We climbed through a lush, partially submerged forest with waterfalls and rushing rivers. It was really lovely and it had been so hot up to this point on the trip that the shade and the sun-dappled forest was a cool and refreshing change.
That night we ate in a little fake Dalmation Coast village on the hotel grounds. There was a group of guys playing traditional folk music and this guy was the best. (looking)
I’m terribly sorry for having abandoned you, my loyal readers. There was no wi-fi until we got back to Zagreb so I couldn’t get my photos up to show you. By the way, I’ll be posting more photos on Facebook but without the witty commentary if you’d be interested.
Our next stop after Montenegro was Dubrovnik, Croatia another walled city. This wall you can climb and walk around, which I did by myself since my mom’s knees don’t work real wall. (her new hip is great…her knees, not so much.) Here’s a photo I shot from the wall.
From the wall
One of the days in Dubrovnik I took off by myself and browsed the shops at my own pace and sat with a book in a cafe and drank wine and people watched. It was fantastic. The #4 bus took me right to the walled city from the front door of our hotel. It couldn’t have been easier. So I stayed out till after dark and took this shot within the walls.
Our next stop was Sibenik. The hotel was the least favorite. The outdoor area and the lobby wasn’t bad but the rooms were horrible. The pillows felt like bags of rolled up socks and the a/c didn’t work and the whole dining experience was a little frustrating. From what our guide said, the area hotels were owned by the russian mafia and my guess is that they’re used to people waiting in line and don’t think anything of it. We waited in line for a lot of things in that place. And when we called to aske for, say, toilet paper or some other needed item, the person on the other end of the phone was like, “you people and all your toilet paper needs!” It was a little frustrating. BUT…while we were there we went to some very nice places…
On our way to our Communist-built, cement block of a hotel, we stopped in Split where Diocletian’s retirement palace stands to this day. For anyone interested, this Roman Emperor was like the number one persecuter of Christians. If I’m not mistaken, he came right after Nero who did a fine job himself. Here’s my own brief history lesson given from memory. (read: don’t quote me.)
Nero heard of all these people worshiping some God other than him and decided to kill Christians to get the warning message out. Then when Diocletian comes along, Christianity had become quite the rage and more of a risk to the Roman Empire. So Diocletian got it in his noggin that he needed to eradicate this new cult before it got out of control. So that was his plan…to completely eradicate Christianity. I guess when it didn’t work he decided to retire. He is the only Roman Emperor who did.
Well, this stop was exciting to me because it’s the first time I’ve ever been in the presence of anything so ancient. He retired in 305 A.D. and his retirement palace had been in the works for 20 years or something like that. I was touching all the original walls and thinking about how old they were.
The original south wall of the palace in the back...souvenir shops in the front
The arch and the straight piece under it is what's left of the west gate.
But then our tour guide pointed something else out.
Apparently, Diocletian loved Egyptian art and so had this sphynx brought from Egypt to decorate his palace. It is 3500 years old. So freakin’ cool.
I wanted to touch it but it was way up on a ledge I couldn’t reach. 
The coolest thing was Diocletian’s tomb turned Cathedral. (we couldn’t take picutres in there so I can’t show you but…) You walk in and there are all these clearly Roman columns and arches, then, on top of that was the ancient Christian art. There are Christian bishops buried where the greatest persecutor of Christianity once lived and was once buried.
I think that’s pretty cool.
…though sadly there have been no Daniel Craig sightings.
But some more interesting observations:
Here are photos of the beautiful Montenegro. Some of the buildings in the old walled city of Kotor date back to the 13th century.
View from our balcony
Boca Bay from the bus
Inside the old city
Mom at our lunch stop
(It’s been a couple of days since I wrote this but being on a tour sort of takes the creative juices out of me and wears me out. Meaning I don’t have the energy to edit.)
I’ve been in Zagreb Croatia for one whole day. There is something very different about the European way of life. I have made some fascinating observations:
These people eat and talk for hours. I think this is fabulous. Every corner we turned there were enormous outdoor eating areas and I wanted to sit and drink wine in every one of them. My mother and I ate lunch and dinner out on our own today and in both places the people surrounding us were there before we sat down and remained after we left. And it’s not like we were in a hurry or anything, we were taking our sweet time.
This is my mom on her birthday, our first and only full day in Zagreb. Happy Birthday Mommy!
The parks here are stunning. This one has these awesome “Plain” trees. Or Sycamore trees. I don’t know what their real name is but they’re beautiful all lined up with benches between them. Look how pretty!
One more picture. Ok three. On our city tour we were taken to the hugest and most beautiful cemetery I’ve ever seen. It is a very exclusive place for one’s family to be buried and there are yearly dues for the family. If the last person from your family dies off and there’s no one to pay the dues, they exume the remains of your whole family and put them in a mass grave with a nice plaque that says, “here lies the Blah family.” Anyway, I think I could have spent hours wandering around that place. But alas, Ginge wanted to take a tour and so we were rushed back onto the bus.
