Pax Medjugorje

... 1/2 hour ride to Dubrovnik. Our flights were Dubrovnik to Zagreb, Zagreb to Amsterdam, and then the long trek home from Amsterdam to Minneapolis. Those who joined the group as pairs or pairs were seated together. I was the only one who joined all by myself, so I ended up sitting alone on all the flights. However, I enjoyed the time to read, and on the long flight home, sat next to a very interesting ...

... it look tame.) Now he was climbing Apparition Hill a second time, and felt fine all the way. I will add that though my 'miracle' is not quite so dramatic, I have also climbed 3 mountains in addition to making constant walks of one to three miles, and I am not even a little bit sore. When I climbed just one mountain in Scotland, I was in pain for three days. So this is very unusual. The Joyful Mysteries lead to the site where Mary appeared to the ...

... the events at Medjugorje. I knew a fair amount, but what I wasn't aware of was that by only the third or fourth day after the very first vision of Mary in 1981, there was already a crowd of 15,000. In and of itself, that seems miraculous, for a small village in what was then communist-controlled Yugoslavia, to attract that much notice that quickly. As of today, the number of ...

... good temps, and interesting activities. But being cold for a week is not attractive and the problem is not outside; it's inside. Heat is optional in hotels here, like showers in France. 10C-50F is tolerable, especially if that's the LOW temp, but not comfortable. They probably figure THEY don't use heaters, so why should the guests? Get a clue- guests don't have kitchens. Almost any heat source would help, but a TV is not enough ...

... to climb up a hill to one of the residential areas to see if I would find anything interesting up there. I found more destroyed buildings. One in particluar stood out. You could see the bottom parts of each wall it used to have. The only part that was fully intact was the doorway which people could still walk through if they wanted to. From this building, you could aslo get a great view of all of Mostar. I then walked down the hill ...

... in that they have been slower to rebuild from the war that ended 13 years ago. You are still able to witness many of the bombed out buildings while walking around the city --- many of which have signs warning you of the dangerous ruins. I have visited many 'ruins' in my travels, but I have never considered buildings that were bombed out from such a recent war ...

... a carafe of the house red wine (very big), and the laughter in the restaurant increased, except now most of it was coming from our table. The music was good and the atmosphere friendly. Sadly, just as we were ready to enjoy a tasty treat for dessert the waiter informed us that they didn't have anything for dessert. Oh well, we probably didn't need it anyway. We went to sleep with the soothing sounds of the water surrounding us.

... can't judge fairly. The locals take full advantage of the fact that there are streams of tourists all year long, so the streets are lined with nearly identical shops full of mostly every color and material possible of rosaries. The St. James Church has mass almost continually throughout the day with rotating languages. Mostar We met with English language major students attending a university called Dzemal Bijedic and organized ourselves into small ...

... presumably stopping her from letting someone else stay there. Back in town, I visited another Turkish house, beautifully decorated with the low chairs and tables, before trying my luck again at the mosque. Alas, I got there yet again as a service was starting. The ticket man was very apologetic, but he needn't have been- after all, it's a place of worship before a tourist attraction! When I went back to the apartment to pick up my bags, someone new had arrived; Pedro. I ...

... the 1990s. It has a very famous and historical bridge that was destroyed in 1993 during the war; it spans the River Neretva. The war between the Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats was from March 1992 until November 1995. The most recent research places the number of victims at around 100,000-110,000 and 1.8 million displaced. This was a very different place to visit because no one really wants to pay the money to have the empty shells of buildings torn ...