Croatia!!

8/8/08
We are in Croatia!! I woke up early this morning to watch us pull into our last foreign port; it was very pretty!! We didn’t have a morning meeting this morning; we had the meeting last night because we had to use our tender boats for this port. There is not a whole lot of room to dock, so we didn’t get priority and had to be out in the middle of the water and take the tender boats in. We left on the 9:30 tender and got ashore right before 10. There was a large group of us – Heather, Emily, Marissa, Aimee, and Paul – and we walked around, got some money, and hopped the bus to the beach! It was really cool and very downhill, which sucked coming back up after the beach. Anyway, it was a pebble beach with beautiful clear water, which sounded cool in theory, but since we didn’t bring water shoes, it KILLED our feet getting in and out of the water. It was hot, so we managed to get in and out a few times. Around lunchtime, we headed up the hill to get some lunch, and we ended up getting pizza. After sitting there for a long time, we went up the hill a little more to make plans to go snorkeling. The only time they had open was 5:30, so we took it. We had some time since it was only 3, so we did a little souvenir shopping and got a pitcher of sangria to split between us all. It was tasty! We had to walk across that part of the land to get to the other beach at a hotel for the snorkeling. We waited for an hour and the boat finally got there at 6:30, but people who went snorkeling said they didn’t see a whole lot, so we decided to do a banana boat ride instead! It was SO much fun! All six of us fit on the banana and it was attached to a speedboat that pulled us along and occasionally flipped us off! It was sooo hard for Heather and I to get back on the banana because we are taller and have long legs. When we were done, we changed at the hotel and hopped on the bus to go to the Old Town to go to this supposedly cool bar called Buza. We got into the Old Town, which is surrounded completely by walls and had to walk up some hefty stairs to the top right of the inside of the wall to get to this bar. When we got there, it was literally a little hole on the outside of the wall overlooking the water, an island called Lokrum, and the sunset. It was absolutely gorgeous. I got a dessert wine and we just sat and sipped for a long time. When we were done there, we walked back down to the middle of the town and got some pizza for dinner. It was fantabulous! Probably the best pizza I’ve ever eaten! We also got some wine with dinner. We hopped back on the bus, went to the post and had to wait for the tender boat back to the ship, took a shower and went to bed! It was a long day in the sun! Can’t wait for another one tomorrow!!

8/9/08
This morning, we were in no rush to get out, so we went out on the 10 am tender to the port – Paul, Aimee and I. We took the bus into the old city, got some ice cream, walked around, and made reservations for kayaking. We decided to walk around the city walls on the top. It was incredibly hot, but so cool to see the city from the top of the walls. After, we stopped at a little wine bar and got a glass of wine. We got hungry after sitting for a bit, so we went to a little seafood place… yes, I said seafood. I got shrimp and it was so good! After, we got more ice cream because it was soo hot. We walked around a little more and then around 2:45 decided to walk to the beach for the kayaking. They told us it would only be a 15-minute walk from the Old Town, boy did they lie. It took about 45 minutes to get there and we had to walk up and down hills and then down these massively steep steps. It was another pebble beach, and it was much prettier than the one from before. As soon as we got there, we jumped right into the water because it was so hot. Our kayaking started at 4 and there were 2 other girls from SAS and then a couple from Dublin, Ireland. Aimee and I were in the double kayak and Paul was by himself. We were supposed to go to the other side of the island that faced the open water, but our guide said that the water was too rough, and it was a little rough, so we went to the side the was closest to the main land, and walked across the island. We walked to a little lagoon and swam for a little big, and then the guide left crackers, bread, and wine. It was a fun little excursion. We had an hour and a half on the island before heading back to the beach. This time, Paul and I were in the double and we kicked butt getting back. We laid out on the beach even though it was 8ish at that time, but it was so pretty with the sun setting over the Old Town. When we were leaving, BOTH of my flip-flops broke, so it was a LOOONG walk back o the bus stop. When we got on the bus, we ran into Caitlin, Carly, and Amber. We sang songs on the way to the ship and when we made it back to the port, Photo Mike and his family were there, so we sang Disney songs to his litte girls – Riley and Rachel who are 3 and 4. When I got back to the ship, I went to the 7th deck to see if I could get a burger or something since I didn’t eat dinner, but they were done serving real food, so I went to my room to go to bed and watched The 40 Year Old Virgin since it was playing on the loop.

8/10/08
This morning, I had to get up early to go to an orphanage and children’s hospital with SAS. We took a charter to the top of a hill and took pictures before going to the orphanage. There were about 40 of us SASers and only 16 kids. The kids were so cute and excited for us to be there. They did not speak any English, but they had their caretakers there who were helping us talk to them. They loved all the gifts we brought them – puzzles, coloring books, temporary tattoos, play do. We were there for 2 hours and when we were done, we headed over to the hospital, but the doctor wasn’t ready when we got there, so we sat for a little bit. When the doctor was ready, we had a tour of the children’s department and then had a Q & A with the doctor. She gave us postcards and with that, we headed back to the port. I decided to go off on my own and explore the city by myself. I went back into the Old Town to shop around for souvenirs. As I was walking, I saw a friend Angela sitting by herself at a restaurant, so I decided to sit with her and get lunch. We sat and talked for a good two hours. And then I headed back toward the port. I stopped at the grocery store to get some snacks before getting on the boat. Since this was our last night in port, we had a BBQ and then a group picture on the back of the ship after the BBQ. We went to the community meeting after dinner and then went outside to watch the sunset and to watch us leave our last port. So, now we are on our way back home and I have a rough week of classes and finals ahead of me! Wish me luck!!