SATURDAY, February 26, 2011. To use our frequent flyer miles, my husband flew from Dallas to Chicago to Pittsburgh, where he met up with me so we could fly the rest of the trip together. I was a little luckier. I flew from Dallas directly to Pittsburgh. Why Pittsburgh? Our daughter and son-in-law live there and on our way back home, we’ll stay with them for a few days before going all the way home.
From Pittsburgh, we flew to Philadelphia; from there to Brussels and then on to Nice, France. Why are we flying to France instead of Croatia? Good question. Flying into Croatia meant spending several hours in Brussels or Frankfurt or some other European airport. We had also arranged to lease a car through AutoEurope and the best place for us to pick up the car was Nice, France.
SUNDAY, February 27, 2011. Whew! We finally make it to Nice only to discover that my luggage did not make it…They were not happy that we weren’t staying in Nice but I didn’t feel bad for them. I was the one without most of my clothes or mousse for my hair!
Now it’s time to find the car and get out of town! After going round and round and round a couple of round-abouts, we began the next portion of our journey to Pula, Croatia. First stop was Parma, Italy. Nice hotel and so happy to see the toilet in our room had a toilet seat. Not so happy with the pit-stops along the highway – no toilet seats. But we were expecting that so at least it wasn’t a surprise. This was our first night away from home.
MONDAY, February 28, 2011. The next day we’re finally on our way to Pula, Croatia. It should only take about 6 hours…unless of course the GPS that came with the car quits near the Slovenian border. Hustle around to find maps, need lots of maps!!! Now we’re on our way again to Pula. We were doing fine until we got to Trieste, Italy. We took the wrong exit and ended up in the City Center. We managed to find our way back to the highway. This was not an easy task as we could not just make a u-turn. After guessing at several highway options throughout Slovenia and Croatia, we finally arrived in Pula.
We left Kingston, Oklahoma Sat. at 2:00 AM to drive to the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and arrived in Pula, Croatia on Sunday night at 8:30 PM. What a long trip it’s been!
All right! We have finally arrived!!! Not so fast…with no GPS we couldn’t find the University or the apartment, or a place to buy a cell phone so we could call someone, or even a hotel. We finally found a hotel at 10:00 PM; an hour and a half of driving round and round Pula. Talk about stress… Well, now it’s too late for someone to show us where the apt. is located. We call our contact at the University, at her home, and she will send someone to the hotel in the morning to take us to our apt. Almost there…
The hotel was very nice and we sure enjoyed the long, hot showers and the wonderful breakfast they served.
TUESDAY, March 1, 2011. In the morning we discover we’ve arrived with a bora wind. These winds are very strong and very cold and can blow the tiles off roofs and can reach up to 200 kph. We are not prepared, clothing-wise, for such cold conditions. So we bundle up as best we can and try to walk along with everyone else without getting blown into oncoming traffic!
Our first full day in Pula was my birthday. When this was discovered (our passports were taken to the Police Station to get us registered), everyone got up and shook my hand and wished me a happy birthday. OK, back to the real story. First, we were taken to our apt. and then to the University of Pula to meet everyone. At the apt., we found someone had put some food in the frig and the cupboard. What a nice surprise that was. We wouldn’t need to figure out where to get some food right away. The apt. is a small 2 bedroom apt. with a tiny but functional kitchen. At least I won’t be spending time baking here… There is a heater in the living room and a tiny one in the bathroom that you only turn on when you’re in there; portable heaters for the bedrooms. Lots of fans in the rooms so we know it will probably be hot in here later on. The apt. is within walking distance to the university and all kinds of shopping – groceries, farmer’s market, banks, post office, coffee shops, bakeries, restaurants. So, it looks like we’re all set now.
Everyone at the university was very nice and friendly and did not push to find out what Steve’s plans were. That was nice as it gives him time to recover from the trip and get himself organized before presenting the details of his plan.
We had time in the afternoon to unpack the suitcases that arrived with us and get things put away. It felt good to get that done!
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