rapalje recently

Over the weekend, we took a quick trip to Croatia. We flew into Split, stayed in Trogir, and drove on Saturday to Plitvice Lakes National Park. That place is AMAZING. I will put up pictures tomorrow. We had perfect weather and the pictures turned out great! Split and Trogir were also both super nice, more than we were expecting. And the B&B I picked to stay in in the Old Town of Trogir was awesome! Never have we ever been to a bad spot in Croatia. We both gave it a 10! It made us both really excited to go to Dubrovnik in June for our last hoorah! When we got back last night, we went over to the Scherfs for a little wine. We ordered a bunch to take home with us, but we couldn't remember which 'trocken' wines we wanted. We went with the intention of tasting 2 maybe, adding it to our order, and coming home. Little did we know, they wanted to hang out, drink, talk, drink some more, etc etc. 3 hours later, we had opened 6 bottles.... and added antoher 25 bottles to our already 75 bottle order.. yep, 100 bottles, just from the Scherfs. They are SO nice, SO funny, so talkative, so NOT German. I just love them! We started with Herr Scherf, then Svenja came in, and then Frau Scherf, bringing bread of course. We talked for hours... about everything. Everytime we go over there, we learn more about them and more about wine. The wine they make is so very delicious and so very cheap. It's just unbelievable. To get the same quality in the States, we would pay 10x as much, easily. Not to mention the Scherf wine is not available in the US of A. The night was great and it really made me sad to leave. Not that we've been best friends with them while we have lived here, but everytime we go over there or see them, we always have a great time and great convseration. Not to mention, it's verrrryyyy nice living across the street from a winery that you can walk over to at any point in the day and buy whatever wine you want.. for 3-20euros.

Last week was German Labor Day - Tag der Arbeit. Mirjam, one of my German friends, was off work, so we decided to go for a long bike ride, stopping halfway through at my favorite salad spot. The place was slammed! The bike path itself was crazy busy and the restaurant was SO full! We had to sit with another family (which is a typical German thing if they don't fill up the entire table - something I've gotten used to and actually like!). We parked our bikes at the end of the bike holders, next to HORSES! It was so funny, so German, so I took a picture. Of course you can't see the millions of bikes on the other side, but horses at the bike stand! I just love it!

We also had a few MAJOR MAJOR thunder/rain/hail storms. After, these slugs were everywhere! The dogs did not know what to think of them!

View of my morning 4 mile walk with the pups. I am REALLY going to miss this beautiful place.

Morning coffee stop! This morning, after walking the dogs, I stopped at the bakery down the street, on the main street of Kasel. We were out of coffee so I got some to go. I left the dogs outside and went in to order. They sat there, perfectly behaved, as expected. I got my coffee and went back outside to drink it at one of the outdoor tables to people watch, see everyone walking or driving by. The bakery lady came out and talked to me for a bit, she just loves the dogs. When she went in, our neighbor drove by on his way to see his frau at the hospital, so he stopped and had coffee with me! As we were sitting there, 4 or 5 people passed, all people we know, they all waved and smiled to me and the pups... When we moved here, no one waved, we were the new people in town, plus the Germans just don't wave. And now, they love the pups, and we're considered Kaselites. Again, made me really sad to move. REALLY going to miss this place.