaving me there to head back to the states while I was on to visit Remy in Geneva.
After I was dropped at the hotel (Hotel Alpha, it turned out to be very nice and I was very happy to be alone for a night), I took the map I was given at the front desk and headed out to do some sight seeing. First up I walked up to the Lion memorial. It's a giant rock wall where a dying lion is carved. It's a memorial to the Swiss mercenaries who died fighting in the French Revolution. It's quite large and pretty intricute. I like the idea of a memorial featuring someone or something sad and dying instead of proud and solemn. The glacial garden was right next door. My mother had told me it was very cool but admission was too expensive for my blood so all I could do was peak in. Then I hiked up to the old city walls and climed two of the towers as the third was closed, for a nice view of the city. Next I wandered through the old town which is now the shopping area and sat by the river for awhile watching people feed the swans across the way. It was nice to just sit and write. I decided I was done seeing everything I wanted to see and walked back to the hotel. I had chocolate soy milk and a granola bar for dinner and started reading The Secret History by Donna Tartt, which Brian had recommended to me for plane reading. It was really engrossing and I stayed in my room for hours reading it until I fell asleep.
In the morning I left for Geneva on a very clean and prompt Swiss train. And that is where I shall stop typing.
The next day we drove into Italy and stopped in Padua for lunch. At first I thought Padua was just a crappy city but once we found the old town with the giant square filled with statues and a little moat I decided it was quite lovely. We had lunch at a little restaurant off the square where no one spoke English. The food was pretty good. Afterwards my mother and I walked through the square and took some photos.
Then we drove on to Verona. We parked and walked into the old town, past the arena, which is the third largest Roman amphitheater to have survived antinquity. We strolled down the main shopping street into a big Piazza where there was a tourist market that my parents said was not there when they visited Verona years ago. We sat at a cafe and had a drink while people watching and then walked down to an archway to see the whale bone which hangs there. My dad claims there is mention of the whale bone in Romeo and Juliet but I can't find any info on this online so I'm not sure. Afterwards we walked up to see the supposed house and balcony of Juliet Cappulet. There's an archway before you reach the courtyard that is covered in love letters and graffiti to Juliet. I took a picture of my parents by the Juliet statue and the balcony. Apparently the actual story of Romeo and Juliet was written into two novellas before Shakespeare made it famous, so perhaps it is a true story afterall. Verona was quite nice and I'm glad I got to see it.
From there we drove into Switzerland. We passed Lake Cuomo and arrived in Lugano where we had a room for the night. We were all pretty exhausted from days of driving so we had a low key night with dinner at a local pizza place and then a nice stroll along the lake. Lugano seemed very beautiful sitting between the Alps right on a lake but we didn't really have a great chance to see it during the day as the next morning we got back in the car again and headed for Lucern.
I had a bit of a freak out in the morning when I couldn't find a room anywhere in Zurich online so I had to cough up a lot of cash for a double room in a budget hotel in Lucern instead. When we arrived at around 11 am we walked across the Chapel Bridge, the famous covered bridge for which Lucerne is apparently known. The outside was covered with flowers and the paintings on the inside show daily life in 12th century Switzerland. We had lunch at an Italian restaurant just across the road from the bridge, ironic because Lucerne is in the German part of Switzerland not the Italian part which we had just left. It was a nice going away lunch as my parents were leaving me there to head back to the states while I was on to visit Remy in Geneva.
After I was dropped at the hotel (Hotel Alpha, it turned out to be very nice and I was very happy to be alone for a night), I took the map I was given at the front desk and headed out to do some sight seeing. First up I walked up to the Lion memorial. It's a giant rock wall where a dying lion is carved. It's a memorial to the Swiss mercenaries who died fighting in the French Revolution. It's quite large and pretty intricute. I like the idea of a memorial featuring someone or something sad and dying instead of proud and solemn. The glacial garden was right next door. My mother had told me it was very cool but admission was too expensive for my blood so all I could do was peak in. Then I hiked up to the old city walls and climed two of the towers as the third was closed, for a nice view of the city. Next I wandered through the old town which is now the shopping area and sat by the river for awhile watching people feed the swans across the way. It was nice to just sit and write. I decided I was done seeing everything I wanted to see and walked back to the hotel. I had chocolate soy milk and a granola bar for dinner and started reading The Secret History by Donna Tartt, which Brian had recommended to me for plane reading. It was really engrossing and I stayed in my room for hours reading it until I fell asleep.
