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Renel's European Adventures
So the train seems to be my nemesis... In Slovenia We were smart this time and bought tickets the night before so we would not be pressed for time at 6:20 am. We got to the train station with 15 min before our departure. We ask a conductor which platform and he says 3. We are sitting waiting for our train and this Slovenian girl comes and talks to us saying she is going to go take her driver license test. We were like oh well, we are going to Croatia and she says no this train is going to ______. Katie goes and asks and the conductor says no you must go to the next platform. We were at 3A not 3 silly us...so our train is about to pull away and the conductor is like "run" so we do but there is a fence. I throw my stuff under the fence and so does Katie and then we climb the fence. Meanwhile Sean puts his stuff under the fence and drags his body against the rocks trying to get under it. I am not sure what he was thinking but it was like we were trying to illegally cross the border. We made the train by the skin of our teeth. Phew!
We get into Rijeka Croatia about 2 hours later. Let me just say that if you were to do an ultrasound of a Croatian fetus you would see there a miniature cigarette in its mouth. These people's smoking habits put the rest of Europe to shame. The smoke and diesel fumes are pretty overwhelming. On no sleep once again we rent a car. Okay so driving in a foreign country is a little crazy. We get one of those miniature cars because that is what everyone drives. We have no idea what these crazy signs mean... Stop signs seem to be general suggestions that no one seems to be concerned with and there is always a lot of honking going on. We all take turns driving and it is a little confusing also because well we can't speak Croatian so we can't read signs.
We do get to Split... we looked around for a Sobe which is a place to stay in someones home. The place we are staying is very nice. It is minutes from the palace walls. A tid bit on Croatia: After WWII it was part of Yugoslavia and then in 1991 it gained its independence through a violent war with Serbia. It has been rebuilt rapidly. The money is the Kuna and it is about 7.5 kunas to the dollar. Split is on the Dalmatian Coast and its history goes back to the Romans and in many ways is very Roman. Italy is just across the Adriatic and so it looks very much like Italy. The big thing to see in Split is the Palace. It was built by this jerk (I mean Emperor) who was probly BFF's with the king of Prague who liked to shoot deer in his moat because Diocletian was known for two main things, splitting the Roman empire between 4 emperors which many believe was the downfall of the power and the other thing he was known for is persecution of Christians. When Diocletian went to retire he built this palace in Split. Anyway, the whole city and enveloped the palace. There are people living inside and outside the palace walls. The palace walls and floor are huge slabs of white granite or some type of rock that is quite slippery. Some of the ruins are very Roman with columns and arches right there on the water. All of the shops are very high fashion inside with tons of tourists and their cruise ships docked near by. Diocletian even has sphinx's brought in from Egypt which you can see. There are huge cellars which are now walkways and shops under the palace.
The weather is warm in the low 70's and a nice change from all of the overcast sky we have seen. The water has no waves which is very different and the ocean is a very light blue which is quite lovely. Unfortunately Sean who got sick like our 2nd day has been hacking and coughing all over Katie and I for the past two weeks and we both finally got sick after all of the confined quarters. Ah well.... hope I get well soon.
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