Breaking News, and the Developed Story. Really now.

***Cynthia lost her wallet in Cologne. She was being very stupid and left her backpack open, and it must have fallen out at the train station. But all relevant cards have been canceled, and she has an appointment with the DMV on Friday morning at 11am to get a new driver's license.***

Where did we leave off?

Ah. Yes. We should finally explain the speeding ticket incident.

After spending the morning in Rijeka and cavorting with a giant bottle of Fanta (there was a promotional event going on for Fanta's new Brazilian flavor - we even got free samples), we were quickly (and quickly indeed) on our way through Senj to the Plitvice Lakes, then to Bosnia.

However, the fates (or the Croatia police) wouldn't let us get away with the "quickly" part. We were stopped at a speed trap, going 89km in a 60km zone. But EVERYONE was going that fast. So, like the good drivers we are, we pulled over.

The fine was 300KN (kune, the official currency of Croatia - about a 7:1 ratio to US dollars). We had 240KN on us. Hm. Problem. So, I pulled out a credit card. The police officer shook his head. We pulled our some Euro, some USD. He wouldn't take any of it, and insisted it had to be in Kune.

"Where can we make an exchange?" we asked.

"The bank," he responded. I could have heard the unspoken, "You idiots."

Huh. "We mean, for this situation now, we don't have enough Kune on us. What would you recommend?" ("You idiot," we responded in our heads)

He still insisted on the 300KN.

Finally, Daniel opened his wallet again, and withdrew 2,000 Korean Won. At that, the police officer burst out laughing, asked us where we were headed, and waved us on our way, with no fine.

This was right before we stopped by the little roadside restaurant where the owner, who didn't speak much English, asked us if we wanted "Fish or flesh?"

We finally made it to Plitvice. Cold, but very beautiful. And Daniel made me climb all the way up to a sightseeing point - I cursed him the entire way up, but the view took our breaths away. No more breath for cursing. It was beautiful.

Pictures posted here.

(http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2122773&l=c8bc6&id=2401926)