perhaps the final post on Croatia...

Home safe & sound and amazed at how wonderful it is to sleep in your own bed! I was greeted exuberantly by one of my cats while the other gave me the cold shoulder for that first night back...but crawled up on my suitcase so I couldn't leave again.

The exploration of Diocletian's Palace was like the rest of Croatia, amazing. We read somewhere that the pair of black sphinxes were from 12,000 years ago...that Diocletian took them from Egypt. Not sure if that's true but there you go. It's beyond belief as an American to be inside a structure built 1700 years ago.

The drive back down the Dalmatian coast to Dubrovnik was bittersweet. The views are impossible to comprehend without seeing them. The white rock mountains, green skinny pine trees (among other trees) and the white stone beaches. Not sand, stone. Leading into water that is in some areas blue and others green, and so clear you can see rocks 20 feet down. I've never seen such clear water.

I have to find an American distributor for some of the Croatian wines. Can't carry them on and don't trust packing them in checked luggage. None of the stores could ship back to America either. So hopefully some smart American distributor is all over the wine of Vis...or I think Patti & I may start our own distribution company!

The last night in Dubrovnik we finished the 3-13 tournament, Ralph won overall, surpassing Patti's lead with the 25th game. We also decided to come up with headlines for each place based on interactions or our own silliness. I don't have the time to reorganize the blog just now under the headlines...but sharing anyway (I need to get back to grant writing and editing of the various projects).

Dubrovnik:
-"No Worry Lady" said by our driver Milly to Patti after a few questions about how we connect with the lady who owns the house we're staying at.
-And "why" the comment made by Dan our waiter at Sesame to Ralph many many times...when he didn't want to order fish, when he didn't want any alcohol, when he didn't want desert.

Mljet:
-"Why didn't you call?" said by Ivan to Patti after we got lost trusting a locals directions instead of calling Ivan as instructed.
-And "Ahhh crazy Americans" said by Anka our host while Patti played charades to explain our fear of the giant moth occupation of our rooms. She went on to tell us she grew up on the island and isn't afraid of birds and butterflies like us silly city Americans.

Trogir:
-"When I see Americans...I...how you say...HAPPY." Said by a young woman to Patti while I blogged on the rainy day. She may be the only one in Trogir! She wants to come study in America but it's really hard to get Visa's to come in now. Hopefully she makes it.
-Another quote from Trogir is Ralph to Patti as he crowned her 3:13 queen of the day "heavy is the head that wears the basket".

Vis:
-At Pol Moru, a lovely restaurant in the middle of the island in a home that's been in the family for 500 years...sung a few times with immense feeling by Janosh and Vida (and everyone) "oopy doopy dee...oopy doopy dah".
-At Komiza, "I know what cheese is" said by a young waitress to us after we asked for a small cheese pizza and she gave us a look of confusion. Patti asked me how to say cheese in Croatian...I shrugged my shoulders & she replied "I know what cheese is...but we only have one size pizza".
-At Vis Town, "really dreamy" said by our impromptu tour guide Nikola many many times as he walked us around the town and pointed out all the sites and gushed about living on the island.
-one other comment on Vis...Princess Caroline loved the place (or loves it) and everyone seems to have clippings from her visit there, and they love to share.

Split-when we asked if a place was open for breakfast (very few places are in Croatia) we were told "no...only drinks." Several folks sat at a bar...it was 8am.

Patti took a ton of gorgeous photos...I shot video while in Croatia...so I'll try to reorganize with photos and maybe a special highlight reel from our visit posted as well.

Thanks for playing along folks. Back to work now!

from Split part two

After a very rainy day in Trogir/Split where we had a nice meal (at Nostromus, a multi layered restaurant, we ate on level 3) and the movie in a theater built during the silent era, 1908. It's within the walls of Diocletian's Palace. We took an early ferry from Split to Vis where Sanje and Vlado met us. Sanje is an Austrian diplomat (Croatian diplomat to Austria) and they greeted us with champaigne! The house is gorgeous. Only 3 years old and built exactly as Sanje wanted. The old dark oak wood is from 150 year old house. It's absolutely spectacular!!! They had to bring all the materials over by ferry from Split. After they finished they found out Croatia is allowing no further building on the coast of Vis, so I'm sure it's quite an investment on their part, property will undoubtedly skyrocket!!!! Only 150 euro a night to borrow their summer home. It's definately a highlight (the highlight) of the trip.

The birds are chirping happily, the waves lap the rocky cost below us and the rain seems to be lettin up. The island was used by the Yugoslav army until 1989, so no foreigners were allowed, now it's a paradise. Lots of vineyards on the interior and 2 little towns on either side Vis town and Komiza (under Hum mountain, and Tito's caves). The island holds about 4,000 people. November 1st is all saints day so everything is closed. TV at the house has channels for every country of the world (1500 channels) but only 4 in English...all UK type news. Lots of Arab porn channels funny enough (not that our hosts subscribed to them...but just noticed as we scrolled through). Bruce Springsteen's "57 channels and nothing on" takes on a whole new meaning!

