Vacation from our vacation

The last few days have been very nice and restful. Last year at the end of our trip, we had

three days in Sorrento, and it made a huge difference. This year instead of trying to hit
two different islands, we just came to Korcula and stopped moving for a bit. Although the
weather wasn't magical, it was do-able. Here are some highlights from the island.

1. We had been meaning to go to a performance here called the Moreska dance. Other than
knowing it was very local, we knew it invoved swords and music. We were sad when we found
out that last night's performance was for "invited" people only. We were seriously bummed
out. Then we were souvenir shopping, and one man was closing very early. He explained that
there was going to be a festival that night and the president of Croatia was coming to the
island. Great. We walked around looking for crowds. Finally we saw one around a circular
shapped stage. We stood around just outside the crowd barrier. Guess what it was? Yep,
the dancing. It was really amazing and fun. We are pretty sure we saw who the president
was, but it is very different here. There is none of the formality. We are pretty sure the
president was one of two differnt guys in a tan colored suit. His security was wearing t-
shirts that said "Security" (in croatian, of course.) But no metal detectors, no guns on
the security guard.

2. We ate out twice for dinner. They were even different restaurants. We had excellent
luck here. Fewer Itallian style "fish" joints. It is still heavily influenced by Itally,
but more what we would expect of Itallian food. Last night we shared some pizza and pasta,
and tonight neither one of us had pizza. Can you imagine? The restaurant was very cute.
We were sitting in this really ancient stone room with a bunch a neat artifacts. It was
near where Marco Polo grew up. Anyway, most of the seating was on the street, but when we
arrived that was full. The waitress teased us about our private romantic dinner. It was
pretty ammusing.

3. The town is very cute. If we weren't so conditioned to this middle-aged castle/cities on
the edge of a penninsula I know we would find it amazing and charming. We are enjoying it,
but maybe not quite appreciating it the way we should. One thing I will say about the town
is that it is specatular at this festival thing. Last night was the big festival with the
dancing. Tonight a whole parade made its way through town with a flag waving leader and
someone playing something the bagpipes from an animal stomach and 50 costumed people behind.
We don't understand all of the croatian ways.
4. The pastries here have been exceptionally good, and we seem to be eating more than our
fair share. That usually amounts to somewhere in the vacinity of 3 gelato cones per day + 3
pastries. Is that too much? Oh, don't worry. We also rented a kayak and paddled hard for
two hours. We aren't loosing our edge.

Janna "Scuba Diving"

Tomorrow should be a little more advenutrous. We seem to have our best stories when we
move, and tomorrow, we take a ferry to a bus to a boat to a train. Wish us luck!