Leonard Family Around the World Adventure

Sunday February 10 th . Everyone except for Aria was cold, who had the heater blowing directly on her, last night – and I had to move to a cot because the sheets on the main bed did not smell very good. We got up early (6:30) this morning and hopped a bus to Dubrovnik. We grabbed some fruit to eat on the way. Our packing job was a very quick. Our luggage continues to grow somehow and the walk to the bus station was a little difficult. We purchased our tickets and went to load our bags only to find it was 7 kuna per checked bag – oh well – 49 kuna later we are on the bus and still have 2 back packs with us. Fortunately the bus is only about 1/3 rd full and we each get our own pair of seats. On the ride we all rested, read and gawked at the beautiful countryside. It feels totally foreign – not the familiarity of Italy to California at all - but oh, such beautiful natural beauty. The mountainous peaks remind me of the Sierra Nevada's – the large granite features that look so powe

Saturday February 9, 2008. We arrived at 7am – not completely refreshed but much better than if we had been in a second class coach. We quickly found an apartment through the tourist place – a Sobe – 500 Kuna per night (400 if we stay more than 1 night). The proprietor walked to the station to help us find the place. It was small but inexpensive and should be fine – although there is a scent from a stand-up freezer in the room that is not very pleasant. We lie down and sleep until 12. We then struck out by foot. We grabbed a couple sandwiches – most of the museums were clasping but we did see a Gallery of the most famous Croatian artist – I really enjoyed his work. The town is charming – basically built in 200 AD and people are still living in it. We wander around exploring using the foot tour from our Lonely Planet guide book. We also grab a cappuccino on the huge seaside promenade. We look into bus tickets to Dubrovnik – our waitress from last night said it was not to be misse

Friday February 8 th . [Again I went to save this posting and lost a lot of work – so frustrating – it is hard enough to make time to create the entries but being forced to do it twice is disheartening – I fear the second version is never as good as the first.] We get up barely in time for the free breakfast – I am about to pass on it but Pam checks it out and it is a very nice spread – eggs, bacon, sausage, fruits, breads etc. She reports back and we all go down for the meal. We meet a very nice lady – Sash from Bosnia – I think she is about 31. She talks about the wars WWII and in 1992. She talks about the male population being diminished because of the 1992 wars. This area has seen much ethnic cleansing over its history – as early as 1992. Most of the ethnic cleansing has nothing to do with race – simply religion –in some cases just the difference between Orthodox vs. Roman Catholicism. I do not know many of the details – just what the guide book has stated but I am going to ma

We hang out at the train station getting our bearings and then Pam walks to look at a couple hotels. The first one (Hotel Central) changes the price as we are checking in so we got to the second one – The Astoria Best Western. We get a nice room but it seems a little pricey – 1000 Kuna. We are tired and need a place and they let us check in at 5am- we sleep till noon. I was able to get internet access which is good as I had some work to do and a conference call to join later. I am a little stressed over work and out plans for the next week. Pam wants to make it to Dubrovnik but it is a long ways away. I have some work to review, emails to send and a conference call to attend. We also need to get in touch with the house appraiser somehow. I stay in the room and work while Pam goes to try to figure out travel plans. The girls stay with me and work on school work. I am so far behind on my blogs – nearly a full week I try to catch up but the details of each day are lost to me. I need

Wednesday February 6 th . Tonight we are leaving for Zagreb so we pack our bags and leave them in the lobby of the Hotel. The day is absolutely stunning – Bright, Clear and warm – we can only wonder at it the sudden improvement n the weather and I feel sorry for the people we saw packing their bags to the train station yesterday that they should miss seeing the city under these conditions. If it is possible I fall in love with the city even more seeing in the new light. We stroke out and simply start walking – no real destination in mind. We walk to the stadium and parks west of San Marco – we see the naval academy along a beautiful promenade along the ocean. I believe I am joined in sadness at leaving having to leave this city. It has been amazing– but I am a little relieved to think that Croatia will be a little less expensive. I trade in some of my paperbacks at the Hotel and get a Book written by a Professor in Venice. It is a murder mystery that set in Venezia and the surround

Tuesday February 5 th . We had to stay. This is the last day of Carnivale and we actually get the room for a great price.. We slept in – I woke up feeling a little better. We visit to the Basilica, finally. It is a beautiful Church. Actually Venice is just brimming with beautiful churches. We walk to the Rialto and Pam goes to get information at the train station. The girls and I walk around the fish market and visit a few piazza's on the west side of the Rialto. We meet Pam an hour later at the Rialto Bridge and eat lunch on the Grand Canal. It is very interesting seeing people walking the streets young and old, masked and costumed.