November 2nd, gorgeous sunrise and Vis is going to treat us very well indeed! A praying mantis joins us on the deck, intrigued by us crazy Americans. He changes colors as he crosses the deck avoiding the birds. He wiggles before he walks...odd. And he moves his head around to watch us when we move.

Tonight we dined at a place Sanje recommended & called ahead for us. A 500 year old home where they've decided to make a small restaurant. We met our Milna Bay neighbors. Janosh (sp?) and his wife Vida. They (along with our hosts Demir and Gordana Svilicic and their daughter Katarina) sing and played traditional Croatian, Serbian, Russian, Hungarian (Janosh is Hungarian) and Gypsy music. It's impossible to capture this...Patti took pictures, I wish I'd had my camera!!!!

Day 3 Vis: An absolutely stunning day. Not a cloud in the sky and mid 60's again. A Rigotta is sailing ships thru. We stopped in Vis town to ask where the Greek cemetery is and end up with guided afternoon tour of Vis town by a man named Nikola. He's sailed around the world and speaks English, Italian, German and of course Croatian. He introduced us to 3 lovely Croatians who sang a song to us of the history of Vis (an 83 year old man and a man & woman in thir 70's I think). I did get that on tape! We found out from Nikola that the Torcida 1950 graffiti we saw all over Split is in relation to what fans of a soccor team call themselves (no politics, sports!). We run into Janosh & Vida on our way home after stopping for a huge flock of sheep and donkeys in the road. Some of the strangest sounding "baa's" though. Can't wait to share that video with friends. :)

We did find out this is the worst winter in years. 10 degrees below normal. But on Vis it's sunny and in the 60's. Can't ask for more! There's an ancient Greek port of Issa (Vis town) and we visited the BC Greek Cemetery and ruins of the walls. Mostly destroyed by tennis courts. Argh. But they've preserved the markers/headstones at the archeological museum. An archeologist who was catalogueing things let us hold a piece of pork spine...dated to BC. The museum also has a bronze head of Artemis (or Aphrodite) very well preserved.

I'm currently sharing the deck with an adventurous little bird singing his heart out to me. Vis has been the absolute highlight of the trip. Again I sit here listening to the sea lapping off the rocky shore like a lullaby, literally caught sunrise on tape this morning. The sea is so soothing. The sunlight now dancing on the water, sparkling like diamonds and the birds that pop up on the deck to check you out for invading their paradise seem to have no fear. Also the scent of lavendar from the island comes with the breeze.

What day is today? I'm losing track, Nov 4th...Split. We arrive on the Ferry to give he keys back to Sanje and Vlado, we closed up their house for them and they greet us with wine and take us to our sobe (rooms) within Diocletian's Palace. I look out my window at a sphinx the Roman Emperor brought from Eqypt. We share a wall I think with what used to be the temple of Jupitor. Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus (243-312) Diocletian. The name of an ordinary Greek soldier Diocles was renamed into Latin. He was born in the surrounding area of the main city of the roman province Dalmatia (Salona). He was proclaimed an Emperor on the 20th of November 284. In 303 he forbids confessions of Christians and demolishes churches, confisgating Christian property and begins executing them. He abdicates on the 1st of May 305 and retires into his Palace where he dies on the 3rd of December 312. And now a city bustles around the ruins (some very well preserved). We'll explore more tomorrow. I won't be able to blog again until I'm back in my own bed (Wednesday).

Everyone smokes here! We joke that even the pets seem to smoke. There's no real "no smoking" sections. Wow. Also lost of stray animals, more cats than dogs, but many of them as well. Yesterday a starving cat shared my lunch and today a starving Irish Setter. Breaks my heart. Wish I could take them all home.

Tonight I hear English voices on tv and have free internet (we're inside the palace after all) ha.

I'll see you all soon!

Big catchup from Split-part one

Lotsa blogging to do tonight to catch up. So rambling commencing!

October 26th: Mljet-the ride on the Ferry had spectacular views of the rocky coastline of Croatia. White rocks and green trees. Mljet is an adventure. Beautiful and terryfying (if you have a heights issue). Spectacular views but vertigo inducing. Single land roads occasionally with huge serpentine curves and drop offs on one side & rock on the other. If you meet a car you back up to a place you can pull off & let them pass. We got lucky and mostly met people when we were at the pull offs. We're here off season so very few people are on the island (except the locals). The Island population is around 1200 (it's only 50 kilometers long and 5 kilometers wide). Most of the shops are closed up for winter. But we found a nice restaurant (Antika) for dinner where the nice young woman spoke flawless English. We quickly learned that's not so true on most of the Island. I thought I'd learned enough to get by, but you never really do...not in a few weeks!!! The town was Palace (Pah-lahch-ay) because of a large palace in ruins just as you leave the village.

