The Hard Kids

I don't even know where to begin... Croatia is blowing my mofoin' mind. I could and should leave it at that, but I need to write it all since I am completely overwhelmed with the experience of today. The picture above was the view from our hostel balcony at 3am last night by the way, the moon looked amazing.

So today started off with me sleeping in and Phil leaving, which was sad... what a 'great bloke'. We started talking with these new guys from the US, Ali and Paul who rented scooters yesterday and were selling the experience to us hardcore. So the 7 of us - Ivice (the owner), Jules, Paul, Ali, Trent (new guy too), Dan and I all rented scooters, with Jules on Dans with him and me on Paul's. We decided to go down south, along the coast, with Ivice as our guide and riding the scooters. I have to say, riding up and downhill on a scooter going like 50km/h will make you realize how fragile you are. The first 15 mins of the trip, my internal monologue consisted of constant screaming inside my head, and my life flashing in front of my eyes when we almost crashed into Ali (who ended up crashing later, oh my).
This is us at the first stop of the trip. This is not even the most beautiful part of the trip, but I like the fact that I'm smiling as opposed to being in constant stress mode on the scooter hahaha. The next pic is from the same stop, but to keep in mind, the background of that pic, which I didn't show, was a huge cluster of hotels that are still damaged and broken down from all the bombings that happened 15 years ago, that are still in line to being restored. However, the coast has the constant juxtaposition of damaged buildings with shrapnel still in them and gorgeous water, like this:
So anyway, all of us on our scooters ended up looking like a gang and taking over the road, so we decided we were cool enough to give ourselves a name, hence the Hard Kids. Us hard kids got led to a place for lunch, which was great cause I hadn't eaten yet at this point. The restaurant was on the water of course, and the meal consisted of amazing free appetizers of fish and anchovies, followed by two huge platters of everything from the sea you can find, which yes, mom and dad, I actually ate!
That was followed by two huge platters of fresh fish grilled from the sea, and the entire lunch we drank copious amounts of wine and local spirits made with herbs. Our waiter was awesome, and told Jules and Dan and I about the restaurant secrets, which ended up being taking shots of some extremely potent stuff from a bottle shaped like a naked lady. Can we say random??
On a side note, we saw a tiny kitten on our way into the restaurant, who I couldn't help but take and cuddle, and the same waiter gave a huge meal of ham and milk and such. I was going to adopt him, and named him Moe Junior, but of course as soon as he was fed he left us for greener pastures. He was named our official mascot though, and made me seriously consider getting a cat when I get back. I can't rotate the picture, but damn he's cute.

On the way back, we saw a waterfall, and breathtaking scenery which I could describe but really the pictures say it all. And I have to get back to drinking to destress from a tough day. But I managed to pass my camera to Jules during the ride and she got an awesome picture of us on the scooter (mind you, the passing of the camera was while in motion as was the pic). I am just in constant disbelief that I am here, and cannot wait to come back again. I am being called by my fabulous roomies to come share some wine and great conversation - what more can a girl ask for???