My Road Trip Through Croatia and Slovenia

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In September my husband Will and I flew to Split, Croatia, to visit our son Matt, who is living there for a year. Before leaving, Will plotted a 10-day road trip from Split through mountains, lakes, and charming towns in Croatia and neighbouring Slovenia. Matt took a holiday from work to join us.  

Our trip began with a couple of glitches - the long range weather forecast predicted rain and unseasonably cool temperatures and the airline lost our luggage with our warm and waterproof clothing. Our first stop on the drive was the Mall of Split, where we bought rain ponchos, umbrellas, toothbrushes, and spare t-shirts, underwear and socks. 

Day two was Plitvice National Park, about three hours north of Split on the scenic mountainous route. We spent six hours at the popular park walking by hundreds of waterfalls and clear, green lakes. The views were awesome and we were comfortable in our five layers of clothes. The rain held off until the end of our walk, but I wore my poncho the whole time for warmth. 

Selfie on the lake boat ride

The following day, we drove to Slovenia. The highway wound past cornfields and picturesque towns, including Novo Mesto, birthplace of Melania Trump. At Ljubljana airport we were reunited with our luggage, which Split Airport had eventually located and kindly flew to our next destination. Dressed in our warm jackets, we enjoyed an evening walk in Ljubljana's downtown riverfront cafe area which buzzed with people and activity. It was lovely to see the castle, buildings, and bridges lit up on a dark clear night.    

In the morning, we rode the funicular up to the castle that dominates Slovenia's capital city. The highlight was the tower lookout's 360-degree views of the surrounding area. The recent precipitation had fallen as snow on the mountaintops, which made the city's backdrop extra spectacular. 

After our Slovenian lunch of sausages and cabbage soup, we had dessert and cappuccinos at the rooftop restaurant in Nebotičnik Skyscraper (12 stories) for more panoramic views until rain chased us into the National Museum of Slovenia. The museum portrayed the history of Slovenian peoples from Neanderthal to the present time.  

Oldest musical instrument in the world - 60,000 years old Neanderthal flute from the Divje babe cave

 

From Ljubljana, we settled in Lake Bled for three nights. On our first walk, the lake was stunning in the late afternoon light. 

In the morning, we walked up to Bled Castle and around the lake. At the far end, we hiked to a viewpoint with views of Bled Island and Bled Castle. The day's weather was perfect - sunny and high of twenty degrees Celsius (68 F).  

A lite lunch at the Bled Castle cafe 

Bled Island with church in middle of the lake, Bled Castle at the far end

On our second full day in Bled, we did a day trip to Vintgar Gorge. Since COVID, the Triglav National Park has set up a system of timed entries and one-way trails to reduce congestion during the crowded summer season. We found the gorge didn't outshine similar ones in our Canadian backyard, but the return path with views of Bled Castle and valley villages made the trek worthwhile. The park charges 10 Euro per person which includes helmets for protection from falling stones and banging your head on the rocks jutting out from the side of the gorge's narrow boardwalk trail. 

The following day, we set out for the Julian Alps, took a wrong turn, and found ourselves in a five-mile tunnel. Half-way through it, Matt's phone pinged: "Welcome to Austria." Oops! Our car rental was only insured for Croatia and Slovenia. At the Austrian end, a lineup of delivery trucks stretched for miles. 

To avoid getting stuck in the lineup, Matt found us a route through Austrian villages and a mountain pass back to Slovenia. We stopped at Kranjska-Gora, a resort town that reminded of us of Banff in our home province of Alberta.    

For several hours, we drove the fifty switchbacks (they are numbered) up and over the Vrsic Pass. We stopped at viewpoints with vistas of craggy mountains and a Russian Chapel constructed by WWI Russian prisoners of war who built the road. Many died in the process and are buried near the chapel. 

Mountain sheep brought traffic to a halt on a switchback turn

Saturday was caves. First we visited Predjama Castle, built in the mouth of a cave. Guiness World Records lists it as the world's largest cave castle. The original owner was a robber baron who possibly used the 12 miles of tunnels leading into the mountains to hide his booty. 

View from castle cave window

Postojna Cave was massive, impressive, and fun. A 10-minute train ride took us deep into the cave. A guide led us on an hour-long walk through the multitude of formations. The walk ended at aquarium of olm, a cave salamander completely adapted to life in underground water. Since food isn't plentiful in caves, olm only eat every ten years. Scientists estimate their average lifespan is 68.5 years. 

