A merry Christmas to you all!

 

We woke up at eight. It was a warm Christmas morning. Nice and cozy, a proper morning.

The city of Pula was covered in a light, calm fog. It was warm for December and it was quiet. Sven and Tijana had breakfast before me.

As I was eating my milk and cookies they started dancing around the room. My family loves to dance. The five year old jumped and swirled all around cradled in my wife's secure hands.

My wife was a dancer in her youth and it still shows in her elegant and delicate movements.

The most important part of the morning is down stairs. A real, living, Christmas tree with all the blinking lights, crystals balls and presents for all.

The entire extended household grouped together and we shared presents. Then my mother in law , who I love dearly, ushered us outside the house to make do by our selves on the oh, so warm, streets of Pula until lunch was so well and ready.

We went to the city. The streets were empty. The church of St. Antun was completely covered in fog. We only saw a glimmer of its tall white tower. Our car raced down the Omladinska street in a really gentle slope. The town was empty, there were not many people on its streets.

We found a parking spot near the Istrian National Theatre and the proceeded on a slow walk from the town market, trough the golden gate and Sergijevci street towards the old Roman forum and my loved temple of August in the historical center of Pula.

Later we progressed towards the harbor where a new citizen only riva was being constructed. The city was so calm that we stopped at the ACI Marina for a cup of coffee. We watched sea gulls and other sea birds glade slowly into the calm harbor waters, catch fish and eat it.

It was wonderful.

On our right we saw the church of St. Antun hiding behind the magnificent roman coliseum. On our left we saw the Mayer villas a set of high end apartment buildings built before the second world war by the Trapp family portrayed in the famous Hollywood film “The sound of Music”.

As a piece of trivia some members of that family are buried in the Naval cemetery of Pula.

The return trip to our car was beautiful. We met several family friends and talked to them and the we went to the Verudela peninsula were an ice skating court was set. There my loving son Sven took his feet for the first time to the ice helped by my wife as I filmed and photographed the events.