Croatia

In April, I traveled to Croatia with Road Scholar.  When I want to travel abroad, Road Scholar is my first choice. How I first heard about them is kinda funny.  About 10 or 12 years ago, I was having breakfast at my favorite NYC diner, when a group of travelers came in.  They were all excitedly chattering about what had happened the day before.  So I asked, "What's going on?"  They proceeded to tell me about the great tour of NYC they were doing with this wonderful company called Road Scholar.  Now, I'd never thought of going on a tour of NYC, but I made a note of the company name and years later when I decided to go to France in 2016, they were the company I used.  Croatia is my fourth trip with them and all the trips have been very successful.  How's that for a recommendation!

Our first stop was in the capital, Zagreb.  Here are just a couple of photos.

Notice the 4th listing on this directory, The Museum of Broken Relationships!  Yes, that's a thing in Zagreb.  The photo below fits right in.

Zagreb was beautiful but I was hard-pressed to find healthy food.  That quickly changed when we headed for the coast.

The view from my hotel room, Grand Hotel 4 Opatijska Cvijeta.

Even though it was rainy and dreary, it's always good to be near the sea.

I love this dog, "just hanging out".  He paid no attention to the tourist, he was just doing his job!

Some photos from our walks exploring the Istrian Peninsula and the town of Porec.

The next morning we had a wonderful hike in the rain to the Plitvice Lakes National Park.  It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  I'm pretty sure the last photo shows the entrance to a Hobbit house.

Before leaving for our next adventure, I spotted Santa wandering in the hotel lobby. He was cranky and wouldn't pose. I think he was lost.

In Split, there were lots to do.  We visited Diocletian's Palace and in the afternoon had some free time, I used that time to visit Split's Archeological Museum.  When I was in Madrid last year, I thoroughly enjoyed their Museo Arqueológico Nacional (Archaeological Museum), it was fantastic.  Split's version wasn't fantastic, but it was pretty great.  I really enjoyed my visit.  Below are some photos of my day.

This was a 13-day tour and I loved everything about it.  I feel as if this post has photo overload and we're just on day 8!  Here's a few more, and if you've read this far, be sure to put Croatia on you must-travel-to list.  Croatians love Americans, plus their main industry is tourism, so go see them.

Croatian pest control!

The Croatian climate is very similar to mine in Southern California.  Their soil isn't the best, but they work with what they have and they do make great wine!

The last photo shows the wonderful group I traveled with.

Thanks for stopping by and sharing my life with me,

The Army/Navy Game Experience

I think I signed up for this, thinking that Bob would have loved going on it.  He loved football and served in the U.S. Navy.

This is the only trip I've taken without my camera.  The cellphone cameras are so good now, that I wanted to see if I'd be happy with just the phone.

Day 1 was travel and day 2 was a visit to West Point.

The next day we visited NYC and the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, then travel to Philadelphia.

This was all very sad for me.  I go to NYC annually and walked or rode by the hole in the ground many times.  I've avoided going to the Memorial until now.  I'm glad I went.  One thing that made this Memorial/Museum so good was the art.  Here's a couple of examples.

Day 4 was Game Day, and we had a SNOW STORM!  First, we visited Independence National Historical Park before heading to the game at Lincoln Financial Field.  (It ranks very low on my list of good football stadiums.)

But first, we had breakfast with Ben Franklin.  He talked about his many adventures and some of his inventions, including the $7 bill!  Who knew?

The Army March On, above and the Navy March On, below, took place more than two hours before the game.  As you can see it was snowing in earnest and the snow continued throughout the day.

I had on three layers, top, and bottom, plus my down coat and I was still cold.  I spent most of the pre-game and game walking, trying to stay as warm as possible; outside in a snowstorm.  We were at the stadium over 6 hours.  Army won!

Day 5 we visited the Museum of the American Revolution in Philly and had lunch in the famous City Tavern.  Then it was on to Washington DC.

Yes, we still had plenty of snow in the morning.  Below are some photos from the museum.  This is a new museum and I was very impressed.

The 6th day was spent exploring Washington DC.

The Korean War Memorial is my favorite in Washington DC.  It's so dynamic and moving.

The Washington Monument.

The Lincoln Memorial

The Wall, the Viet Nam War Memorial

And Last the World War Two Memorial.  This is one that I didn't know existed and it was wonderful and moving.

Kilroy was here!

After lunch, we moved on to the Arlington National Cemetary.

Since we started with West Point, on Day 7 we end with the Naval Academy.

This was a great trip and I learned a lot.  Learning is always one of my goals when I travel.

Thanks for stopping by and sharing my life with me,