So it looks like a full moon and last night a big storm blew through the Island and took the power & water out from the place we're staying. So we roughed it mostly the first night. The place is inside the national park...an island within the island (2 lakes internal to the island). We ended up killing 7 giant moths within the first half hour...13 before we slept. The last one was taunting me, hiding in the light fixture & peaking out.

October 27th Day two Mljet: We explored after Ahnka (our host along with her husband Nikola and son Ivan who we only saw the first night because Ahnka was ill) laughed at us crazy city people afraid of a few birds & butterflies (imagine playing charades to explain a large moth infestation). We drove to the end of the island (takes about an hour) and took pictures on the beach, no swimming this time of year but my God I've never seen such clear water!!! We had lunch at a pizza place-Riva Pizzaria, lotsa pizza places here-the few of the shops still open, only saw one McDonald's , no such thing as diet coke, just coke zero...if you're lucky. But who needs coke when the wine is so good!!! We visited a cemetery and mostly just drove, admired the views and thankfully Ralph likes to drive as I think I'd have trouble on the one way mountain roads.

The house is gorgeous the view is gorgeous. It was only the first night we had the moth issue. We decided it would be a good setting for a mothman movie, perhaps starring Ivan (since we haven't seen him since our arrival). :) Ahnka made an absolutely amazing meal for us on the 2nd night. I think our best meal in Croatia. 2 bottles of wine (Patti & I shared). Ahnka is working on her English and has one of the best laughs. Such fantastatic characters. 3 cats, Babic (Babich) one and Babic two and Carot. We had trouble understanding what she was saying until she said "you know, vegetable....ca-rote". He begged for food rather aggressively. I hit him in the eye with a piece of bread (by accident) but he was climbing Patti's leg for a piece of her fish. We finished our wine playing cards (Ralph & Pattie taught me 3-13...I lost rather supremely!) and were happy we killed no giant moths the second night.

Patti Memories: Walking the beautiful property, the ruins of an old stone house, being stalked by a black cat we later learned was either Babic 1 or 2. Patti rounded a corner and saw Nikola peeing by the house but quickly turned back around. Ahnka's laugh at her describing the moths (hiding in her hoddie and flapping her fingers to explain). What a laugh!!!

October 28th: Day 3 Mljet/Day 1 Trogir: This morning on the drive to the Ferry we passed an older woman walking down a hill with a donkey (picture postcard of old world Croatia). We didn't photograph her though as we didn't want to be rude. There was a gorgeous low hanging fog over the higher hills. The air is very still. I can totally see the enchantment of this island from early days (Greek and Roman settlements). While waiting for the Ferry we learn that Croatia has changed their clocks back...so we have an hour to wait. Could have used the extra hour of sleep. We stop in Ston to eat and have a fabulous (and LONG) lunch at Strogir (I think) where Renalto was very kind to us, and flirtatious. We have photos, upon his insistence...and I got my second sort of proposal.

We drive the gorgeous coast. The entire country is enchanting. The fog on the mountains/cliffs, white stone with the white houses & orange tile roofs. Like driving in a painting!

Sunset is spectacular! The water is calm, the mount covered in fog, the low hanging clouds part just enough to spread an orange glow over the still Adriatic.

Stipe and Mara (Patti's friend Zoran's parents, our hosts for the next 4 nights) are wonderful as well. They lived in America for 30 years but have returned home.

October 29th Day 2 Trogir: We took a drive up the coast highway to Krka National Park and stopped first to eat (another accidental long lunch) at Skradin then walked the path by Skradinski Buk waterfalls. The walk way was lined with people selling alcohol and cuts. Lots of vendors and only a few tourists, despite the gorgeous weather. After visiting such beauty we happened thru a small town that had one end of it bombed out and grafitti filled. Memorials beside the road, I think it was Dubrovice but I'm not sure. Patti checked with Zoran and he said that was about as far as the fighting came to the coast. Hard to comprehend that so close to beauty was such despair. We learned the park was quite damaged as well. But many new buildings are going up and life seems to be getting back to normal. It is disturbing to see a few nazi swastica's grafiti'd. I suppose that happens. We also need to look up Heroj Ante Gotovina, it looks like a general from the pictures. Grafiti has Ante everywhere too. Though it does seem to be a very common name.

We passed through Sibenik (Shee-bah-neek) which unlike many coastal towns was settled by Croat tribes not Illyrians or Romans.

