Split

 12/12: The advent calendar says we will play Quiplash tonight! Fun! We briefly considered staying in Dubrovnik one extra night, as our host had offered an extra night to us for free, and our initial impression was that our next accommodation in Split was not going to be our favorite. The reviews of our place were all phenomenal (which is why Bob had booked it) but he had read a few that mentioned the “uninviting” exterior of the building and the darkness when you enter the building. So, he took a look at the street view of our building and it did look a little rough. We contemplated only staying there one night instead of two, but one night anywhere is rough. So…we decided to just go for it and stick with the plan. None of the reviews cited a safety concern; if that had been the case we probably would have changed course.

Goodbye to our Dubrovnik home!

We had a gorgeous drive to Split - along the sea the whole way. We’re very glad we knew what we were going to arrive to, because in some ways it was better than we thought. We definitely agreed with the reviews. The darkness was such an easy fix and light would make it SO much better! Bob offered to put new lightbulbs in the fixtures if the management brought bulbs and a ladder - but they said the neighbors didn’t want the hallway lit. We didn’t believe him!

Wow. Non functional lightbulbs hanging from the tree.

We took our luggage up 3 flights of stairs and were pleased to find our apartment space was great; very clean and functional (other than no coffee machine!). We set out to see the town - we saw the sunset and the ice rink, some of the palace, and had dinner at Picasso pizza. SO delicious! The town was festive and lively and lit up for Christmas.

Hilarious sign on our way

The riviera on the waterfront

Diocletian’s Palace

This one might be Bob’s favorite. Love!

We walked around, and came back to hear the live music. Unfortunately, the duo only sang one song before the mic broke. We enjoyed sitting at the bar together!

Growing up!

Our drinks - Simone discovered a grapefruit soda

We went home and fulfilled our Advent calendar by playing Quiplash. It took me awhile to fall asleep as the people above us decided to play fetch with their dog until almost midnight. I will definitely be glad to be done living with people above me!

12/13: Advent calendar says to go out to dinner tonight!  It’s a beautiful day - we started out with a walk to the large city park. We brought the kids home for some studying while Bob and I went out for a coffee, a little more exploring, and shoe shopping for me. My running shoes that I’ve worn for 6 months straight are coming apart. They are also not waterproof, and we’ve had a few circumstance where my feet have gotten damp/wet and left me miserable.

We walked about 30 feet past where we would normally turn to check out a busy square. We saw a theatre and checkout the schedule of events - Bob said how bummed he would be if we had missed something last night! We saw there was an event tonight, and when we translated it, we saw it was The Nutcracker! No way! Part of our Christmas tradition is Simone and I go to the Nutcracker downtown - I was so excited to be able to see a performance in a different country and not miss our tradition. We decided to buy tickets and surprise the kids as there were not many left (only E20 each compared with the $100+ I pay at the PAC!).

The Split theatre

I found some cool waterproof hiking shoes on sale - score! Even though we only have two weeks left on our trip, I have a feeling that they could be a wet/snowy two weeks.

This is the first accommodation that does not have a coffee machine. Argh. Not sure how that can even be possible. So Bob and I grabbed an Americano that we thought would be a normal coffee cup size but ended up being half a Dixie cup for E2 each. Ridiculous!

We explored Diocletian’s Palace in the afternoon:

We went home to clean up and change, and stopped for a pre-Nutcracker snack (sausage sandwich) at the ice rink.

The performance was great, albeit quite different than the PAC. It was definitely not as polished/elaborate as downtown Denver. The whole production was smaller (very cool venue) and the set/costuming was much simpler. One of the main things I noticed was that I noticed things that I usually do not - ie set piece changes, noises from props. The Nutcracker itself played a much smaller role in the whole story too. There were no metal detectors or bag searches on entry, and no concessions - that piece seems like a missed profit opportunity! The lack of security was also interesting for me - I love that their society doesn’t need these measures.

We walked to our pizza restaurant from last night - we loved it so much we didn’t mind a repeat! As opposed to last night when there were very few people in the place, tonight it was packed! Thankfully there were four spots at the bar with our names on them.

The energy was so fun with a DJ playing great tunes, and the bartenders were super friendly and engaging. The kids had a blast watching them work.

We walked to the ice rink to check out the scene there, but the music was crazy loud, so we slowly strolled the streets back to our place. Quinn stayed in while Bob, Simone and I did a quick walk to the nearby carnival. We came home and started Christmas with the Kranks.