Burning Desire For FIRE

Tonight is an introvert’s evening. I had dinner on my own and I’m going to bed with a book.

But look- when we arrived at the Sheraton in Quito, I was given a suite!
I feel so fancy.

Here’s a quick tip for travellers so you can avoid the hassle Tom34 and I have had over the last 2 days.

Just before I left, I had to change my credit card as mine got hacked. This wasn’t a travel card; it was the one I basically live my life through.

I forgot to let my internet provider know. My beloved dog sitters require internet. Obviously.

I received an email notifying me that the direct debit had bounced, and if I didn’t pay, then my internet would be cut off at the end of June. Hell’s bells! I’m not back until mid July.

No matter how Tom34 and I tried to pay, they insisted on sending a text to my phone for verification.

My phone that is overseas, on an eSIM and can’t receive texts.
It was starting to be a drama, until I messaged the company on Facebook. The answer was : pay by BPay.

Tom34 was able to take care of it in seconds.

Hopefully, this will save someone from stressing. Good old BPay.

Quito tomorrow!

Dad joke of the day:

We had a free morning, so after breakfast I walked down to the waterfront to watch sea lions. I’m in this photo, can you see me?

I really hope you can hear the slurping sounds of the baby suckling.

It looks like Mum is getting a bit sick of him … he’s pretty big. Liam was telling us later that they feed their babies until they’re 2 years old. They won’t look after any other baby. If a mother is killed when she’s at sea, her baby will die on land.

He’s had a hard Saturday night on the turps. Here he is, sleeping it off in the gutter.

This beach is on the main drag. There’s only a low chain link fence between us and them. This is only a small section of the beach and the sea lions.

It’s incredible. There are more sea lions than people here on this island.

I can’t believe I was standing right over these two. Look at how she’s cuddling her baby.

It’s plain to see why I like the sea lions so much. They remind me of Hazel and Scout. He’s wearing an Ecuadorean shirt, because later today, Ecuador is playing in the World Cup.

We were waiting on the dock for our boat to take us to Isla Lobos. The brown seal at the top of the stairs is totally dry. The other, darker ones, are still wet.

Sound definitely ON for this one!

Sound on for this one, too.

We had lunch on the boat as it took us to the island.

Our first activity was a hike. It was very short, but challenging in that the whole ‘ trail’ was made of black rocks. Definitely not for people with limited mobility, so a few people stayed on the boat.

While we were off, the boat people were taken for a ride in the zodiac. Liz from NZ took this shot of a Blue-Footed Booby in flight.

This is the beginning of the trail. Sea lions were nonchalantly lolling in our way. See how close he was to me?

Almost immediately, Liam was pointing out this frigate bird.

It takes 2 to 3 hours for the male frigate bird to inflate that red balloon under its beak. Once they mate it deflates.

Further along, we saw a nest with a frigate chick!

Later, when we were snorkelling, the air above us was filled with Frigates. It felt a little like something from Jurassic Park.

Then came the Boobies.

A Booby with an egg.

A Booby with a chick.

Parents with a chick.

Then we came up to a couple on the trail. The dad was being super protective…

… because their egg had only just hatched. We were able to walk around him, but the little bugger tried to peck me.

It’s a problem here that the Boobies nest on the ground. Rats ( introduced by settlers and pirates) are able to swim across from the neighbouring islands and the babies are easy pickings. Rangers patrol this island all the time.

Definitely an older baby!

How crazy that we are able to get so close to these animals and birds. The Galápagos is truly magical.

Just before we got back on the boat, we hung around with this family. The male was HUGE! There are a couple of females sleeping under that bush, too.
Liam was saying that at this time of the year, the groups coexist well together. But when it’s mating season, each group picks a corner of the beach and sticks to it!

Interestingly, young males who don’t want to be kicked out of the colony – because life is precarious when you’re not part of a group – never develop mature male characteristics. They stay immature, and therefore not a threat to the dominant male. He leaves them alone.

I have no photos for the next part, which on one hand is a shame because I can’t share this with you. But on the other hand, it allowed me to live in the moment.

The next couple of hours were some of the best travel hours I’ve so far spent.

I swam with sea lions and sea turtles.

What a wonderful sentence to be able to type.

“Will we see sea lions?” we asked.
He answered matter-of-factory, “Oh yes, you will.”

