Day 12
12 June 2012
Weather: Sunny, 27
T-shirt count: 0
Cat count: 0
Thanks to the cats taking turns kneading my back all night,
I wake to some stiffness but no real pain. Spot on. I know how easy it is for a
simple fall to do a back in for life. Maybe TT can remind its TDs to remind us
that the floor can get very wet when you shower in the baths that have a half
door and that the floor can be very slippery.
I pack up and head down for breakfast and watch the Queen
Victoria II sail by. It’s quite windy too but the wind is hot. Love that.
We pile aboard the bus at 8:30. Yeah. We’re anxious to hit
the road. The seats are assigned in the front half of the bus and the people
who like the back get to auction off their seats to those that want to move
farther forward.
We are all aboard and ready to go at 8:55. Yup. Anxious we
are.
It’s 400 km to Zagreb and we expect to arrive around 5:30.
Most of the trip will be on the main highway but the first bit is on the slow
and winding road where the divided highway doesn`t go yet. The cats plan to do
the trip without stopping. They just need some gushy food and a really big litter
box.
And they left at 8:54, so I won’t see them speed by like the
space shuttle. They’re gone ahead to check out the bidet in the bathroom. They
have enough sense to wipe up the floor when they’re done.
The cloud over Dubrovnik clears as we leave the city and the
seats on the right hand side become the preferred seats with the sun in the
right spot.
We cross the Bosnian border. It’s about ten minutes to get through
the lineup and then we get to Neum and stop at the same spot for a quick break.
I pick up some snacks and a Coke and hit the washroom.
As we leave Bosnia, Gasper puts on a comedian who was really
good. He said that the word “yup” in English means yes. In Russia, it means
sex.
Yup. I’m going to have to edit this entire tale now.
When the comedian is done, Gasper hands around the group
photo sample. We’ll be getting it for free. It’s too bad it was done on the one
rainy day we had. The sun makes such a difference to photos.
Then Gasper announces that he has gifts for the returning
Trafalgar clients. They are prints from an artist that he knows in Dubrovnik.
Without a doubt, the nicest returning-client gift I’ve ever gotten. He said he
didn’t want to give us something that we could have picked up ourselves or
something that is imported from China. A bit of thought went into it and it was
appreciated. Everyone got a different print too. (A couple actually complained
that they didn`t like the print they got compared to others!)
We drove along a different route towards Split so that we
got different scenery and half the left side moved to the right side of the bus
to see the coast but as soon as we moved inland, they moved back to the right. Not long after that we move onto the new divided highway and our speed goes up
considerably.
Gasper then gives us a rundown of the tour and tells us we
have had a tour with Gasper the friendly ghost. He passes out our evaluation. Tens
across the board no problem for me. I noted how much I liked the extra free
time and late starts. One gave our driver a slightly lower score on courteous
because they said he didn’t interact a lot with us. I told them that he didn’t
speak English and they were surprised. Wasn’t hard to figure out after the
first day when I realized he didn’t understand the word water. Not a lot of my
European drivers have been able to speak English so they don’t interact with
the passengers that much. I`m surprised they didn`t notice.
Lunch is just north of Split off the highway in a very very
clean restaurant. It’s next to a river that flows out to the Adriatic and we
can get a nice pic of the town below. Another hidden treasure. This tour has
been full of them.
It starts to rain as we approach the long tunnel that
connects Adriatic Croatia to Continental Croatia, so we figure if it’s raining
here then it must be sunny on the other side. Sure enough, we enter in fog and
exit into broken cloud. Within the hour, the sun is out.
Then Gasper breaks out the schnapps.
Woohoo!
One of the tour members had purchased a bottle of blueberry
schnapps at Mt. Vogol and was waiting for an opportunity to share it with
everyone on tour. Gasper was having a hard time finding glasses for everyone
but he manage to acquire some at our last stop and as we finished off the last
part of the long drive, he served everyone a glass of schnapps.
I made the
mistake of telling him that I didn’t drink but liked to sample. He came back
and insisted I try the berries at the bottom.
LOL
A little more potent than the liquid, but interesting.
The last of the drive into Zagreb is of rolling green hills
(or is that my head rolling…hmmm), farmhouses and forests. Gorgeous scenery in
the sunshine.
We arrive in Zagreb close to six pm, just as the evening
traffic is dying off. We arrive at the Westin and check-in is swift. For some
reason, we’re all more tired than usual. Probably a down day after so many busy
days has hit us harder than I expected. The Westin has a spa, but it’s full
this evening.
Don’t ask.
We’re all on the 3rd floor which makes the elevator
run easy. I go to my room and put the key card in, see the green light and turn
the knob. Nothing happens, so I try again. Then I hear a tour mate a couple
doors down go “Ohhhhhhhhh….it turns the other way.”
I heard a chorus of “Ahhhhhhhhs`` from the other half dozen
trying to get into their rooms.
I have a huge bed – king at least – and Gasper has told us
that they are special beds. The best in Europe.
The room has the half glass door bathtub, shampoo and stuff,
safe, iron and board, flat screen (only news channels), internet and a robe!
Finally, a robe!
I go straight to check out the internet but can only access
the wired, so I don’t even get a chance to sit in the best bed in Europe while
I check my emails and that. Dinner is at 7 pm, so I have barely an hour or so
to get through my emails before I have to change for dinner.
When I get down to dinner, everyone is raving about the bed
and I realized I hadn’t even sat on it. One woman decided to forgo dinner after
lying on the bed.
And what a dinner. Gasper told us the hotel served good
meals and while a lot of TDs would say this to us about every meal, Gasper is a
little more selective and he’s been right every time. Overall the food on this
tour has ranged from good to outstanding. I think the only complaint you’d hear
from everyone is that none of the restaurants seem to put condiments on the
tables anywhere so if you want salt, pepper, ketchup etc, you have to ask.
Sometimes, they don’t have it, but it seems to be a Croatian thing more than
anything.
Dinner was an absolutely delicious mushroom soup appetizer
then chicken with potatoes and dessert was that big square cream dessert. After
having nibbled all day on stuff, everyone’s mouth dropped. They lay the first
one on our table and I think we agreed that that would have been enough for the
entire table. We each get one and just stare at it and sigh.
We all ate about half and the waitress though we didn’t like
it. We laughed. Nope. If we ate the rest, they’d be rolling us all up to the 3rd
floor.
I go back to the room to find the cats have heard about the
best bed in Europe.
Guess I might be sleeping in the bathtub tonight.
