Just after visiting the beautiful Adriatic coast, things went south. I missed an internet work meeting because Zoom blocked my call, I yelled at my kids for being more interested in their phones than the world around them, it took half an hour to get the Pula parking app to load, the landlord at the AirBnB was two hours late, and we were all starving.

After hauling our bags up to the AirBnB, we turned around and hauled them back to the car. We found a sandwich shop and ate our lunch in a park, watching kittens stalk each other. If you can stay in a funk after watching kittens, you need to check your pulse.

We got checked in to the apartment, I fired off a dozen apologetic emails, finished the rest of my work while the kids rested, and before we knew it, it was dark outside. We found a great restaurant owned by a Croatian-Singaporean couple, ate hot and sour soup, and discussed next steps.

The kids were adamant that we would NOT go sight seeing that night. One block turns into three miles with me, usually at a fast clip. With that agreed upon, I took them two blocks the ‘wrong’ direction on the way home, past the entrance to Zerostrasse (the historic Pula tunnel network), and then to a spot where I knew a certain amphitheater to be.

Mwah hah hah – they were powerless to escape.

And just in case you’re wondering… Zerostrasse – look for the golden arches!