So, yesterday started out sunny, warm and windy. Today...totally opposite. As is the norm for the second night in Europe, we both slept poorly, even with sleeping pills. We had the windows open, which is a nice change from Houston and woke to birds chattering to each other. But, we also woke to fog and drizzle.  

We wandered down to breakfast, which was mostly all homemade cheese, sausage and preserves. I truly enjoyed the wild boar sausage and bear garlic cheese, while Ken went ta bit more low key with eggs and bread with huckleberry preserves. After getting packed up, we said goodbye to Branko and Sonja and headed off to the lower lakes of the Plitvice Park.  

On the way we decided to grab a quick coffee in Korenica, the small village by the B&B. There was a little Saturday Market going, with small tables of plants, herbs and fruits/veggis. This was definitely the place to be on a Saturday morning, as the residents were having coffee, visiting and stocking up on plants for their gardens. We drank a quick cappuccino and enjoyed people watching, before getting back on the road.  

The closer we got to the park, the drearier it became. We parked in the parking lot closest to the lower lakes and decided to give it a shot regardless of the rain. The upside, we thought, was that there would be far fewer tour groups. Um yeah, well, so much for that wishful thinking. We got to the entrance of the park and there were masses of tour groups. Not just one or two...but three, four or more. We edged our way past to the trail only to find that the main trail was closed for maintenance. We took the suggested detour and after a mile couldn't find any way down to the lake to see the "big waterfall".  

This waterfall is one of the tallest in the world and while we could hear it from the trail,but due to the fog we couldn't see anything. The normal trail would take you down to the bottom and then you can hike up the stairs along side. Along the trail we continued to weave our way between German, Japanese and French tour groups. We finally gave up and headed back to the park entrance. We did find out that we passed the one way to get down, but that area was so packed with tour groups we didn't see it. Oh well, we had a nice hike in a beautiful forest.  

The drive back to Split was a lot faster than yesterday. No GPS issues and we made it back to the Le Meridien in 2.5 hours. After checking in and relaxing, we decided to take the car back to the airport, so that tomorrow we can just grab a cab to the bike group meeting place. When we got to the airport we found that taking the Airport Bus into Split was $10 for the two of us, while a taxi was $60. That was a no-brainer, except that we ended up waiting an hour for the bus to leave. Oh well...we saved $50 (we kept telling ourselves).  

In Split we enjoyed some dinner at a restaurant that was reasonable and was great for people watching. I have Cevap, which is actually from Bosnia and is like a ground beef sausage, while Ken had a black cuttlefish risotto dish. Both were great and with 1/2 carafe of wine, the total bill was $25. Not bad.  

Once done, we wandered around the town, which has some amazing ruins. We stopped at one place to enjoy a glass of wine, listen to some music amongst the ruins. Our two glasses of wine cost the same as dinner!  

Then it was back to the hotel for some rest before hopping on the bikes tomorrow!