For the first ten minutes, there was nothing. We were bobbing around, seeing some fish. I was starting to get despondent, when to my left I saw a sleek brown shape flash past us. The sea lions were here!

They stayed with us for half an hour. There were adults and babies, all so quick and graceful. One came swimming right up to my face, checking me out. Happiness and utter gratitude for this whole experience welled up inside me. How lucky I am!

The sea lions were playing with us, zipping and twirling, always staying just out of reach. It was so joyous.
When we were told to head back to the boat, we all obeyed, though no one wanted to.

We went to a small inlet where there was a beach. We could go swimming or – gasp! – snorkelling.
I was surprised that only 4 of us grabbed our masks and flippers again. Lyn, Brad and I jumped in, while everyone else headed for the beach.

Proof! Lyn has an underwater camera and caught me, a graceful mermaid, with my blue flippers.

She’s just posted these onto the WhatsApp group. See how wonderful it was?

I first saw this sea turtle and I followed him for ages, coming up twice to breathe when he did, seeing his little head poke out from the waves. I kept looking for Lyn to signal to her, or indeed to anyone, that I had something interesting.
Finally she was looking the right way and saw.

I felt as proud as when I saw the grizzly bear in Canada!

And finally, a shot that Bruce caught in the morning.

WHAT a wonderful day.

Dad joke of the day:

There’s going to be a protest against fairy bread today.

Police are expecting hundreds and thousands.

If I was Charles Darwin, I’d want to kill myself after seeing this statue. We saw this on our walk to the Charles Darwin Research Centre this morning.

They’re big on all things Galapagos, but tortoises seem to be the main game.

The Charles Darwin Research Centre opened in 1959 to protect the environment from black rats, pigs, dogs, etc.

These were the first baby tortoises we saw. These ones are between 5 – 7 years old. The carapaces are still very soft. When they are 6 – 10 years old, they’re released into the wild when their carapaces are strong enough to protect them from predators.

There are over 9,000 individuals here at the Centre. The tortoises are counted every day. People try to steal them to sell them. Can you believe it?

When the tortoises bury their eggs, the temperature of the sand determines their sex. A higher temperature of 29.5C  produces females. 28C makes males.

At the moment, the Galapagos is going through El Ninã, so more females are being born in the wild. The Centre are able to manipulate how many eggs are female and male.

These two look as if they’re posing for me. Saddleback tortoises from the highlands, with long necks to reach cactus flowers.

Females reach sexual maturity at 16; males at 20. 

These babies are from Florian’s Island and were born in 2024.

Less than 10% of baby tortoises in the wild live to see their first birthday. Here? 80 – 90%.

These ones are from the same island, but were born this year. They are careful to avoid mixing the different species together.

We had to stay in a Climatisation room for 2 minutes before entering the room to see Lonesome George.

They thought tortoises were extinct on Pinta island. In 1972 rangers hunting goats found him trying to hide in the vegetation.

They tried to find him another female. They introduced many different females of different species, but he wasn’t interested. It’s believed he was 120 years old when he died in 2012.

Once George was taxidermied, it was found that his sperm duct was blocked. A simple operation could have corrected this.

Oops.

Another famous giant tortoise who lived to tell a happier tale was Diego.

A tiny population of Española tortoises was found in the 1970’s. 12 females and 3 very old males. A search across the world began, to try and find a viable male.

Diego was taken from the Galápagos in the early 20th century and lived in the San Diego zoo for over three decades. He was moved to Santa Cruz island in 1977 to join a highly successful breeding program. He fathered roughly 900 offspring, essentially saving his species. 

He officially retired and was returned to the wild on his native island in 2020. 

After the Charles Darwin Centre, we had a couple of hours to kill before we got picked up for a boat ride to our next island.

These woven tapestries were for sale in a very expensive gift shop just down the street. Nice colours, though I wasn’t going to shell out nearly 2K for one.

This mosaic garden was also just down the street. I was there with Lyn and Jason, a great couple from Darwin. We were taking photos, and then I heard a weird noise, almost like pigs. The dividing fence from the house next door was a chain link one. I peered through to see the pigs.

Nope! There were 2 sea lions on the back verandah, just hanging around.

In the afternoon we had a 2 hour “ferry” ride to San Christine Island. I put ferry in inverted commas because it was a small boat that only fit 40 people.

