36.05 Croatia: Plitvicka Lakes, part 1 and sundry.

'Perhaps,' we thought, 'Here's one of the paradises we often see on Earth.





We asked the engineer to open all the spigots.




One of the fascinating events which occur quite often in our lives, surprisingly, is that of coincidences. Had we been detectives, then of course, we would not believe in such phenomena. Sometimes we do have to try emulate detectives, especially when we can’t remember where we put an item or whether we did do something we thought we had. Then we try logic to figure it out and on occasion, we succeed. I digress. Sunday a week ago, we reached a mountain peak in Austria, a little outside Bruck an der Mur and noticed another peak across the way. Why not? Two peaks in one. Off we went, followed by a local couple. When we reached the top we greeted them but never engaged in conversation. We separated and off we went.

Two days later, we were in our car searching for a trailhead in a village above the peak, Schiffall. When we found the commencement point, we failed to notice any parking spaces. Therefore, we travelled back through the village in search of somewhere to leave the car. Hard to imagine in a hamlet of a few dozen people, it’s a struggle to find a parking spot. Anyway, driving through the quaint village, I noticed a woman standing in her garden, a little to the side of the road. “Hey, Jen?” I said, “Isn’t that the woman we met at the peak on Sunday?” Jenni thought I was just looking at a pretty woman which of course is an unfair thought but nevertheless, probably true.

We found a parking space only to be told by a gardener handling a weedeater close by that parking next to the chapel was ‘verboten’. Fortunately, he suggested we park across the way. I have not reached the ‘coincidence’ part yet although I’m close to losing my train of thought and readers, too. Aha! Pays to be a detective. I remember where I was. We walked back through the village in order to reach the trailhead. On the way, I greeted a man who was standing in his garden. He looked at us and in reasonable English, although with a heavy accent, remarked something about Schiffall. I looked at him more closely and realized it was he who we had met at the peak two days before. His wife had obviously been the woman I spotted earlier.

We think that’s another great coincidence, one of many. Besides the chance of seeing someone in these two places as we did, we both had to reach the peak in close proximity on the Sunday and two days later, he had to be standing in his garden as we came walking by, many miles from where we had first met. Not such a coincidence? Okay, we’ll tell you another one…when we remember it.


Followed by some tranquility to reflect.




And we reflected some more.




"Gentle on our minds" - Mr. Campbell.




Finally, we took a step back.




...and watched the big finish.




And we moved onto another town, Senj, and watched the sun set in Croatia over the Adriatic sea.




The following morning, we left early for a hike.




Cheers,

Jenni and Jeffrey


"You know I wouldn't do that, Mom, it's a national park." (Someone else's grandchild.)




Couldn't resist one more.