Day 68 Dubrovnik
Monday February 11th.
Allysha ended up sleeping with me in the single upstairs – it was so cold downstairs. Pam basically froze and when she hoped into the shower this morning the hot water only lasts a few minutes.
We are all in a foul mood and I think a lot of it has to do with us being uncomfortable. At first glance this place seemed adequate but there is some underlying subtleties that make it almost uninhabitable – only 2 towels, no hot water, no heater downstairs, the stairs to the second level are very steep and narrow – beds are the size of sleeping bags, the furniture is particle board – no decorations etc.
We are all crabby and barking and nagging seems the main form of communication – I blame it on the accommodations.
Pam heads to the information booth (she is fed up) and returns shortly telling us to pack up we are changing locations. I think we are all relieved – and pack in record time even in the cramped location. We leave the money and the key on the counter and head to the information booth where are new landlord is to meet us.
Goldi Nodilo – she is a psychiatrist who has visited Palo Alto – tried to get a job at Stanford. She was pregnant during the war – she has 2 sons 16 and 12. She stayed in Dubrovnik for the first month of the war without water or electricity amid the bombings and escaped to Zagreb. Her English is very good. http://www.dubrovnik-residence.com/
She picks us up in a 4 door CW hatchback – it takes 2 trips to get us and our luggage from the west side to the east side. As we enter the apartment complex and climb to the second floor – 3rd in US – the ground floor here is 0 not 1 I am resigned to the fact that it might just be hard to find accommodations. The building is nondescript – the stairway plain – and then she opens up the door on a beautiful modern apartment. The renovations were completed just yesterday. It is just beautiful, and did I mention the Ocean views?
We actually get the apartment and a second room for 100 Euro (773 kuna) per night – we would pay any price. The relief is evident on everyone's faces and the girls both give me hugs.
We unpack and do a few loads of laundry.
We are a short walk from the west gate so we head out. We visit the Museum and a few churches – I like the churches – they are beautiful but not over the top.
We walk around discovering the town –
Over the past few days I have been considering moving our return flight from Paris to NJ in by a week. I am concerned by how expensive I imagine France is going to be and unless we travel around the country a lot I think 2 weeks might be too many for just seeing Paris. Right now I feel more inclined to find a nice location and stay for a while. I also am anxious to get back to the states – actually to return to work and I want to have some quality time on the East Coast - I do not want to feel rushed and capturing a week from France seems like a good idea to me. When I proposed this plan to Pam she thought of moving our flight to Paris back. Although it does not address my second reason it does address the money -it seems like a good compromise and will remove our pending time constraint of being in Milan by Thursday Morning. Aria has expressed a desire to see Milan and with our current plan that is not going to happen.
This morning I was able to snag a Wi-Fi router with my iPhone and send an inquiry to Shonne (our travel agent) about the cost and feasibility of this change. She replied that she would look into it.
When we return to the room I check but there is nothing yet from Shonne. The girls work on homework, I do some work and blog. I help Aria with her Geometry – she is frustrated. It is getting quite late but we decide to use the region 2 DVD player to watch one of the DVD's we got in Italy. When it is over I put a call into Shonne who was actually in the process of sending us the results of her research. To change the ticket would be 450 per person – wow – we only paid about 150 originally. At first I am disappointed and start considering the fact that we will have to leave tomorrow.
I wake Pam and we look to see how much it would cost to take a train which for the family is about $500 dollars. We call back Shonne and bounce this idea off of her – she does not see a problem with it plus it would let us see some more sights in France on the way perhaps Monaco!
We decide to take pursue that plan. We ask Shonne to start looking in to Flights from Dulles to SFO or San Jose on March 10-12th and thank her for her help.
So we have a much more flexible plan in front of us. Our next deadline is not until March 1st when we fly from Paris, France to NJ, USA.
I can sense Pam's relief and I too feel less hurried – still anxious about getting back to work but I will have to deal with it.
As I lay down I express my concerns about being removed from everything happening at the company and my insecurity rises. I will just have to deal with it and any ramifications when I return.