Speaking of sea lions, we decided to go and find some shade on the waterfront, where there’d be a breeze. These guys had beaten us to it.

Toofs sticking out.

This one is out to it.

This is a frigate bird, the ones who look like pterodactyls when they’re up in the air. This photo didn’t need me to zoom in. He was actually cool with letting me step up right beside him.

The red balloon on his neck means that he’s a bachelor. Still out there looking for love…

We had a few people in the group who are prone to get travel sickness, but no one succumbed.

Me? Travelling in Antarctica and Greenland means that any bumpy seas or air turbulence puts me to sleep. I find it comforting, as if I’m back in the womb. I had a very restful crossing.

When we arrived on the new island, we were greeted by happy sea lions.

On the drive through town on the way to our hotel. Liam was pointing out places to go for dinner, when , almost as an aside, he said, “If you go down this road beside the naval station and turn to a right, you may see some Boobies.

Well!! That was enough for me. I threw my bags in my room, grabbed my phone and water bottle and headed out. Liz, Lyn and Jason came with me.

We wandered down as it was getting dark and Oh My God:

There was only one. But this one bird was literally 6 inches away from me. I never thought I would ever be this close to a Blue-Footed Booby. Yet here we were.

Here’s a still image. I walked off to dinner feeling so damned happy. After yesterday’s debacle with my camera, I can now show you all the bird I was most keen to see here.

I suppose that tomorrow we’ll see a thousand of them. But I don’t care. This one is MY Booby.

Dad joke of the day:

This is where we’re staying for 2 nights. Blogless Sandy will find this amusing, because she knows how lazy I am. There are no lifts. I’m on the top floor…

We hopped in the bus early in the morning on our way to the pier. We drove through such clean streets. The main boulevard is called Charles Darwin Boulevard which I think is really cool.

Ecuador is the only country in the world that gives animals and even the water right so basically all the animals here are protected. Liam was saying it’s like a paradise in this island. There are no homeless and everything’s clean. Weather is really good. It’s lovely.

These are Red Sally crabs.

Me being a tourist.

Sea lions exercising their legal rights.

Awwwwww.

From what I learned in the Antarctic, they’re not just having a nap. They’re digesting their food.

Frigate. They have 2 species here but it’s hard to tell the difference.

When they’re in the air, they look like pterodactyls.

Argh! So annoying.

This is a Blue Footed Boobie, chilling. In my book, it doesn’t count unless you can actually see their blue feet. Three minutes before this shot, I SAW A BLUE FOOTED BOOBIE STANDING UP. I saw the blue feet.

I frantically started prodding my phone to get a shot. Instead, I cleverly switched the lens so I was taking selfies.
omg.
By the time I realised, the boat had sailed past where it was.

I’d better get another chance at seeing a Blue-Footed Boobie, or I’ll be LIVID. What a stupid thing to do.

We landed on another part of the island for a short nature hike.

I never thought of cacti being a Galapagos thing, but here we are.

They’re all over the place. This one is a candelabra.

The cacti grow taller on the islands that have giant tortoises. The tortoises love eating the flowers, so over millennia, the cacti have adapted by growing taller.

Prickly pear… the inside is like honeycomb with water. It’s very popular with tortoises and rats.

Yes, the islands have black rats, thought to be introduced by the pirates back in the day. They’re a huge problem here.

The Galapagos animals evolved without any major predators. Now that they’re here, the indigenous species have no defences.

Cactus with a huge bite taken from it.

Our end point – the beach. Take notice of the colour of the rocks. The marine iguanas blend in beautifully.

A congregation of iguanas. They stood so still and we were very close to them.

The marine iguanas were all over the place. So captivating.

Look at the spines of the one on the right. He’s the Dad.

Blue Heron. There’s a reason the baby marine iguanas were scuttling from hiding place to hiding place. They’re a blue heron was hungry.

I took a stupidly high number of photos of marine iguanas. In my defence, it was impossible not to.

Liam has the map of the Galápagos Islands tattooed on his arm. He uses it as a reference whenever someone has a geographical question.

Red Lava Lizard. Much smaller than than the marine iguanas.

We went snorkelling after that. No pictures, because there’s no way I’m risking my phone by putting it underwater. But unlike Borneo, there was actually fish everywhere!

