Except for the stay and meal in planes, we stayed eight nights at hotels and all meals were included in the travel fees.

Every breakfast was in hotels. Maybe too much to compare them with those in hotels during the travel around Egypt and Turkey in June last year, but there was nothing to be careful of water, vegetables and any other food, and so, carefree this time.

I drank coffee straight or as captino. Yogurt was genuine. Ham and sausage were delicious in every hotel. It was hard for me to restrain from overeating.

I do not remember any hotel nor any food was unsatisfactory for lunch and dinner. What was specially delicious? I do not remember either, which means I was satisfied.
The talk with travel friends one after another during every meal time was a good help for an appetite and taste.

It is not only the things of the destination to make the travel pleasant. It also decides the outcome whether an attendant or a guide is good or not, with the interaction with travel members.
In addition to enjoying the scenic beauty and historic heritages, we were lucky to enjoy ourselves with nice companions.

The encounter with S couple. Mr S and myself are acqueintances at AA-Net Urayasu, a senior group, but what a coincidence! Both couples happened to see each other at the airport bus stop in Oriental Hotel at the time of our travel start.
They asked us, "Where are you going to travel?"
We answered, "We are going to Croatia, Slovenia and such countries."
Mrs. S said with her eyes wide open, "Us, too."
Both couples became a wonderful company for the ten-day tour.

While in an exotic mood here and there during this trip, I did not feel uncomfortable anywhere. The people I saw were all in a friendly smile.
They never failed to smile and answer my stumbling greetings in their local language. How effective such local words of greeting were! The local people, who must be a pronoun of friendship, really made me understand the importance of peace.

On the way, October 8, from Dubrovnik to Plitvice, we visited and looked around Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina.
I had an unexpected encounter here at the restaurant for lunch.
He, an elderly, was the owner of the restaurant. Though he wrote his name for the help of my understanding, I am still unclear because of the difficulty of pronunciation. Sorry.
He was explaining the two black-and-white photos on the wall to the members at the table next to us, mostly in a local language with a few clumsy English words. The listeners regretfully seemed not to understand him, and so they were looking at one another.
I joined them involuntarily out of nothing but curiocity.

When Mr. Osim was stricken with a stroke several years ago, the doctor who took the lead at Juntendo-Urayasu Hospital was Dr Shigeki Tanaka, Chief of Neurology and Professor of Juntendo University.
The doctors and staffs devoted themselves to cure Mr. Osim wandering between life and death. It was reported by major medias everyday, so most of the Japanese people remember this story now.

I am an outpatient of neurology at this hospital, and Dr. Tanaka is taking care of me.
I concentrated my attention on the talk of the restaurant owner much more.
He was so busy joining the pictures with us in a smile and being begged the signature.

- - - - -
After returning home, I handed out the pictures I took there to Dr Tanaka. Watching them, he talked to me various things related to Mr. Osim.
He said, "Mr. Osim majored in physics at Sarajevo University. Though being promised to the field, he decided to take the direction to football."

Our couple went on a hike around the highlights of the lakes as a tour member in the morning.
We had free time after lunch until 5:00 p.m. In the result of our talk over the illustrated map, we decided to walk on the other route of the lakes.

When walked for one hour, we happened to see a lady bending down and holding a camera at a strange angle. We watched her back in a distance without letting her notice us. What is she focusing the camera on?
After pushing a shutter button twice or three times, she walked brisckly. I crouched down where she was a minite ago in the same way and pointed my camera at the same angle. I could understand that she had removed the falls with a brilliant spray from the object, but what did she focus on? Being puzzled, I gave up pressing the shutter button.

We had no choice but following her, because the route was only in one direction.
She was not in a hurry, so I could pay attention to her while taking pictures passing by. Also I pointed my camera like her way at the spot where she took a picture.
I understood at least that she was not walking only for the sightseeing.
I spoke to her saying "How are you?", and she answered in a smile. Intellectual! She turned out to be a journalist of a culture column.
We then followed her out of her way.
She crouched and pushed the shutter button towards the fallen leaves on the shore. After she left, I stared at the spot. There were only fallen leaves to my eyes. I took a picture, too, without understanding.

We got on the boat to take a shortcut to another lake together, and left her after getting off. She was very refreshing.