Matt, Susan, & Will on train

Olm in aquarium 

After the caves, we left Slovenia, re-entered Croatia and headed for the coast. Our last days of the road trip were sunny and warm. We took the slow and winding coastal route back to Split, stopping at seaside towns and villages. 

The summer-like weather prompted us to swim at one of the numerous beach coves along the coast. Quite a change from our cool, rainy days at the start of our drive and a fabulous finale to our road trip.   

        

  

         

 

    
 

Criminal Identification, Old School by Karla Stover

 

                                             

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BY THE SAME AUTHOR: 

   Available through BWL Books

Parlor Girls

Wynter's Way

Murder: When One Isn't Enough

A  Line to Murder

     In the late 19th and very early 20th centuries, law enforcement practiced the Bertillon method of criminal identification which claimed that the body parts of individuals had unique combinations of measurements and that comparing these measurements could be used to distinguish individuals.

     Alphonse Bertillon was a French criminologist who developed this anthropometric system of physical measurements focusing on the head and face, to produce a detailed description of an individual. This system, invented in 1879, became known as the Bertillon system, gained wide acceptance as a reliable, scientific method of criminal investigation. In 1884, French police used Bertillon’s system to capture 241 repeat offenders, helping establish the system’s effectiveness. Gradually, law enforcement agencies began to create archives of the stats of known criminals, which contained his or her anthropometric measurements such as height, head breadth, arm span, sitting height, left middle finger length, left little finger length and left foot length as well as full-face and profile photographs of the perpetrator (now commonly known as "mugshots.") 

    The Bertillon system was introduced in the U.S. in 1887 by R.W. McClaughry, Warden of the Illinois State Penitentiary at Joliet. McClaughry translated Bertillon’s 1885 edition of Signaletic Instructions Including the Theory and Practice of Anthropometrical Identification from French to English, and its use in the States became quickly and widely accepted.   

     In 1904 the government decided that all Chinese who failed to qualify for residence in the United Stated would be deported and that photographs, records of their appearance, and Bertillion measurements would be kept on file

      It's December 1906, and Deputy Sheriff Thomas Maxey of Kittitas County in Washington State, has been asked to come to Tacoma to see if he can assist in identifying Louis Hemeter as the murder of Elsie Milhuff in Renton the previous summer using Bertillon and fingerprinting identification of which he was an expert. Hemeter was a traveling watch repairer and, at the time of his arrest, said his name was John Doe. Maxey, went to Renton and found two well-defined fingerprints on the girl’s clothing which the local authorities had missed. He took copies of the prints and came to Tacoma to compare them to that of Hemeter.

     Hemeter was found guilty and sent to the prison in Walla Walla where he was held on a ward for the insane. 

    Fingerprints aside, in 1906, a Tacoma city councilman named Wilkeson began campaigning for the city to adopt the Bertillion method to help with future identifications. The police department was interested; however it took five years for the city to approve the request. 

     On December 27, 1911, the Tacoma Times headline was “City Salary List Boosted Sky High.” Nine thousand dollars was added to the city’s payroll and 7 new jobs were created, among them a Bertillon superintendent, interesting because by then Bertillon identification was on the decline. The decline began in 1903 when a man named Will West was committed to the penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kansas, where he was photographed and measured. His measurements were found to be almost identical to a criminal at the same penitentiary named William West, who had been committed for murder two years earlier and was serving a life sentence. In addition, their photographs showed that the two men, thought not related, bore a close physical resemblance. Confusion surrounding the true identities of the two men ensued and it was their their fingerprints which identified them. Thus began the decline and fall of the Bertillon system. It never quite recovered its exclusive status as the preferred criminal identification system. Nevertheless, Harry Smith, Tacoma's new employee, spent 6 weeks learning the system and then a department was set up for him in the squad room.

       Not long after this he was called to testify in the trail of Joe Parrot accused of murdering Fred Weiss. What was interesting about this trial is that Weiss had specially made shoes to accommodate an overly long toe on one foot and the need for a built up heel on the other. Weiss’s daughter and the man who made the shoes both testified that these were shoes taken from Parrot. However, it wasn’t until Smith took the stand that Parrot got nervous. Smith said, “He was the most nervous man I ever measured”

     Then farmers got on the band wagon and began taking nose prints of their cattle which they claimed were all different.

    Alphonse Bertillon is referenced in the Sherlock Holmes story The Hound of the Baskervilles when one of Holmes's clients refers to Holmes as the "second highest expert in Europe" after Bertillon.

    As late as 1921, when actor Fatty Arbuckle was accused of the murder of Virginia Rappe, his Bertillion measurements were taken.