These are the walls and the entrance to the cemetery. So fascinating. Oh..also, this place is interfaith. There’s a Jewish section, a Muslim section, a Christian Orthodox section and a Roman Catholic section. Everybody gets along in Croatia. 
I was wasting time on facebook yesterday when I came upon a friend’s post. This person linked to an organization who, it would seem, exists only to list the “Christmas Friendly,” “Christmas neutral”…(and not good enough) and “Christmas hostile” businesses this holiday season. This organization believes that informed Christians won’t buy things from retail stores that refuse acknowledge the birth of God incarnate. Because, as a good Christian organization should, it points out the whole world’s errors.
I think we are all nostalgic for those days we hear about in stories….stories about when going to church and believing Christianity was the norm. When sin was still sin. Ahh the glory days of Christianity!!
We all know, times have drastically changed.
But can we get over it?
Many Christians are more worried about weather Dick’s Sporting goods has the word CHRISTmas on their signage than about what the incarnation really means. The question is not “what store should I boycott?”
The question should be — how am I celebrating this season? Am I more concerned with seeing my faith validated by corporately owned retail stores (because Jesus really is concerned with holiday gift cards with his name on them) or do I meditate on the incarnation and it’s meaning for my life and for the life of the world?
Because seriously, it’s not Macy’s job to spread the good news to the ends of the earh…it’s ours.
I will be deleting 13 drafts of posts that never made it to publication. I realized in the past month or so since my last post that I process through writing. I would begin an angry election-/politically-oriented post and by the end I’d lost my steam because I didn’t feel as strongly about it as I did when I started. I even got all mad at my TV this morning and cried for the first time during the whole election. I went right to my computer and pounded out my frustrations on my poor little keyboard.
The fact is, God is in control. Now I’ve been saying this all along to all the crazy conservative undergrads who have more passion than they know what to do with. God love ‘em but they need to relax. This morning I was surprised to be as saddened and disappointed as I was. I guess my calm during the campaigning was more to combat the hysteria because I cried and cried at Mass today.
I must clarify. I do not think that Barack Obama is the anti-christ and I do not think he’s a closet Muslim extremist. I truly believe that he has the best interest of our country and its citizens in mind…
But I believe he is profoundly wrong in his methods. I believe he is appealing to an apathetic people who prefer comfort to freedom. I am a Republican after all.
But above all I believe that human life is precious. It is to be honored in dignity at all its stages and it is to be protected in it’s most vulnerable stage.
But I will not rant. I have so many scathing points to make and so much frustration to release. But I will let the USCCB (the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops) led by our own Cardinal George to respond with grace during this time of change.
Bishops congratulate Barack Obama on historic Election
Many readers have thrown in the towel in the search for good Christian fiction. Any believer who prefers a good, well-told story over an agenda is hard-pressed to find a book that satisfies. Christian authors, it seems, have put excellence on the back burner in order to advance their message opting for abrasive in-your-face preaching over subtle meaningful storytelling. Naturally there are exceptions.
Anne Dayton and May Vanderbilt are two such exception. They delight readers from the first page with a main character that has spunk and charm and just enough feisty cynicism to make you laugh out loud. Their chick-lit series delves deep into what it looks like to be a Christian living in a non-Christian world. Dayton and Vanderbilt bring a dose of reality to Christian fiction. They acknowledge that life is messy. A believer in the midst of everyday life faces challenges and moral decisions and often makes mistakes. This is life – and Dayton and Vanderbilt deal with these issues in their book with humor, sensitivity and compassion.
Emily Ever After tells the story of Emily Hinton, who is desperate to leave the her small town and make it big in exciting New York City. Finding herself with a brand new job, Emily embarks on a journey that will take her from night clubs to soup kitchens. Faced every day with unique moral dilemmas and the reality of her own failings, her adventure forces her to face the question asked by every Christian –What, exactly, does it look like to be in the world and not of it?
Emily Ever After reminds us that it is a very thin line and not a chasm.
Check out Anne & May.com for more info on these two talented ladies.
I’ve gotten my butt out of bed at 5:30 every morning since Monday (yes I know that’s only three days) to exercise in some way before I start my day. This has left my house a disaster. I haven’t made my bed since Sunday.
I’m going to clean on Friday and then spend all of Saturday and Sunday reading for pleasure. I don’t have a ton of homework so I’m going to relax and get some book reviews up on this site. My first books will be Anne and May’s since I should be finished with the last of their good-girl lit book series. (Actually, I don’t know if they would consider it a series…we’ll call them “the books that have similar cover art”) I’ll use what I write here to crank out a review for our university paper.
Then I can’t wait to dig into The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. I picked it up in Target and read the first page. The second sentence was so wonderfully constructed I simply had to say it out loud so it could roll off my tongue. But that’s all I’ve read of it so far. I’m excited.
