After we drove away from the Disaster-on-the-Adriatic, the Haberls kept us constantly wired. Christian is a professional techie so we were never without GPS and thorough directions on the road, and never without an internet connection with Netflix wherever we ended up. Christian also works with a Croatian back in Vienna who found us options for places to stay and eat. The two families were able to stay positive through the whole experience and we ended the vacation being much closer, as adversity tends to do. Plus, Worthy and their son are the same age and had a great time together.
We were able to find a reasonably priced hotel near Dubrovnik where we stayed a couple of nights. For New Year's Eve, the prices of hotels would shoot up and the availability would dry up, so we immediately began to contact some other people through the Home Exchange website, explaining our situation and asking them if they would be interested in a last-minute exchange to Vienna--after all, New Year's Eve in Vienna is pretty awesome! While we awaited responses, we enjoyed Dubrovnik, one of the most beautiful towns we've ever seen.
We heard back from many people who were eager to help. One in particular was especially eager, empathizing with us as she, too, is a young mother. They live in Zagreb but have a vacation home in Omis, and without any expectation of us being able to repay, offered it to us for as long as we liked. So on New Year's Eve we once again packed up the cars and headed up to Omis, an old pirate town.
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| Christian H took this pic standing in our doorway |
One thing the Omis home lacked which we had expected of the villa down in Dubrovnik was an oven. Not a big deal--except that Calvin's birthday was New Year's Eve and we had brought all the ingredients and pan for his birthday cake. So I thought, "What is there to lose? I am going to find an oven somewhere in this village." I headed into the old-town and found a bakery, hoping they could bake the cake. The baker didn't speak English, but in the bakery was a cashier from the shop across the street who spoke some German. Her boyfriend was with her, whose sister lived across the river and had an oven. He gave her a call and she said she would be glad to help. (Did you follow all of that?!) So we walked home, Jen mixed up the batter, and the boyfriend-of-the-cashier-that-works-across-the-street-from-the-baker met us and walked us over to his sister's house.
What a beautiful family. The father--Pijero, I think was his name--is a boat pilot who takes tourists up the river. He also makes his own schnapps and poured drinks for himself, me, Christian, and the boyfriend-of-the-cashier-that-works-across-the-street-from-the-baker. He and his wife, the sister-of-the-boyfriend-of-the-cashier-that-works-across-the-street-from-the-baker, have six children and three rabbits. We put the cake in the oven and agreed to come back in an hour. I came back with the Haberls' little girl; the cake wasn't finished (the mom could tell by listening to it), so we got to play with the rabbits. Once it was done, we took the cake home and celebrated Calvin's birthday!
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| Capt. Pijero with his 6th and newest child |
The next day we made the drive up to Split. What an amazing town. The Roman Emperor Diocletian came from this part of Croatia (or Dalmatia as it was known then) and had a huge palace built for himself on the shoreline. The city of Split arose around and in the ruins of the palace. It is unlike anything I've ever seen. Another helper arose--a older gentleman who guided us around the city when we asked him if he knew of a place to have lunch. He gave us an insider's history of the city and his own experiences of being openly Catholic under Tito's atheist, anti-religious, violently suppressive regime. He risked imprisonment and death by doing so, but avoided it because his cruise company was too important to the economy. We finally found a place to have some appetizers, and went on to enjoy this beautiful city the rest of the day.
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| A Roman mosaic floor now exposed to the elements |
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| Christian H's suberb picture of the cathedral of St. Dujam (description in pic above) |
'Look
for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.' -
See more at:
http://www.lovelandmagazine.com/2012/12/mister-rogers-said-look-for-the-helpers.html#sthash.dKCH4XPi.dpuf
'Look
for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.' -
See more at:
http://www.lovelandmagazine.com/2012/12/mister-rogers-said-look-for-the-helpers.html#sthash.dKCH4XPi.dpuf
'Look
for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.' -
See more at:
http://www.lovelandmagazine.com/2012/12/mister-rogers-said-look-for-the-helpers.html#sthash.dKCH4XPi.dpuf