       However, by the 1920s, Bertillion was on the way out. The measurements were often inaccurate; it was difficult to apply to children; and women's hair made exact measurements virtually impossible, as showed in the William / Willie west episode, some people just resembled each other, and it took a lot of file space to keep all the records. Then there was the Parisian police's inability to discover the theft of the Mona Lisa. The thief left finger prints on the frame and he had been their "guest" on a previous occasion. However, their records were "Bertillon" rather than fingerprints.

    In 1924, the FBI took over America's fingerprint cataloguing but some elements of Bertillon, i.e. unusual features, scars and tattoos were kept.

    

Youthful Ski Days - Barbara Baker

 

I think I was knee high to a grasshopper when I started to ski. Dad was head of the Ski Patrol on Mt. Norquay so my sister and I would go to work with him to give Mom a break. Mom still had to deal with my little brother at home but only having one kid around was possibly easier than three underfoot. 

I’m on the right in the uber fashionable wool ski outfit.

The whole first winter we sidestepped (or herringboned when we got more coordinated) to the top of the beginner run and then skied down. Over and over again. All day. Other skiers were lucky. They had tickets to ride the poma lifts, the T-bar and the infamous glove-eating rope tow. It never once crossed my mind that having to walk up the hill to ski down was a character building opportunity but it’s possible that was what Dad intended it to be.

I don’t recall getting instructions on how to do the snowplow let alone how to glide down the hill carving graceful parallel turns. I think it was assumed we would figure it out via osmosis and our gene pool since Dad was such an awesome skier. 

Dad being awesome 

The next winter my sister and I got ski passes to ride the lifts. Swooshing down the runs without having to walk up the hill was life altering and a pretty fabulous way to spend the day. 

 

As I got older, it got more expensive for my parents to buy equipment and lift tickets for all of us. Fortunately, Mt. Norquay had a program to earn free ski passes.

The upper lift, referred to as the Big Chair, didn’t have appropriate grooming equipment because it had the steepest runs in North American (at the time). If skiers skied on the runs accessed by the Big Chair at the beginning of the season, before the snow was packed, the snow would sluff down and the rocks and grass would be exposed. To solve the problem, the manager of Mt. Norquay got a bunch of volunteers to pack the hill with their skis which established a solid base so the snow would stick to the steep runs. I was one of the many volunteers eager to earn my free ski pass.

All I had to do was ride the chair to the top and make my way down by side-stepping and packing the loose snow. Step by step. No sliding. No skiing. No horsing around. 

The red arrow is the top of one of the runs on the Big Chair. I packed from
the arrow to the red snow fence near the bottom – numerous times. 

For those who don’t ski, imagine yourself dressed in winter clothes and then put on a pair of heavy boots. Strap long boards onto your boots. Grab two sticks to use as poles. Go to the top of the steepest hill you can find. Stand horizontal on unpacked snow of said hill. Lift your bottom leg up and set it down about six inches below you. Maintain your balance – that’s important. Now lift your top foot to meet your bottom foot. Repeat the movement a bazillion times until you get down the run. Ride the chair up again. Repeat process. Continue for eight hours. Thirty minutes off for lunch. Go home. Come back the next day. Do it again.

And trust me, we were being watched. No one dared get caught sneaking in a few turns for fear of losing a free season of skiing.

On Sunday when the lift closed, I was handed my pass. Living in Alberta, many months of skiing was in my future and it was easy to wake up in the winter morning’s darkness, crawl into Dad’s cold car, just so I could be the first one on the lift. Skimming through champagne powder, carving around moguls and schussing to the bottom – having to pack the hill for two days was totally worth it. Every. Single. Step. 

I took my 92 year old Dad to Mt. Norquay this fall and we stared up the hill for a long time to reminisce. We’ve spent over half a century making memories on this very mountain. 

 

Mt. Norquay is the same hill my main character, Jillian, learns to snowboard on. And one day, possibly in Book 4, she’ll go up the Big Chair and impress Greg with her carving abilities.

Baker, Barbara - BWL Publishing Inc. 

The Dreaded Writer's Block by J.S. Marlo

   

Undeniable Trait

is available now!

Click here

   

 

  

J. S. Marlo's BWL Books

The arrival of three new grandchildren in the span of twenty months (from two different children) has been keeping me wonderfully busy and I haven't had as much time to write as I use to.

I started a new story around the time the oldest of these three grandchildren was born. A third of the story is already a solid draft on paper, but recently I hit the dreaded writer's block. My imaginary characters stopped talking to me, like I'm not part of their lives anymore. I think they feel neglected...