I was the last one back in the boat. I wasn’t keeping everyone waiting… I was right behind the second last guy, but for someone who doesn’t swim, it shows how engaging it was.

Then we moved to another island, where we went for another hike, and ended up at this flooded ravine.

We swam here for around half an hour. I wasn’t expecting to swim again, so I didn’t have a towel with me, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me!

The sea water when we were snorkelling was 25C.
This water was cooler, but it was so damned refreshing. It must have been very salty, as Lynn (I think) said that it was impossible to duck dive to the bottom.

It was beautiful. Liam jumped from the cliff, just as he did as a kid. He suddenly appeared with a huge splash behind me. I wish I had been facing the other way to have seen him suddenly appear.

When we got back into town, here’s what we found.

Look at me. Have I peed myself? Or do I just have my bathers on under my clothes?

After lunch, most of us jumped onto a mini bus to go to the beach. To be honest, I almost went back to the hotel. My back was really sunburned from the snorkelling and Liam said that there was no shade on the beach.

I was torn. But I followed my rule of always stick close to the guide, and I’m so glad I did.

Where else in the world are you going to have a giant tortoise block your way?

He’s big.

A bit further down the road, we found this bad boy. We were rushing to take photos, when Liam said, “Take your time. The tortoise won’t move!”
He’s young… more than 50.

The tortoise, not Liam.

As they get older, the carapace gets smoother. You can see that this one has lots of texture.

We’re walking through the poison apple forest on the way to the beach, like something out of a Grimm’s fairytale.

Galápagos Mockingbird.

Also known as Darwin‘s muse. This was this bird that made him start to think about the differences in animals and birds from different places.

The Pacific Ocean.
Liam mentioned that there was a brackish water place 2 minutes walk away, and there might be flamingos there. He didn’t seem to have much faith, saying, “Let me know if you see any.”

A few of us wandered up before we had a swim.

Liam came racing back when Linda went to tell him what was here.

First one… then two… then three.

Not nearly so many as I saw in Africa last year, but when I heard that there are only 300 flamingos of this species in the world, I had to lean into this experience. Because look what happened next:

One Percent of the world’s population of Galápagos flamingos were right in front of me!

How wonderful.

Dad joke of the day:

As we were leaving Quito , we saw this sculpture. It’s called “The Man in the Mirror.” We could hardly wait to get to the airport, because today was the day that we fly to the Galápagos Islands.

Speaking of sculpture, this was at Quito airport.

After two flights, we finally landed on the tarmac. We were promised lunch, and it was already 1:30. (2:30 if you go by Quito time.)

There’s quite the palaver to get into the place. There’s all sorts of paperwork, a $200US National Park fee and all sorts of checking luggage etc.

They take their responsibilities seriously.

Galapagos land iguana. If you can have a look on his shoulder, you can see that he’s moulting. Judging by his size, he’s around 30 years old.

Big claws for climbing up the cactuses to get the flowers.

During WWII, the US had a base here to keep an eye on the Panama Canal. While they were there, they used the iguanas as target practice and wiped them out from this island. Recently, some have been collected from other islands and brought here to try and fix that mistake.

Lava lizard. Female, because of the red head.

Lava gulls… considered one of the rarest breeds of gulls in the world. Liam, our guide, was very excited when he saw them.

Then, after a boat ride, a bus ride up into the highlands and a delicious lunch (Finally!), we donned our raincoats and gum boots and went to find some giant tortoises.

There were heaps of them. Sometimes when people turn up, there aren’t any to be found.
The tortoises aren’t caged in. They’re free to roam as they will. The fences dotted around the place are left open at the bottom so they can move freely through them.

The people who run this ranch were originally pig farmers, but they realised that it would be far easier to have a habitat for tortoises and feed tourists than it was to raise pigs.

It was a wise decision. Every day, this place is seething with tourists.

I was thrilled!

Remember when I refused to go on the hike in Croatia because it was raining? It turns out that if you dangle exotic wildlife as an inducement, I’ll do it.

They look as if they’ve had a fight. One is facing one way, while the other is facing another.

I thought it was chasing me. Slowly.

I was looking forward to this day for ages. I saw giant tortoises in Zanzibar last year, but these ones are wild and free.
That makes it so much better.

Dad joke of the day:

The first of 2 travel days saw me back at my nemesis airport… Santiago Chile. Those of you who have been reading for a while might remember that back in 2022, when I was on my way back from Antarctica, I missed a connecting flight at 1AM because of too many people going through security at the one time.

