June 18 - July 20

Late June meant that things were coming to a close. Max and Katrina’s schools, and Rod and Charyssa’s jobs, all ended on June 30. We said goodbye to many of our friends and had end-of year picnics. The next day, July 1, we set off on our last European trip.
We first rode the train to Vienna, where we saw the Schonbrunn palace.
Next, we took the train to Slovenia (in the former Yugoslavia), rented a car, and drove to a farm in the Julian Alps to spend three nights. The kids loved jumping on hay bales and we had tasty Slovenian farm cuisine including fantastic homemade sausage.
We also drove around in the Alps a bit. Gorgeous scenery, and some history from the First World War. Hemingway was an ambulance driver in this area, which was known as the Soca (or Isonzo) Front, and where the Italians fought against the Austro-Hungarians.
After driving in the Alps (and swimming, too – there were cattle grazing by the stream where we swam) we took a car train through mountain tunnels back to the farm where we stayed.
We then took a train down to Rijeka in Croatia, where we boarded the Marko Polo, a big car ferry that goes up and down the Croatian coast twice a week. We had a tiny cabin with four bunks as it was a 20 hour journey. The coastline and islands are beautiful and the kids made some friends on the boat.
We arrived in Dubrovnik and caught a small ferry over to the island of Lopud where we stayed for a week. It was small and paradisiacal. There were no cars but several restaurants. We stayed in what the Croatians call “Sobe”, which were rooms let by private owners. The kids had a great time on the beach. We watched two World Cup games by the seaside with passionate European fans and had some great seafood.
We finished up with two days in Dubrovnik, which deserves its nickname of “The Pearl of the Adriatic”. Finally, we went to Bosnia and Herzegovina for a day trip. We had a tour to the city of Mostar which is not too far from Dubrovnik. It was very interesting; such a mix of cultures. Here is the famous old bridge of Mostar.

You could see damaged buildings from the war in the early 1990s, although it is safe now.
We flew back on July 16, then packed furiously and had farewell meals with good friends. On July 20 we boarded the first of three planes which took us back to Minnesota. Here we are back on our deck at our house, having grilled hamburgers for the first time in a year.