Day Seven: Old Friends in a New Country (Croatia!)
June 30, 2008
Zdravo! As you may have guessed, Leslie and I successfully made our way to Zagreb, Croatia! And, since there really was no sleep going on between the last post and this one, we’ll just pick up where we left off…
So Leslie and I awoke from our 30 minutes of sleep when, at around 4:30AM, the train conductor guy knocked on our door and said, “Zagreb!”. (Well, to be fair, we were rustled from our feeble attempts at slumber a bit earlier than that when the border cops came knocking asking to see our passports – but you know what I mean)
So we said goodbye to Fleur (who was taking the train to Budapest), grabbed our bags, and headed into the twilight of early morning Zagreb. Now at this point I was fairly awake, which I attribute to the fact that I sort of get a rush of excitement at the prospect of being somewhere new and having no plan. It’s like anything is possible and there’s no pressure to do or see certain things. It’s just you and this new place… so you get to go nuts!
But, since I can read your mind and all that, I know what you’re wondering “what do you mean no plan? Didn’t you have a hostel to stay in? Didn’t Leslie have some Rick Steve’s insight?” – and the answer to all of those is, simply put, No. Friends of ours (well, very good friends of Leslie) actually live in Zagreb and we were there to see them.
[So first a bit of background about the friends: Marin was a software engineer at Google with us for (I think?) five years before he quit and moved back to Zagreb where he was joined by his girlfriend, Chelsea. Frane is Marin’s slightly younger brother who we met when he interned at Google two summers ago. Marin and Leslie used to hangout a lot when he was still at Google – I remember they’d go down to the SportsPage after work a lot (SportsPage = local sports bar) and drink drink drink and talk talk talk (Marin, once he gets started, doesn’t shut up.ever). When I was up interning for the summer I went out with them a few times, too (and no, I wasn’t 21). They’d buy me all sorts of yummy drinks and introduced me to (I think it’s called) Jaeger-bombing? I don’t remember. The point is, that’s how we all know each other. Leslie actually keeps in touch with them (especially Marin I think) but I don’t (I just didn’t know them as well)]
So, why no plan, given all these connections? Well, Leslie had been trying to contact them for ages and ages but the communication chain was failing… miserably. It wasn’t until she was running out the door to pick me up to leave for this trip that she heard back at all. And, on top of all that, we hadn’t been able to get a hold of them to let them know that we were taking the insane overnight train from Venice to Croatia. Anthony, who has been our last-minute logistic helper, had been calling them while we were on the train, but it was all unclear and crazy. So at this point all we had was an address and some rough directions from Marin.
And so… we winged it. Leslie had spent almost two weeks in Croatia last summer and had a general sense for the area (which helped), so we managed to make our way to the main square area. From there we got bus tickets and made our way to Marin’s (after, I confess, a few hiccups). Once we finally found his apartment building we ran into a bit of a dilemma (well, as you’ll see, dilemma for Leslie… I thought the right course of action was fairly obvious). Marin and Chelsea live in one of those buildings with a little buzzer-panel at the bottom. You know, where you have to call someone up and then they ring you in the door. The problem was that, upon inspection, we realized that Marin wasn’t listed. But! There were two buzzers that had blank name plates. So what were we to do?
Well Leslie thought we should just walk around some more and, I don’t know, wait for some magical moment when Marin would realize we were in Croatia. I, on the other hand, was at this point fairly tired and had to pee… a lot. So I did what I thought best, I picked one of the blank name plates and buzzed. (And, to further paint the picture, the time it took me to deliberate as to the best course of action was about, oh, let’s say… 3 seconds.). Leslie at this point was totally mortified. I, in contrast, was only irritated that I didn’t hear a voice on the other end of the buzzing. I then, thinking my noble attempt had failed, proceeded to yell “Marin” up at the apartment complex. Leslie, I gather, wanted to crawl into a hole and die. But lo and behold who came down the steps in their PJs? Chelsea!
So we then went upstairs where, I am told, Marin was sleeping buck naked. We waited (well, I peed) and then Marin graced us with his presence. Leslie kept apologizing and apologizing while I looked on in awe. I mean, seriously, if I had friends from the other side of the world visiting me would I care if they showed up at the crack of dawn because that was the only way they could make it to see me? Of course not!! I’d get my naked ass out of bed and get the day started. Sure I might need a nap at some point, but come on! This isn’t like your friend down the street bugging you! We’re traveling gypsies for heaven’s sake!