We walked into the walled city of Trogir for dinner at a Pizzaria Stipe recommended (Merker?), I had a fantastic Rozotto with peas & ham, baked. MMMMM. Patti shared her olives (fresh here, lots of olive trees everywhere). Trogir (formerly Trau) and Trogurian in Roman times) was an Illyrian settlement the Croats took over in the 7th century. A large fortress built inthe 15th century used to connect to the walls. The old gazibo is now graffiti covered was built by Frenchman Marshal Marmont during the Napoleonic occupation. Nearby Makarsak was populated by Slavs in the 7th century and they set up a booming piracy business to disrupt Ventian shipping. Venetian warships were trounced there in 887 and hd to pay thereafter for the right to sail past the settlement. Under the Turks it became an important port for the salt trade from Bosnia and Hercegovina.

Mara greeted us 3 mornings with Polencinkas (poo-lahn-cheen-kaas) which are a kind of crepe or pancake with syrup or jam inside. Yummy (I'm writing a lot about food here aren't I?). Mara was also kind enough to do a couple loads of laundry for us...odd to walk home from dinner and see your jeans drying from a deck in Croatia!

One complaint about our accomodations...very close to a rooster who didn't just crow at dawn...but often...I swear he was hoarse he crowed so much! We plotted chicken dinners every morning. Ha.

We walked around day three at Salona (Solin), ruins from the 2nd century BC and thru to Diocletian's time and on to the middle ages. The ruins are amazing. The first Christian martyred by Diocletian is burried there (he persecuted the most of all Roman Emperors, according to a brochure). We visited an amphitheater where 18,000 would cheer on the torture of Christians. Nearby is the cemetery where they buried the martyrs. 119 BC Solin was mentioned as the center of the Illyrian tribe. The Romans seized the site in 78 BC. Under Augustus it became the administrative headquarters of the Roman Dalmatian province. The Slavs and the Avars levelled Solin in 614 and it was left to decay. The amphitheater was destroyed in the 17th centuryby the Venetians to prevent its use as a refuge by Turkish raiders. Diocletian was born in the area and began a 10 year construction in 295 to retire there. After his death the palace was used by other Roman rulers. When Salona was abandoned in the 7th century many of the romanized inhabitants fled to Split and barricaded themselves behind the high palace walls where their descendents live on to today.

Then yummy home made pasta at Kristian's at Trogir. A good local wine from Vis I think. The lunch was rucno izrudena tjestenina...if you were wondering.

October 31st our first and only total rain out day. We went into Split by the harbour and Diocletian's Palace and saw "Rendition". A bit disturbing to hear people cheer when a man says something like "beat your wife every morning, if you don't know why you do it, she does." Kind of odd to be surrounded by people who probably have a much different perspective of American politics, war and torture, and see this film. The travel books tell you the people don't want to talk about the war/troubles (12-15 years ago) so we can't exactly strike up a conversation casually about their thoughts. We are stopped by a man outside the theater who hears our American accents, and asks us for a job. Wish we could.

Rainy day in Trogir

It stormed loudly last night and continues to rain hard today. We´re hoping it calms down before we get on a ferry tomorrow for our 3 days on the island of Vis. I really don`t want to be on a boat on these waters. It`s the first time we see stormy seas.

We were hoping to explore Diocletian´s Palace today but not in this rain. So we´ll likely see movies instead. We have another chance to see the Palace in 3 days on our return from Vis.

A slow day is pretty welcome at this point. We have the Trogir promenade pretty much to ourselves. We asked at the tourist info place if that´s normal for October\November and they said yes. It´s wall to wall people for 120 days over the summer so they welcome the quiet.

By the way it´s Salona (the ancient town settled by Illyrians then Romans).

More in a few days...or when we reach Split on the 5th.

Quick post from Trogir

Mljet was a bit of an adventure. Many fewer English speakers...and a bad storm the night before wreaked a bit of havoc on the place we were staying. Absolutely gorgeous location, but we had to kill 13 giant moths the first night. Freaked us out a bit. Worth it for the location! And the meal cooked for us by the hostess the next night!

We went yesterday to Krka National Park to see the beautiful waterfalls and today explored Solin (Solina), ruins dating back to BC. (Once the center of Dalmatia during the Roman Empire). Also a place where they persecuted early Christians. 18,000 people sitting by entertained by death, hard to imagine. Nearby is the cemetery of the martyrs.

Tomorrow we will visit Diocletian Palace. Not sure if I will get an opportunity to blog again...but I will try. I am keeping notes.

Dubrovnik continued

"The Jewel of the Adriatic" as I believe George Bernard Shaw either said or stole. The city really is amazing. White stone and similar colored tile roofs...into the really blue and clear Adriatic, it is indeed enchanting.

We tried to visit the convent of St Clare, patron saint of television...but it's no longer there, replaced by a shop and restaurant. Hmmm, perhaps a victim of the bombing of the city 15 years ago...I don't know. Alas.