In the morning I left for Geneva on a very clean and prompt Swiss train. And that is where I shall stop typing.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Nishta veggie restaurant in Dubrovnik
Nishta was actually listed in my mother's Rick Steve's guide book which is, I believe, how we were able to get my dad to eat there. It's on one of the back streets in the walled city so that probably helped as well. When we first arrived all of the 6 little tables were occupied so we had to walk around for an hour before we came back. All the tables are outside in the little lane. We were the last table to be sat for the night so unfortunately they were out of a lot of the food in which we had been interested, like the spring rolls and avocado salad. The menu is not very large with a few options of: salads, apps, soups, main, desserts, and beverages (alcohol included). I tried the seitan appetizer, which was thin slices of seitan laid out around a few veggies. Overall I enjoyed it but some of the slices were a bit thicker and were a bit too chewy. My mother said the same. My father tried the "Om salad" with cheese. I tried some without the cheese and really enjoyed the flavor. My mother tried the miso soup which I found unlike classical miso soup and a bit too strong as well. For my main meal I had the potato salad, despite my mom's exclamation that I've been eating potatoes the whole trip. When it arrived I was worried it was going to be too strong on mustard because it looked completely bathed in mustard sauce. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the mustard did not overpower the potatoes or veggies but actually brought out their flavors rather well. The serving was large and the sauce was very nice. My mom had the falafel. I found it just how I like my falafel, crispy on the outside with a moist flavorful inside. It was not the best falafel I have ever had but it was quite good. My dad tried the Chinese Noodles and I don't think he liked them. I should say that he seemed skeptical of the whole place so his opinion should be read with that side in mind. I found the noodles a bit spicy with a really strong overpowering flavor. I still ate a lot of them and liked them more than both my parents seemed to.
Our waiter was very friendly and joked with us throughout the meal. I enjoyed everything about Nishta and would love to go back earlier in the day before the ran out of some dishes.
Our waiter was very friendly and joked with us throughout the meal. I enjoyed everything about Nishta and would love to go back earlier in the day before the ran out of some dishes.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Cres and Dubrovnik, Croatia
I'm really behind in updating this so I'm going to be brief. Last I left off we had just arrived in Cres, Croatia at about 6 in the am. I slept until about 11 am when I woke up and started writing postcards. Soon my parent's friends came back and asked if I wanted to walk around the town with them. We took a stroll along the harbor and checked out an old church or two. Cres is really beautiful and relaxing. It's a bit like Italy, and in fact used to be part of Italy, but is nowhere near as expensive or touristy. We came back to the condo at about 1 pm to find my parent's still sleeping. While they got up I went swimming in the condo complex pool (cold but refreshing). Then everyone got ready and we walked around the harbor again, had a drink at a little cafe, ate dinner ("tomato salad" is made up entirely of tomatoes. Now I know), then walked around some more. Whilst browsing postcards I saw a poster for a viewing of "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" in English with Croatian subtitles for that very night. No one but my lovely mother wanted to go with me so my dad and the friends went to get plastered while my mom and I wandered up and down the little streets trying to find the theater. We finally did find a little outdoor set up with out 5 other people waiting for the show to start. The whole set up was so cute. My mom even made me stand in front of the screen so she could take a picture. The movie was pretty funny and there was full frontal. Afterwards we found the rest of our party, plastered, as planned.
