Click photo to enlarge
I stayed on the end of this point at Residence Jadran, in Porec. It is
sparse but clean, a two star rated hotel, with an ocean view.
The blessing was breakfast at the four star Valamar Riviera Hotel, way cool!

Well, just got to Croatia about three hours ago via a ferry from Venice, Italy, and just checked into a wonderful 2 star hotel on the ocean. The whole world caved in when I checked my e-mail finally, thru my iPhone, via free WiFi internet connection at the cafe below it, where I also just had a small pizza type sandwich for 35 Kuna- $6 USD ($6 Kuna to the dollar).

          
Click photo to enlarge. All iPhone.
On New York bound plane from San Diego.
 

How did it cave in? I was informed 10 out of the 11 images I had accepted into the fair (via submissions) did not meet the strict entry requirements on printing and matting, BUT Ron, that runs it, is giving me a little time to rectify the situation. Here I am dead tired, and I have to try and rectify a situation across the world, one that has, as far as I know, a deadline a few hours away to meet? I was stunned, flabbergasted and brain dead on any solution right off the bat, my spirit sunk waaay down to say the least. A lot of quick prayer was needed, just to 'get balanced', and so I did. Then I had some ideas start to formulate minutes later, just sent them off to protégé Jeffrey Sitcov, who helps me out too. For example, he had taken my entries in for me to drop off with his own that were accepted (he got 7 of 20 entries accepted, most of which I helped him pick from hundreds of possibilities) as I was on my flight here when they had to be delivered.

"It looked like a complete disaster at first, with hundreds of dollars in entry fees, hours of printing, mounting and matting time, all seeming, possibly, flushed away..."

But I'll backtrack here a little; I only slept 2 hours the night before (Monday night), took a lot of time to custom cut the 11 mats for the entries to the fair, and take care of all the bills for the home and office, plus visit with a friend and Christian brother, Michael Perlin, who was nice enough to buy me a new digital recorder, so I can keep up with my notes, like this does, but during the day, not just at night when I get a chance.

Anyways, almost did not get to leave as planned, the lovely bride accidentally set the clock wrong, and we got up 15 minutes late- at 5.15 instead of 5. Praise the Lord she woke up without it for some reason, as we were not too late, not that 80 mph did not help with on the semi-dark freeway at 5.30 am. As we did not get much sleep, we did not leave much leeway for error.

Got through check-in quickly, opted out of the long line on the street in favor of trying my luck inside. Already had my e-ticket and checked in online, so I only had to go through a line with two people in it there, TUL.

Then hit the security, and with my new Delta AMEX card, I'm supposed to get perks, like early boarding, etc.,, cool. So when I saw First Class security line, with only 50 folks, compared ot the 'regular Joe' line, with 500, I went to the first, hoping I'd be cool. The guy only looked at my passport, not the ticket, and said get in line. That saved over a 1/2 hour alone, so I got to the gate before Valerie had made the 1/2 drive home, WOW. Answered pray all the way around.

Flew out of San Diego on a 6.55 am flight to N.Y. JFK airport, and had 40 minutes to transfer. They hand checked my film in San Diego (they always do in the good old US of A). And more blessings, I only had to go two gates down, and did not have to go through security again, so I did not have to go through the hassle of them hand checking (that alone can take a long time). TUL.

Flew into Milan, as I wanted to avoid extra airports with extra possible film x-raying, so I figured a train to Venice (three hours, beautiful green spring colors), then a ferry to Croatia, would fit the bill.

Click photo to enlarge.  iPhone snaps.
Just before boarding Venice bound train from Milan Train Station.

So after landing in Milan, I got the train to Milan Central, for $10, and booked another train to Venice. My plan was to try and find a ferry that day to Croatia, or if I had to wait a day or two stay in Mestre just outside Venice for 1/2 the price over Venice. I'd read there was one major one, Venezia Lines, and maybe others, but they were sporadic as not many folks travel in May, compared to June, or especially July, when the weather is better for the beaches, and more folks are on vacation. I nodded off, but tried not to as I needed to keep an eye on my baggage. It took three hours, and the weather turned from sunny to dark, rainy, windy and freezing cold as we pulled into the Venice train station.

"... I'd now only slept a total of about 6 hours in two and a half days,"

I put on my heavy duty shirt to help with the cold, wishing I'd brought long underwear at this point; it felt like the normal winter weather I usually shoot there, in November!

My stress level increased dramatically when the tourist info folks at the train station said there were no ferries to Croatia until July, and that I'd have to take a bus around. I thought bus? How long would that take?  (I found out later it's not long, only about three hours, as when you book w/ the ferry and the waves become too large the company actually hires mini-busses to take you around!).

But I'd read in the tour books ferries start commuting, intermittently, in April, so I decided to ask elsewhere. I was told yes, there are ferries, and where to 'probably' get tickets, they thought. Three locations and an hour later, and while lugging all my gear, about 30 lbs in cameras, tripods and film, and a 40# suitcase that luckily has wheels, I walked over a mile of bridges and canals to the place I was told. NOPE, this was the wrong area! But alas, they said there was one, and they gave me the address. But, the Lord further blessed me, as two young women overheard my asking and were there 'also by mistake' looking for their 'ALREADY BOOKED FERRY TO CROATIA THAT WAS LEAVING AT 5 P.M."! TUL!

Yeah, that meant there was one, so we all three set out to walk the mile back to the train station, and take a vaporetto, a 'water-bus' as I call them, a public boat for a hundred people (at about a $9 US charge per ride, whatever the length, no more than a few miles total).

And I found myself to be WRONG on the x-ray machines not being at the ferry, as on my entering the hall/boarding area earlier, empty except for the receptionist lady, I'd spotted them. Dang it! I prayed from then until having to go through it that I'd have no problems. Now the train had no x-ray machines, but this ferry did.

I found out the prices, and then purchased round trip tickets, saving about $12 per leg ($120 round trip) and only had to wait two more hours for departure. (And yes, they only go every two or three days, so I got really blessed).

I then tried to find a bank to change dollars to Euros, but the closest, a quarter mile away did not, so I used an ATM back by the ferry; I figured I'd at least have money for food on the ferry. But I ate a panini, (Italian for sandwich) at a local pub, had a good beer to boot. I made my way back to the ferry (which was located at S. Basilio vaporetto stop by the way). The food lasted me till just a few minutes ago.

Click photo to enlarge.  iPhone snaps.
Just before boarding the ferry to Croatia, after finally found the place it left from.

Upon boarding time, I waited till the 200 or so folks boarded, figuring that would give the guys plenty of time for a hand-check if no one was behind me; but upon getting there they refused, pointing to a sticker that read 'film safe', not knowing I guess, that all films are not alike. I kept trying to explain why it was not safe for all films, thanking them profusely for doing so, even though they were not yet, and stating that only low rated ISO ones are not problematic, but it was all a no go!! I tried to keep my cool, but the guy would not listen to me explain, kept taking the bag  of film and putting it on the carousel.  I kept stating I had a lot of high, 3,200 ISO film, and that this would ruin it. The stuff you never get x-rayed w/o problems.

The other two concurred with him 'no problem', that's all they would say and none listened to a word I was saying. I called out one to one of the the guys behind that was walking our way now to see what all the discussion was about, asking if any spoke English, realizing that might help, needing help from somewhere. The two other police that check the passports came up and joined the fray, now there were seven of us all together, all putting in there two cents. One guy finally went to bat for me, after looking closely at my film, saying I was a professional (none of the others heard it when I'd said it, only him) and that the film was also professional (the outside read it), and he saw the highly rated ISO too. I kept showing, by  opening each pack of 5 films (that's how they come), that it was JUST FILM, and said it was obviously not drugs, nor bombs, and that a hand check would show it to be nothing foul. TUL, he let me through, over-riding all the others objection, and I quickly scooted out before someone counter-ruled it all.

The Croat kuna. 200 kuna is, at this point, about $33 USD.
$1 US= 6.5 kuna.

Click photo to enlarge.
View out my hotel window at the Jadran Residence, my first sunset in Croatia.

As I'd only slept about two hours on the domestic 5 hour flight, and the same on the eight hour International one, I'd now only slept a total of about 6 hours in two and a half days, and with about a 1.5 hour nap on the three hour ferry, and with a lot more time gone by (it's 10:16 pm here now, and I'm dragging, just had a shower to revive me to help handle the fair problem, mentally and physically), it's going on about seven hours for 2.5 days.