We wandered the streets of old town some more under the watchful gaze of St Blaise (or Sveti Vlaho, patron saint of the city). So many little quant shops and such. A bit of history of Dubrovnik...The city was completed in the 13th century and remains true to its history, you feel like you're in a protective bubble here. No vehicle noises. Dubrovnik had an independent merchant republic for 700 years before Napoleon abolished it (1806). They traded with Turkey & India, had reps in Africa and diplomatic relations throughout Europe (including the English court in the middle ages, a letter is on file at the city museum sent by Elizabeth I).

Then the Serbian Orthodox church which dates from 1877 and contains icons dating from the 15th to 19th centuries. We chatted with the Serb from Bosnia in the church (he's from a town with a really old bridge, and when I said I'm from "Minneapolis" he said "where the bridge fell"). He did think Minneapolis was the state though. :) Ralph asked if he'd ever been to the US and he said no, he'd tried a few times but can't get a visa unless he finds himself a woman. Then he asked Patti if she was single and she introduced him to me. Ha. So I've had a proposal of sorts. ;)

From here we went to the synagogue, the oldest Sephardic and 2nd oldest synagogue in Europe. It also holds a museum with Tora (sp?) and other holy relics (from as early as the 16th century). There are the list of holocaust victims from 1945 as well as orders, proclomations, armband identifiers...but also persecutions dating to the 1500's and 1600's. They also have orders proclaiming an end to Jewish persecution dating 1803. Heartbreaking.

On to the Rector's Palace where we saw portraits dating to the middle ages, coins to the 600's etc. Carriages (hand carried, ornate, gorgeous), dungeons, courts, weapons, incredible 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th century artifacts and furnature. They also had teh city gate keys that used to be locked up at night and given to the prince (there are only 2 gates to the city through the walls. Pile Gate dates to 1537 and the inner gate to 1460. As you enter you see a fountain that was completed in 1438 (heavily damaged in an earthquake in 1667). St Savior Church dates to 1520 and is one of the few buildings to survive the quake. At the end of the Placa Stradun is Orlando Column used for edicts & proclaimations to be read in the early days...now starts many of the city tours.

We went to a movie (Michael Clayton) in the Clock Tower (built in 1444) and restored many times. It rings out the hours still.

68% of the city was damaged in the shelling of 91/92. The repairs are mostly complete but a few roffless houses remain in progress of rebuilding. The walls too were damaged but are fully repaired. They're also fortifying for any future earthquakes (a mild one last hit in 1995). Richard the Lionheart gifted teh city after being rescued from a shipwreck on the nearby island of Lokrum.

Lunch was pizza at Mea Culpa where one of the MANY stray animals suckered me into sharing (a grey kitty). It got some ham then several pieces of the softer tomato sauce soaked crust. He even would jump on the table if I wasn't quick enough with the offering. They're tolerated everywhere. Some though break your heart with little matted fur, watery eyes or burrs in their fur. But none look like they're starving!

Off to a visit to War Photo Limited. A gallery of war photos. On exhibit, Lebonan/Israel 2006 (both perspectives). Iraq, Afghanistan and the Serbian/Croatian/Kosovo 90's photos. Less of the gore and more of the emotional impact of war. Croat people from Vukovar being led out of their city with suitcases of belongings, under Bosnian rifles when the city fell. One that really disturbed me was a Serb soldier in a street with a cigarette in one hand, a rifle pointed at 3 women face down on the street with his foot drawn back just about to kick one of them in the head. Awful. Children (African conflict) carrying rifles who couldn't be more than 5. Another thing that impacted me was the first floor shots of the impact of bombing in Lebanon, children dead, a father collapsing after identifying his son...and you go upstairs and see the Israelie perspective, their dead...and a group of children putting messages on the bombs you've just seen the destruction they've caused. It's impossible not to be moved.

Back up the 114 steps to our house, and 14 to my room, for some reflection. Ivona Michl was wonderful to us (owner of House Anica) as was Milly our driver. Dan at the Sesame restaurant..."why" whenever you ordered something when he had a better offer, or if Ralph ordered a Coke Zero to Patti and my wine "no...what else" Cracked me up. A correction from the earlier blog. Java is NOT Evian! It's actually Croatian spring water from St Jana's hills (Prirodna Izvorska Voda).

A great Croatian wine: Mendek Mozalk 2003 Barrique (if I'm reading "Dan's" handwriting correctly). We'll have to get some more. :)

Turned on the TV, 3 channels...last night it was a Croatian "Weakest Link", Married with Children with Croatian subtitles and a British farm show with Croatian subtitles...this morning all Croatian programs (children).

Okay off to the stairs for the last time...phew...my knees would give out in this city! And it's humiliating to realize just how out of shape you are when as you take a break half way up huffing and puffing...and a 70 year old man comes out of his home and teases you...HA.