My parents and I were pretty tired of driving but the next morning we nonetheless hopped in the car for a grueling 7 hour drive down the Croatian coast to Dubrovnik, the jewl of the Adriatic. The drive was fine until Split when the highway ended and became a one lane winding road right on the edge of the coast. The scenery was breath taking but I was busy trying to keep my head from swimming. When we finally reached Dubrovnik just as the sun went down we were ecstatic to find that our hotel was not only really close to the old city but also really nice, easy to find, AND included a free upgrade with a better view. We walked around the old city a bit and even went to a vegetarian restaurant (review to come) before retiring for the night. The next morning we had a nice breakfast at the hotel and headed to the city to hike the city walls. I think we were all in a sort of foul mood as the day began but as soon as we got onto the walls that changed completely. I'm not sure I can really even describe Dubrovnik. I don't mean to brag but I feel like I've travelled a fair bit and I've never seen anything like Dubrovnik. It's like this medieval town of orange tiled roofs surrounded by complete city walls. My mom read to us from her Rick Steve's book that during the Yugoslavian war the Serbian and Yugoslavian armies bombed the hell out of Dubrovnik despite it really being just a tourist town. They destroyed some of the buildings in the old city completely and damaged many of the famed orange roofs while the city residents stayed within the walls for 8 months waiting out the Serbian attack. She read that some nuns put all their money in Swiss banks just before the war and after it was over the took it all out and used it to rebuild Dubrovnik. It took us over 2 hours to walk the walls but I could have walked around that city all day. The various churches and buildings with their tiled roofs with the amazingly blue Adriatic Sea sparkling just below was a site I don't think I will ever forget. Unfortunately we had not even a full day in Dubrovnik so after the wall walk we had lunch and then headed back up the coast.
We had plans to take an overnight car ferry to Ancona, Italy from Split but that didn't work out so we drove up to a random hostel like hotel in Slovenia and stopped for the night. Earlier we stopped in a random Croatian small town for dinner. I have never felt more out of place. Every single person in the restaurant/bar turned to look at us when we walked in. I ate a salad and fries. Not unusual those days. But anyway, I shall leave you in Slovenia.
Still to come: Padua, Verona, Lugano, Lucern, Geneva, Cinque Terre, Pisa, and Florence.
My parents and I were pretty tired of driving but the next morning we nonetheless hopped in the car for a grueling 7 hour drive down the Croatian coast to Dubrovnik, the jewl of the Adriatic. The drive was fine until Split when the highway ended and became a one lane winding road right on the edge of the coast. The scenery was breath taking but I was busy trying to keep my head from swimming. When we finally reached Dubrovnik just as the sun went down we were ecstatic to find that our hotel was not only really close to the old city but also really nice, easy to find, AND included a free upgrade with a better view. We walked around the old city a bit and even went to a vegetarian restaurant (review to come) before retiring for the night. The next morning we had a nice breakfast at the hotel and headed to the city to hike the city walls. I think we were all in a sort of foul mood as the day began but as soon as we got onto the walls that changed completely. I'm not sure I can really even describe Dubrovnik. I don't mean to brag but I feel like I've travelled a fair bit and I've never seen anything like Dubrovnik. It's like this medieval town of orange tiled roofs surrounded by complete city walls. My mom read to us from her Rick Steve's book that during the Yugoslavian war the Serbian and Yugoslavian armies bombed the hell out of Dubrovnik despite it really being just a tourist town. They destroyed some of the buildings in the old city completely and damaged many of the famed orange roofs while the city residents stayed within the walls for 8 months waiting out the Serbian attack. She read that some nuns put all their money in Swiss banks just before the war and after it was over the took it all out and used it to rebuild Dubrovnik. It took us over 2 hours to walk the walls but I could have walked around that city all day. The various churches and buildings with their tiled roofs with the amazingly blue Adriatic Sea sparkling just below was a site I don't think I will ever forget. Unfortunately we had not even a full day in Dubrovnik so after the wall walk we had lunch and then headed back up the coast.
We had plans to take an overnight car ferry to Ancona, Italy from Split but that didn't work out so we drove up to a random hostel like hotel in Slovenia and stopped for the night. Earlier we stopped in a random Croatian small town for dinner. I have never felt more out of place. Every single person in the restaurant/bar turned to look at us when we walked in. I ate a salad and fries. Not unusual those days. But anyway, I shall leave you in Slovenia.
Still to come: Padua, Verona, Lugano, Lucern, Geneva, Cinque Terre, Pisa, and Florence.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Salzburg, Slovenia, and Zagreb
I am finally in Geneva! I didn't have much internet access before now so I haven't posted about all the wonderful places I've been but now is better than not at all, I suppose.
