Croatia and Montenegro Trip, part 1: Dubrovnik

Last month is made a trip to Eastern Europe to visit Tim before he and Lexi moved back to the States.

Getting There

Left my house, took Metro to L'Enfant, bussed to Dulles (always get this bus at L'Enfant and not Rosslyn, gets very crowded at Rosslyn), flew to Paris, transferred and flew to Zagreb (chill and damp outside transfer that involved a 20 minute bus ride from the terminal), Croatia, passport control and transfer to local jet to Dubrovnik, Croatia, bus from airport into town, cab to Hotel Kompas. Total travel time 24+ hours.

After a quick shower I was out to see the town. My hotel was pretty much built into a cliff. The Lobby was off the street entrance, on the 9th floor, my room was on the 5th floor (view from my window in the picture on the right), and the seafront promenade was on the 1st floor. The Hotel Kompas was as the end of a long pedestrian road lined with restaurants leading from the bus stop to the beach. Great stretch for people watching. Every table along the road has a swinging bench on the side of the table facing the street. In the evening these are full of couples sipping drinks and just observing the people walking. No real "beach" though, just pebble beaches in this area.


I walked down this stretch and hit up the ATM for a second time, the first ATM hit was completely spent on the bus and cab ride, half hour bus was 25 kuna and ten min cab was 75 kuna, I really should have looked up conversion rate before this (later found it was about 7 kuna to the dollar). Hopped on the bus and took my first trip into the walled city of old Dubrovnik.

The Old Town is very touristy, as I would discover later, but not too bad this first evening. Apparently in the off season they only get two cruise ships a day, but still enough to fill the town with plenty of day trippers. Tried to get a bite to eat, but refused to eat Mexican food or pizza after traveling halfway around the world. Of course I later found that pizza and pasta are as local as you get in Dubrovnik. The town is amazing, the streets are narrow and lined with restaurant tables. Many old buildings that had been repaired to authentic conditions, following centuries of war and earthquakes. Just spent the day exploring the streets and climbing the narrow stairways. Finally ended up at "cold drinks", the best place in the city to get a drink and watch the sunset. It is a small bar perched on a cliff outside the city wall. The only way to find it is to locate the small wooden signs with "cold drinks" painted on an arrow. The view is amazing, but eat something before. I hadn't eaten since that small breakfast on my Air France flight and the effect of three beers was substantial.

I spent several wonderful hours watching the sunset and sipping beers. I even met a nice couple from England who I shared my table with. After departing the bar I went in search of food, ran into the English couple again, and accepted their invitation to dinner as they were helping me find the correct bus back toward my hotel and realized they were going to dinner just down the street from it. They were older, 50s, and were meeting up with another couple as well, in their 60s, but it was a great dinner. The older couple was a Finnish husband and English wife. The grilled me on Obama-care since the health care debate is on the news there all the time but they didn't really understand how the American health care system worked. After dinner, much helped to sober up by the food, it was off to some much needed sleep.

The next day I slept till at least noon.

Spent this day walking the old town walls. The views were amazing, even if my fear of heights did arise from time to time.


After the wall hike I took a boat road over to the forest preserve island of Lokrum (the island at the top left of the above picture). The island is a park with an abandoned monastery, botanical gardens, and abandoned forts. All in the typical Mediterranean climate beauty. Grabbed lunch here as well as a large beer to set the proper mood for a long hike. I really enjoyed walking around the entire island. The views from the top of the old fort at the highest point of the island were breathtaking. There was also an abandoned dock and an old quarantine hospital.

Between the hiking and the morning on the city walls I had a nice workout. I returned to the old city and spent the evening chilling at Oliva pizza making notes on the trip, eating and drinking a few beers while people watching. The old town gets beautiful after sunset with the lights reflecting off the foot polished flagstones and the chirping of the bats flying all over the town and keeping the mosquitoes from existing in any numbers. Luckily I didn't notice my Mediterranean poison ivy equivalent rash that had broken out on my ankles from the day hike until the following day so had a fun evening. It was just amazing how many people live in the walled town and go about their day without the use of cars or even bikes to get around. A lifestyle to be envious of for sure.

I spent several of the evening hours walking around town when i noticed an Irish pub. I was excited to find this place where i could just chill in town for the evening. The people of the Balkans love their cafes for hanging out, but the whole concept of a bar/pub is completely lacking. So the Irish pub run by an Irishman was a nice find. I hung there for most of the evening and maid friends with a nice Irish couple my age. We had a lot of fun, even if they did drink me under the table. Those .5L beers really sneak up on you.

The next morning was my final day in Dubrovnik. Rather than waste time on the bus ride into the old town I spent my morning walking along a seaside trail near my hotel. Wonderful vistas and a relaxing way to spend my last morning. I then took a taxi to the bus station. The taxis here are really nice. Usually luxury cars that hide the time and distance meter behind the stereo faceplate when not in use. Why can't DC cabs get down with such things! The bus station has a complete lack of seating, 20 seats for 10 bus bays isn't enough, luckily my large suitcase makes significant seating for one.

Below is the view of the bus station being dwarfed by one of the many cruise ships that dock there on a regular basis. This was picture 244 of my trip so far, only a small selection of which are provided here. I have all 550 or so of them, the good and bad on flickr, but have made a "best of" set that takes a couple hundred off that, still a good bit of time to get through them all at http://www.flickr.com/photos/studentlohn/sets/72157622449491305/. And as always find all my pics at www.flickr.com/photos/studentlohn. Part two coming soon.

Back at it

finally going to post some new things since i've been up to something other than work lately. Of course noone reads this anymore so mainly blogging to myself...