I was a little nervous going through there again…

At the gate for my flight to Lima Peru, my boarding group was asked to check in our carry ons.

I wasn’t happy…

… with good reason.

I got to the baggage carousel in Lima and OF COURSE my suitcase wasn’t there.

I’m catching a flight to Quito Ecuador tomorrow morning. There’s not much time for my bag to follow me.

I raced to the “lost baggage” counter for LATAM. A nervous half an hour later and:

THANK GOD!!!

Mt Cotopaxi. Impressive , isn’t it? Quito, Ecuador, is lucky enough to have an active volcano beside it.

I took this as we were coming in to land at Quito, Ecuador, the next morning.

After the flight, I met 3 lovely New Zealanders called Val and Liz, who are travelling together. Apparently most of the group arrived here yesterday.
When we got to the hotel, I suggested that we split the cost of an Uber and go to stand on the equator.

A quick double check of the itinerary later, to make sure we weren’t going to be doing this next week, and we were off.

Mt Cotopaxi again. Its last major eruption was back in 1887, then it decided to lay low, clearly in a metaphorical sense. Until 2015. The guy who drove us to the hotel from the airport said that it was a scary time. For 6 months everyone had to wear masks. Even today, it’s under intense study by volcanologists.

First I saw these cars in China back in 2018, then in Africa last year. South America is the third continent. This isn’t our Uber, by the way…

By the way, Google Translate is wonderful. Our Uber driver didn’t speak a word of English.

Here it is. I have a foot in each hemisphere.

This reminds me when Deana and I went to Greenwich and we stood like this on the Prime Meridian.

On the way back to our Uber, I saw this sign. By the time I finish this tour, I’ll have been to all 4 of the signs.
Ignore the blurry 5th one. That sign doesn’t count. 😂

Quito is an incredibly hilly place, with buildings edging right up to cliff faces that fall into deep ravines. I’ll show you next week.

Tomorrow… the Galápagos Islands awaits!

Dad joke of the day:

We hit the turps last night with some of our fellow travellers, so this post is a day late.

This magnificent hall was built in Budapest in 1896, then a few years later it was pulled apart and transported here. This was the starting point of our walking tour of Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, on the last day of our tour.

Nearby is this grand hotel, which was built in 1925 to house the passengers on the Orient Express.

In the late19th century, 7 parks were created in a U shape… “ The Green Horseshoe” around the old city.

Even given the green belt, I didn’t really warm to Zagreb as I have to most of the other cities on this tour. We did the walking tour in the Old Cities, but Zagreb is ringed by lots of Brutalist architecture that is never attractive.

Well, apart from in Pyongyang in North Korea, where they had the sense to paint the concrete with pretty colours.

See? The city of Pyongyang, North Korea. This is all Brutalist architecture from Russia, yet the city looks so lovely. I took this in 2018, from the top of Juche Tower.

oops. Back to Zagreb!

This cathedral is The Assumption of the Holy Virgin Mary, Saint Stephen and Saint Ladislav. This area has had bad luck with churches.

Everything in the area here was destroyed by the mongol army in 1242, including the Catholic cathedral that was built here. Genghis Khan’s grandson was the leader of the Mongol army.

Can you imagine? Croatia is a LONG way from Mongolia.

Zagreb was hit by a big earthquake during the Covid lockdowns, and the cathedral was one of many buildings that were destroyed or severely damaged. Our local guide said that the quake happened on a Sunday morning, when the streets would normally have been busy. Due to everyone being inside when the quake struck, there was only one casualty.

Walls 16th century against the Ottomans. Completely encircling the cathedral, so it wouldn’t be destroyed like with the Mongols.

It’s amazing. People who actually learn from history. It worked, by the way.

This is the Bloody Bridge street. Old Zagreb was formed by two villages on either side of a river. There was no love lost between them, and it reached fever pitch one day in the 1500s, when a fight broke out between them that was so fierce that the bridge was covered in blood and even the river below ran red.

This is the only gate remaining of the original wall that encircled one of the villages. There man who devised the wall, after the Mongols had paid a visit, allowed all settlers to be exempt from taxes. All they had to do in return was to help build the wall.