I flew into Frankfurt, Germany with my parents on August 26. We rented a car and stopped in Wurtzburg (which was really cute. It would be a good place to study abroad) on our way to Salzburg, Austria. Salzburg seemed a little like Boston to me, sizewise that is. I didn't feel overwhelmed or unsafe. The population is only 150,000 but it still seemed quite large. I guess it's only the fourth largest city in Austria. Anyway, the river area and the old town just below the castle are so picturesque. Walking around there is like being inside a postcard. We spent two days drinking beer, walking through the castle, wandering the shopping streets in the old town, and making fun of Mozart Balls (which are EVERYWHERE. Salzburg will do anything to capitalize on Mozart and this small chocolate Mozart Balls seem to be very successful. I was going to buy some for Remy but the hotel gave us two for free and when I tried mine I was less than impressed and knew Remy would be as well, so I didn't).
After Salzburg we drove to Slovenia. My mom and I had to beg my dad to take a small detour to see Lake Bled. It was a perfect sunny day and the lake was absolutely perfect. We ate famous Slovenian desserts (that my mom read about, of course) while sitting by the lake. To the right was a church and the castle just above it and to the left you could see the little island with an old church on it. I wanted desperately to get a boat out to the island but my dad said we had to meet their friends in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. So we drove on. Ljubljana looked very communist and ugly from the outskirts and much of downtown but when we hit Preseren Square I understood why people had told me I should go there. When I post pictures you'll understand as well. It isn't the fairy tale city people call it but it is quite lovely. The river area with all the different bridges was full of young people eating and hanging out. We trekked up to the castle (I know, castles everywhere!)which was actually kind of disappointing. They've covered up most of it with ugle plain walls and porches so you can't see much of the original castle at all. It cost 2 Euros to walk to the top and when my mom didn't have enough so jokingly asked if she could pay in American dollars. There were two younger guys manning the desk and one laughed and said, "no no! your currency is not worth much here. And even less if McCain gets elected. See, I am up to date." I laughed but my mom and her friends just said, "you're talking to the wrong crowd here." The view from the top was interesting. On one side you could see the beautiful river area with all the bridges and Jože Plečnik designed buildings (ok, he did the bridges too). Then on the other side you see the sprawl of the city where most of the residents live and work. It still looks very plain and communist.
My dad then convinced everyone that we should drive to Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, for dinner. We were staying on the island of Cres, Croatia, for the night but my father somehow thought it would be faster to drive east for dinner before driving west towards the Istrian Penninsula. Zagreb was even more communist looking than Slovenia but as we wandered around the city looking for somewhere to eat that was still open, we saw some old buildings that I'm sure had some historical significance. While it took us awhile to find a place to eat, we did get to see the night light of Zagreb and let me tell you, it was hopping. Finally I led the group to a creepy alley where we found a sex shop AND an amazing restaurant. I had white wine, a mixed salad, pasta in truffle sauce (no cheese), and really amazing spinach with potatoes. Everything was great except for when I found a tiny worm wiggling around in a tomato on top of my pasta. When told the waiter gave us the much heard of "Croatian shrug." At least the experience gave me that.
After dinner we drove to the ferry that would take us to the island of Cres, where my parents' friends have a condo they said we could use. We left Zagreb at about 10:30 pm and reached the ferry at 2:00 am. The ferry is supposed to leave every half hour but, surprise surprise, the next one didn't leave until 4:30 am. I had been sleeping in the back of the car but hearing we had another 2 and a half hours of waiting/sleeping was still brutal. I had to pee really badly and there was nowhere to go so after checking out some potential spots (I really wanted to pee between the parked cars ala Sarah Nealon at Andy/Justine's first party) I settled for the little downhill sidewalk to the little beach that all the guys were peeing off of. While in the act I realized that of course my little stream of pees was quickly heading down the sidewalk onto the beach, leaving a big obvious trail. Why hadn't I just peed on the beach, I kept wondering. As I was trying to fall asleep in the front seat afterwards I was worried someone (who? I have no idea who else would be there waiting for the 4:30 ferry 2 1/2 hours early) would come along and see my shame. No one did as far as I know but the next thing I was awake for was boarding the ferry. The ride to Cres took about half an hour and then all the cars on the ferry had to race up the one road on that side of the island. There was no shoulder, it was right on cliff's edge into the water, there were goats everywhere, the road was one lane wide (for traffic going both ways), and my dad drives like a mad man. So yeah, it was not fun. We finally got to the condo at 5:30 am and crashed hard.