When I arrived here in Porec, at about 8 pm., in north Croatia, it was raining.

NOTE: Just went to check e-mails to see if any developments on my problem, here is the GREAT news:

_______________

5.17.'12 / Thursday12:30 p.m. - Porec
From the lobby at the Valamar Riviera Hotel and Residence, Porec.

Ok, the computer died last night from lack of a charge, at midnight, just before I could upload the 'Good News', and the second half of what I posted above. Luckily when it turns off it does not lose info, so I just went and bought a converter for my power cord, charged it for a minute, then saved it. Onward with my update...

So, I got a note from Ron, the manager of the fair, saying all was well, here was some communication as it went down.

1:36 pm, update continued.

So, I slept great.

I awoke at 7:30 a.m. this morning, two hours ahead of the alarm, even though I still felt dead tired, the body said "no, I'm awake". Marina, the nice lady at the reception desk at the Valamar, who help get me the reduced rate for my 2 star hotel, (was E.45, reduced to E.32, -$40 USD), one with the ocean view, said the 'all you could eat' 100 item breakfast at the four star hotel would be something I'd love, and love it I did. 10 kinds of cereals, five types of juice, a lady preparing custom omelets, a meat and cheese spread that I should have photographed, cappuccinos, etc., really put me in a good frame of mind, even though I had not checked e-mail yet, to see how all had turned out w/ 'the project'.

Ms Marina had loaned me a converter last night so I could try and charge my phone, and use the computer, but for some reason it did not work. So after breakfast, and after seeing that all had worked out, I set out to find a computer store to by a Croatian HP cord for my computer, which I found after some searching (about an hour) about a mile walk from here. I also got some quotes on a car, and the first quote (from a pedestrian whom called a friend, was 700 Kuna (so that's a little over $100 per day) was way more than I could afford. Not to worry, I'd ask around. Found a car rental shop 20 minutes later, and the guy said he could get it down from 395 Kuna per day, to 295, (plus 40 K per day insurance for one week, then it would be free). That was reasonable, compared to the first guy. Online (ArgusCarHire.com) I'm finding them for a bit less still, looking to be about $545 US, for 23 days.

     "...Awoke for a few minutes this morning at 4:04 a.m. from an earthquake (heard it was based in Modena, an Italian city about 200 km from ...."

I continued back towards the hotel, the sun out and the air warming, my jacket now off, and stopped at a VIP phone store, where I'd stopped earlier to check on getting a cheap phone with a sim card that would call the USA. He said the carrier, 'Tomato', was only 4kn per minute, 3kn less than the VIP card, about $.60 cents per minute, with free incoming. BUT I wanted to put the sim card in my iPhone, and the guy said tomorrow he could 'open' my phone, some sort of technical term, it's not manually opening it, so it would be able to work with other sim cards that are not 'AT&T' ones, so I'll go back. This will save me from having to buy a new phone ($30 for the cheapie) and will make it so I can buy a sim card anywhere in the world and make it work- COOL. So that is taken care of. Besides, the e-mail works fine, it's just that the wife like to hear my voice every other day, and me hers.

3:40 update.

Still here in the lobby, filling in details of this report, checking to see if any of this makes sense; last night I was so tired it was a bit garbled. My walking is not easy, I'm sore from yesterdays carrying of the gear over all of Venice, I'm very out of shape. But as I always tell people about each trip, "I start out weak like sheep, but come back (add strong accent and much louder here) STRONG LIKE BULL!"

           
Click photos to enlarge.

The first night in Porec I was treated well by Niki, family and staff from Niki's Restaurant. Left: me, Niki, Zoran and Niki's son Marcos.  /  Right: my pasta dish, following the excellent mixed salad. The wine mentioned in the beginning is Malvazija Festigia. Malvezija is a variety of grape, Festigia mean 'the best'. It's a local wine of Porec.

Here is a short video I made of Niki, Marco and Zoran about their wines,
restaurant and the local UNESCO sanctioned church.

http://youtu.be/SBlEcoDolC0

On Istrian wines: http://europedir.blogspot.com/2011_07_01_archive.html

5.19.'12 / Saturday 8.30 a.m. - Rovinj
From the private residence just outside Rovinj (pron. Ra-VEEN) town.

Email to wife, easy update at this point. I've got to get some grub (breakfast), starved.

Morning, I took a bus to Rovinj yesterday and found a room for only $17 per night, not far from city center (25 minute walk). It's on the coast, like Porec, and lots of tourists, mostly German. Met some photographers at the Photo Art Gallery Batana (Ermano Bancic, who is advanced level and volunteers there, his son Christian, and there friend Josip Biland) at a city run photo gallery and we got along well, sharing photos on internet, way past midnight.

Pre-paid for three nights. Weather sunny, but storm coming on Sunday. Still don't know about rental car, trying to save money, found one company online for about $500 for three weeks, and one local for $780, but includes all insurance. Still debating whether to get one at all. Lot tougher without one, but save money by not getting it. The guys I met last night are going to drive me around, so the Lord is blessing me.
Love ya,
MS

Click photos to enlarge.
Photo Art Gallery Batana, Rovinj

Link to their site and the annual photo festival they sponsor, along with the city of Rovinj: http://tzgrovinj.com/page/events/!/1334593105/mundial-fotofestival-carlo-diana-belgium
 

9.30 p.m. Now in Rovinj town...

Just got in, boy am I bushed. My legs, and especially back, are sooooo sore, time for an aspirin. hit a restaurant this morning and got the eggs, ham, bread and coffee for $6, can't beat that. Tasty too. Made it to the Hotel Adriatic where Josip works. Was to go shooting the old city with Christian. We had a coffee there, and waited for his lady friend to join us, she is a budding photographer too.

We first went to the boat building museum, and checked that out. She stayed with us for an hour or two, and then had to leave. We shot together, and chatted about the logistics of making money in photography (he's in it very seriously, taking a special education program for it), and is trying to figure out what to do. He left around 7:30 p.m..

I managed to get three or four very nice images later in the day. Along with yesterdays two images (none for first two days) I'm starting to get the portfolio going. Too tired for big update again, but here is a shot made by Jerzy Palacz, a Vienna cinema photographer I met last night, along with his wife Inge. I took a cool panoramic of them, I'll post that when I get back, can't download from that iPhone application program for some reason.

Click to enlarge/ photo copyright
Me taking a break in Ravinj, taken by Jerzy Palacz, who is
a cinema photographer in Vienna. He also has the same Hasselblad as I, and it's
what got him started talking to me.

Short video I made on the iPhone about the artist I photographed,
Radovan Rajko Svilar, in Rovinj, Croatia today.

Click to see short interview of Radovan Rajko Svilar and his studio
http://youtu.be/dQt7rsgeYM0?hd=1

_______________

What's in a name? I received this from Rajko's son Andrej tonight:

"Hi Mr. Seewald, this is Andrej, Rajko's son. I heard in the video you
were commentating about his name, so if you're interested here is
explanation of his full name and it's very interesting now that I`m
thinking about it..so..

Radovan Rajko Svilar

Radovan would mean ˝readily/gladly/willingly˝ (rado) ˝out/out
of/outside˝ (van) if we say it separately. But ˝rad˝ also means ˝work˝.

Rajko would mean ˝as paradise˝ where ˝raj˝ means ˝paradise˝ and ˝ko˝
is short version (to pronounce it faster) of ˝kao˝ which means ˝as˝.

Svilar would mean ˝a man who makes silk-silkman˝, where ˝svila˝ means
˝silk˝ and ˝ar˝ is ending of a word that signifies man's occupation.

That would be it, so thanks again for being interested in my dad`s work
and keep in touch!"
 

_______________

5.20.'12 / Sunday 10.30 p.m.  Rovinj
Just got in from shooting all day, and again, completely bushed. Here's the update.

Click to enlarge
Modena got hit with a 6.0, just 10 km below the city.

Awoke for a few minutes this morning at 4:04 from an earthquake (heard it was based in Modena, and Italian city about 200 km from here), but went back to sleep. Got up at 7:30 and went to the old town where I had a great 'all you can eat' breakfast at the Adriatic Hotel. Worked the old city from the cruise ship port side, with and without smaller boats in foreground; soft light made today's work so much better than past couple of days.

Click to enlarge
My first meal in Rovinj, at Carlos' restaurant (only two months open). Wonderful.

