VACATIONS! (August 11, 2003)

Sitting in a crowded Motovun restaurant and watching the tourists. It is lunch-time and the children are hungry. Actually, they are dying from hunger. It is hot, and their parents are sweating in desperation. Germans, Italians, Russians… Everyone is grumpy, but the kids are the grumpiest of them all. By the time the food comes to those lucky enough to grab a table, the kids are sated on bread and Coke. They cannot even look at food any longer, and the fathers gobble up the mounting piles of cold food. Now the kids are tired. Actually, they are dying from exhaustion. The bills are paid in haste and the tourists waddle away in disarray. These are the happiest times of their lives. Vacations!