I am amazed with how much we can do in one day even though we use public transportation and don't have luxury of a car. Being a bit patient helps, too. The clouds keep the temperatures comfortable and little summer sprinkle actuallly helps to cool things down.
Today we got a lot accomplished. The morning we spent calling different places in Makarska trying to find where we'll spent the three nights we plan to be there. We were not that successful, and the only apartment we found was not looking to the sea, and was more expensive than we planned. Around noon we took a trolley to Dobrinja. Mom visited her doctor to get a new prescription. We waited longer in line than we anticipated, because of the strike of health workers that is here every day between 10 am and noon for two weeks. The doctor's son was trying to go to study in the US, so we stayed longer talking about that. While waiting, we checked out adds in a news paper, and wrote down couple of numbers of people renting their houses in Makarska.
After the hospital we went for a coffee in a garden next door. As one of the decorations they had a steam-pot oven, the kind that was used in the war. It was surrounded with roses. In the distance we were able to see a little bridge that during the war was almost impossible to cross; it had sand bags stacked on each side up to the end of the rail, and people had to run bent down. Memories like these flesh back at me every day I am here.
We then walked down the main avenue to our old apartment to pick up bills in the mail box and check out the place. Our last stop was the tailor for another dress fitting. We had to wait about half an hour for a trolley back downtown, probably because of the very heavy rain on that side of the town. Also, the US Embassy was celebrating the 4th of July in the evening, so a part of the street in front was going to be closed and trolleys going there, that we were taking, canceled. At the bus stop we saw Mr. Ante, and older gentlemen I used to sing with in the choir. He is still so lively and optimistic and it's really refreshing to talk with him.
After the trolley ride we walked through an outside market to get some things for our beach trip and an umbrella. We then caught a bus to the cemetery, which was next on our agenda. It took me over an hour to pick out all the weeds that grew in the last two months while mom was holding the umbrella over be. It took us another 30 min, with some roads closed to get downtown. We went to couple of souvenir shops and then to a well deserved lunch/dinner - our favorite kebab place, Zheljo. With so many people on the street, we finally ran into someone I knew; our neighbours from before the war. Their daughter is just a bit younger from me, and I remember her as a kid always being shorter than me, and I haven't seen her since. Now she is a head taller than me, and has two kids.
Next we stopped at few desert places until we found the one that had good location for people watching and good selection. We set in what we call the shop window - a table up front in front of the open store window, were everyone can see us and we them.
On our ride home I saw the same friend I spent the last evening with. Walking down the stairs my mom fell down, while looking at her friend's windows who had just returned back to Sarajevo, luckily onto the grass. She has a bruise and a scratched knee, but hopefully she'll feel well tomorrow, and well enough to travel on Saturday.
In the evening we called one of those numbers in Makarska we found in the newspaper. It turned out mom's good colleague was just staying, and the owner used to live here and is a cosine of good friends of ours here in Sarajevo. The apartment is in a good location, and she gave us a good price, so we'll most likely go there.
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