Painted two watercolor postcards for my two collectors, took about an hour, from the outside breakfast area at the Adriatic Hotel. Went to two towns with Josip today, from 3 pm to 5:30 pm, one was an abandoned medieval one, and the other, where I made one or two nice images, was in Bale, an old town about 15 km from Rovinj.

"...The area is interesting, with all the ruins around, hope I can find something that works. It's a bigger city and that part does not move me at all. ... "

Was going to come home at around 8:30, but I thought one more time thru the old city, now that it was almost dark out, and WOW, am I glad I did. Got three or four killer shots with all the light reflecting on the white, shiny stone work on the ground.

Click to enlarge
Rovinj restaurant at twilight.
On my return trip here a month later I'd eat here.

Plan on hitting Pula tomorrow.

____________________

5.21.'12 / Monday 7:30 a.m. -Rovinj
Slept very well, Just got up and started to work on updates here. First checked e mails and answered questions Valerie had. Need to shower and pack up, I'm planning on going south, to Pula today. First have to check on Stop Rent-a-car, Josip said they had good rates and have an office here. Still think going and shooting the main cities will be more cost effective, albeit a bit more hassle. Overcast today, and supposed to be that way, and rainy, for next three days.

10:30 a.m. update. Still in room, I've been working on uploading the above and below photos, and publishing them on this page. It was pretty bare until now.

Here are a few from yesterday...

                      
Click to enlarge
Left: "My cozy perch" / Right "Rovinj -old city" from the 'cruise ship' side.
 

Click to enlarge
Hanging out. 

3:30 p.m. update, NOW in Pula: Saw Ermano (the guy that runs the photo gallery) as I waited to get the bus, he was headed to open up the gallery. He pretended to grab my tripod case, and I went to stop a theft. Took me a second to recognize him, he was out of the environment I'd met him at two night earlier, and then I settled down and said my goodbyes, grabbing a quick snap of us first.

Click to enlarge
Ermano says his good byes.

Got to Pula town (biggest city so far) around 1 p.m.. Took a while to figure out how to get to the old city center. Usually, the towns are so small you are already in them when getting there. Took the number 2 bus to the 'forum'. Lots of old Roman ruins here, Amphitheatre, Temples, Gates, etc..

Found a place to hold my big suitcase (weighs a ton w/ computer and spare everything in it- you DON'T want to take it up staircases, and in some cases, like my first two locations, I was second floor up with no elevators) and walked around looking for a room for rent. Found a tourist info center, she gave me the website for apartment info/phone numbers. Problem is, I don't need an apartment (kitchen, etc.) and they usually want big money for them, and rightfully so. Anyways, I thought I'd try my luck with them anyways, one person offered it for 25 euro, for two nights (down from 40, about $50 per night). Borrowed the business phone from the Forum Bistro and made some calls. Found one lady that reduced her rate from 40 to 20 e., TUL. She will meet me here at 4 p.m..

I found a fast food 'Popeye's' down the street and grabbed a chicken sandwich, picked up the suitcase, and now I'm hanging back at the Forum Bistro- they have free WiFi, thus the updates from here. Cold and dark out, no rain per se, but I can feel it coming.

The area is interesting, with all the ruins around, hope I can find something that works. It's a bigger city and that part does not move me at all.

___________________

5.22.'12 / Tuesday 4 p.m. - Pula

Needed to do some more searching for car rentals, so I brought the computer to the Cvajner Cafe/ Restaurant in the forum plaza next to the tourist info. The Forum Bistro /Cafe's did not work, "it's a free city WiFi, we have no control" they said when I'd asked, thus the change of venue (ordered a coffee, I feel you always have to order something when you use folks services, not that it's written in stone, even using bathrooms I usually grab an espresso first).

Well, the lady showed up at 4 pm yesterday afternoon, just as the downpour started, and we made our way up the narrow streets over towards the Roman amphitheatre, a km away, and mostly uphill.. It's also when I decided I needed a new pair of shoes, my socks were soaked through with cold water within seconds; so much for the glue job from the old and semi-dry 'Shoe Goo' tube three days earlier- obviously it didn't work.

My new landlady, for two days that is, showed me on the map an area where I could get some shoes at reasonable prices a few blocks away. So after checking in I went there and found a very nice pair. Went back, put dry socks on, took a 1/2 hour nap (body so sore, but getting used to all this walking, miles and hours per day with all this gear) and continued in the downpour to look around down by the port. Nice to have dry feet while doing so, these worked well.

"... I'll scan it when I'm back home. Love to see it as a 40x50, framed to 50x60! Someday, Lord willing, when I have my giant retrospect that I'm lining up."

Made a real nice shot of a tug boat style looking fishing boat, shot in 1/3rds for a triptych effect, it's gonna be nice. Also shot the front of it with dramatic clouds and the giant cranes looming in the distance, looking other-worldly in their giant stature, like some warship creations out of Star Wars (this is the largest ship building yards in Croatia I found out, these things are hundreds of yards high), as it cleared up a bit and gave me special light.

Walked around the town some more, till dark, then took a brake at the Forum Cafe, it was about 9 pm. Then went to the Amphitheatre Hotel and Restaurant, my land lady suggested, and had the most wonderful mixed salad for 35 Kuna (about $6) with a great dark yellow olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Got home about 11 pm, watched some BBC news (I get some 600 channels, Al Jazeera even, but only two in English, the other was CNN, not even FOX? Bummer).

Slept in till almost 9, in my giant, warm, comfortable bed, noticing it was rainy out with no rain before 9 when I turned over. But I was showered, dressed warmly and out looking for photos before 10 a.m., grabbing two croissants, with dark chocolate  insides, at a local bakery (my usual European breakfast now, none of this 'all you can eat' spoiled thing for me anymore). Got a cappuccino at the Amphitheatre Restaurant, where I also ate the croissants.

Click to enlarge
Hanging at the Pula old Roman amphitheatre.

Walking around the amphitheatre afterwards (27 BC), shooting some snaps with my 360 iPhone panorama, and getting some shots of me in front of it from strangers that were nice enough to take it for me. Mostly I just gazed in awe at the splendor of such magnificence, a two thousand year old structure, standing hundreds of feet high. So a memorial to the Roman engineering, thinking of all the fighting that went down, that's why it was constructed. Just thought of this, that hopefully it wasn't for the Christian killing spectacle that went down in the latter of the first century, but maybe. (Noted later: read that yes, there were martyrs- ouch).

Walked the port again, saw the ship I'd shot yesterday, now crammed between many others, maybe it's gone out and gotten a load of fish overnight? Maybe. Sure smelled like it today. Took a break to get a piece of pizza (8 Kuna, $1.25), but it was not filling enough, and went looking over at the two story market, with the fish market part closing up. I got a sandwich, then went home to get this computer. Now I'm here, obviously.

Checked e-mail, and saw where Valerie's and my friend Trish Rodriquez said something on her Facebook page, and went there and noticed Valerie has let everyone know I'm posting this day-journal here; I wondered how I had some 41 registered hits here in two days here (hit counter on the bottom of the page) when really nobody knows it's up, cool. Hi all! (I see where Patti Roth responded about the San Diego Fair miracle, congrats Patti on getting three in!)

5:25 p.m. update. The guy I was working with in Porec just said he'd reduce the rate to beat the online company (which I notice is the same company, but he does not know that!) He came down to 148.75 K per day ($24)! The only problem is I take the ferry back out of Rovinj, and it's a 45 min. bus trip away, but for the savings I guess I give him my business, besides I know him, I don't know the guy behind the screen somewhere else, and they have not gotten back to me anyways. I'll see if he'll throw in a free day for my hassle.

6:40 p.m. update: No, but he's going to let me drop it off here in Rovinj, as they have an office here, that's cool. I told him we have a deal. T.U.L, very affordable deal, and $100 less than the online deals. In this tough economy, it all adds up.

(NOTES from later on: the online folks never confirmed the offer, so it would not have worked out with then anyways, glad it worked with this other guy).

Here is a video of this town: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fb-SQ_8yQnI&feature=related

Here is one my friend Josip sent me about Rovinj:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=DjDKOFPBvUo

You'll fall in love with these towns by watching them, well done, and I've seen much of it in real life now.

