Sunday morning

We are having our last breakfast on the boat.  We need to be out of here by 9 a.m.  It was so still and calm last night that it felt odd that the bed didn’t move at all.

Living on a boat is a mixed bag.  Much to love and some real frustrations.  I am always impressed with how efficient boats are.  Everything is designed for efficiency and compactness.  And it is nice being in such close quarters with Bill.  It is easy at home to get busy with separate things and not see each other so much. Moving around in close quarters can be like a dance - you need to anticipate what each other is going to do. But it will be good to sleep in a real bed and have real showers every day!

The church bells rang a little while ago.  I haven’t been able to figure them out.   They don’t ring out the hours.  They don’t ring every hour.  But they also don’t ring the same every time.  Could it be they are ringing out ship watches ?? Doesn’t seem likely.  Or perhaps the Moslem call to prayer ?  Also doesn’t seem likely since I am pretty sure that some of the churches that ring those bells have crosses on them.  Perhaps it’s just as long as the person pulling the bell is willing to do so?  But surely they are automated by now. Another Croatian mystery.

I definitely need to read up a little more on Croatian history when I get home.  It’s embarrassing how little I know about history in this part of the world.

Our fellow travelers come from a wide variety of places.  I hear German, Italian and a lot of what I think is a Slavic language.  It could all be Croatian but it could also be different for places like Slovenia – do they speak the same language ?  Many people from Great Britain.  Many people assume we are English when they hear us speak.  Few people from the U.S.  The most Americans we saw was at Mljet.  Even though it wasn’t crowded there, we saw a lot of Americans.  I think many of them had come over on one of the ferries.  I wonder why more Americans don’t sail here?  Or perhaps it is just too early in the season.

We did notice a lot of groups of men on sailboats.  I find it a little odd to think of taking a vacation like that with a bunch of friends instead of my family.  But Bill says it may be like going on a fishing trip which groups of men do, too.

This leg of our journey has been the longest and it has been really relaxing.  Now we move into more traditional tourist mode as we go to Venice tonight.