Quist World Tour

It is sort of a helpless feeling to be in the passenger seat, next to someone who has to drive for 7 hours, knowing that no matter how sick and/or tired of driving Brian is, there is nothing I can do about it (I have to forgo all apostrophes because I am using an Italian keyboard and cannot find one on it). So I hand him snacks, and Coca Cola Light, and talk his ear off, and find the podcast that he wants to listen to. The drive of today was long, but not too bad. Trees and hills and lakes marked the stretch through Croatia, some portions reminding us of the Smoky Mountains. Then we got to Slovenia, which really was not too different from Croatia in the few kilometers we saw. Then we got into Italy. The biggest change we could see from the highway is that the gas station bathrooms took a significant turn for the worse. In Croatia, the highway must have been built in the last 10 years--the roads are much nicer than in Michigan, the trucks avoid it because it is a toll road, and ...

I just asked the kids what they remembered from today: Andrew got to charge his Nintendo 3DS, Natalie got adventurous and tried a sandwich she didn't think she would like--and she was right, she didn't like it--and Allison liked walking up another bell tower. I really expected Allison's highlight to be petting two cats this morning. This town is kitty heaven; cats roam everywhere, and Allison spots each one. Today we drove to Klis, a nearby town that has a medieval fortress. When we got there, we hiked up the steps to the entrance, where we found it is closed on Mondays. Fortunately for us, a tour group had scheduled a private visit, and the guy at the door let us come in anyway, with a stern warning that we had 45 minutes. Still had to pay, though.  Medeival Low-Flow Toilets  The Venetians reconstructed and added to it, as well as the Austrians. If it weren't for all the reconstruction going on in the fortress, this is the place that children could run around ...

Sleeping in is the greatest. Yes, it has a different meaning when there are 3 kids sleeping in one room, but 8:45 is very nice. We took it easy—a strong wind outside, breakfast, homework, and laundry inside. Eventually we ate some lunch too and ventured out into gale-force winds to explore Split . Last night I mentioned that from what I could tell in the dark, Split wasn’t so appealing. I take it all back. Before making the leap to the city center, we drove down to the beach, which is pebbles instead of sand. All three kids took off their socks and shoes and rolled up their jeans to wade in the blue-green water. The beach yielded an interesting mix of found items--a dried-up starfish, the front half of a plastic rhinocerous, and the plastic part of a hyperdermic needle (where was the metal part? where??) In spite of this array of debris (and it wasn't all like that!), it truly is a beautiful sight looking out over the water to the clay-tiled roofs on the island opposite us. The...

Snow yesterday, sunshine streaming in this morning. After a perfect breakfast--eggs, the European assortment of rolls, ham and cheese, granola, yogurt, mmm mmm, we waddled our way out to the car for the quick drive to Plitvice Lakes National Park. I have to tell you, this is something I've been looking forward to since the day I saw pictures on the park website, and the snow yesterday had me wondering if this was going to be a complete dud stop on our trip. No dud here. This park is gorgeous, and it's perfect for a family who has had a lot of city for a while. Sixteen lakes make their way from a high level of water to a low level of water, cascading and falling through forest and moss covered rocks. So lovely. We spent about 6 hours wandering around lake after lake, following paths constructed of thin wood planks. It felt like a fairyland, or maybe something out of Lord of the Rings . Add to that a boat ride across one of the lakes, numerous opportunities to stop for coffee or...

Early mornings have never been my thing. But this morning we managed to get everyone up at 6 am to get on the road by 7:30-ish. We were headed to Croatia, to visit Plitvice Lakes National Park. If we got there early enough, we could still spend the afternoon at the park as well as part of the next day. So off we went. None too happy, for the most part, but packed and in the car. We drove out of Hungary and into Croatia. We hit our first border crossing of the trip, which required stopping at 3 different booths and having our passports stamped a couple of times--once to say we were leaving the European Union, and once to say that we were entering Croatia. Okay. No hassle, and we were on our way, though the double stamping is symbolic of some of the bureaucratic nature that we have seen. In Hungary, when we checked into the apartment, we had to pay three fees--the rent, a deposit for the key to the garage, and the cost of parking for 3 nights. I had about the right amount total for a...