Also i need something to keep me entertained when i can't sleep since i'm on steroids and antibiotics for my probably swine flu induced sinus/lung infection. I'm suffering all the fun side effects like sleeplessness, vertigo, headache, and indigestion. The swine flu isn't all that bad, but beware secondary infections (they say that is what kills people, not the flu necessarily).

Later all.

Test

Testing and setup of mobile blogger
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Homeowner

I'm finally house poor like all my friends. I'm also abandoning lovely Arlington and moving into Washington DC. I am very excited and can't wait to move, just booked the uhaul for next week.

I will be living in the Columbia Heights neighborhood. This is a great neighborhood that is getting better. I will only be three blocks from the Metro station. Next to the metro a Best Buy, Bed Bath and Beyond, and Target all just opened. As well as a half dozen new restaurants. There is also a wonderful neighborhood bar just around the corner called Wonderland, nice little Alice In Wonderland theme.

Below is also a map of the house location so you can satisfy your curiosity and see where I am. I'm going to miss the bike trail right down the street, but that is the price you pay to have ownership, I guess. The pictures that are currently up on my Flickr are from before they finished with the kitchen and basement, I will have some new pics up once I get the place cleaned up.

View Larger Map

It must be that time of the month for Mother Nature

Mother Nature sure was a moody biotch this week. The week started with some beautiful weather in the 50s and sunny (after having a near 70 degree day the week before). I was walking to the always delicious Pot Belly's to get me some lunch and I even saw the first leaves popping out of a tree. I love that first vibrant green of spring it so beautiful.

But I was being naive. I should have know winter wouldn't go calmly. The very next day the high was around 28 and the wind chill was so bad on the Metro platform that I wanted to curl into a ball and huddle in a corner until my train came.

Then just a days after that we are back with temps in the mid 50s and constant sun (even possible to get into the 60s this week). I can't wait for spring, it should be here shortly, but until then I'll be skiing in Maine much of next week, where the weather only knows how to do one thing, be cold... very, very cold.

A Long Night

I was pleasantly surprised to discover a few weeks ago that my current favorite DJ would be coming to do a show in DC. I've been following ATB for the last three years and even traveled up to NYC to attend a show. So when I found out he would be at Fur I immediately bought a pair of advance tickets and convinced a friend to tag along.

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not much of a club person. I'm that guy who just leans on the wall sipping a drink and enjoying the music. I feel no need to jump out in the middle of the dance floor and get all crazy and sweaty, which will lead to problems shortly.

When I arrived at the club the lines were predictably long, but moved fine. I was inside in no time. Even the coat check was nice and quick so I decided to avoid the hassle of carrying my coat all night (mistake). I arrived at 10, so quite a bit of time to kill be fore ATB came on at 1am (I'll never understand why clubs can't bring the headliner on earlier, would it be so bad to only have the crowd dancing until 3 as opposed to the 4 or 5 completion due to the late start). Got a nice spot leaning on the front of the raised VIP dance floor, nicely located toward the rear of the dance floor but with a view of everything (another mistake).

Things started getting bad around midnight. I've never seen so many people packed into a club before. I assumed that NYC would have had the big crowds but the club up there had so much free space to move around in that I know I was spoiled by it. So I spend the next hour waiting the headliner and trying not to get knocked over or crushed into the wall by the sheer mass of humanity that is trying to fit on the dance floor.

All the discomfort seems to be worth it as ATB takes the stage and performs an enjoyable set. At about 2:15am I'm feeling a little worn, the Jungle Party being the day before, and decide to call it a night so I have time time to get my coat and catch the metro. I had only had one drink and was wishing I had driven since it is such a long metro ride, but that is still better than the 30 dollar cab ride it would be to get back to Arlington.

This is where the night takes a downward turn. The coat check is off a room with a different DJ. Not as crowded, but still full. The coat check line runs in front of some VIP seating and then turns the corner to go to the actual coat check room. The line when we enter it is about 4 couches down from that corner. It takes about 20 minutes to make it down the first three couches, but another hour and ten to make it past the last couch, turn the corner and get our coats. You heard correctly, an HOUR AND A HALF in the coat check line. We were entertained by an inexperienced VIP guest, vomiting all over himself and his friends coats, and a helpless bouncer shouting into a megaphone trying to restore order to the coat check line. My friends in the line around me were all in the correct line from the beginning (I call them my friends because our shared trauma brought us closer together :-), however about twenty minutes after we got in line the DJ in that room stopped playing and everyone there decided to disregard the line and just try to walk straight into the coat check room. I still get a little shaken up just thinking about it, I still have a bruise on my elbow from being crushed into a wall about an hour into the line.

I witnessed the lowest state of humanity this night and vow never to return to Fur wearing a coat. Consider yourselves warned.

BTW. ATB rocks! I'll just stick with seeing him in NYC next time he is in the country.

Voting

For the first time in my life I got to vote in a primary election that mattered. Apparently everyone else in my prescint was just as excited because i hadn't seen lines this long since the last presidential elections. I have a complaint with how they do the primary here, though. Instead of the usual splitting of the line by alphabet they split it by which party's primary you are voting in. In Arlington, that means that only about 1 in 30 were voting in the Republican primary so to be fair they had everyone wait in the same line and just declare party when they finally made it to the front of the line, which took about an hour. So the whole time in line I would keep looking over and there was never more than one of the 4 voting machines in use, mainly since there was only one question because of a lack of local primary decisions to be made.


So I finally arrive at the front of the line and state my name and address for the whole room to hear and get my little paper to vote. They start up the machine and enter the party for me. But then I just stand there staring. In the weeks, days, and hour in line I am still undecided about who to vote for. In the end I just go with Obama, since he is listed first. But, as we saw, it didn't really matter since Obama won the state with sixty-some percent of the vote.


I can't wait till November, I might just have to take off on election day so I don't have to spend two hours in line to try and vote before work...