Back to Slovenia

We get up early this morning, around 8am and Emil is feeling a lot better than last night. Almost back to his usual chirpy self. We decide to skip breakfast, as we don't think it's a good idea for Emil to eat anything yet.  We will wait for a few hours before we let him eat again.  We pack our bags and get ready to head off but before we do that, we must go to Falky land to see the girls and say good-bye. So off we go, Emil still a little under the weather but he wants to see the girls before we leave. We get to Falky land and all the girls are happy to see Emil. They all rush over to see how he is and give him a big hug. They have a gift ready for him - a Falky bag full of Falky stuff - a cap, a t-shirt, a cup, a beach ball and badges. He is so excited and straight away starts to feel better. You can see the smile on his face. He holds onto this bag and won't let go. We say our good-byes and make our way.

We get in the car and then head back to Slovenia. We have a good 3 1/2 hour drive ahead off us. It's 10.30am. Temperature is 28 degrees. Off we go.

The trip is going well until we get close to Zagreb. We are on the freeway and coming towards a toll booth and all of a sudden we come to a stop, we are stuck in bumper to bumper traffic, waiting 45 minutes just to get through the toll booths. This is outrageous, what a joke. We finally get through and then all is good. We get past border control into Slovenia and then it starts raining. At first just a little and then it starts pelting down. Everything outside is all grey with big white clouds in the sky in front of us. Temperature outside has dropped and is down to 20 degrees. Oh no - what is ahead of us, weather wise. 

We finally get to Kranj in Slovenia, to Stric and Strina's. In we go and are greeted by Bostjan and family. Followed shortly later by Stric and Strina. We have a few drinks, followed with many laughs and stories. 

 
















We are asked if we are hungry and what we would like to eat.  We advise them that we are and ask if we can have pizza and pizza it is.  Emil tells Bostjan that he wants to help make lunch and of course he is allowed. So Bostjan and Emil make our pizzas together. We think we have a little chef on our hands. 

 






















In the evening we go to Damjana's for a coffee and once again more food, and for Emil to have a play with the girls. We share many stories about our adventures over the past few weeks. 

 
















Then back to the Stric and Strina's we go. We get back and Strina, Lucija and Nusa have prepared tatarski bifstek (a type of beef pate) for us again. What a treat, however as it's already midnight, we don't think we can fit anything in but as it is one of our favorites there is always room. 

 
















We sit around altogether, laughing talking and just catching up, where we left off.  

We stayed up until 2am. What a long night, but a great night.

Last day in Zadar

Today we got up early around 8am. Skipped breakfast and headed off to Zadar town to go back to see and hear the musical steps again.  We decided to drive in, as we thought it would be quicker than to wait for the mini-train. We got into Zadar around 9am and straight to the steps we go. We thought that it was pretty last night, however much prettier today during the day. Still can't get over how cool this is.

After this we go for a walk into the town centre and make our way to a kafic, to stop off and have a drink, Marjan and I a cappuccino and Emil a milkshake. We buy some pastries at a bakery along the way. this kafic is set up in front of a beautiful old church originally built in the 10th century. Very pretty.

After this a little more of a stroll through the alleyways back to the car.

Then back to the hotel we go as it's starting to get a little hot.

Once we get back, 11.30pm, straight into the pool we go. Temperature is 31 degrees. A today is our last day here and last day by the water, we plan to send the rest of today out by the pool, splashing around and soaking up as much sun as we can. We are having so much fun, until...... Falky comes back out collecting all the kids for lunch, and yes Emil has to go with him. How can we say no, today is his last day here. So off he goes.....

We let him have lunch with them and stay for an hour, then collect him to spend some more time with us in the water today, as our last big play. His pretty good with that. Better than we expected. But we are told that they want him back at 4pm because they have a performance on tonight that they want him to be part of, and he will need to practice with them. We agree as we think that this will be cute. So off to the pool we go for our last splash around. As he comes back and we are playing a little, he makes a new friend in the water and we loss him once again. Never mind at least he is still here with us. Emil and his friend, we don't know his name, not sure what language he speaks, just splash around and enjoy the slide and pool together. It's really cute to see him play and make friends like this even though they don't understand each other.

Dad was not going to miss out on the fun either. He had to get his last bit of the slide in also.

We splash around for about an hour and then decide that we want to get out, dry off and sun bake a little. It's now 2pm.  Emil not interested in this wants to go back to Falky Land. Once again we say yes agree but tell him that we will get him by 3pm for more of a play in the pool. So off he goes, while we relax.