9 p.m. update:  Just got back to the Cvajner Cafe, where the very nice worker bee, Andro Djuraki, was nice enough to watch my computer so I would not have to lug it along with the camera gear around the port. This place is too cool, very artsy, as there is a lot of art on the walls first of all, but it looks more like a youth hostel in overall setup, with large, unmatched, comfortable lounge chairs all over, etc.. The change the art regularly, done by locals, and I took a iPhone 360 there- with him ending up in it twice and me once, he had not seen the app and was blown away.  It was Odlicno (excellent in Croatian).

Click to enlarge
My favorite place to update my reports, and have an espresso, cappuccino or a beer, was
this wonderful, funky, artsy place, Cafe Cvajner, that Andro Djuraki worked at.

So, I just worked the port and got one for today. Actually two, but in the same spot more or less. The first was of a single, small skiff, just off a narrow wooden dock, but separated from it, giving it it's own space. And looming in the background were the large ship building cranes. Yeah, still enamored with them, must be a guy thing. Reminds me of a great shot, that none of my sponsors picked, from Essouira, Morocco, of some giant tuna boats, supported on beam out of the water, being worked on in the foreground, while a set of them sat way in the back, floating and looking small in comparison, but only due to distance, and the soft mist that added depth. I don't think I've posted it, but if any of you want to see it let me know, I'll scan it when I'm back home. Love to see it as a 40x50, framed to 50x60! Someday, Lord willing, when I have my giant retrospect that I'm lining up.

"... The lady answered the door and showed me the room, large with two single beds pushed together with a TV, then opened the door next to it, "

Anyway, after putting the camera away, I walked 50' down and saw the perfect little skiff to shoot, mainly as there was not a thing around it (distracting elements wise), docks, buoys, etc., plus it was just blue with white, so simple in line, form and light- it was still soft. BUT, as with the first shot, I had to wait many minutes for the waves to stop that would come in when a fishing boat went by, even though it was 1/4 mile away, leaving waves for many minutes, and thus making my long exposures impossible to take and still get a sharp photo of the boat, especially at 1/4 second, which is not too bad, but I want as much perfection that one could get, this side of heaven.

Wow, that's a long sentence, I can hear Mr. Wolf's (God rest his sole, he passed away just before our 40th class reunion a couple of years ago) senior English class at Bonita Vista High "Seewald, these stories are great, but your run on sentences have got to go"! Yeah, I wish.

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5.23.'12 / Wednesday 9:30 p.m. - Hum, near Buzet

Ok, today's update. I was up and out of my apartment, rolling my suitcase to the bus stop by 9 a.m.. Found a panifico (bakery) and got my two croissants, chocolate filled of course, and then across the street for a banana and a cappuccino. Breakfast secured I asked my way to the bus depot, only a 15 minute walk. I was amazed to hear I'd have to wait an hour and a half for one to Porec, but that's what it was. Was only 67 kn  for the trip. Got to Porec and looked up the guy at the VIP phone store whom was going to get my iPhone to be able to accept local sim cards, but he tried the new gadget he ordered and it just would not work. I thanked him anyways and then purchased his lowest priced phone, $20, and got a sim card with 50 kn in minutes. Could not wait to call Valerie and hear her voice, but it was only 3 am at home, that would have to wait.

Went to the car rental place and the gent had given up on me, knowing the bus schedule and that a half hour had passed since it'd got to town. He did not know I made the phone store detour, and said to come back in an hour, he'd be back then. That was perfect, I was going to see Niki at his restaurant, and let him know I'd put up the YouTube video, and get a bite to eat there too, it was now 2 p.m..

Zoran was there, as well as Niki, and Zoran reported they had seen the video from me posting it here, cool. I got the mixed salad and bread, and I tell you, the bread was fresh out of the oven.

Got the rental car worked out by 3 p.m., and was driving out of town by 3.30, after surveying the dents/scratches with Claudio (all except for some small ones I found under the front license plate, the car was up against the one in front of it making it impossible to survey that area, he was nice enough to work it out of that tight space, I was not used to the car yet, and it was on a bit of a hill.

I felt like a million dollars driving away, free at last (not tethered to the bus system any longer, T.U.L!)

Went to a small town up north on the coast, parked and walked around it for an hour, and then went inland to Hum, the coolest little medieval town you could ever find. I'd called Valerie just before getting here, at 7 p.m. or so, and she was so surprised to hear my voice. Short conversation, to save minutes as the cost per was still high, and then I worked this town, making one really nice image. An old wall on one side, an old building with the roof caving in, tile of course, on the other, broken walls leading you into the scene, and the rolling green mountains in the background. The sun was hitting the roof, but a shop sign was in the courtyard and I went down to turn it a bit sideways so it would not jump out like a sore thumb, to save time, but the light changed within seconds and it went from perfect to 90% perfect in short order, dang it. As it was, I was standing on a stone table to get the perfect composition, tripod and all. Took it in both slight tele, and normal lens.

"... Drove to another small medieval town, Kotli, and made a nice shot of an old home, great sidelight, but in and of itself not very pretty, but that's secondary to me creating my art."

Right after that it started to pour like crazy, and I went to the rental car to get my 'golf umbrella', as I had my emergency small one I have in a pocket in my photo vest, which worked ok, but this was serious rain, with umpteen mile an hour winds to boot.

Noticed afterwards a room for rent sign, and as it was getting near dark, accommodation thought processes started to enter my thinking. "Man who wait long time to find accommodation not to smart sometime, but creating more important sometime too".

As a matter of fact, I had been running the prices that  I would try to get for the room, out here in the boonies, through my mind. I'd thought it through, 100 kn seemed good (about $16.50 dollars, since I'd had whole apartments for $25 dollars). I saw a room for rent sign, 'Nela Apartment', did not see any stars (never saw less than three before) so was not sure what to expect. The lady answered the door and showed me the room, large with two single beds pushed together with a TV, then opened the door next to it, a large bathroom w/ shower. Cool, but how much I asked? She pulled out a price sheet, with 20 different lines, all with some sort of name in Croatian, I can only guess some said: student; professional; seniors, starving artists from America, etc.. And the funny thing was, every one had the 100 kn price next to it! Is that a God thing or what? I told her I'd take it, usually what ever the price they quote I'd offer less, but what the heck, what a deal. I told her I'd be back, the light was still good, rain or no rain, and I went out looking for more shots.

Click to enlarge
The medieval town of Hum, what a special little town.

Ran across the restaurant Humska Konoba, where I met the proprietor, a Ms Branka, I believe she said, and said I'd come back for dinner. Come to find out they had WiFi, so here I am, after my ham and cheese sandwich, doing an update, now in the dark (they closed 20 minutes ago, I told them I did not need light).

She did mention, when I asked about the parking, that they don't check after 6 pm. Cool, I did not think they'd check way out here, but come to find out this is a big tourist attraction and you pay to drive in, and pay to look around. Probably another UNESCO deal.  I had come so late that all that was closed, and it does not 'start' till 10 a.m., plenty of time to do some more looking around in the morning. The place, as in the trees for miles around, reminds me of Southern Germany, it's so lush and green, with mountains to boot. Anyway, it's bedtime, past 10 p.m. now. Hasta la Vista.

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5.24.'12 / Thursday 11 a.m. Lovran

Click to enlarge
Lovran, the southern portion of one of the the Croatian Rivera's, at one end of
a beach-side, pedestrian-only walkway some 14 km long!

Sunny, warm day w/ clouds. Ok, I'm now on the Riviera of Croatia the tourist lady just said, before I got my cappuccino on a break on this wonderful stretch of waterfront, in Lovran, at the 'Caffe Bar Ana'.

Slept well last night, what a quiet town- not a sound, zippo traffic (only saw six cars in the whole town, counting mine). Woke at 6:50 and was shooting by 7. Got two nice images, at the same spot I took the early evening shot. Oh yeah, then one of some flowers growing out of the stone work in front of Nela's home. I had breakfast after shooting, on her balcony overlooking the mountains, consisting of a superb sausage, spinach and artichoke omelet, bread w/ jam and butter, sugar pastries of some sort and a lots of coffee.

Video of my breakfast view, on Nela's back balcony: 
 

Drove to another small medieval town, Kotli, and made a nice shot of an old home, great sidelight, but in and of itself not very pretty, but that's secondary to me creating my art. Finished that town by 8:30 and came this way, eastward, then looked thru the town of Roc, and I now why they named it that (I guess). Then here to Lovran. Checked e-mail, read Drudge Report headlines, now ready to head out; pay the lady my 8kn. Onward...

