AB and I got up early to move the car before 7, the sun was up at 5:30 and we had no clock except for G’s watch, so we would doze and check his watch every so often. He had complained of a pulled muscle or a cramp in his abdomen during the night, and we’ve seemed to identify it as a pulled, or strained muscle, we’ll give it until tomorrow.
After moving the car and buying our four hours of tickets from a kiosk that wasn’t a kiosk, AB and I had cappuccinos at one for the four competing pizza places on the lower square. A nice moment for us without the potential of bickering.
After we returned G and I went down to see the man at BMTA about the diving issue. I just wanted clarification. He started in with the spiel about not hearing from us and I relayed the events of Monday where the female employee told us we were all set for Tuesday at five. He said she worked on the other side of the Bay now, interesting, and called her. They had a lengthy conversation, and after hanging up he said that he was unaware that we had arranged things with her. At first he said he had not talked to the instructor who would be leading us on the dive, and said that when he saw us standing outside his office last night he thought we were just trying to get out of the sun…at 5:00? (Why else would we be there with our dive gear?) As we were ending the conversation he said that the instructor had called him and asked if we were still on for the dive, and he said he hadn’t heard from us so he canceled the appointment that had been made. Didn’t bother to call the girl who arranged it, nothing. Coward.
Do not use BMTA, useless.
AB did a stalwart job packing while we were gone. We decided to take the ferry at the narrow on the way back, very efficient, and only four Euros. Had to sit behind a tour bus that kept its engine running for the trip, but it wasn’t a problem until we had to get back into the car when we were exiting. The traffic was fairly decent to Budva, we were going to take the twisty road out of Kotor to Cetinje, but there were some low clouds and we wanted AB’s stress meter to remain low. We settled on taking our chances in Budva for lunch. If it proved difficult we would move on, if it was easy we’d stay. It was easy. Just followed the road until it ended, ignoring all the Parking signs, and ended up in a lot as close as we could get to the old town.
P wanted pizza, but we wanted something different, and as a compromise got P a slice and ate at the Budva Juice Bar, which doesn’t sound that special, but it was oh so good. Unfortunately there was no pizza margarita at the take out place and P’s slice had mushrooms, which meant a minimum was eaten. We on the other hand had a delicious lunch, the best of the trip so far. AB ordered the Orange Spice (orange, carrot, ginger), and G and I ordered Super Citrus (orange, lemon, grapefruit, lime), both very refreshing, and very much missed on this trip up until this point. P ordered a coke. AB had a wide selection of salads to choose from and she settled on the Oriental (listed as marinated soya with shredded cabbage, peppers, onions, cucumber, carrots with sesame seeds and in a sweet soya dressing). She was please with her selection. G and I ordered sandwiches, which came on homemade bread, much like a foccachia, dark and olivey. G ordered the the Classic (ham and cheese with a house sauce that was spicy with lime and garlic, AB and I dipped into that). I ordered the Juice Bar Club ( local prosciutto, local cheese, egg, and seasonal salad). Very satisfying. We finished it with a house carrot cake, really subtle, great texture. Espresso with milk to help with the drive to come.
After lunch we walked around the old town, it is very compact, shady narrow streets, lots of shops. AB climbed the stairs to the top of the old walls, and though P was resistant we walked the perimeter of the town on the path on the ramparts. P was having a little bit of a meltdown at this point, we think it was a combination of not eating enough, a coca-cola crash, and a Dramamine letdown. It was actually quite unpleasant, and her misery threatened to overwhelm the post meal enjoyment. We cut our losses and headed back to the car via the waterfront. Budva is quite beautiful and we’re hoping to come back again to take full advantage of the resources.
The climb out of the town to Cetinje was steep and rapid. No traffic in front of us made it easy, and, even with the anger in the backseat, fairly pleasant. The view of the coast was spectacular, and we enjoyed it until we wre swallowed up by a cloud and could no longer see it.
When we returned to Podgorica BK and NM had arrived. I taught Penelope how to play solitaire. Both her and G have been working hard on their card skills, honing their shuffling and fanning skills. G and I drove to the airport to pick up Z and BC, whose flight ended up being delayed from Beograd. We filled the car up for the first time. 560km on one tank of gas. 50 Euro for 41 liters. Dropped Z and BC at Hotel Podgorica, dropped G and P at the apartment, and drove with BK, NM, M, and AB to the gallery to meet B. AB made framing decisions, and I mulled over options for my small pieces that will be showing later this summer, and CD’s pieces on paper.
The entire crew went to Hotel Podgorica to work out plans with Z and BC. BK escorted them to the city center, and I took AB, NM, and M home before meeting the others for some local fast food (plentiful, tasty, just right), a couple Nik’s, and eye candy. G had gone to bed, AB was asleep (early morning television interview), and P was playing solitaire when I got home.
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment