Peter Pan Ice Cream!

Saturday, Aug. 13, 2016--Osijek

Osijek has two features on the riverfront that we went to see first--an old mill which is tied up to the bank of the river and has a paddle wheel which is turned by the current of the river and an old ferry which uses the river currents to cross back and forth via a long cable from the boat which has a small wheel on the end which follows another cable stretched across the river.

The mill works well and caused Wes to ask why large river power hasn't been used more often to run mills in the past.  Usually, it seems to be small streams operating small wheels.  The miller even had examples of breads made from the grain he had milled.

The ferry was quite unique, too.  It has no motor to assist it.  It pulls a row boat behind itself in case there is a problem requiring a rescue.

Across the river at the ferry landing is the Osijek Zoo.  We spent two hours there watching all the animals.  It is a small zoo, but they have a decent collection.  Almost every animal was out in its pen so that we could watch it.

We walked along the far side of the river rather than wait for the ferry.  We passed the beach area where people swim and sunbathe.  Then we walked across a bridge into the Old Town again.  We wandered through part of the Osijek University campus.  Then we looked up the Kino Urania, a cinema from 1920 that won theater design prizes when it was built.

It was a quiet day overall in Osijek.  There are few people out and about.  On the way back to the apartment, we heard organ music in the Cathedral.  We walked in, and there was a crowd near the alter where a wedding had just ended.  The organist was extending The Wedding March because no one was leaving.  We sat in the back row and listened and watched.  Everyone wanted to walk up to the bride and groom and congratulate them.  The organist finally gave up and switched to another tune.  After a while, we realized we needed to leave before the bride and group decided to do so; therefore, we headed out wishing we could hear more of the music.

After that, we bought some groceries we need for breakfast tomorrow and the next day.  At home, I boiled the potatoes and the eggs.  We ate sandwiches we had bought from a stand on the way home.

We wanted to see if there is night life here and to get an ice cream cone from Peter Pan which my guide book recommends and which has had a line of people every time we have passed it. So we headed out about 20:00.  We stopped at Peter Pan first.  Wes got his usual chocolate cone.  I got coconut.  The ice cream was fantastic.  My coconut was very flavorful and had little chunks of coconut in it.  UMMMM!

Lots of people were walking along the river promenade.  We joined them and then walked out to the middle of the pedestrian bridge where we saw a beautiful orange sunset.  But then the mosquitoes started bothering us.  We headed back toward town.  Since this is the last place we can spend the Croatian currency, the Kuna, and we had enough to buy two more ice cream cones, we stopped at Peter Pan again.  This time I got a butter crunch and Wes got a caramel.  Both tasted so fresh and natural.  They were better than the cones we got in the famous pace in Zagreb and cost about half as much.