Island of Hvar and the Netherlands

Pictures: Top is the view from my balcony on the island of Hvar. Other picts are a view down onto the island from a 16th century fortress on the island.

Im writing this from the luxury of Larissa and John's apartment in the hague - arrived this afternoon, went for a 10 mile run (again, sloooow and painful but i did it and that in itself is an accomplishment these days!) then lazed around listening to jazz drift up into the apartment from a festival on the canal below until dinner of chicken curry and dessert of ben and jerrys then catching up and now bed....this is the life!!

In contrast to yesterday - 2 hour ferry ride from Hvar back to Split then 4 hour drive back to Zagreb. I had booked my mom and I into a "luxury" hotel near the airport for our last night anticipating a night of pampering, pedicures and pinot noir....after a two hour detour (some would call it getting lost) in finding the hotel we arrived in the pouring rain, dragged all of our luggage up several flights of stairs to get to the unmanned front desk which was in the empty lobby - everything was covered in a fine layer of sawdust and the decor was exposed studs and looses wiring - i guess they forgot in the ad to say that at some point in the future they would be a luxury hotel when they actually finished construction! Finally found a bellboy and checked into our fanless stuffy room - good thing was i think we were the only guests in the hotel so no noisy neighbors :) Got to the airport this morning with no hurrah only to find out mom had read her flighttime wrong and missed her flight - i had to leave the poor mommers there (although she has since made it to paris) and get on my flight - got to amsterdam and on the train to larissa's place but missed my stop so had to turn around - but now i have arrived and am loving life!! Good friends, good food, beautiful city...ahhh, vacation :) In just a few short days I'll be back on my base (well, through London, Amman and Baghdad first)...my how time flies.