Monday February 4 th . I am ill and do not feel good all night and eventually am sick in the morning. I decide to stay in and the girls go to Murono and Burono – I am disappointed I was looking forward to the glass blowing. They seem to have fun – they meet other people from the states and are back in the room by late afternoon. I am still in bed. I basically slept between trips to the bathroom and interruptions from the maids and the telephone repairman. I think I have a bug – we all ate exactly the same thing yesterday. We decided to stay for Fat Tuesday if at all possible. Pam arranged it and got a good deal on the room. The girls also went to the Disco and had desert at the Rialto Bridge. I guess Aria has been the object of many young men's attention – everyone seems to think she is much older and when she is wearing her mask it is even harder to tell. Pam and Aria were approached by a group and they asked how old Aria was – when she replied 14 they turned to Pam and asked

Sunday February 3 rd . Aria purchased a mask today. We hit the 4 museums that surround Piazza San Marco – The museum de correre, the Doge's Palace and the Bibliotheca (1 room), and the Museo Archeological. They were interesting museums – my favorite was the Doges Palace and the bridge of sighs which was used to transfer prisoners to the dungeons. We had another great lunch. We went back to the apartment and Aria and stayed behind to work while Pam and Allysha went Piazza San Paolo and San Roco where the kids activities for Carnivale were going on. Allysha painted and bungee jumped on a trampoline. This evening we had reservations for dinner and a show. "Carnivale" a history of Venice. It was quite expensive but I was very much looking forward to it. The dinner was a buffet which in Italy means you walk around and grab food and eat standing up – it was not very comfortable nor was the food that great. I was far from satiated and was anxious for the show to start. The

Saturday February 2 nd . Woke up this morning and it was raining. We head out and realize for the first time how spoiled we are by travelling offseason – for the first time we encounter lines – just to get into the Academia Museum we had to wait nearly 20 minutes? In the guide book I read that a typical wait is more like 3 hours. The Museum was spectacular - http://www.tickitaly.com/galleries/venice-academy.php We went to the Peggy Guggenheim collection but decided to get lunch first - we were hungry. http://www.guggenheim-venice.it/ (Sadly we never made it back here) Lunch a great lunch but expensive – I am getting used to things and as long as I do not do the Euro conversion to dollars it is almost possible to ignore the high prices. After lunch I read there is going to be a Gondola Parade and we try to find it – we see hundreds of people lined up near the Rialto Bridge but never see anything resembling a parade. On the walk back to the hotel we see many churches and go into as

Friday February 1 st . It is raining this morning – we pack up and get a cab to the stazione. Well worth it. We try to make accommodation reservations but we hope there will be more options when we actually arrive in Venice so we take a chance and decide to wait till we arrive – hope it is not a mistake. We seem to have accumulated much baggage and I am worried about boarding water taxis etc. I get the tickets for Venice – we opt for the train that is 2 hours away as the one that departs in only an hour only has first class tickets remaining first class is 176 vs. 118 for second class. We can wait for an hour to save 100 US dollars. We opt not to use the left baggage as it is 3.8 Euro per bag for the first 5 hours – we drag all of our stuff into a food court – the girls are working on homework and I am blogging. Train trip to Venice was easy – I had a chance to get a lot of work done. After we arrive Pam finds us a room for 3 nights through the information booth at the train statio

Thursday January 31st Up this morning and it is raining – glad we have the umbrellas. We strike out for the train station which is a good hike from our hotel. We catch the train – I even figure out how to use the automated machines. It is 18.6 Euro for all of us one-way - 3 adults and 1 child. A little over an hour later we disembark. A long walk north to the Piazza but we find it without getting lost. At first sight it is more dramatic than I could imagine. The Piazza is huge and there is a lot of grass. The Cathedral with the leaning tower (bell tower) the Baptistery and the cemetery. We first visit the cathedral we think it is free and nobody stops us as we enter. It is very large and beautiful. Many of the paintings are much darker than any we have seen before – a byproduct of not having been restored. After the Cathedral we buy the pass that gets us into all attractions – we also pay extra to climb the leaning tower. We are a little uncertain about this as it is quite expe

Wednesday January, 30 th . Museo de Academia – the home of Michelangelo's David. I spent a very long time just viewing the sculpture – it was quite impressive as you round the corner and see it displayed in a room especially built for it. I can see why it is considered such a masterpiece. Last night I downloaded a free audio-guide about David which we all listen to. Aria sketches the statue. I am stuck by so many details Scale is hard to comprehend – it is nearly 4 meters 4 meters tall. Some pieces of the work are not in scale – the feet the hands, the head – yet somehow it works. I am able to study the details of the sling still not sure if there is a rock in one of his hands. I did not realize the sling spanned from his hand across his shoulder. Certainly understandable why this was immediately heralded as a masterpiece. There are many other religious paintings and a hall full of plaster copies of many statues. I think paintings and sculpture are my 2 favorite forms of

Tuesday January 29 th As far as I can tell this is about the half-way point. For some reason it does not feel like it. It feels like we are much closer to the end of our adventure – perhaps because we only have a couple countries left. I am writing this Friday Morning and we are sitting in the train station waiting for the train to Venice. I am hoping I can remember everything we did over the last few days. We have had internet access at the Hotel Dante so I was able to get caught up on bills and work. It was nice being able to communicate with people and I feel less disassociated with my company and the world in general. We finalized arrangements for our house sitter to move out – that is a relief. So Tuesday – what did we do… let me think. We first hit the Museum de Bargello – it is spectacular - very enjoyable. Then we hit the Ufisizi Gallery. Normally very hard to get into we had no trouble – just walked right in off the street. Each of these places had so many pieces – not h