I came across a quote while I was browsing for ideas this morning. Kudos to whoever came up with this:

Well, the only gummy bears I encounter are the vitamin ones I eat every morning (yes, they are dead), and the only unicorns are the ones I draw with my 10-yr old granddaughter (so, no, not real), but I'm hoping to rescue my imaginary friends in the near future.

Once I do, I promise to pay more attention to them so they will start talking to me again. After all, their stories isn't finished yet... and it would be terrible if I would start to go sane at my age!

In the meantime, I'll enjoy my grandchildren.

Happy Fall!

J. S. 

 

 

J. S. Marlo's Website

Mixing Business with Pleasure by Eileen O'Finlan

 

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Near the start of September, I had the pleasure of doing a book tour in Vermont with my fellow BWL author, friend, and cousin, Eileen Charbonneau. Eileen was promoting her book, Spectral Evidence, while I was promoting The Folklorist.

A lot goes into preparing for a book tour. Presenters have to decide upon which aspect of the book they want to focus and either write a script or assemble notes (the former for me, the latter for Eileen C.) For this tour, we each created PowerPoint presentations to go with our talks. For us, it was an easy choice since Spectral Evidence has a strong connection to the Salem Witch Trials and The Folklorist to the New England Vampire Panic. Witches and vampires make a good team so we decided to focus on the folklore behind both that European immigrants brought to America. The title we decided on, "Witches and Vampires: When Old World Nightmares Invaded the New World" seemed to express well the essence of our presentation.

While working on our talks, we had to contact libraries and bookstores explaining our presentation and availability in hopes that they would agree to host us. We endured our share of "no thank you's" as well as a number of no responses, but were gratified to be enthusiastically welcomed by four Vermont libraries.

Once all of our dates were scheduled, extra book copies ordered (both the featured book and backlist), talks practiced, and arrangements made to stay with my cousin in Ferrisburgh for when we headed to the Champlain Valley for our last talk of the tour we were finally ready to go.

Packing boxes of books, swag, awards, table cloths, and whatever else might be needed along with my suitcase, that by the time I was through I could barely lift, into the car definitely qualifies as work. But once I was on the road headed up to Bellows Falls, Vermont, the pleasure part kicked in.

I should explain that Vermont is my favorite place as both of my parents came from that state and the very best memories of my childhood and teen years were made there during visits to grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Not to mention, the state itself is incredibly beautiful. The fact that I was on my way to stay with Eileen and her wonderful husband, Ed, only added that much more joy to the adventure.

All of our talks went well. Every one of the librarians were gracious and helpful hosts. We were delighted to meet and engage with interested readers. Chatting with attendees after our talks concluded was the best part for me. As is always the case, we encountered both larger and smaller than expected turnouts, but in either case, those who attended were enthusiastic and made us feel more than welcome. Overall, it was a successful book tour.

                                       

        Reading from The Folklorist at the                                              Presenting at the Rockingham                Springfield Town Library                                                             Public Library

Eileen O'Finlan and Eileen Charbonneau taking questions from the audience

In addition, there was the pleasure of spending time with Eileen and Ed. Whenever Eileen and I get together we always have a great time. I want to thank Ed for playing roadie for us, driving us to all locations, lugging all of our books, setting up our laptops and getting us online, and generally making sure we were ready when it was time to start. In addition, Ed did most of the cooking when we ate at their home - another bona fide treat! (Eileen, please let Ed know that I still want his recipe for lentil soup.)

While in the Bellows Falls area, we also made time to visit the local farmers market, hit up the Vermont Country Store in Rockingham, and enjoy a fabulous dinner at a French restaurant in Walpole, New Hampshire followed by dessert at Burdick's Chocolates next door, and take in the new Beetlejuice movie.

That was some good hot chocolate!

Once the first leg of the tour was complete, we headed up to my cousin's home in the gorgeous Champlain Valley. Two nights at her house with Lake Champlain in her backyard was heaven.

I was especially grateful that I got to visit with my 90-year-old uncle who is the last one left of his generation. I have been mining him for family history and stories ever since I realized that he's the only one left who knows them. Sharing them with me seems to be energizing him as he keeps supplying me with answers and requesting I ask him even more questions. 

With Uncle Harold and Aunt Theresa

It was a great trip that generated what I'm sure will be lasting memories.

Eileen and I have one more talk to do together, but this time she'll be coming to Massachusetts. On Tuesday, October 29th we will present at Tidepool Bookshop in Worcester at 5:30 p.m. The format for this one is a bit different. Instead of each of us giving a talk, we'll be interviewing each other about our books. If you're in the area, we'd love to see you there!