We collect him by 3pm and back in the pool we all go. This time him spending all his time with us. We splash around and enjoy our last hour in the pool. Out we get to dry off and take Emil back to Falky Land. We get him dried off, and ready to go across, when he starts complaining that his tummy hurts. Thinking that he hasn't eaten much, we assume that he is just hungry and leave it at that. We are just about to take him across to the kids club and he starts screaming and crying that his tummy really hurts and then, out it all comes, he vomits, just lovely.  We clean him up and then straight up to the room. Thinking it's just something that he ate that didn't agree with him and now that it's out, a little rest and he will feel better. No such luck, he is out for the rest of the night.

We are all a little disappointed, for a few reasons - 1. not a great way to end a great stay here, 2. he really wanted to go to the last disco tonight and do the performance with all the girls, and 3. just that he feels really really crappy.

I inform the girls in the kids club that he will not be able to make it tonight and explained his situation, and they informed me that a few kids have been sick, along with a few of the workers, so it looks like it could be a case of gastro. Great - oh well, what can we do. The girls are upset that Emil will not be able to make it tonight.

Back to our room I go. We spend the rest of the night in our room just relaxing, while Emil sleeps and rests. We hear a knock at the door and to our surprise, Dragica the head of the Falky Land has come to check on Emil. This was a real surprise. She said that as soon as she heard he was sick and couldn't come to tonight's disco and performance she was devastated, and she needed to make sure that he was OK. She explained that other kids were also sick and that some staff also had it and that it will go away in a day or two.
We advised her that we are checking out tomorrow. She was upset for us that it had to end like this. She also informed Emil, trying to help him feel better, that they have a big surprise for him down at Falky land and that he must come and collect it tomorrow morning before he leaves and also that he can't leave without saying goodbye to everyone. He promised that he would come and see them before we leave.

It was really lovely to see that they really care. She didn't go the the disco tonight, instead came to see Emil. That was a very nice gesture, she really is a lovely person.

Zadar - Day 6

Today we got up around 9am.  Head off to have breakfast, stopping on the way to drop off our towels by the pool to reserve a spot. Have a nice breakfast all together. After breakfast Emil goes back off to the Falky land, while Marjan and I go up to the room to chill out a little before we make our way to the pool. We get to the pool around 11.30am and pick up Emil along the way, so that he can have a swim and play with us today. The kids club is great but we want him to spend time with us also. So in we go, splashing around, Emil practicing his diving and just playing around.

Also let's not forget the slide. Yes we spend time there too. Once again Emil having a ball.

We decide to spend all day down by the pool. Emil was pretty good today and stayed with us until 4pm before he wanted to go back to the kids club. Falky came around collecting all the kids as there where about to do a treasure hunt with all the kids. So off he goes.

As Emil is gone Marjan and I decided that this is a good time to go for a walk along the beach.

Temperature is about 32 degrees, nice a warm. So off we go for a nice stroll. We walk along the path, checking out the beach and what this has to offer. The beach is nice, but not as impressive as Bol. We shouldn't really compare as one is an island and the other mainland, but it's hard not to, after spending the last week there. We do stop at a spot that doesn't have too many people at, and Marjan goes in for a swim, while I just get my feet wet. Not too keen on the rocks.

We stop here for awhile, and then start to walk back, before we see a lovely little spot by some rocks, which is really pretty and the water here is really clear. We stop here and take a few photos.

We get an ice-cream and head back.We get back and straight in the water we go, just to cool down a little, have a bit of a splash around and then it's time to dry off, also the clouds have come over and it is a little on the cool side. We dry off a little and head up to the room as it is getting very cool, also we have decided that we are going into Zadar for dinner tonight. We freshen up and then head off to catch the train into Zadar town again tonight. We have a long wait and we turn a little mad.....

We get into town and go straight to the musical steps. This is really cool. The steps are built so that as the water smashes against the steps, it creates musical notes. Really nice to listen too.  Also they have this big circle of solar panels and lights which is called 'Greeting of the Sun'.  Not sure of the relevance of this but will need to do some homework to find out more about it.

After this we have dinner and as it is already late, just after 8.30pm and Emil is starving, we stop off at the first place we see and get dinner. A lovely night we have.

Head back to catch the mini train, back to the hotel. It's after 10.30pm and Emil is exhausted. We get back to the hotel and Emil is out in 5 minutes.