More from Trogir likely in 2 or 3 days.

one more thing

since I'm just rambling...let me add something totally personal. :) There are many beautiful people here. Tall dark and handsome! They smell wonderful, dress wonderful and are very charming. I may not come home. ;o

One other thing, since I'm rambling...I'm navigating blogspot by memory because as much as I tried to learn essential words...seeing screens entirely in Hrvatski...I know so few words!!!! My screen to post the blog is Objavi Post, to preview is Spremi Sad. I think the local time here is Skica je automatski spremljena u 21:41 (u is "in or the" so I assume that's something telling me the post will show at 21:41).

So for now, Locho Noche (good night)

Day 1 continued & Day 2/3

The plane left Minneapolis late due to turbulance...hmmm. So I arrived in Amsterdam with less than a half hour to run from the end of 1 terminal to the end of another...barely catching my flight to Zagreb. I was completely unable to sleep on the plane...and by the time I arrived late into Zagreb and left late for Dubrovnik (without my checked luggage) I was ready for a nightmare vacation. But it's all good now! The taxi driver the "House Anica" (pronounced AH-ni-tsah) sent had waited since 3pm, it was 6:15pm by the time I'd made my way through the forms to fill out at lost and found for luggage. Patti and Ralph arrived at 6:45 so we waited. Milly (his nickname) got me water, sat me down in his car with the radio playing American music. Super Freak, Love Shack...you get the picture. :) He also chased down water for me (evian here is java...pronounced yah-vah). Once we picked up Ralph & Patti and headed to the house. Ralph asked Milly if he had to serve in the war. "Of course...I don't like to talk about that. Death and destruction, horrible time." We didn't push further. After we settled in the house we went to dinner along the Stradun where we were woo'd by "Antonini" a young man who does the fishing for the restaurant and his father does the cooking "help my father to stay alive". Very good pork chops (I don't do the fish!). There are a lot of stray animals in Dubrovnik. All very well fed by the looks of it. I spilled Ralph's drink when I went to pet one puppy adopted by Antonini. Alas...I finally settled into sleep after 34 hours of being awake.

We went back down the 114 steps to the Stradun this morning and wandered about. The walkway is marble (quite slippery when raining...but luckily for us the forecasting of the weather is as bad here as in Minnesota! It was sunny and 70 with a nice cool breeze an absolutely perfect day!!!). Breakfast at Dobarva (I think). There are few places that serve true American style breakfasts. We then visited a Dominican Monastery. Relics from St Thomas (his forearm according to the description) as well as an 11th century bible and Croatian royalty jewels from the middle ages. Then we walked the city walls of Dubrovnik. Absolutely stunning...and dang exhausting. My legs feel like jelly (and imagine those 114 steps 2 or 3 times a day before we started the many stairs to and around the walls). We'll all sleep quite well this evening!!! But I wouldn't miss it for the world. It truly is some of the most spectacular views I've ever seen. The Adriatic is so crystal clear you see the rocks at the bottom. I've befriended many dogs & cats...

The people here are amazing. If you say something in English they automatically switch to English for you. And as much as I crammed to be able to say Croatian words...I'm lost. They speak so fast I pick up a word here or there. But it's not really needed. Our dinner tonight was at Sesame, a fabulous dining place recommended by the owner of the house we're staying at. Dan, our waiter was a comedian. He grew up near the Serb border and only in the last year moved to Dubrovnik, spoke perfect English. You feel like a schmuck though as they speak at least 2 and likely 3 or 4 languages fluently.

So far so good. I don't think I'll be able to blog from Mljet as the island is pretty closed up for "winter". So I'll check in again in a few days from Trogir.

Hello to all at TPT and all my friends reading this...and sorry to all those looking for project updates...soon!!!

Day One-let's see how often I can blog in Croatia

For fun I'm hijacking the Brighid Films blog for the next couple of weeks in order to update folks from afar...Croatia. I have a few internet cafes highlighted in the travel guide but I can't guarantee I'll have access on any particular day. So if you want to follow along, there might be days between communications. This is the first real vacation in like 7 years...so I might get totally addicted to just relaxing. :)

Plans are Dubrovnik the 23rd, 24th & 25th. Gorgeous little stone house in the old city. Then the island of Mljet for a couple days (forecast is for rain as far as the forecasts go...so I'm not sure how much outdoor things we'll be doing) then the old city of Trogir where this history geek plans on seeing as much as possible of the surrounding area. Then out to the western most island of Vis for relaxing Adriatic views and some wine sampling. Then a night in Split (in a hotel built into the ruins of a Roman Emperor's retirement palace) and a final night back in Dubrovnik.

So I'm off for the very long airplane journey. And hopefully I'll blog from someplace more exotic than my living room tomorrow (or the next day).

