day 42, plitvice lakes

woke up bright and early at half six to rush and catch my bus to plitvice lakes. was so tired but knew it would be a good day. got the bus to plitvice easily, would have been a fab coach ride part from my ipod died and had some very stupid american women near me chatting shit the whole 2 and half hours. got into plitvice lakes, dumped by bag in storage and started walking around. weather was brutal, super hot, though the surroundings made up for it. i used the guidebook that the canadian becky had given me, and did the suggested route and other things he mentioned, getting some amazing views, the place itself was gorgeous. it was massive clear lakes all dribbling/splashing down into each other, while walking alongside them on wooden boardwalks. at halfway i got some food which was dying for as had no breakfast, then continued to hit up the upper lakes. took a boat across the biggest lake which was really nice, and walked around taking loads of pictures. it got even hotter and never have i wanted to go swimming so badly, though it was strictly forbidden. the water was so clear and everywhere, i was almost tempted to change into my cossie, throw a kid into the water, jump in after him and 'save him'. after a good 7 hours walking around i had pretty much seen everything, so caught a bus back to where my bag was, then got the bus to zadar. i met 3 people on the bus who were going to the same hostel, so i tagged along with them and they had room so checked in. after having an amazing shower Heidi, one of the people i met on the bus asked me if wanted to go for a walk and get some dinner which we did. we walked around the coast which was really cool, found this busy pizzeria and had an amazing pizza. Heidi was really interesting, in her fourties i'm guessing, from america, she has 2 degrees (one in fashion design where she worked for 5 years, then one in russian something or other), and has been all over the place in eastern europe and the world. we got back to to the hostel just after 12, and i hit the hay and had the most hot sleep ever. i slept in as was knackered till about half 9, another boiling day! i'm here for another night before moving onto split, so need to do some laundry, have a look at the zadar old town whcih is about 45 mins walk from here, of course take a swim and sort out tomorrow. still really tired though, and sweating like a beast just sat down typing, might just go jump into the sea now (which is 2 minutes away, i can see it!)