Last weekend was Lori’s wedding. I drove from Ohio on Wednesday so I could be there for her bachelorette party on Thursday. I was making awesome time and decided to take a detour to see Lisa Grover. I will skip right to the gory details and spare you the mundane backstory. I had to pee so bad I knew I wouldn’t make it to Lisa’s in time. I wound up stuck in a traffic jam. I was crying and trying to hold it in with my hand like a 2-year-old. I was praying that if God was going to take me home to be with him by way of my bladder exploding that he create a car accident as a diversion so that my poor mother wouldn’t have to tell people that her daughter died from wetting her pants to death.
With that little intro (I did make it to a bathroom in time) I bring you the real adventure.
After an amazing and fun weekend I woke up Sunday morning knowing that I had a 7+ hour drive ahead of me. And more + than usual since it was still pouring, which was no different than the rest of the weekend. Lots of flooding in Chicago. Anyway, I was exhausted (in a good way) and cranky that my drive would make me even more exhausted. I was at the point where I was rolling my eyes and impatiently tapping my foot at the poor dunkin donuts lady because, seriously, how long does it take to pour a cup of freakin’ coffee already. Every driver was too slow, too self-centered to notice that it was my day to be queen of the universe. Really, my heart was black and ugly that morning.
I decided to get to Indiana by way of 294 instead of the Skyway which is my normal rout. I had been downtown all weekend and didn’t feel the need to say goodbye to the skyline like I usually do. (yeah…I’m a dork)
As I approached Indiana on 80/94, traffic came to a dead stop. I looked at my now-empty extra large dunkin donuts cup in a panic. Would I be grabbing myself and crying and praying for death in any other form but this…again?!?
After 20 minutes of moving no more than 10 feet, I knew there was something wrong. This wasn’t your normal traffic jam. Torrence Avenue (which makes me think of The Shinning…wasn’t that Jack Nicolson’s last name?) was the next exit and it was within site. But I was 3 lanes over and we were barely moving so I wasn’t going to make it over there even if I wanted. Besides, I’m not familiar with that area and I wasn’t sure what I would find when I got off. I may not be able to get back on, I might not find a bathroom, I might get shot. So I decided since I didn’t have to go to the bathroom yet I would continue on and hope that I would make it to the toll road in time. Another 20 minutes went by and I realized I hadn’t moved at all. I was beside myself. I called my mommy in tears. “I just want to be at home in my bed.” It was only 1:30 but I was so tired I could have slept through the night…but no…I had to drive to the farthest eastern edge of Ohio first. I even began to hyperventilate on the phone with her. I was having a real live panic attack.
She said that she was just about to say her Rosary for the day and that I would be her only intention. Her Rosary. Just for me. I sniffed, said thanks and hung up. Almost immediately I found a local Hammond Indianda AM station. These talk radio guys were giving the latest news on the weather and flood conditions.
I was told that if I was on 80/94 heading into Indiana my only way off the Boreman expressway was Torrence Ave. I turned my head to see the exit ramp behind me. I wondered what they meant. I then sat in complete peace and calm as these guys give me the scoop…
The road ahead was under five feet of water for several miles. It was impassable. Here’s the kicker — the roads at all the exits east of Torrence were all completely under water as well. The Little Calumet River crested and washed out northwest Indiana almost completely. The towns all around us were being evacuated. We were completely trapped.
I have never felt the tension drain out of me so quickly. I have never gone from cranky to panicked to calm and peaceful is such obvious progression. There’s a certain comfort knowing there’s nothing you can do. And if I remained cranky, I wouldn’t have left my car for a bit and met some guys in a band trying to get to Fort Wayne. I wouldn’t have met Dog the dog (that was this sweet-faced black Lab’s name) or her owners. It was like a tailgate party. Thousands of cars filled with people in the same mess. What would bitching about it accomplish? Nada.
There was talk of the National Guard coming in Hum-Vs to take us to higher ground. How cool would that have been? Thankfully the National Guard was doing deep-water rescue evacuating some medical facilities and nursing home. Sadly, they didn’t come to get us. I had pinched my cheeks and everything…added some lip gloss. Buff guys in Hum-Vs…yummy! Instead they had us all make u-turns and go back to Torrence to get off the road. I clocked the miles thinking that in 6 hours (it was now 6:30) I couldn’t have gone more than 5. I was a little off. It took me 6 hours to drive a mile and a half.
I pulled into the first motel I could find. It was disgustingly filthy…but I made it home on Monday just fine.
All in all, I saw many little miracles in those six hours. First of all I didn’t have to go to bathroom at all. After and extra large coffee, that is absolutely a miracle. Secondly, I didn’t run out of gas. Thirdly, I was forced to gain a little perspective. People’s homes were being washed away. I was simply inconvenienced.
I know for certain that God put me right where he wanted me so I could simmer down and remember it’s not all about me.