In the meantime those checking in for updates on the various projects. I did get a bit of editing done last night on the Mankato footage (Dakota 38) and the Legacy project. I'm bringing research books along to occupy the 15 hours or so on planes or in airports. So I'm not totally checking out for 2 weeks. :)

overbooking oneself!

Projects Update:

Legacy edit: continues.

Colin Devlin edit: continues...hopefully something fun to report in the next couple weeks.

Dakota 38 project: The taping in Mankato was truly inspirational! From the dancing itself to the Memorial tributes around town (including Reconciliation Park which is the original site of the hangings, once marked with a morbid stone "here we hanged 38 Dakota" and now stands a white buffalo statue). We had a bit of trouble with audio on the interviews that I'm hoping can be fixed in post (the magical words). We had the honor of talking to (among many other fabulous people) Vernon Ashley who is a direct descendent of one of the 38 (Cetan Hunka). Vernon and 2 of his brothers served in WWII and Mr. Ashley has donated his history to the University in Mankato. Now we must focus this project back into the grant writing stage. More soon hopefully.

Recent cinema outings: Into the Wild (first time I heard people applaud as the lights dimmed...the movie hadn't even started yet-highly anticipated I'd say!). A unique kind of travel story...people you meet, challenges you face, mistakes you make. It's beautifully shot, directed and acted. And the music by (among others) Eddie Vedder is perfect! It touches the soul!

quick project updates

We are heading out the door to begin production officially on the Dakota 38 Project. Fittingly at the Mankato Pow Wow's education day...will update more when I return.

football season storms in...and project updates

Fall is my favorite time of year. It's time for some football and some deeper character driven cinema!!!!

Legacy Update: I've been editing & compiling historical photos. Gave a first 5 minute & last 5 minute preview to the family over Labor Day weekend. I am hoping to complete at least a web version before a vacation mid October. I need to make another trip to the Minnesota Historical Society first! Albert gave more than the 10 minutes I needed, so it may morph into a half hour documentary as well.

Colin Devlin Update: I am working on color correcting & tweaking the footage while awaiting "real audio". Check out his myspace page, he has released one of his new songs. www.myspace.com/colindevlinmusic

Dakota 38 Update: We will likely be recording our first interviews this September at the Mankato Pow Wow. More to come soon on that.

New project Update: We will be doing a new video collaboration with the fabulous miss JoAnna James (not sure yet how it'll all fit into the schedule but we'll get it worked out and let you know soon!).

On the frivolous side...

Recent Netflix viewings: Heroes, finally catching the craze on this series from last year and quite enjoying it (about 10 episodes in so far). The Lives of Others, fantastic German film (set in East Germany shortly before the wall came down). Venus, I know Peter O'Toole got rave reviews for this, and I really enjoy his work...but the content of the film just wasn't for me.

Recent Cinema outings: Becoming Jane, entertaining. It made me think about that time frame and dig out all my Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Shelley and Lord Byron biographies & books. I'm now pleasantly diving into that time period in my "spare" time. If I can keep the muse flowing, I may finally get to that script on the summer of 1816. We'll see. Back on the cinema front: I'm looking forward to the fall for the Oscar season films!

mid August already???

Summer as usual is a whirlwind! And now it's almost over...

Minnesota was visited by tragedy 2 weeks ago today with the 35W bridge collapse. My thoughts continue to be with the victims, those still missing and all their families as well as the community and rescue workers who rushed to the scene to help. With the storms we've gotten in the last couple of days the river has surged, and yet the divers were back in the water at 2:30 this morning risking their lives to help find those still missing. I have the utmost respect for these folks!

Project Updates:
-Legacy: Nebraska was blistering hot in July! But Albert was cool! We spent some time with him and are now starting to edit the project. We'll also be doing more research to acquire some necessary photos and newspaper articles for the project.
-Dakota 38: We've received some funding and will continue to submit grant proposals where we can. We will also continue doing our research.
-Colin Devlin: We continue to edit, now playing with the new titling tool and filters (ie the new edit tools)...hopefully more soon.

Recent movie theater visits:
-Bourne Ultimatum, entertaining (as is the Jimmy Kimmel spoof with Guillermo!).

Recent netflix viewings:
-Dreamgirls, certainly powerful voices all around...but not being a musical fan it wasn't really for me. I have a hard time with... dramatic moment=break into song. I'm more a purist with music. For cinema it's in the background driving emotion, or you are featuring pure performances. Which actually Dreamgirls does quite well. It's just the dramatic moment=break into song moments pull me out of the story. Nothing personal against Dreamgirls, I feel that way for all musicals (except the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "Once More With Feeling" because Joss Whedon is a genius and solved the "take me out of the story" problem by embedding the reasoning for breaking into song into the plot).
-Bobby, a nice tribute to RFK that isn't really about him but about his impact on people of the time.