9:30 p.m. update - Ozalj

Drove about 300 km to Ozalj, just north of Karlovac, near the capital of Zagreb. Found a little two star motel, M.O.T.E.L. Paulakovic and offered the 100 kn 'maximum I can spend' amount right off the bat, 'starving artist from California discount needed' I told him, and if he did not think they could find a room for that did they know of any homes renting a room that might?

Click to enlarge
Remnants of the war are all over, here is a gun turret I ran across,
there was one area where saw one every 100 yards. I saw a lot of
destroyed buildings up along the border too.
 

He said hold on, had a quick pow-wow with the wife in the kitchen and came back, 'give us 10 minutes to prep the room, I need you passport'. No problem I said, it's still light out and I'm going back out to try and create some art- no rush on the room. I did not even check it out, like I usually do, but for that price I figure as long as it's a clean bed how could I go wrong?

A gentleman hearing this popped up (later found out his name is Kovacic Zvonko), "hey, we have some great places to photograph, I'll show you!". Wow, how cool, he told me to follow him with my car and he'd point out places. He had lived in N.Y., (worked in heating and air for 25 years there, and is now retired) and was so happy to meet me. He was going to chat later on but he had to scoot, and would try to come by at breakfast time to say hi a bit longer. Hope he does.

Now here is the weird thing, the place is also a bowling alley! I did not realize it, as no one was bowling (four lanes) when I came in, but boy were they were when I got back. AND now I wondered how I'd sleep, and if he could even get 100 kn for a room? But after dinner (salad, mushroom soup and wiener schnitzel- tasty) it calmed down and nobody is bowling any longer, maybe in difference to the folks upstairs, hope so.

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5.25.'12 / Friday 9.30 p.m. Ozalj

Slept well, considering the guys that also stay here, imported Serbs that work some construction 30 km away, party VERY loud till 11 p.m, and again at 6 a.m. as they wake up talking like they are all deaf. Actually up and out around 7, at that point dead quiet, they were long gone. Found a bakery- got breakfast goodies and was ready to go find a decent cappuccino when I hear "hey Michael". What, nobody knows me in this county, that really threw me. It was Kovacic, he'd seen my rental car and stopped to say hi; he'd cancelled our morning coffee meet up due to some sort of swollen eye problem and was going to go to the doctor. I prayed for him over the phone and then we ran into each other I prayed again immediately and he decided to drive to show me a great place  for a coffee, then decided to join me anyway. His favorite place, Humicka Coffee, was downtown Ozalj. While we were going in I noticed his eye looked pretty normal, even more so when I left him, T.U.L!

Went up into the mountains and slowly drove it all day, stopping here and there to create, one especially nice spot was a water wheel, and I worked it with close up lens too. Ran into some guys pay trout fishing, you pay per kilo. There are so many trout they bit your lure with every cast, so you get your fill fairly fast- funny.

One shot I got was at the end of the mountain trip, around 5 p.m., and I was down thousands of feet now. I noticed some brush/small trees with special white flowers that looked like mini-umbrellas that are all over the countryside, and are delicate and beautiful, were covering an abandoned old stone building. Just after getting the composition it started to sprinkle. I should have know something was up when I saw the locals running for their lives. Seconds later I had to get out my emergency umbrella, luckily I'd got the shot, as my golf umbrella was 100' away in the car, and it did little to help once the buckets started falling, seconds later. I was closing the tripod down while walking as fast as I could to the car, knowing this type of downpour can ruin stuff in seconds, and I'd have no time to do so at the car (the tripod would not fit in without closing it up, and the camera was still attached and needed to get into the car ASAP before it got ruined - a three thousand dollar loss I did not need).  I needed to open the door and throw the stuff in, without breaking it, and I did. I shook the umbrella out and I brought it in after me, slamming the door and the storm out, and as I went to put in the passengers side seat I noticed my computer was all wet on the floorboard! How, I just put the umbrella on that side, how could it have got it so wet, it wasn't really there for a whole second yet?

Click to enlarge
Scenes like this scattered the mountain sides.

Oh, I looked over and mystery solved, that window was half way down; I immediately got the key in the ignition so I could get the window up, but the key was in my pocket, another 10 seconds meant a wetter computer, map on the seat, etc..  Once up, I grabbed my handkerchief and started to dry it, the camera, and then the camera bag. The map, well lets not talk about it.

Drove along Zagreb without going into the city, getting back to this area. Got one more great shot, a back lit farm on a hillside, killer. Worked till dark, and was looking to get a different place to sleep, but the only B&B was over 400 kn, so that was out. I'm back at the bowling ally motel. It works, and the diner I just finished.

Called Valerie, was nice to hear her voice, she said she has to baby sit today, then the phone cut off. She e mailed me her phone died, but at the same time mine ran out of minutes.

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5.26.'12 / Saturday 6:50 a.m. - Zagreb

Slept well, having a coffee and then going out to get some breakfast. Sunny out, not good for my light, but up here I notice it changes quickly. Planning on heading to the city area above the capital of Zagreb.

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5.28.'12 / Monday 12:30 p.m. -Varaždin

Well, been a couple of days since updating, as the place I've been staying at, the Pansion Josko, 20 km south of Varaždin, in the way north of Croatia here, does not have 'public'  internet connection. So I'm using one in Varaždin, at the Pansion Maltar, where I came in two nights ago trying to find affordable accommodations. They came down to 150 kuna, w/o breakfast, but nobody could get near the 110 Kuna the Josko charges. Funny, just found out, each is owned by a different brother.

Shot Zagreb two days ago, parked on the outskirts and took a tram in, saving the hassle of finding, and paying, zone 1 parking charges. Met Zlatko, below, near where I parked and he helped me with info before going to the city (about 3 km away).

Click photo to enlarge.
Had to shoot the tram as it left, and the main square as I arrived. After traveling through the country so much lately it was like arriving at a circus, only this place had more clowns!

I read in the tour book one 'must have an espresso in one of many downtown cafe's', and I got a neat panoramic shot of me doing so. Afterwards I walked the many old streets, something interesting on every one, here are a couple of 360 panoramas I made while doing so!

Click photo to enlarge.
Had to follow the books instructions, right? Sounded good, besides, I like coffee.

One of the first interesting places I found, and very colorful, was the open fruit market, I think the panorama did a good job of giving a person a feeling of the place.

Click photo to enlarge.
Open fruit market, Zagreb

While walking thru the old city center, I had to check out the 'Assumption of Mary' Cathedral, which had an organist making the visit a bit more special, here is a glimpse:

http://youtu.be/Q8C09NYG4CE

There was a 'changing of the guard' performance as I got to the cathedral, so I got right within a few feet of it and I captured it too.

Click photo to enlarge.
Changing of the guard, in front of the Assumption of Mary Cathedral,

When I finished my stroll and got back to the car I found out I'd somehow lost my survival knife, bummer. It's attached to my belt via a cheapie holder, and it kept coming undone and I'd hear the knife fall out, except once, but I'd found it.

Click photo to enlarge.
Mortadella and spicy salami with gouda cheese- yum
(not my photo, similar looking sandwich tough, my spicy salami was smaller and darker red).

Click photo to enlarge.
Enjoying a Caffe Bar Retro coffee and the re-uniting of my lost survival knife,
 found by the 'waitress' here (inside joke), Zlatko Gzljusic, who is from Split.

This time I ran it through my mind, I'd used it just before going into the city, to cut cheese for a home made sandwich at the car, which I ate with a cool draft at the cafe that Zlatko (pictured above) served me (good bread, some Mortadella and some spicy salami, and voilà, tasty grub). I made a photo of the entrance door (great light on panes of glass) Traditional Heritage Museum, maybe it fell out there. Or some other spots I stopped and took breaks at. Oh well.

"...some young kid was doing about 120 mph on a curve headed in my direction, with me on the outer side, ..."

I was at my car and decided to take a leak back at the Caffe Bar Retro and he first thing Zlatko did was say hey, here is your knife! TUL. I would not have gotten it back. AND THEN he said, hey I have one just like yours, here, you can keep it, and it has a better holder so you won't lose it!!? WHAT, just keep it, I said no way, but he insisted. Now I have two, and his was so similar. We chatted over my espresso, and I met his good friend John, who is an excellent keyboardist, and I got to listen to him downstairs for a minute on the new Hammond keyboard the owner bought so he could play and practice.

