When we were in Beograd, one evening we went to dinner with the other senior couples there, the Andersens and the Blakes. What fun that was! It was a peaceful little restaurant and we were in a corner of the outside seating area. There were shrubberies around us to keep out some of the city noises. We didn't do anything special, play games, or any of that. We simply chatted and got to know each other. It is the first time we've had a chance to get to know these fine people. I've thought about how it was that we enjoyed meeting these total strangers and found so much in common with them. Of course, they made the same decision we did about serving a mission. But that's not all of it. I think it is more that we all miss our families back home, and we understand the sacrifices, as well as the joys of serving here. Of course, we all took turns sharing how we met, where we've lived, a bit about our children and grandchildren - and great-grandchildren in our case. I had thought that one of those brothers was the oldest one of the missionaries, but I am almost a year older than he is. So, I am the most senior of all the senior missionaries in the mission, with all the rights, privileges, and responsibilities of that title. Cool. And what, you may ask, are those rights, privileges, and responsibilities? There are none, except for bragging rights.
So, back to our trip. We audited the branch in Banja Luka, and stayed the night in a hotel not too far away. That one was a very nice bed and breakfast. The owner told us he had the land and decided to build a B&B, but didn't know how. But then he stayed in one down along the Adriatic Coast, and he drew the layout of a room there. The room was spacious, which is unusual here, but more than that, it was laid out so that it was very comfortable. It is the only room we stayed in where there was a couch to sit on. It had a nice balcony with a little cafe table and some chairs. The shower was large enough to turn around in. We will never get back that way, but if we ever do, it will be my first choice.
Friday, July 23. We drove along the northern part of Bosnia towards Plitvice. This area was taken by the Serbs before the Civil War started. A lot of the people there are Serbian so they didn't resist, but Bosnia and Herzogovina was much more accepting of inter-tribal marriage than the Serbs are. So many, many households where the couple consisting of a mix of Serb, Muslim, or Croat had married, These were invaded and one or both parents (and sometimes children too) were marched away to disappear forever. The remains of abandoned homes still linger.
This house has no windows or doors. There is a large shell-hole in the side.
It was difficult trying to take photos of abandoned homes as we were driving along. Suffice it to say that they are very common in that region.
There are also some interesting sights. Muslem churches are also common, with their prayer towers.
Here, a business is operating on the bottom floor, while the top floor is abandoned.
This one is a poor photo, but there is a house at the end of the street where there is a large hole in the wall and the brickwork to restore it was omitted. It looks like they just filled the hole with concrete or plaster. About half the buildings in this photo are abandoned or only partially occupied. It was a sobering drive. We also heard a
Muezzin giving the call to prayer from the tower at the end of this street. He was very relaxed, speaking quite slowly with long pauses.
Finally, we neared Croatia and the overall feeling improved. We began to see more prosperous places.
This is a very large home with colored plaster on the exterior, and a fine view from the upper floors.
Anybody would want to live here.
As we neared Croatia, we climbed into a range of mountains. I took the photo of our navigation, showing switchbacks on the road ahead, and a warning of a slight left turn afterwards. I thought that was funny.
Our goal for this day was to reach Plitvice National Park in Croatia, in time to enter on our designated time, 1:00 pm. We bought the tickets online and you have to select a one hour time frame to enter. You can't go in early, and you have to pay more if you arrive late. It cost about $25 to see the park. And what is worth so much to see?
We entered the park and had to descend into the ravine to walk along the boardwalk that winds back and forth around these lakes - some lakes are small like these, and some are quite large. The common feature is the amazing color and clarity of the water!
We hiked 4.5 Km up the ravine to a large lake - yes, I hobbled along with my cane and managed it. When we were in sight of the boat, there was a little stretch of dirt trail on a steep slope, and there I twisted my good knee. So now they are equal. There we boarded a boat to ride across the lake. From there we took a bus about half way back, and then we had to hike another 1.5 km. My knee still hurts from this hike.
There was a nice breeze, which felt good, but ruffled the water a little.
The color of the water is caused by having so much dissolved limestone in it. The limestone is also what caused the pools and lakes. As it flows over the edge of each fall, it deposits limestone which forms travertine marble. The marble builds up and traps a pool behind it.
