Hotel Waldinger Osijek

... girl caught my eye. It was a clever design but on her was poorly executed. "Czech These Out" was emblazoned across the front in the red, white, and blue of the Czech flag. Just below Czech These Out were two small arrows pointing at where two boobs should be. Maybe she bought the shirt at the sex museum.

I looked and I looked but I just couldn't figure out what the arrows were supposed to be pointing to. Right on cue ...

... this keyboard either /all the non letter keys dont do what they say and in fact the y key is z and the z is y /go figure.!!!!
MOre pita for dinner when we got home.
We also went through Vukovar which suffered severe damage during the balkan wars. V ery sad to see. Some houses deserted and others fixed. Some big water tower and factory very badly damaged.
Rosa,s birthday today and I bought a card that I wasnt even sure said happy birthday!!!

Spent day before zesterdat sightseeing in Zagreb with Rosa's Mums cousin and daughter, then to dinner with her cousin. Caught trams which is easy!
Yesterday we travelled by bus from Zagreb to Rosa's cousin in Osijek in the east of Croatia near the Bosnian border. We are having a great time. Yesterday we ate constantly from 4:30 until 10pm! Sznitsel, salad, then off to Uncles for meat and cheese platter, pastries (savouries) followed by cake, then home for icecream! Fantastic ...

... its back on the road. For the record Pancevo is a nice looking town; vaguely germanic but chaotic. Also has drinking fountains for water bottles.

This towns claim to fame is its huge chemical works that spreads several miles south of the town although they did build a cycle path so its easier riding. This area is basically plain so the main hazards are road surfaces, traffic and the heat .
Beyond this area the towns are normal but I spot with some disquiet that some ...

Woke up feeling a bit better and decided to ride the bike around the city as practise. Also on a mission to buy suncream, camping gaz and a gym bag. I was also very excited to receive an email from a girl i met in sofia.

So I rode over the bridge to the supermarket and got suncreme. And discovered that my watch was an hour fast. Then I remembered passing a large superstore ...

... did generics and this inhaler is still in copyright. It was a rather impressive performance from somone with basic english from school who struggled with numbers. And I was very impressed by her willingness to be as helpfull as she could. So back to hotel for another lie down, internet, snooze, eat etc and the evening is done. And a photo to show how plush the room is.

... operating or whatever. there was one major hotel in the centre. A tower block, restaurant, disco, coach out the from and some sort of conference in progress. I asked the price (although i still needed to find a bank) and she quoted in dinar and euro (35). In hindsight this was reasonable but it semed a lot after last night. But I had an baseeline and knew a rough exchange rate. So it was time to ride round town looking for adverts for places to stay. Its a complete nightmare as ...

... a stern look.There followed heavy slavic style chat with the staff, and eventually it transpired that if I wanted passport back, then a trip to the local nick was in order. So much for an early start. At this point he tottered off. After further discussions the chef was unwillingly dragged from somewhere in the back as an obilgitory chapperone (I wasnt allowed to cycle there alone) and drove me the two minutes to the local station. Desk sergeant gave me ...

... felt as if I was on a highwire waiting to tumble one way or the other... It was a beautiful ride, though, and the nature park was a delight full of birds and deer. I then took some back-country roads, stopping more frequently as the day got hotter and hotter. Thank heavens for the Cyline maps, which kept me guided, for although the Croatians have signs marking the Danube Route, they do it differently to the other countries I'd passed through, where arrow ...

... travel stories of his own, smoked and drank, new everyone in town and the next few villages. some great camp spots including a gazebo near the sighting of the 'virgin mary mother of our lord'. in the morning we took a closer look at the shrines set on the playground where she was spotted. it was quite a shrine and the landscape crew was dusting it off after a long winter, weed wackers, brush burning, trash burning ...