Then Zlatko's relief showed up, she was very nice too and had to have my website address, so I gave all three of them my business card, they all said they'd write. THEN Zlatko said he loves to play the harmonica, and they are good when you are by yourself, got one from his case and said "here, take this one, you'll love it" and gave me that too! What the heck, this guy was so nice. Zlatko, thanks for making this trip even more memorable, hope to run into you again someday.

Click photo to enlarge.
My new friend Tomislav Lončarić (Tom) took me to some of his favorite bass fishing holes,
and since I'd not fished in three weeks (I usually bass fish weekly, it's my favorite hobby)
I was a bit slow at setting the hook on the first three, which of course were all bigger.

That night I made my way up north, and found a place, the Pansion Josko, in a town called Novi Marof, that advertised only 110 kuna for a room, found it, and it was nice. Tried to get a multi-day discount, but it was a no go. I told them I'd check around, and maybe get back to them. It was around 6 p.m., getting dark, and time to find a place.

Went the rest of the 20 km to the small city of Varaždin, and found three or four places, all three and four star, with nothing under 150 kn, most about 300 to 400 (usually including breakfast at these nicer places). So after a couple of hours I went back and checked into the Josko, and found out they did not sever dinner. So I high tailed it to a pizza place, but it just closed (now 9:30). Further down I found a fast food but most lights were out. The lady was closing, but was nice enough to turn the grill back and and make me a wonderful hamburger. Again, the buns are twice the size of US ones, and the meat larger overall. Wonderful. Back at the Pansion I found out they did not have internet, oh well.

The next day, Sunday, yesterday, I took the day off to honor the Lord, (thank God he said to do so, as I used to work seven days a week before I became a believer, and what a bonus that was to find out, what a command! what a country!) and went fishing. I'd met Tom online through a bass fishing website, and he was nice enough to show me his 'honey hole's' as we call them. He even loaned me his high quality fishing pole (I got a cheapie telescoping one from Italy a few years back, works but hardly).

Of course we hit it off well, we both love the sport. He had bought me a one day license, which ran 60 kn, and would not take money for it. Then he got us a couple of beers for the lake (lunch we'd come back for he said) and we went over the main river north of town, through a few villages, and about 20 km later we got out and proceeded to get sun burnt, as well as catch fish (well, Tom did, a dink as we call them, about the size I got later in the day, and pictured above, although we could see one pounder swimming around, none wanted the variety of baits we tossed at them. About three p.m. he had to go, so we found a neat restaurant and had Greek salads, and I got an order of Bolognese spaghetti, which would come in handy as I again would miss finding a place to grab a bite later and as I could not finish it doggy bagged it to go.

BUT the best catch of the day was when I came back to town and looked for a bite to eat, stopping at the Pansion Maltar, and after hearing they didn't serve dinner, only breakfast, and although I was famished, I asked if they had WiFi and could I use it. Yes, she said, and no password needed. Cool, and upon opening it up (remember, no connection for two and a half  days), something from Valerie from the day before read 'GREAT NEWS', what could that be? I opened it, she said one of my sponsors from this trip wanted one of my last released images, the Hanoi Train Station, in a 30x40 size! Wow, can always use a sale, will take the pressure off. I called her and her phone was off, probably in church, it was noon back home.

"...then Stef's son Slavko showed up and made me a proposition, if I'd speak at their photo club Friday night he'd throw in two nights stay and a dinner! "

Did not find any restaurants, so I headed 'home', knowing I had some leftover Bolognese spaghetti from the excellent lunch Tom and I had. Before eating it, I tried calling Valerie to get particulars and any other updates, and she answered this time. After getting only 2 minutes- need to buy more minutes for the phone here, I went and had the leftovers with some meats and cheeses. That after I almost got locked out, getting back at just after 10:30 pm, then read the sign at the locked door "only guests with keys after 10:30", but I'd left my room key, with the outer door key I guess, at the reception desk that morning. BUT luckily the front cafe was open, they had not closed that part completely, another 1/2 hour I'd of had to sleep in the freezing cold car, T.U.L.

Slept well, as usual, up and out by 9 a.m., and got here, the Pansion Maltar, to check further e mails and post these new pictures and updates, along with have their 35 kuna breakfast, ham and cheese omelet, yogurt, fruits, breads, OJ and double cappuccinos, yum.

But time flies, and after sending all those panoramas I've shot for the past week to my email (can't download them direct off my iPhone for some reason, used to) so I could work on them, and then upload them, then double check the spelling of places and peoples names, double check facts, etc., well, you get the point, it's a lot of work, and now it's 4:30! Yep, time to get to my other work, shooting. AND the clouds came in, even a little sprinkling, yeah, it was sunny when I arrived, bad light- so see ya... (oh, have to send a copy of my bass photo to Tom, so a few more minutes).

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5.29.'12 / Tuesday 11:30 a.m. - Ivanec

Click photo to enlarge.
My new friends at the Kavana Ivana coffee shop, in Ivanec, from left to right:
Kristina Breznjak (going to Orlando next month, recently hired by Disney Cruise lines- how exciting), Dejan Pintaric, manager, and Ana-Marija Petrina.
Thanks for all the great service over many days guys.
 

Well, drove south to Ivanec yesterday afternoon after getting some more sandwich items for lunch, and getting another 100 kn 'tomato' phone card to recharge the minutes on my cell phone.

I arrived in town and had a coffee at the Kavana Ivana coffee house in the middle of town, popular with students. The said there was only a three star hotel here, so I drove further south. About 20 km out of town I gave a quick prayer as I had not seen a B&B since before Varaždin, three days earlier. Five seconds later I see a sign with a bed, said Apartman Eva, so I turned and thanked the Lord. But 10 km up the road, and three or four villages later, I realized either I passed it, or it was out of business. U-turned and went back to the main highway, got gas, and asked about it. "Nope, nothing but 20 miles back in Ivanec" they said. "Are you sure, I thought a sign read Eva", they thought hard, "oh yeah, one up that direction about 2 km.

I headed off, and noticed there was no sign on that road about it, I thought I'd let the foks know, if they didn't, they are missing business. I saw another sign now, cool, then another, pointing to the cemetery on the hill! "What the heck, I don't want to go THERE yet!" I thought to myself, is this a joke?

As I drove up to the cemetery I notice the road turn and run up along the side of it, "Thank God" I thought. At the top of the mountain another sign took me on a smaller road yet. Then I found it, a three star apartman. OUCH, three stars, why can't they just have some simple rooms around the places I thought, the last three star, out in the hills place wanted 400 kn!

A nice lady named Anreja (pron. Andrea in English) came out and introduced herself before I even got out of the car. Her limited English communicated the room would be 25 euro (200 kn). OUCH. I said that would be too much, that I'd been paying 90 to 110. She said 'Oh, you one people, price for two (notice I hear that most of the time after I say it's too much now), single people 16 euro."

"How much in Kuna" I ask (that's the money here, and what I now know, don't like converting euro to dollars then to kuna.

"... Lovely. By the time I trudged downhill though a cornfield, weed field, and down to the farmhouse to get it larger, then set up the tripod, put the right lens on, re-compose twelve times- inch to the left, two inches to the right, no not good, back to the left, the clouds that gave me the soft light disappeared- rats,"

"150 kuna." That's better I said, and she showed me the room. WOW, all brand new, tv, shower, wood flooring, coffee maker, candles, art, green and white 'stones' placed around in groups for added feel, etc.. "Very nice, you take 120 for two nights?" I said in broken English to communicate better with folks like her. She said Ok, TUL! "My husband Slavko speaks good English, he come now, give one hour to clean room".

"No problem, I have to go make photos now, great light."  as I pointed to the sky so she might understand.

"Restaurant by church good" she added as I got into the car, "Thanks" I replied and drove off, looked for photos for another 1/2 hour, then went to suggested restaurant and had a salad and small pizza.

Upon returning Slavko Steficar, her husband, was there, went to his wine cellar where he treated me to some brandy he made, then some white and rose wine. Very friendly guy, we had a nice chat. Problem here was they have TV, and I had not watched any for two weeks, ended up seeing an old Mad Max, and some Mr. Bean comedy, getting to bed around 1 a.m..

