In our 2 months in Mediterranean Europe, 2 things have remained constant, regardless of which country we are in. The first is that at some point during the day we will hear this ˝Umbrella˝ song by Rihanna. The second is that it will be sunny and nice. Picture postcard perfect everyday, all day long.

Well, as even Cal Ripken Jr. can tell you, all streaks must come to an end. Today we went to Plitvicka National Park in Croatia, and it rained…a lot. It was absolutely beautiful, despite the weather, but it was a little annoying to be cold and damp for a change.

As for Rihanna, thankfully her streak was broken as well. Todays Croatian radio playlist consisted of bizarrely deep album cuts from Steely Dan and Billy Squire.

While I´m mentioning music, ironically there is a song here called ˝Goodbye Philadelphia˝ that is also hugely popular. Kind of ironic, but it gives us something else to reference our hometown with people we meet after we try ˝Rocky˝ and ˝Cream Cheese˝ .

Mike got a slice of nostalgia as he ate a poppyseed strudel.  

At the waterfalls, ladies along the path sell honey, cheese and strudel. Although Mike ate it all, he commented, it wasn’t as good at the strudel his mom bought growing up.

It was cold. And it rained on and off all day, but we donned our rain jackets and headed out regardless. The Plitvice Jereza waterfalls are halfway between Zadar and Zagreb. Waterfalls and cascades are found throughout the 18km park. Many different walking trails, ranging from 2-8 hours can be taken. We chose the shortest route(2-3 hours). Much of the hike requires walking across wooden bridges connecting the trail, often crossing over the many lakes that make up the park.

There are waterfalls everywhere, ranging from one foot high to 40 feet. Who knows, maybe there are larger waterfalls on the longer hikes, but we didn’t see any. The one thing to note is that the water is crystal clear.