[OnyxCougar]

We had most of the day to burn, so we spent it packing and rearranging, deciding what to take to the island (which we have shortened to Preko since saying Sutomiscica is too damn hard sometimes), and how best to get it all there. Kelle wanted it to be special, and take all this stuff, and I think she had dreams of candlelights and romance, but we were forewarned it was two rooms big (we're using the word "big" reallly loosely here). So it ended up being Kelle's 2 big duffle bags filled with blankets and my big rollaway suitcase with our stuff in it, my backpack and Kelle's backpack. I think we were planning on staying from Saturday morning to Monday, so we brought clothes and stuff.

We went to the Glasni Kolodvor (Glah-znee Koh-load-vore) [Train Station] and picked up some dinner on the way to the train. Kelle wanted "BEEF!" but of course, there was none to be found. We got raznici and fries. It was about 11 at night, and the trip was 5 hours to Knin and then swap trains and then 2 hours from Knin to Zadar. The tickets were like 150 Kunas each (total of 600 kunas, and 760 Kunas = $100). So for less than $25 American each, we got round trip tickets to the coast.

Understand that Croatia is about the size, miles wise, of West Virginia. We weren't going that far, really. I could have driven it in 3 hours, if the roads were as good as the ones in the U.S. And that is saying something. The main highway to Zagreb, that we took on the way from (and to) Vienna, was just like our freeway. I'm told that once you get OFF that freeway, however, the roads become like an old, unmaintained Route 66 (like out by Oatman), and you can't go more than 50 mph or risk your chassis coming out from under you, which of course happens about 5 miles outside the village with the unpronouncable name. You know, the village with one phone at the policeman/fireman/mayor's house, the itty bitty market that used to be somebody's garage, and the gas station that hasn't been a gas station for god knows how many years now.

In addition, we DID look into renting a car (Ronald McDonald special clown edition...), but it was 400 kuna just to rent it, plus 400 kuna a day, plus mileage, plus gas, plus insurance, plus road tax, plus, plus, plus. Basically, I decided to pay the 150 kuna a person to take the damn train.

So we left Zagreb at 11pm Friday night. We had the light on and ate our food, then switched the light off and tried to sleep. It was a largish compartment, seats for six, three on each side facing each other. Kelle and I sat across from each other, next to the window, and we watched Croatia slide by in the darkness. Eventually we decided to try and sleep. I might have gotten an hour or so, but Hrvoje, Kelle and Ivan were knocked out. We set up the CD player and speakers on the mini table between me and Kelle and listened to some music.

Kelle woke up with a belly cramp, and it was really hurting her. We tried everything we could think of, and finally, she took a couple of my lactose pills. Bingo. We grabbed our stuff, left one train, waited about 15 minutes in the cold at 4am in Knin, then boarded the ECONOtrain to Zadar. I call it the ECONOtrain because it was like the difference between a Yugo and a Lexus. We had left the Lexus behind us and boarded the Yugo. I think this thing's top speed was maybe 40. Ivan fell asleep on this last leg again (I swear that boy can sleep anywhere), and the three of us talked quietly about the War, which Hrvoje had been in the Army for, and had seen first hand.

As dawn broke in the hills we were travelling through, we started seeing ruins of villages next to the tracks, and rebuilt villages behind them. If the building wasn't a burnt out husk, there were bulletholes riddling the sides, or a roof was gone, or partially gone, like a big monster came and took a big bite out of it. Just about every village was like that along the tracks. Hrvoje explained that the Serbian army had basically gotten on a train and travelled up the line, destroying the villages as they came to them, and tearing up the tracks behind them. They were still rebuilding parts of the railway in some parts of the country. It occured to me that the Dayton Peace Accords were signed in 1995, which isn't even 10 years ago.

I've read some books and looked online, and I can't find a concise history of what happened to cause the War in the first place. Everything starts so far back that you are inundated with too much information. I've asked Ivan and Hrvoje, "Why did this happen?" and they are at a loss to explain. The simplest answer is the one Ivan provided to me the Monday before, as we were walking from the Police Station in Zagreb to the Trg. I include a little history here mostly because mymom asked for it, and because I was so struck by the fact that I was in a (not too long ago) former war-zone that I think it's important to include here.