"They Speak Pretty Good English!"

I wasn't expecting it.

The castle, I mean.

I was too enthralled by the winding road, the lazy hills covered with a crazy kaleidoscope of colours, the charming valley vista.

So when we rounded that last corner, tears sprung to my eyes unbidden.

I had never seen a castle in 'real life' - only in my imagination or on t.v.  And I didn't realize until we had rounded the corner that Dvigrad in all its glory was just ahead...

What a lovely surprise!

Built during Medieval times and abandoned when the plague struck, the castle has a romantic and illustrious history.  It was a thrill to clamber about its ruins, lone sojourners intent on absorbing so ancient an air.  Standing upon a staircase leading to the remains of the church, I was struck by the way my footsteps echoed among those hills as so many had before mine.  I was amazed at the ancient floor, laid down so many years ago - its lines and patterns were intact.  Lost in my gentle reverie, I only absently returned a reply to my sister's observation.

It was then that I received my second surprise.

I received a compliment from a stranger.

A child, at that.

I had noticed an American couple with their two young children enter the ruins just after us.  At our brief interaction, one child called to his mother, "Hey, Mom!  Those guys speak pretty good English!"

How proud my primary teachers would be at that pronouncement...

And at that moment, the past and the present collided.  The fresh young voices somehow reached life into the stones and left their vibrancy tingling in the air.

It was such a delight to ramble among rocks and meditations.  I wondered about the births and deaths and daily lives of a people who had made their homes here.  I wondered about the jealousies, the mis-communications, the humor that those walls had been witness to.

Returning to our car full of pleasant thoughts and sensations, I filed this moment in my heart as another quaint page in the Croatian album....