So we all hung out for a bit and then Chelsea went back to bed and Marin took us to find a hostel. The first place was totally booked, but we ended up getting a great deal at this place right in the heart of downtown Zagreb. When I find out the name of the place I will tell you because if you ever stay in Zagreb, you absolutely must stay at this place. If you look at the pictures you’ll see why – it was super clean, the shower area was great, the rooms were adorable, and you really couldn’t ask for a better location.
Since it was so early we dropped our stuff off and walked around for a bit – we had a few hours to kill before we could officially check in. So Marin first showed me (Leslie is old pro at the Zagreb thing) the open Market. It was so so so awesome. I’m talking rows and rows and rows of local Croatian farmers selling their stuff. From fruits, veggies, flowers, fresh made cheeses, breads, handiwork – you name it, it was there. And it all looked so tasty (well, minus the handiwork stuff).
After that we walked around a bit more until deciding to get breakfast/lunch at this sandwich shop. In Croatia (and much of Europe) the “fast food” tends to be sandwiches. So we got those, watched some pigeons (which Leslie was totally into), and then went down to an Internet cafe so I could try (in vain) to post. At this point we were all running on empty and at one point or another we each fell asleep.
After all that Marin dropped us off at our hostel, we crashed for a few hours, and then went out to eat. We walked down this lane that was just filled with cafes until finding a pizza-ish place to go to. So a few things:
First: In Croatia everyone does the cafe people-watching thing. They have hundreds and hundreds of chairs set up outside where people sit, get a drink, and talk for hours and hours. At night, they’re totally packed. Midday, pretty much packed, too [I’m getting the sense that nobody *really* works in Europe].
Second: Croatia feels much much more foreign than Italy. While a lot of people speak some English, it’s not the same as Italy. In Italy I had enough Spanish to basically read the Italian signs. In Croatia, Spanish doesn’t help. At all.
So anyways, Leslie and I had lunch and people-watched for a while until Chelsea came out to play. She ended up showing us around the town a bit until we ended up sitting down at a cafe ourselves… and then… I admit… another Internet cafe.
Soon, though, Frane came out! Frane is so fun. You know those people who just desperately need to have their feathers ruffled a little bit because they’re just a bit too neurotic? Well, that’s Frane. Apparently last summer Leslie would give him all kinds of crap because he freaks out when people touch his food or get too close to him. So what did she do? Touched him every chance she got. I didn’t know this beforehand but found out on this special trip (see the Bubble-boy trilogy of videos below to understand).
So soon Marin showed up and it was the 5 of us. We got some delicious dinner, drank the nastiest shot of some domestic Croatian crap, and then went to a cafe before heading out to this super duper late night bar in the middle of, I swear, a friggin forest of beauty. People in Croatia party so hard. For instance, when Leslie and I got in to Zagreb at like 4:30 in the morning, people were still in their party clothes, finally going home after a long night. Madness!
Eventually Main and Chelsea called it a night… which means Frane was left alone with Leslie and me. And oh did I give him crap for his neurotic bubble-boy ways. We had such fun hanging out. (and I’m sure he agrees!)
But, sadly, at about 4AM we had to call it a night – Leslie and I had to catch a train to Budapest at 6AM.
Yes, we’re crazy.
Zagreb ended up being a beautiful and very intimate city. While it’s home to about a million people, it feels super tight knit. Marin, Frane, and Chelsea all explained that that’s in part because everyone meets up at the same places near the main square – so everyone sees each other. Plus, with the cafe-lounging culture it’s very clear that community is a priority.
I’m sad that the three of them are moving away soon… I’d like to spend a lot more time getting to know the (super biker friendly) area! Especially with the help of native speakers!
I guess for now we have to settle with making our way to (one of my many) homelands: Hungary! To Budapest!
And, of course, to see all the awesome fun pictures from our Croatia experience (plus fun comments and a bit of a Croatian history lesson), go here.
FRANE BUBBLE BOY TRILOGY!!
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3 Responses to “Day Seven: Old Friends in a New Country (Croatia!)”
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Marin!! (yelled w/ accent)
I’ll never forget when Marin told us how he used to get out of car tickets, “I love AMERICA! My favorite country!”
That Bubble Boy gets me every time with that (State of the Union Speech Nervousness) he lives with 24 hours a day! I miss those guys!!
Eric!!!! My cousin! (Yelled with Balkie accent)
Maaan that’s one thing I loved to do in the states. People have such crazy cartoonish stereotypes of people I could always use it to my advantage :))) Once the cops would hear me, all reason would go out the door and they would just reboot and let me go :)))))