I flew into Frankfurt, Germany with my parents on August 26. We rented a car and stopped in Wurtzburg (which was really cute. It would be a good place to study abroad) on our way to Salzburg, Austria. Salzburg seemed a little like Boston to me, sizewise that is. I didn't feel overwhelmed or unsafe. The population is only 150,000 but it still seemed quite large. I guess it's only the fourth largest city in Austria. Anyway, the river area and the old town just below the castle are so picturesque. Walking around there is like being inside a postcard. We spent two days drinking beer, walking through the castle, wandering the shopping streets in the old town, and making fun of Mozart Balls (which are EVERYWHERE. Salzburg will do anything to capitalize on Mozart and this small chocolate Mozart Balls seem to be very successful. I was going to buy some for Remy but the hotel gave us two for free and when I tried mine I was less than impressed and knew Remy would be as well, so I didn't).
After Salzburg we drove to Slovenia. My mom and I had to beg my dad to take a small detour to see Lake Bled. It was a perfect sunny day and the lake was absolutely perfect. We ate famous Slovenian desserts (that my mom read about, of course) while sitting by the lake. To the right was a church and the castle just above it and to the left you could see the little island with an old church on it. I wanted desperately to get a boat out to the island but my dad said we had to meet their friends in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. So we drove on. Ljubljana looked very communist and ugly from the outskirts and much of downtown but when we hit Preseren Square I understood why people had told me I should go there. When I post pictures you'll understand as well. It isn't the fairy tale city people call it but it is quite lovely. The river area with all the different bridges was full of young people eating and hanging out. We trekked up to the castle (I know, castles everywhere!)which was actually kind of disappointing. They've covered up most of it with ugle plain walls and porches so you can't see much of the original castle at all. It cost 2 Euros to walk to the top and when my mom didn't have enough so jokingly asked if she could pay in American dollars. There were two younger guys manning the desk and one laughed and said, "no no! your currency is not worth much here. And even less if McCain gets elected. See, I am up to date." I laughed but my mom and her friends just said, "you're talking to the wrong crowd here." The view from the top was interesting. On one side you could see the beautiful river area with all the bridges and Jože Plečnik designed buildings (ok, he did the bridges too). Then on the other side you see the sprawl of the city where most of the residents live and work. It still looks very plain and communist.
My dad then convinced everyone that we should drive to Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, for dinner. We were staying on the island of Cres, Croatia, for the night but my father somehow thought it would be faster to drive east for dinner before driving west towards the Istrian Penninsula. Zagreb was even more communist looking than Slovenia but as we wandered around the city looking for somewhere to eat that was still open, we saw some old buildings that I'm sure had some historical significance. While it took us awhile to find a place to eat, we did get to see the night light of Zagreb and let me tell you, it was hopping. Finally I led the group to a creepy alley where we found a sex shop AND an amazing restaurant. I had white wine, a mixed salad, pasta in truffle sauce (no cheese), and really amazing spinach with potatoes. Everything was great except for when I found a tiny worm wiggling around in a tomato on top of my pasta. When told the waiter gave us the much heard of "Croatian shrug." At least the experience gave me that.
After dinner we drove to the ferry that would take us to the island of Cres, where my parents' friends have a condo they said we could use. We left Zagreb at about 10:30 pm and reached the ferry at 2:00 am. The ferry is supposed to leave every half hour but, surprise surprise, the next one didn't leave until 4:30 am. I had been sleeping in the back of the car but hearing we had another 2 and a half hours of waiting/sleeping was still brutal. I had to pee really badly and there was nowhere to go so after checking out some potential spots (I really wanted to pee between the parked cars ala Sarah Nealon at Andy/Justine's first party) I settled for the little downhill sidewalk to the little beach that all the guys were peeing off of. While in the act I realized that of course my little stream of pees was quickly heading down the sidewalk onto the beach, leaving a big obvious trail. Why hadn't I just peed on the beach, I kept wondering. As I was trying to fall asleep in the front seat afterwards I was worried someone (who? I have no idea who else would be there waiting for the 4:30 ferry 2 1/2 hours early) would come along and see my shame. No one did as far as I know but the next thing I was awake for was boarding the ferry. The ride to Cres took about half an hour and then all the cars on the ferry had to race up the one road on that side of the island. There was no shoulder, it was right on cliff's edge into the water, there were goats everywhere, the road was one lane wide (for traffic going both ways), and my dad drives like a mad man. So yeah, it was not fun. We finally got to the condo at 5:30 am and crashed hard.
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