Pula and the Istria Peninsula

From Zagreb we headed west to the Istria Peninsula and our meetup with German cousins Ric and Stephi and their daughter Emilia. We rented separate apartments at a beach resort near Pula at the southern tip of the peninsula. The air is hot (85) and the Adriatic Sea divine. The 70-degree water, buoyantly salty and crystal clear, makes for ideal swimming. After an afternoon of swimming, there's a nap for that...in a bed under the trees!

Zagreb, Croatia

While sitting at the departure gate at SFO we booked an Airbnb room for our first night in Zagreb. We paid using Apple Pay and in 30 seconds had an apartment booked for $44. Our hosts, Suzana and Tomislav, met us with two cold beers and in 10 minutes told us how to take the tram to the center, what to see, and where to eat. Local knowledge = priceless!

So, jet lag be damned, we set off for a whirlwind tour. First a 55 second trip on the world's shortest funicular for a view of the city. We hastily passed the Museum of Broken Relationships but didn't go in for fear of starting the trip on the wrong foot. (Though I do want to go back to the gift shop for a "bad memories eraser.")

Then a beautiful ramble down streets filled with hundreds of locals sipping beer or coffee and eating cake in sidewalk cafes that fill the streets. The vibe is slow and everyone seems to truly enjoy the pace of life here.

Fortune says...

Off on a European adventure to Croatia and Slovenia. Our first flight on an A380! Hope you'll follow along.

So long, Norway

Thank you, dear reader, for following along on our adventure. Special thanks to Arlo for taking such beautiful photos. The last photo is for you, Ann Wright. We miss you so.

So long, Norway, and thanks for all the fish (salmon, Arctic char, trout, cod, mackerel, halibut and herring)!

Oslo New Year's Eve

Our Oslo hotel made us feel welcome with an outdoor projection of a familiar green light (which made me wonder why no enterprising IMAX theater or Vegas hotel hasn't recreated the aurora in a rock & roll laser light show). Even the Norwegian 200 kroner note has a stylized tribute to the lights. A New Year's Eve midnight fireworks show went on as planned even though it was too foggy to see anything. But like chasing the northern lights, even if conditions aren't perfect, it's worth a try. You just might get lucky. We did. So keep looking up.

Other rare phenomena

As we rounded the northern tip of Norway the North Pole was only about 1200 miles away. The towns here (yes, towns!) like to boast about having the northernmost brewery, the northernmost Burger King, or the northernmost film festival. You get the idea. We disembarked in Kirkenes for our flight back to Oslo. We could see Russia from here, only a couple miles away. Not to be outdone by the northern lights, the Polar north gave us an unexpected bonus light show gift on New Year's Eve. Out of the plane windows we had a rare look at Noctilucent ("night shining") clouds, the highest in the Earth's atmosphere, visible only in deep twilight when illuminated by sunlight from below the horizon while the lower layers of the atmosphere are in Earth's shadow.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noctilucent_cloud

We've seen the light(s)

We caught sight of the northern lights on the flight in and on the second and third nights on the ferry. On the 4th night we were excited to have a clear night and be in the Arctic but, alas, the auroral activity was missing so no light show. The 5th night had moderate auroral activity predictions but because we were under a low cloud layer in a snowstorm, no go. By the last night I was scheming up ways to miss the flight home so we could see the lights again (it becomes an obsession). Late the last night on deck the clouds parted just long enough for the lights to wave goodbye. And so, just like the northern lights, we were there, and now we are gone.