It is simply astounding how clear the water is. These are mostly a carp-like fish, but we also saw a lot of trout.
My favorite girl is waiting for me. There were herds of people. No surprise there, but what was a surprise was how many of them were speaking English.
This is a side trail that goes over to a stairway that goes into the cave whose entrance you see just behind Liz. Once inside the cave, the stairway winds around and around and comes out on top of the gorge. I'd love to go in there and see what is to be seen, but that many stairs in a row would cripple me.
These falls are probably about 20 feet tall.
So clear you can't tell how deep it is.
This is looking down from the boardwalk. What looks like a tree trunk is a huge root. It is impossible to tell how deep it is, but the fish are clear when they are anywhere near the surface - their murkiness in this photo means they are quite deep.
This little stream is about to go over the edge of a fall. Clearly the fish gather here because the current gathers their food here.
Here is Liz watching those same fish. They are not very big, but it is hard to say how big they are, because it can't be told how deep they are. I would guess they are about 3-5 feet deep, but what do I know?
The color of the water is just hard to believe.
Here is the boat coming in to drop off a load of passengers. The ticket to the park includes one boat ride, which we were happy to have.
The light color at the edge of the lake indicates shallower water than the dark color further out. But even the white area ahead of us here is deep enough for the boat to go over, because we crossed it.
And that is why people come to Plitvica from all over the World. When we finished the hike we checked into a hotel only a few miles outside the park, found a place to have dinner (which we only ate a bitof) and then collapsed into bed.
Saturday, July 24
We slept in, then started home to Maribor. We drove north to Zagreb, where we stopped to buy a few items at the American store, such as canned soups, Dr. Pepper and A&W, brown sugar, and chocolate chips. These things are not to be found in the Adriatic area.
We drove north towards Varazdin again, but we turned off the main road too soon and crossed the border at a tiny little border station. We did not see another car while we were stopped there, so that was nice. I think they checked our papers more closely than usual because this tiny station probably only sees local traffic normally.
We finally arrived home. we unpacked only the essentials and collapsed in our beds.
On the way home, we got word that the Zagreb Branch presidency would be ready for their audit Sunday evening. I had forgotten that I had agreed to that date some time ago. So Sunday, we went to Celje for Sacrament meeting, as usual, then returned home. We made a hotel reservation in Zagreb so we wouldn't have to come home so late, packed a single little bag with a single change of clothes and drove back into Croatia.
Just as a test, I decided to see if our USA passports have any pull. So when we approached the Croatia check station, I held out our passports so they could see "United States of America" on the front cover. I also had our COVID vaccination cards inside the back covers. To my delight, the guard took tham, looked at the passport covers, pulled a vaccination card up and examined it, then handed everything back to me without ever opening the passports.
The audit went very well. We have a district auditor in Croatia, who normally does all the Croatia audits. But he has been called as branch clerk in Zagreb, so he can't do that one. His documents were flawless, of course, so it went very, very smoothly.
The hitch came when we got word that the Mission President wanted to join the missionaries for their P-Day (personal day) on Monday, and then hold a Zone conference on Tuesday. We didn't care very much about him joining the missionaries for P-Day until we heard (on Monday morning) that he wanted to take them to Lake Bled, and they needed our car to get there. So we had to stay another night in a hotel. We reserved a room in a good hotel in Ljubljana, and I washed some clothes in the sink. Then we got the word that President and Sister were running late and wouldn't be there in time for a trip to Bled that day. Awesome, we could have gone home for a change of clothes, if it had been planned properly. That was the thought I had, but along with not having enough clothes, I had also only brought one round of my medications, and one of those meds helps me remain my normal, happy self. Without it, I got a bit snappy, angry, resentful, and unpleasant. I fought it, and was able to function OK, but I was resenting being put in that situation.
in the end, the missionaries all went for a hike up the Vintgar gorge near Lake Bled, which is said to be beautiful. I had no more hike in me, so I slept in the car while they were gone.
Now we are back home, and I have decided that we are not going on another audit trip next week, but perhaps on the week after.
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