Amsterdam

This week I was on business trip in Amsterdam. I arrived Thursday in early afternoon and managed to take just one picture before it was raining too heavy to take pictures. Nevertheless, it was wonderful! This was my first time flying and I absolutely loved the experience and it got even better from there; I stayed in fabulous Renaissance hotel and ate magnificent food and I was surrounded by nicest people imaginable.

To Love Life

Few minutes ago I took this photo while waiting for my colleague so we could leave for Varazdin business trip. It is so beautiful and fulfilling to sit in the sun, enjoy the world, to work and get things done every day. I love it. To take the bitter (and there is so much bitter every day, so it seems) with the sweet and to sometimes let dolts be dolts.

Jambrisak spring

There is something utterly enchanting in the notion that there is fresh, lovely, consumable water coming out of the ground, incessantly, liter after liter. The spring on the photo is Jambrisakovo vrelo on Ponikve meadow. It is really quick pleasurable walk from the road and water is very cool.

Trip to Varazdin and some Young Gods

I'm spending this day in Varazdin, beautiful baroque city in northern Croatia. There is some work to be done and a lot of familiarizing with new people and environment. I'm mostly collecting tasks for the weekend this week so I can think about what I'm doing not just trot along as ordered. Tonight I'm gonna go and watch Young Gods perform at Kset and I'm looking forward to that.

'Rhythm is my Life'

Here we are, on the road to Osijek again. I watched 'Love Actually' last night and it is a bittersweet pleasure bordering on pain. I fear there will be no more times when hunt is on... and am also relieved. Jury's still out.

Petrovaradin Fortress Clock

I visited Novi Sad this week. It was my second time I went there and I absolutely love that city. People are very friendly, architecture lovely and food just as I like it. We had lot of work to do and have hardly had time to lift our eyes from presentations and papers but we also had dinner in '8 tamburasa' restaurant in Petrovaradin Fortress. Evening was warm, Dunav beautiful, mismatched clock ticking to my highly pleased soul.

Rijeka Harbor At Sunset

We were already driving uphill towards highway to Zagreb when I remembered that I didn't snap any photos today and went to rectify that. It was a very busy day and I was pleased to see so meny things done. All the way back to Zagreb I thought about Porcupine Tree Heartattack in a Layby. It is such a beautiful song, and there is so much said in so few words. Surely it is a great blessing not knowing everything the future will bring. Life seems more personalized that way.

Bark Dlue

I traveled to Rijeka and back today through snow-covered Delnice. I was a bit shocked by the amount of snow there but also dazzled by its beauty. I had to get up really early and when I woke up I remembered I had a great dream just before I woke up, but I couldn't remember what it was about. After a while, when we arrived to Rijeka, it all came back; in this dream my friend and I came to Rijeka and met with some people which we did not know. We introduced ourselves and chatted a bit and then the people we met told us they would accompany us to where we were supposed to go. We started walking through some derelict buildings and passageways and eventually we got to a kind of half-open space with couple of iron gates in various directions. In a few moments it became obvious that it is some kind of zoo, with animals behind every gate. I stayed close to my "guide" but some of the other people were entering the habitats and petting the animals. As all of the animals were big and fierce - lions and tigers and other kinds of wild animals - I was very surprised and confused why is everyone so brave and eager to go into pens and touch the animals. My guide, who was a handsome guy I was sure I never met before, was trying to encourage me to go in and play with the animals so I got into one pen and after a quick moment one dark blue velvet lion with beautiful dark blue sparkly mane came running to cuddle with me. He was warm and soft and dark blue and cuddly and very beautiful and I hugged him and ran fingers through his mane still wondering how come everyone is so brave to be playing with wild animals and then I realised all of the animals had shoes on. They were all just dressed up people. I woke up wondering how true could this be - are we really so consumed in our interpretations and expectations so not to see something so revealing as pretense? I liked the dream very much and I can still remember the softness and sparkling beauty of my lion's dark blue mane.

Road Trip to Dobova

I generaly leave the impression of confident high achiever but the truth is that I do not really like having to do everything myself. I would, now and then, appreciate having some help in daily and not so daily issues - just like having tires changed. Today I went to Slovenia to treat my loving vehicle with some new winter tires. I tried to dissolve my stress of having to plan and execute everything myself with some humor and citrus fruit but I proved to be notoriously hard to fool. Nevertheless, good people of Furlan auto service were extremely nice and it was a real pleasure to deal with them and at the same time save a pretty penny shopping there. Also I had a good time going through customs, which is always a good thing. I even got a new stamp in my passport.

Perfect Postcard

We had beautiful last day on Kaprije, a bit fresher after the rain with clear air and high visibility. We climbed to the Kaprije summit and enjoyed the sight of Zirje and Kornati and smaller isles nearby.

Stoping to smell the succulents

We're still on Kaprije swimming and sunbathing and eating well. I'm not usually big on vacations and I usually cannot stand not working on something palpable. This time I have managed to have my cake and eat it too; I rest and relax and have fun and also have fun coordinating some work-related issues from here. I love the feeling that this year I won't find myself buried under a mountain of backlog when I return to work.

Kaprije

It is my first visit to Kaprije, island in Sibenik sea territory. It is about an hour long trip by fast boat from Sibenik and the island itself is quite quaint and lovely. What I love the most is that I have great conversation partner, vigil and interested in keeping coversations fact-packed and focused and in the same time ladden with impressions and emotion circumstance interpretations.

Afternoon in Sibenik

So, we're off to our vacation, my offspringess and I, and today we're exploring Sibenik. We started off way too early and have arrived hours before our ferry so we decided to spend our afternoon wandering trough Sibenik Sunday streets. Crickets are chirping in the high sun and air is saturated with smell of the sea and pine resin. I wonder how I ever lived so strung out and flooded with emotions of every experience so I could not form memories. Being calmer surely offers great value for how I spend my time.

Irreplaceable Rijeka

After we finished work today we went for a short swim to Pecine. I used to live in Rijeka and my heart still breaks every time I leave for Zagreb. I miss everything about her; sight of the sea through the window, rustling of bay leaves in the evening breeze, crackling sound in my ears on a low air pressure day, even the smell of oil refinery on a hot summer afternoon. Swimming through wonderfully refreshing sea I did not think about anything, just enjoyed the moment. I almost cannot remember when I last did that.

Morning by Drava

I've been staying in Osijek for two days on business and it is truly wonderful. There is lot of work but Osijek is beautiful and quaint and people are so friendly and approachable that I'm stunned speechless. Yesterday evening we went to dinner to Zelena Zaba (Green Frog) restaurant and had fish perkelt with home made pasta and it was finger-licking good. We slept in Zoo hotel, with Drava silently flowing by our window. I feel so rested and at ease, all my somber mood from few days ago flowed away with this beautiful river.

Insect Beauty

This stunningly beautiful guy attracted my attention during Friday trip to Rijeka. He was about 2 inches long and grooming about 3,5 inch antennae on gas station near Karlovac. He patiently allowed me to take bunch of his photos and to be bewildered with clever and functional design of his body. I searched for extra information when I got home and it seems to me that he could be Neocerambyx Raddei of the longhorn beetles.

Last impressions

It is our last day on Murter. We made our rounds to all nooks and crannies found. We waved our goodbyes to sea urchins and fig trees and in the morning we leave for Zagreb.

Biograd ferry port

Very barren. Waiting for my offspring to come over from Tkon I was thinking how this place was like a empty canvas, yet it is very appropriate for it to be empty. Marina on one side, tour boats on the other. Middle ground as a place to rest eyes on the barrenness.

Rastoke

Slunjcica waterfalls in Rastoke.