Almost over

Today we left Croatia and returned to London. Croatia's highs were in the 90s. It's about 67 degrees right now in London. And we've now seen three of London's airports: we arrived at Heathrow, left for Croatia from Gatwick, and returned from Croatia at Stansted. So for our last day in Croatia we did manage to rent a boat. Not one we wanted, because in Croatia to rent an inboard motor boat you must have a boating license. So, we had a small outboard boat...it was all of 5 horsepower. And we had to stay around certain islands. But it gave us a chance to get on the water and see the islands. Croatia is not the place to come if you are looking for lots of white sand beaches. The islands are incredibly rocky and, if you can find a beach and not just rocks, they are often small white rocks. Little water socks are necessary here. Of the islands we were allowed to go around, only one was inhabited. In a regular boat, we could easily have stopped and enjoyed the island, but the little thing we were in just didn't lend itself to docking in rough water. We did drop anchor and go swimming. Did you know that the Adriatic is quite salty? My skin reminded me of when my family would go to Salton Sea and go skiing. While I didn't have salt rings on me, my skin had a real gritty feeling from all the salt. After our boat jaunt, we headed back to harbor and had a nice lunch. Met a woman there who was from Great Britain and has lived in Croatia for five years now. She was interesting to talk with, and she had a 1953 MG. Nice Car! Sounds like several English expats live there. We certainly heard a number of different languages while we were there. The country has really taken off, and they are building their infrastructure. Seriously, their back roads were in better repair the most of I-5 or 101. Croatia is set to become part of the European Union next summer. That's really good for a country that has only existed for 17 years. This has been a rally wonderful trip. We've seen some beautiful places and learned a lot of history. Wanted to cap it off by taking the Eurostar to Paris for the day tomorrow, but it is packed and would cost us 330 euro apiece! So, that will happen on another trip. Traveling on the Eurostar is a bucket list item for both of us, so it means at least one more trip across the pond! Since we cannot go to Paris, tomorrow looks like a shopping day. We want to see Harrods, and then to Piccadilly Circus. I could use a few items for my classroom! So, two more blogs and this trip is finished. I will let you all know what our shopping expedition yields, and then I will post some pictures when we get home. We'll be back in San Francisco on Monday night. We leave London at 1 pm and arrive in SF at 4:30 pm: how does that happen? It's a math problem - our flight is 11 hours long. So, until later.