Viva Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia and Italia!

Entering Serbia was a blur, we had a cabin of six bunks to ourselves, luckily, and were hoping for a good nights sleep. We were awakened at least 4 times to show ourselves, our passports, run literally through border crossings to get our passports stamped, and then try to sleep again. Finally, as the sun was coming up, we crossed the border into Serbia. I dont remember the blur of handing the passport control officer our passports, but all of a sudden these hands. These massive hands took the passports. I looked up and the officer was well into six feet tall with electric blue eye shadow blazed across her lids. Yup, the huge officer was a woman, I think. She was very nice though, and pronounced my name "tshuooorteees" for Curtis. Wide awake after being transfixed by such bright color in the morning, I noticed some other people on the train were well above average height. Men close to seven feet tall!! Women towering over me, which is rare!! Ryan reminded me this is the home of many a NBA star, Vlade Divac, Peja Novacasomething, and basketball is a big deal in Serbia! That passport control officer could block any shot I put up!!
Having not seen a familiar face in over two months, (but a billion unfamiliar ones in Asia and India) seeing Ryans aunt Chris at the train station in Belgrade, Serbia was like finding gelato on a hot Italian day (more on the gelato later). It was so great!! We showered without shoes on, used free toilet paper, and ate triscuits. Spending time with Keith (Ryans uncle) and Chris was fantastic, they are such great hosts, showed us around, we visited forts and monasteries and listened to Keiths history lessons of Eastern Europe. We reluctantly left after two nights, and I still miss their beautiful house and welcoming spirit. We took another overnight train to Podgorica, Montenegro, and were again in a six person couchette cabin, this time it was filled. The cabins are only about 6x8 feet and hot and stuffy. Ryan fell asleep before we left Serbia, but I was kept awake by a heavy breathing Serbian man in the bunk above us. When we arrived, we met up with Vladan, a worker with USAID and he introduced us to burek, a salty, greasy cheese pie that was great at 6 in the morning. He introduced us to his work in Montenegro, a country that just was recognized by the UN as its own country last year. His environmental work there is considerable, and we were very impressed. Montenegro is growing, and they are trying to keep up with the environmental demands on their beautiful country. A few hours later, we took an absolutely breathtaking bus ride to Kotor Bay on the eastern Adriatic coast. We zipped along the coastline that is jagged mountain that cuts directly down to the sea. We stopped in Kotor and wandered around the old city before hopping another bus to Dubrovnik, Croatia. This is when we slowed down a bit and had ear to ear grins. We were bombarded with pensione offers by people who had private rooms. A tall, very tall, persistent Croatian man with a huge yellow crooked tooth smile offered us a room on the top of the city. We took a chance, and we had the best location in all of town for half the price of a hostel. We watched the most incredible sunset ever and couldnt wipe the smiles from our faces. We drank blood orange juice and ate local cheese on crackers while toasting the red sunset. Just awesome.
Ryan removed me from the grips of the patio railing as we boarded a 4 hour bus to Split. We took an equally big leap when we arrived at the bus station there. Lots of old ladies with bad breath and abundant facial hair. I decided to opt with a lady that was calm, collected, and had excellent use of lipgloss. I dont remember her name but she was very very nice with a house just steps from the old city. We had a great time wandering around Split, and stayed just one night before heading on the overnight ferry ride from Split, Croatia to Ancona, ITALIA!!!

View from our balcony in Dubrovnik, Croatia...the magnificent Dalmatian Coast

CJ posing on our brief stop in Bosnia...hence the 'b' symbol

RJ posing with Gandolph in Split, Croaia...well maybe its not really the white wizard, but it sure looks like him!