Recent purchases:
-Sweet Land (of course)
-Veronica Mars season 1, 2 (and pre-ordered 3). Gotta support the strong female characters. So few on television these days. And hopefully spending money on them shows the CW they goofed in cancelling it or at the very least shows the creators it was appreciated.

Looking forward to purchasing:
-Serenity Special Edition DVD. Again spending money not only for the additional content on the special edition but to show those holding the future of the 'verse in their hands, that it would be worth it to greenlight a second film!

Happy July!

Project Updates:
Less than 2 weeks to the rolling of tape in Nebraska for the legacy project! I've spent more time going through 40's newspapers at the Minnesota Historical Society as well as other research regarding World War II and the Lemke descendants who served. Very much looking forward to putting Uncle Albert on tape! So obviously we're fully focused on this project for the time being. Update to come when we get home from the shoot. Hopefully more very soon on the other active projects.

Reminder:
Sweet Land is on sale (or for rent) today. Independent Director Ali Selim's first feature film. Check it out!

No recent theater visits unfortunately.

Recent Netflix: Freedom Writers (fantastic, I love to see films that empower young people), Dear Frankie (also quite good, and Scottish accents), The Good German (nice attempt from contemporary artists to make a "classic noir" film but it didn't quite work for me...but I can't really put my finger on why).

project updates and spam

Being a Minnesota based company...you may be thinking the Spam I refer to is that delicious spiced ham treat...but no I'm talking the kind all computer users hate. As we launched the blog we were suddenly blocked as potential spam. Apparently adding a link from a website trips a wire for them to put a human eyeball on the situation. Good to know the folks at blog spot are on it. After passing the "not spam" test, we're up and running. Really this time.

Project update: I spent all day Saturday at the Minnesota Historical Society reading through the Aitkin Independent Age, newspaper for Aitkin Minnesota and the surrounding areas. Relatively small town, where 4 brothers of the Lemke family grew up and went away to war from. It was amazing to see how much of the world you could get a sense of just from the reports from families of their sons & daughters overseas. I'm hoping to spend more time there tomorrow if schedules allow. I'm working my way backwards from 1946 and have so far read through 3 months of 1946 and 10 months of 1945. Lots more to see! I will also be planning the trip to Nebraska near the end of July to put Albert on tape regarding his memories.

All other projects have been on hold the past few weeks. More soon.

Recent Theatrical jaunt-Daywatch, sequel to Nightwatch (the highest grossing Russian film to date). Quite good, more money for the production means more special effects but they didn't lose the characters or story in the blowing up of things. Bravo!

Recent Netflix viewings-Band of Brothers: Fantastic, not sure what took me so long to get to it. Breaking and Entering: Quite good. Anthony Minghella film so shot beautifully, multi layered and smart. I love that he trusts an audience to have a brain. Smoking Aces. Clearly I wasn't the demographic they were looking for, alas. Good cast, nice camera work...but not for me.

Welcome to the blog-come on in

Hey folks!

I will be doing my best to update at least once a week.

Projects and other updates:

-Ben's added that wonderful Lukewarm touch to the blog as well as the website. As always a pleasure to work with!

-web traffic...sorry about the glitch early on. We were a bit surprised by the number of you visiting and viewing the clips! We've switched servers so hopefully no more "not availables"!

-We're adding a mini documentary (may only be posted on this website) this summer/fall that is coming out of a lot of research I've done for my Father recently around his ancestry. I'm busy chasing down newspaper articles and reconnecting with distant family to track down photos and memories. My Father and I are travelling to Nebraska in July to put 83 year old Albert on camera. If his character filled letters are any indication, this will not be your average "war stories" project!

-The Dakota project is moving a little slower which is what it needs to do right now. We're still fundraising and researching. It will happen when the time is right. This is going to be a large and complex documentary which I want done right even if it takes 30 years to do that. Okay maybe not 30 years but I am not going to rush it! We're currently spending a lot of time at the historical society...which is a place of wonder to history geeks like me!

-Colin Devlin epk, hoping for an update for you soon.

RANDOM UNRELATED THOUGHTS...this week movies:

-latest movie seen in a theater? "Once" which I quite enjoyed. A simple story that works! I highly recommend it.

-favorite movie from last year coming out in July on dvd..."Sweet Land". Don't just rent it...you should own it...support truely independent cinema and show the studios story does matter!

-current Netflix stack..."Band of Brothers" which I've seen bits and pieces of via HBO and A&E and now just need to sit down and give it my full attention!

Have a great week everyone!
Sherece

Brand new blog

Since it's unlikely we'll be updating full web page stuff very often I thought we could add a blog. I'll update status on some projects...talk general nonsense on a regular basis...and provide the open option of leaving comments for folks. More soon...