When in Roma...

You walk. A lot. You walk so much, and eat so much pizza and pasta, and see so many old buildings. So many. I have no more words right now. I need sleep. Naples tomorrow. The girls go home:( Goodnight.

Lokrum

Our host told us about an island 15 minutes away, inhabited by wild peacocks and rabbits, with a swimming hole like the Dead Sea. So yesterday morning, after another of many omlet breakfasts, we ducked into a few souvenir shops to escape the cold wind while we waited for the next ferry.

A little later, we piled onto the ferry with lots of other tourists, and sailed very choppy waves to Lokrum. As we disembarked, peacocks were there waiting, and thus began our exploration! I mean, they were everywhere, and if we couldn't see them we could hear their calls.

We followed trails to giant rocks and seaside cliffs, olive trees, and ancient ruins. My badass sister climbed the rocks with baby Ava strapped to her chest. If the weather were warmer, we would have taken a swim, but it was blustery and eventually started to rain. After a couple hours, we decided to head back to Old Town for some much needed lunch (spaghetti for Whitney and her brood, seafood risotto for the Wilcox's).

A good meal and lots of walking under our belts, we headed back to the apartment for some relaxation.

Cro-way-sha (I love how Phin pronounces this)

Woke up to some emails from my mom. She included a Joseph Campbell quote in one, but I found this one and adopted it to rouse my spirit past the cough and temperature I'd had for a couple days.

"What each must seek in his life never was on land or sea. It is something out of his own unique potentiality for experience, something that never has been and never could have been experienced by anyone else."

I got out of bed to find that baby Ava had a fever:( Time for me to stop whining. Finally found a farmacia with some children's Tylenol and left mom and baby to rest while Phin and I searched out some breakfast. Uncle Addam had spent the night on the island Hvar (and after he left yesterday, the girls got a chance to go to the beach and get in some good splash and seaweed fights).

We got back to the apartment (did I mention we stayed just inside the palace walls!) with food for Whitney, and Addam was there to meet us. One last important stop, to get the Split hat Phin kept talking about, and we were off to Dubrovnik. We passed through Bosnia on the way there (cool right?) and man oh man, what a gorgeous drive into the city! Every time I look out the window, I can't believe it.

We're all starting to feel better. This place is amazing:)

The journey and the Split

Diligently doing his duty, Uncle Addam met us at the airport in Zadar, rental car ready. After a few snafus with the forward facing baby seat, how to get into reverse in the Picasso, and oh yeah, how the heck to navigate anywhere with no GPS and no street signs, we finally made it back to Old Town for a little food and exploration.

We were allowed to park our fanny's on the walls of ancient Roman ruins to snack on pizza and watch passersby. Before heading out to Krka National Park, we went to the shore to listen to the famous sea organ. The sound is really hard to describe, like an organ, yes, but also like a giant woodwind, harmonic, quite beautiful. I sat down next to my five year old niece, Seraphin, who was very quiet for a while. She came out of a little trance and said, "Sorry, I was listening to the music... It makes me think good thoughts."

We drove about an hour on a winding, deserted highway surrounded by mountains and sea, different shades of brilliant green, to Skradin. The park guide directed us to the ferry, which glided us alongside swans and one brave human swimmer, to the travertine and waterfalls. After some climbing and some toe dipping (only the five year old was brave enough), we took the ferry back to Picasso the rented car, to make our way to our final city of the day, Split.

The lack of GPS became an issue again, and there was a frustrating 20 minutes or so of what felt like circling a drain. Wait, that's a metaphor for death, I just meant we were driving in circles. I was tasked with the mission of walking to the apartment so we could preserve our hard won parking spot, but when I again got lost, our host was happy to meet us at our car and walk us just inside the Golden Gate (of Diocletian's palace) to our happy home for the next two days.

Tired from the day's journey (which started very early in Frankfurt, Germany), we hastily dumped our bags and headed out through the maze like alleyways in search of dinner. Not five minutes walk away at Mazzgoon, we treated ourselves to lamb, shrimp, pasta and a bottle of local wine. A slight wait bought us free truffles at the end of meal:) Sleep came quickly, and we woke up ready to explore the palace and the town.