We've been to the Coast!

In case anyone is following our zigzag travels across Bosnia i Hercegovina, we spent the day going back into Croatia, so as to go "to the coast" as they say here. That means going to the seashore to Split, Croatia. It's on the Mediterranean Sea (or Adriatic Sea, I'm not exactly sure which one it is for that area. We were held at the border going into Croatia for just a few minutes - I'm sure having Serbian plates and a milk bus of Americans may have given them pause. The ride was spectacular as all our rides have been. It's very different terrain - mountanous still to be sure, but very arid and dry looking. It really had a Mediterranean flair. I wish we could have taken the ferry to Italy - about the same distance to get to Cape May!!! Maybe next year! We toured a palace built 200-300AD by Diocleses. I'll leave the entire history lesson for later; in the meantime you can Google him. I will tell you that he persecuted Christians. Anyway, the palace was humugous!! Okay, now I'm beginning to run out of adjectives for the word "big". This country is really something, but I think I feel most at home here in this little town of Livno. One of the students from here told Mark that his town was so small that you couldn't possibly get in trouble here because everyone knows everyone and there's nothing to do to get in trouble. Just thought the parents might like to know that. The kids have been great. Tomorrow we head to Sarejevo for an International Baccelaureate School. Evidently there will be students who want to sit down and talk with us in small groups. These kids could possibly be children of diplomats. Interesting!! This area of the country has Catholic churches everywhere - on mountain tops, by the side of the road, in the towns. Very interesting how the area defines the type of churches/mosques you seen. Heard the Phillies are in the playoffs. Hope they do well tonight. I also hope that I can continue to get in touch with the internet as easily as I have these past 2 nights. I think I'm actually getting the hang of the keyboard! Stephanie and I hope that we can sit down together tomorrow in Sarajevo. We want to work together on our notes from the Youth Leadership Conferenc in Mostar to post for her teachers. Trust me, we have tried to get together, but with each of us staying in different host families, it's been difficult. But all the castels, fortreses and palaces we've been to - we could write the curriculum for world history concerning the Balkan region!! And as for geography - we've been through, over and around more mountains than I can name, and have seen the largerst man-made lake in Europe! I just love 4H!!!