Up a little before 9 and had some of the supplied coffee, did laundry by hand, as usual, and hung it to dry on their back porch. Nice to have clean clothes again, obviously.. Came to town (Ivanec) and found out the Kavana Ivana has internet, as well as free parking (the town has pay parking) and I've been updating from there. Nice folks run it, and heck, cappuccinos are only 7 kn, down from the one for 12 kn I paid on the outskirts of town earlier.

5.29.'12 / Tuesday 9:50 p.m. update.

Click photo to enlarge.
My, and hundreds of others, dear friend- associate pastor 'Bear', passes just before I left.
Bummed I could not make his memorial! RIP buddy, I know you will, you're in good hands now. MS

Back at the Kavana Ivana cafe... almost never made it; some young kid was doing about 120 mph on a curve headed in my direction, with me on the outer side, and could barely keep it on his side. He was actually straddling the line and skidding sideways a bit, almost skidding into me head-on! How he held the curve I'll never know, he went by so fast he was only a blur, wow. You never know when your time is up, that's for sure, guess mine was not today. He and his passenger maybe was though, or someone on the next curve!?

Well, a bitter sweet day it ended up being. Forgot till about half way through the day that my good friend of 25 years, and associate pastor at North Coast Calvary Chapel, George "Bear" Trillizio's memorial was today. I can tell you, I shed a few tears in memory, especially when a song came on about a lady wanting her lover back, 'un-break my heart' she sings to him, and I lost it then, as that was my cry to the Lord, and many folks cry today "un-break our hearts Lord'; it's been real hard on me and HUNDREDS of others, he was well loved, but we rest knowing he is definitely in a better place now anyways, bitter sweet.

And the sweetest part was the completed sale of Dr. Charles Cantor's 'Hanoi Train Station, Vietnam, a 30x40 in size, a $10,000 image (now valued at $10,500, as there are only 25 in that size so the increase with each sale of $500), TUL!

Click photo to enlarge.
Our latest sale: A 30x of Hanoi Train Station, Vietnam, sponsored by Dr. Charles Cantor.

That takes a lot of strain off of me, and Valerie, and came in less than an hour of deciding to dedicate this Croatia series to Bear. Knowing him he was up there whispering in the Lord's ear, "Lord, that Michael guy sure is nice to do that, couldn't you bless him with a nice sale and some great things to shoot?" He always had a big heart.

Click photo to enlarge.
Lake Trakoscan, shot in memory of Bear on 5.29.2012

Because I made two nice images right after that too, at Trakoscan lake, next to the Trakoscan Castle, what a castle too. Had an excellent dinner at 8 p.m. back in Lepoglava town where I'm staying, mixed salad and grilled calamari with butter and garlic, yum. Then high tailed it over here for the update, 10 km away, now back 'home'.

Good night all...

5.30.'12 / Wednesday 10:30 a.m. - Ivanec.

Updating from the Kavana Ivana once again... slept like five million babies, love my little apartment out in the boonies. When I got in last night I was surprised to see some stranger out in the front yard, and asked if he was staying there. He said yes, introduced himself, and then said he was a friend of Stef's, the father of Slavko, the proprietor of the apartments, who, was also there but down in the wine cellar with another friend, and all three invited me to  a variety of sliced meats and cheeses, and a glass of their white wine  Stef makes, mixed with seltzer water. NOTE: the seltzer water, 1/2 and 1/2 with the white wine, is a local custom there I found out, it 'stretches' the wine out in that you can drink a lot more and not have it affect you like it would straight! You only do it with the table wine they said, you would not want to ruin a 'good wine'. It turns it into a kind of 'bubbly too'.

We chatted for an hour easily, and then Stef's son Slavko showed up and made me a proposition, if I'd speak at their photo club Friday night he'd throw in two nights stay and a dinner! Heck, why not, so I said I'd be honored, and that they should get a good English speaking interrupter (not that he's bad, but he knows he's not great) and said he already had someone in mind.

Watched that dang TV again until the wee hours (I like it more when rooms don't include them, less temptation to stay up late), got up and out a little after 9. I've already had my croissants, caught up on all the world news, via DrudgeReport.com, checked and replied to my e-mails, started my YouTube video on my shooting a 'tree-scape' yesterday afternoon, which I'll post below in another 20 minutes (takes forever to upload them) and am already on my second cappuccino (only 7 kn each here).

Video of me creating a tree-scape:

5.31.'12 / Thursday 10:30 a.m. - Lepoglava.

Yesterday did not go to well. Found an image in the early afternoon, a farmhouse foreground, set of homes mid-ground, and small town background, all red tile roofed w/ rolling hills of blue and green disappearing to infinity. Lovely. By the time I trudged downhill though a cornfield, then a weed field, and down to the farmhouse to get it larger, then set up the tripod, put the right lens on, re-compose twelve times- inch to the left, two inches to the right, no not good, back to the left, the clouds that gave me the soft light disappeared- only sunny skies for the foreseeable future. I packed up and trudged back the steep hill, thinking I should double the price of all my art, THIS PHOTO-ART IS ONE TOUGH FIELD. But hey, my prices are already top shelf, so forget that idea. Onward I said, and I did.

To find a nice image not far from there, an real nice S-curve highway across the ravine, with houses in each corner of the scene, a big tree on bottom left, big house on bottom right (after moving right in a field to accomplish this balance), get the proper lens out, check the light reading on my light meter, put on the cable release so as to not move the camera when I trip the shutter, and bang, the sun came out from behind the one little cloud that had given me the necessary light, DANG IT again, as not a cloud in the sky for miles!!! How frustrating, then thoughts of raising my prices went through my head again, then thrown out again. I went to my car, got out of the sun and heat, and waited. A half hour later I went and took a look-see, not a cloud for miles still. Onward towards Krapina, the town I was headed towards that is just south of Slovenia.

In Krapina town I found a parking place that was a bit out of town, in the dirt off the road, a fine, 'no have to pay' spot with about five other folks, and went and got a big Coke at the local Konzum store (these stores are like the national store, a few in every city and one in every town/ never drink sodas hardly, but this was a rough day, I needed one), and walked the town. Found a free WiFi coffee bar, checked e-mails and then spent a half hour trying to figure out how to get back on the road I came in on, which never happened. I did find a back road that looked like it would connect me and it did.

But that was after I found this great shot, another 'across the valley' shot of farmhouses with strong, now, backlight highlighting the whole scene up, reminiscent of a couple I've made over the decades, one in N. Spain specifically, if fact, here it is:

Click on image to see larger.
Northern Spain.  Sponsored by John VanWart of Reno, Nevada.

The owner of the hotel (husband Damir Dobravac)  was now in, and he brought out some of his own grappa products for a night cap. His wife Natalia showed up, who spoke good English (he didn't), and I showed them a lot of my work on the computer, which I had out and checked e-mails on there WiFi. They told me about their large farm outside town, where they grow their own food and have a vineyard. The family started it in 1960. We parted good friends, and she said they'd put me up next time, in the four star section of the hotel, and trade for art! Here is a video of their nice hotel! Cool.

I got to bed about midnight, and I had to get up at 4:45 a.m. so I could shower and walk to the ferry on time.

6.13.'12- D-day (departure day). Rovinj
(with updates after trip was finished, from Del Mar).

Slept well for only getting 4.5 hours of sleep. The ferry was to leave at 6:30, and the instructions said to be there an hour before hand. Now that seems like overkill, but I did not want to screw up. I was out in the rain walking by 5:15 a.m..

As I did I noticed the ferry had not moved, it was still parked there. Oh well, it was early still. I grabbed two chocolate croissants on my way there, from a shop I'd found out that's open at 5:30 a.m., and stuffed them in my film bag; I wanted to eat them with my cappuccino- tradition. Went to the departure area, and not a soul was to be seen. What about the check-in people, shouldn't they be there at least? I waited about 10 minutes, nothing. Maybe they would leave where the ship was. That was 15 minutes back the other way, I did not want to go there and miss the sign-in if it was back here, what to do? The flier said the boarding closed 15 minutes prior to departure, and you'd lose your money and seat- no refunds.

I called the number on ticket- machine. Left my number, but figured that was probably a waste of time. Saw three guys go by with luggage. "Headed to the ferry?" I shouted out. "Yes" one replied. Cool, we're cooking with oil now. Went back to the dock, and stood in line with them. It rained some more, I got my umbrella back out, they stood there in the rain. Another 10 minutes went by, now it was 6, and still no ferry employees to sign anyone in, and no ferry. Then behind us we see a lady set up a table by the police station, so we went and signed in. The ferry showed up then too. We boarded, the rain came down harder.

