...and then it's over!!!

Yep...I'm back. At least in body, if not in spirit. I just had an amazing holiday, and I can't believe it's over already.

Patient update: Mom went to the hospital before I went on hols and the first doctor she met was Croatian. That was the funniest thing ever! At least this way, he was able to understand all the notes written by the surgeon in Dubrovnik, Croatia. She is now on her second cast, and all stitches are out. In two weeks time, the cast comes off and after that depends on how well the healing is going.

Bank update: After numerous phonecalls and stress, my loan from the bank is finally paid off. Yay. Account closed!

House update: The two girls are now gone for the summer, so it's just me and Ross in the house. It'll be so quiet...and I guess I'll be the only one doing house-work for the summer! And Val got a permanent job, so she won't be moving out! Yay.

And Dee got her contract renewed so she'll be in Dublin another year...yay!!! And this means we can go ahead with our Crete hols too.

And as for my Dubrovnik hols...they were amazing! The old town is gorgeous beyond words. We had 2 apartments - Audrey and Derbhile were in the ground floor, and Helena and I were on the top floor (4th floor). 112 steps to the house on Smokvina, and 30 steps up to our apt. Imagine doing that 4 times a day (up and down x 2). The views from the top apt were out of this world, and with the windows open, we could hear all the budding musicians in the Music School practicing! Surreal. A big THANK YOU to Sergio, who organised our fantastic accommodation, and brought us from and back to the airport.

We did day trips to 3 of the Elaphite Islands( with Harry from the Harbour), Lokrum island (with the gruelling steep trek up to the Napoleanic fortress) and Meðugorje in Bosnia & Herzogovina. There was a very marked difference between Bosnia and Croatia. Poverty is more evident in Bosnia, and there's still a lot of damaged houses and bullet-ridden sign-posts. Croatia is more stable, the tourist industry has revived its economy and the rebuilding is almost complete. Bosnia lags behind, with palpable tensions. Border crossing is strict and all vehicles are checked. No one is allowed through into Bosnia without a passport and a guide (for tourists). Our guide informed us that if the International Forces ever left Bosnia & Herzegovina, the country would collapse into chaos. Fighting would resume between the Croats, Muslims, and Bosnian-Serbs.

I took over 400 digital photos and about 60 APS photos. APS ones were supposed to be a back-up for the digital, but the digital camera really came into its own...the shots came out so well.

Food was gorgeous no matter where we went, and really well priced. Pizza was fantastic and their ice-cream is out of this world. No Pepsi Max, although I did find Pepsi Light. Mainly I stuck with Coco-Cola Light and water(yes...me..drinking water...).

Helena and I adopted a beautiful white cat, with one blue eye and one green eye, who lived near our apt. Clever cat stayed up in its apt on the last day, coz it knew we'd try to kidnap it!!! Audrey and Derbhile adopted a little Tibetan dog that the gallery owner near us owned. She was a sweet little thing (the dog, not the owner) and I think Audrey was planning on taking her home too.

The weather was amazing...it stayed up around 27ºC or so the whole time. Being typical Irish tourists, we went sight-seeing during the hottest times of the day, instead of having a siesta. Well, we had a rest in the mornings, went sight-seeing, then went back for a rest, and then went out for food and drinks. A very relaxing holiday and I managed to avoid getting a suntan the whole time...except for on my neck!

Photos on the way...lots and lots of photos!!! :)