The Best Laid Plans...
Yesterday I wrote the plan for the day was to visit Split. I also wrote that it has been unusually hot here. How hot? As Robin Williams playing Adrian Cronauer in Good Morning, Vietnam said...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXR0uoxUvaw
With the forecast calling for temperatures in the high nineties...and indeed it hit 100 yesterday...plans changed and a group of us walked to the beach.
We very much enjoy staying in neighborhoods when we travel. I think this gives us a great opportunity to experience what life is really like wherever we are, and yesterday we walked through the neighborhood to what seemed to be a beach that locals use on a hot summer day.
The Adriatic was cool enough to be refreshing because after the walk, the first thing everyone wanted to do was get into the water. I took advantage of this convenient cabana to change, which I thought was quite clever.
There's one changing area on each side. They are open air and doorless, so as you're changing, you do run the risk of someone sliding in.
Once waterlogged, we decided it was time for lunch and walked down to a local restaurant. It appears to me that smoking is mandatory in all eating establishments. Plenty of ashtrays are available and are on the tables, reminiscent of the sixties in the US.
It only occurred to us afterward that we perhaps should have attempted to use Google Translate when we wanted to order a variation of something on the menu. The menus were in Croatian and English and very easy to navigate. The waiter spoke halting English, and we speak no Croatian, so when Marcy (My Friend Jeanie's daughter) tried very kindly to tell the waiter that she wanted to order a pepperoni pizza, it just didn't work out. One pizza on the menu was what I would call a garbage truck--it had everything, including pepperoni. March showed the waiter that menu item, then said, "Just the pepperoni." When the waiter appeared confused, she went through each additional topping and said, "We don't want that. Or that. Or that. Just the pepperoni." He nodded and we thought we were on our way to feeding her very hungry children, especially 16 year old Luke.
Our salads came--delicious fresh tomatoes! And then, no pizza. If you've traveled to Europe, perhaps you've identified a hallmark of restaurant service there. Slow. The waiter isn't coming back repeatedly to see if you need anything else. (We housed 3 bottles of water and really wanted to order more if the waiter had swung by. In his defense, he was the only server for multiple tables.) They're not swinging past to see if you're ready for your check.
We see the waiter bringing out pizzas to tables seated after us. So we signal him over, ask about the pizza, and he is confused. Okay, says Marcy, let's do this again. The pepperoni pizza. He leaves to put in the order, than comes back and shows her on Google mild or spicy. We take this as a good sign. Luke is ready to eat his arm he's so hungry. Dan orders a cappuccino, we get a couple more bottles of water which the waiter brings with a bucket of ice. Again, if you've been to Europe, you know that the concept of ice in a drink is foreign to them.
And then the pizza arrives. With pepperocini on it. No pepperoni. Luke is disappointed, but with the pepperocini picked off, he pronounces the pizza delicious.
After a stop for gelato, the walk back promises to be everything Marcy warned us it would be as we walked to the beach. Hot. Grueling. Miserable. But, she reminded everyone, there's a pool at the end of the walk and you can jump right in when you get home. And so we did.
We cook dinner, changing out responsibilities, who chooses the menu, etc. Last night My Friend Jeanie's sons in law went to a local butcher shop and purchased a large amount of meat that we grilled outside in a wood fired grill.
7 thick cut pork chops and one enormous sirloin, 37 euros.
Food prices in the grocery/market stores are very inexpensive.
And here's Hungry Man Luke with the steak bone.
We finished off the meal with a huge pot of mashed potatoes and a salad. We are living the life, that's for sure!
The view from the main floor balcony
Dan is going to be the Breakfast Parent this morning; French Toast is on the menu since a bread truck pulls up in front of the house every morning and the selections, including pastries, is delicious.
And then we'll see what the day brings us. Today it's only predicted to be 99!
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