We took off right at 6:30, and I got some shut-eye. This was going to be a three hour ride. But we actually went in reverse, as I woke up to hundreds of folks boarding 20 minutes later. We were now in Pula. They were day tourists to Venice- Germans and English groups. I got up and got a cappuccino finally, as the snack bar was now open, and my croissants were squished like pancakes, but tasty as ever.

We started to arrive in Venice at around 11 a.m.. As I looked out at the water, something strange seemed to be happening. It was still raining, and the guy announced it would be humid, but there seemed to be a steam developing along the top of the water in the distance. Didn't make sense, it was not cold outside so there should not be any steam. As I tried to see better through the wet windows, the steam got thicker, and then I noticed it was kinds swirling around. And then water was being sucked up and thrown sideways, creating the steam effect. Oh my gosh, this was a water spout in the making. Cool but scary too.

I looked to the right, and big waves started to hit the reefs next to us, but that did not make sense, we were not shooting out any wake, it as a no wake zone. Nobody was. Then the whole ferry was suddenly enveloped in such a white out, which did not make sense either, what was causing it, fog? Rain? No, it didn't seem to be rain, no water slapping windows. Was the steam so bad? I told the English folks I was sure there was a water spout going on, and now we were in the middle of it, but we could not see anything to make sure.

I was very concerned, but nobody else around seemed to realize the danger/strangeness that was happening. I realized the captain would not be able to guide the ship by visuals, we had zero visibility. I was afraid we'd hit another ship, or run over a small boat, as it happened so quickly.

After a few seconds all cleared up, and then I felt it had really been a water spout, but how big I had no idea. I mentioned it to folks, but nobody believed it, or said anything. They were too interested in trying to now see the sights of Venice go by. Heck, I'd already shot the city for over a month, it was not my first sight of it, so I was not as enamored as these folks.

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Click photo to enlarge

I did not get to see this tornado, which is called a 'water spout' over water, as it formed right over us as we approached Venice, then whited out our view as we were right in the middle of it. And thank God our ferry was so large it was not ripped to shreds or lifted out of the water, as we were smack in the middle of it all.

 It was reported roofs were torn off where it did go over a couple of small islands nearby, boats upended, sunk, etc., but no deaths were reported, thank God. And thank God it missed 'Venice proper', or a lot of deaths would have occurred! I read about it on the way home the next day, and found these videos while waiting for my connection at the Atlanta airport.

http://earthsky.org/earth/tornado-caught-on-video-in-venice-italy

Article: http://italychronicles.com/tornado-hits-venice/

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After arriving in Venice I made my way to the train station and purchased a 'super saver' ticket to Milan, something I noticed was available on their website. A few seats on every train sell at about 30% off standard fares, and the guy found one for me (19 E instead of 39 E).

It was a two and a half hour train ride, so I snoozed a bit, and when I arrived in Milan I debated getting a motel room. I knew of one I'd stayed at years earlier, but it was quite a few blocks away, and I was dead tired. I also knew I would not sleep well, and would have to get up super early to get back and get to the airport, making it another 4 hour night, so what the heck. I thought I'd just stay at the airport, was then certain I'd make my plane, and I could crash for one night on the floor, pretending I was back camping like in boy scouts. Besides, I'd actually get more sleep.

But before I got my ticket I noticed how nice the Milan train station was, with soft afternoon light flooding in, and that it would be great subject matter for my art. So I created at least four nice images, a diptych of the main entrance, and some cool reflection shots up in the main platform area. At one point a policeman came up and said 'no photos', seeing I had a tripod (I was expecting this the second I'd set up, and kept praying nobody'd bother me), and I got away with it for over an hour. This happened while a guy with an iPhone took my picture taking a picture. Of course, the policeman said nothing to him or the dozens of other tourists taking pictures all over the station! :/(

Click photo to enlarge
When ever I see a scene now that looks great in every directions I get out my iPhone and capture it in 360, as was the case here, just before heading to the Milano Malpensa Airport.

Click photo to enlarge
Photographed the actual platform area of the station, just after a station policemen said 'no photos'.
 

Afterwards, about 9 p.m., I got my ticket to the Malpensa Airport and went there, it's probably an hour away. I had a Gyro sandwich for dinner, browsed the shops, and had a glass of beer waiting for midnight so I could hit the sack.  Most folks that stay overnight, and there are always a few, sleep sitting up in the chairs. They have little arm rests between each one, so folks can't lay down on them. I found a little spot near a staircase that was kind of hidden from everyone and threw some of my extra clothes down and made a bed, and slept till about 6 a.m.. I slept quite well considering, as the intercom announcements stopped around 12:30 and did not start up until about 6 a.m..

Got my usual breakfast and checked my bags in, then got through customs/ x-rays without a hitch, T.U.L.. The officer said the usual 'film safe' when I asked for a hand check, pointing to a sign 'film up to 640 ISO safe'. I immediately pointed to some marked 3,2000 ISO in my bag, and he grudgingly took it and went and hand checked it.

The flight took off late, as they said the plane needed dogs to go through it for some reason, and we boarded about 9:40, 10 minutes before original departure time. We got off fairly quickly, considering, and the pilot made up time, even though it was against the wind (at about 700 km per hour against us).

The Boeing 767 was 80% full, so the back three rows were basically empty, that's where I reserve my seats. So the 10.5 hour trip was shortened up by my stretching out for a two hour nap over the three middle seats,  as my row had. That was after watching the best two of the first three films offered/shown on the overhead TV monitors (not as nice as the bigger planes, where the monitors are on the seat in front of you and you get choices to view). I did get to see the new Robert Downey Jr. movie- Sherlock Holmes 'A Game of Shadows', it was quite good, love the slo-mo effects of his thinking an attack out before it happens.

Also saw 'This Means War', a pretty cool C.I.A. comedy with Reese Witherspoon, Chris Pine and Tom Hardy. Slept through the third movie.

When I arrived in Atlanta at I re-checked my bag after clearing customs (and getting film hand checked -no problem again- good ole USofA) and went to my gate. I  plugged in my computer and iPhone to charge it up, but did not have internet connection, that's extra through the airport if you want it, so I just typed up some notes and bided my time. I had about an hour wait. But after awhile I could not figure out why they would not start boarding, as the flight was scheduled to leave at 3:40. When I finally heard them start to talk about boarding, they mentioned San Francisco- WHAT? So I looked, as I was way off to the side and could not read the gate info, and sure enough it'd been changed to San Francisco.  I quickly found my new gate number and ran, but it was too late, they had just left. I was bummed, as the next one was at 7:30, a long wait.

So I waited, and as we started to board someone getting off late from the group that just got off, with kids, got sick and the plane quit boarding to have a clean up session. Then as we started to board again the management decided to shut the airport down, a storm was coming. We waited for 15 minutes before we heard thunder, and then for an hour and a half the thunderstorm kept us waiting. They were starting to talk of getting us a hotel room and flying us out the next morning, as San Diego airport stops allowing landings after 11 p.m., as the flight path goes right over a lot of homes in downtown.

I prayed we'd get going, the plane was oversold, and I was tired. We finally got the ok before the deadline to leave, after the lady first said, jokingly, the plane was cancelled- very funny lady! But because the whole airport had been closed for so long, it took us over a 1/2 hour to take-off, meaning we'd be getting to San Diego late, and I was concerned they just turn us around at any moment, canceling. But we took off, and sure enough, we landed at 11:30. Guess Delta will have to pay a fine? Don't know.

Upon arrival I called Valerie, she came with friend Gale Cunningham, and they were waiting at baggage claim.   I got my bag, which got there a few hours ahead of me, but took a while to find Valerie as they went to a different baggage claim. And then we took a while to find the car, they forgot where it was parked, and we walked around lost for about 20 minutes. Talk about bushed! When we got home it was around 1 a.m..

Thank U Lord for such a wonderful adventure, and for letting so many folks/friends pray for Valerie's and my safety while we were separated. Can't wait to see the final results, I'm sure they will be spectacular.

Michael Seewald Galleries
Del Mar Plaza
1555 Camino Del Mar, Ste. 312, Del Mar, California, 92014 USA 
Phone: 858.793.3444 
Open Wed. thru Sun., 2 p.m. till 8 p.m.
Friday and Saturdays till 10 p.m..
Call first if going out of your way, we sometimes close to run errands.


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