A couple of hundred years ago there was a terrible fire here and most of the buildings were destroyed. One thing survived… a painting of the Virgin Mary and her baby. Clearly this was a miracle.

Since then, the painting has been on display at the gate and has reportedly been quite effective in answering prayers. A little church, with pews and lit candles is here, tucked away within the doorway of the old wall.

See that spiky thing on the roof? That’s to ward off witches.
I’ll bet it still works.

We rounded the corner to see this church. The amazing roof tiles were put on in the late 1800s, and the city keeps them sparkling clean. The left coat of arms is Croatia and the right is Zagreb, the city on a hill.

After this, we had free time for around 3 hours, which frankly, was a lot of time for a city like this. There were a couple of things we wanted to do.

One was to ride the world’s smallest funicular. It runs for a whopping 52 metres and takes 63 seconds. It costs 63 cents.

It took us back up to this tower, where at 12 midday every day, a cannon is fired to mark the time.

I had to use Lyndall’s video here, as I started filming a second too late.

Then, it was a short walk to get to this museum. Jake had mentioned this place a couple of days ago, and it sounded interesting.

Basically, a long-term artistic couple broke up and decided to put some of their belongings on exhibit, with printed explanations of their significance. Soon, other people started bringing in their own stuff, and the museum was born.

There are a few other spin offs around the world, but this is the original one.

Thankfully, each exhibit has an English explanation.

The exhibits are changed fairly regularly.

Some are funny, some are sad and some are just plain weird. There’s something for everyone.

This is Slovenia/the Balkans breaking up with Melania Trump.

Afterwards, Blogless Sandy and I took our bread roll lunches from the breakfast bar along to a bench under some trees. We passed by these workmen restoring this beautiful building. There was lots of restoration work going on in the city.

Some of you may remember when Megan and I were travelling in Canada, and we had a disagreement about whether this was called a pavilion or a rotunda. It turns out that in Canada, it’s called a gazebo.
I took this photo and sent it to her, saying, “ I’m going to go sit in this pavilion. Sandy’s carrying on walking because she’s looking for a rotunda.”

The next morning, Megan comes back with, “Did you look for a bandstand or a gazebo?”

Nice. I replied, “Unfortunately, we didn’t have a thesaurus within easy reach.”

😂😂

We have over 30 hours of travel time looming ahead of us. By Saturday, we should be back home.

Dad joke of the day:

This was taken from the bus this morning, on our way to Lake Bled. I didn’t think we’d be seeing snow-capped mountains in May!

I’d vaguely heard that Lake Bled was pretty, but staying true to my default pattern of liking to be surprised on my holidays, I hadn’t looked up any pictures.

So yes. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw the colour of the water. This was my first view of the lake. It was in the gardens leading down from the castle.

Bled Castle is a fairytale castle rising up over the lake. It looks extraordinary.
It was an optional tour, but I elected not to go in.
It seems that Bled Castle is even MORE sanitised and Disney-fied than the castle in Ljubljana. I knew I’d be infuriated if I went in, so I walked the grounds, chatted with people and heard about some beef that was going on in the other TripaDeal group.
I love a bit of goss.

Look. At. That. Castle.
Look at the colour of the lake.
Stunning.

We were rowed across the lake to a little island.

Here’s Jake and me.

A cuckoo clock house.

This was Tito’s villa. He had villas all over Yugoslavia, back in the day.

The most notable thing about the island was these stairs. When people get married on the island, the tradition says that the groom has to carry his bride up these stairs to prove his virility. I’m telling you, any groom doing this would need months of training.

Picture perfect.

Taken from the café where we ordered the famous Bled Cream Cake.

Blogless Sandy liked it, but I found it a bit bland. It was like a whipped vanilla slice with a ton of whipped cream on top. But this is why we travel – to try new things.

It’s impossible to come here and not take hundreds of pictures of the castle. Look at these colours. It’s incredible.

omg! How lucky am I? Blogless Sandy went for a walk along the lake, while I went in and had a look.

I don’t know a huge deal about Banksy; just pretty much what everyone knows.

I think everyone remembers this…

This was my favourite.

Now this was something I’d never heard about before.

Of course a lake this beautiful has swans.

It was a lovely day. No one could get over the beauty of this place.

We left Bled mid afternoon and arrived in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, for dinner.

Only one more day on the tour before we start the long trek home.

Dad joke of the day: