Zagreb

Our last full day in Croatia we spent in the capital city of Zagreb. It's a really cool town - old buildings, beautiful architecture, badass statues (some with very powerful mustaches), crazy gothic cathedrals, art galleries on every street, and lots and lots of cafes. As we travelled throughout the country I kept thinking "well, surely that had to be the most awesome part of Croatia" and then we would arrive at our next destination and it would be just as spectacular! Zagreb was different from the other places we'd been - more of an Austrian/Slavic/Russian feel to it - but still fantastic! A lovely way to end our trip, for sure.

Zagreb

The city of Zagreb has free wifi! All over the city. It's awesome.

Bambi, the dumbest GPS on earth

Did I mention that we named the GPS Bambi? Bambi is an asshole.

The whole trip people have told us it would take X amount of time to get to our next location, but for some reason it takes us at least twice as long. We've been able to see the countryside, which is nice, and we haven't been in a hurry or anything, but we couldn't figure out why it was taking so much longer to get around than everyone said it would.

Turns out that Bambi was programmed to avoid all toll roads and the main highway that goes through the entire country is one giant toll road!!  She was taking us on these country roads through small towns but we didn't know any better because we are in Croatia, for gods sake!

About 30 minutes until the end of our last leg of the road trip, Shannon decided to check the settings and figured out what was going on.  Fuck you, Bambi!!

Shannon was so angry that she said to Bambi "I can't even look at you I'm so pissed off" and flipped her to face the other direction.  Then we were both laughing so hard that I couldn't drive straight.

We made it to Zagreb, our final destination, three hours later than necessary.  

Suburb of Zagreb

I arrived in Zagreb yesterday evening, grabbed a taxi to my hotel, took an amazing post-travel shower (those are just THE BEST), and then passed out for 10 hours straight. Bad news is I didn't get out and about...I didn't even eat dinner.  Good news is that today I'm no longer jet-lagged and I'm ready to rock!

Woke up feeling starved and had a yummy breakfast at the hotel - I just love vegetables for breakfast. If only I could make myself prepare a breakfast like this every day at home! 

Because I have to catch another flight in a few hours, I booked a hotel that is close to the airport and not in the city. It's a beautiful little suburb of Zagreb called Velika Mlaka. Other than proximity to the airport, I don't know why they built a hotel smack dab in the middle of a residential neighborhood, but that's where it is! Unfortunately I don't have a car yet, so I just wandered around the neighborhood this morning, sweating my ass off at 9am and waving at the neighbors.

Croatia seems to have a lot of space - the homes are on bigger lots than I expected and there are plenty of open areas, lots of undeveloped space. It's nice. And the homes are quite beautiful  and modern.

The silence is also striking - in between the occasional car or motorbike driving by, it's very quiet. You can hear all the birds chirping, children playing in their homes, and the infrequent dog barking.  I guess it's because nobody has A/C here, there's very little noise pollution. Peaceful!

Speaking of dogs barking, I noticed these signs on people's gates.  After the first few I realized that they are custom / individualized and started taking pictures. 

That last one is my favorite - I think it must say "Warning - Dragon Wolf!" 

This final bit I don't really have an explanation for. It was difficult to get a good picture of the rear because the homeowner was laying out topless right behind the statues and I didn't want her to think I was taking pictures of her. But this little cluster of statues flanked her driveway / garage. Made me laugh!

Yes, that's a Prince-style assless dress on a statue.