Croatia

[OnyxCougar]

No rest for the wicked, though, and we were off again, walking up to the tram line to get a tram to the Embassy. There was a discussion in Croatian about the best way to get there, and we eventually arrived. The Embassy is at Hebrangova 2, in the picture below, look below the words DONJI GRAD. It's on the corner of Hebrangova and Gajeva.


Non-Americans can't get in, and the boys had to wait across the street. We were patted down and metal detected on entry to the Emabassy and I had to leave my camera at the door. We registered without incident, and our next step was to go to the police station and register as Temporary Visitors in Zagreb. More walking. We walked all the way to the main Police Station, just to find out they closed about 45 minutes earlier. We would have to come back tomorrow.

Hrvoje had had the worst luck with apartments. He rented an apartment before we got there, but the day before we left, it flooded, so he had to scramble to find something else. He got another place at the last minute, and him and Kelle had been staying there. Hrvoje's family owns several homes, one of which was outside a village named Kutina. They had plans to go there after the embassy, to meet his family, so they would just register her there. Ivan and I would register me in Zagreb the next day. So Kelle and I split up again, promising to meet when they came back Friday for our trip to Preko. Ivan took me to Trg Bana Jelacica [Terg Bah-nah Yell-ah-cheech-ah] (Ban Jelacic Square).

[OnyxCougar]

The most important person in Croatia in the 19th century was Ban (Viceroy) Josip Jelacic (1801-1859). During his time, in 1848, the Hungarians revolted against Austria, whilst at the same time they tried to impose their language on the Croatians. The Croatian Viceroy Jelacic gathered an army and helped the Austrian czar defeat the Hungarians, thereby protecting Croatia from Hungarianization. He also managed to, for services rendered, attain certain privileges for the Croats. One of those was that the czar entrusted to Jelacic's rule Dalmatia that had until then been, after its liberation from the Turks and later Napoleon, under direct Austrian rule and so had been separated from the rest of Croatia. One of Jelacic's most important acts was the abolition of serfdom. There is a statue of the Ban in the square named after him. Trg Bana Jelacica is the main square of Zagreb. The statue in the square shows the Ban with his sword upraised toward Hungary, a symbolic gesture that they will never successfully invade Croatia.

Picture of Ban Jelacic from Croatia.net:

[OnyxCougar]

There used to be a live camera, and Kelle and I had been watching the square for quite some time online, so to actually be there was a treat. I kinda felt like I was on TV. We looked around for the camera, but weren't sure where it was. The area around the square has LOADS of shops, and cafes. It's THE major spot in Zagreb. I think it's probably the first place people learn when they get there. I was lost most of my time in Zagreb, but if I could get to the square, I knew what trams to take to get to Ivan's. The landmarks I homed in on constantly were the square and the cathedral, which is just behind the square, about 5 minutes walk. (From the square on the map, look up Bakaceva to Kaptol, and right there is the cathedral.)

Katedrala Marijina Uznesenja [kah-tay-drah-lah mahr-ee-yee-nah ooz-nay-sayn-ya] (Cathedral of Mary's Assumption). Also called Our Lady's Assumption, but mostly just "the Cathedral", or, if you're asking for directions, you say, "Gdje je Katedrala?" and you'll get this big old long explanation in Croatian that you don't understand, so you hand them a piece of paper and a pen. They draw pretty good maps. I just know they spoke English, but wanted me to have the adventure. As you walk north from Trg Bana Jelacica, you are on Bakaceva Ulica, which is a street that is pretty steep. You are entering the oldest part of Zagreb, called Kaptol, which has been there as a Bishopric since 1094. The whole place was built on a hill, overlooking the rivers to the north (which have long since moved south over the years, and the ground built on.)

Ivan and I were in the square Monday night, it was getting dark, and suddenly I heard the bells start to ring. They were mid range, and I heard them clearly, although Ivan said he could barely hear them. I asked where they were coming from, and he pointed behind me and up, and I saw the bell towers. Insisting he take me there, I half dragged him up the hill and gasped as I saw it. At night, the renovations are not as visible, and I asked him about the church. Most of Croatia is Roman Catholic, making this the most important Cathedral in the country. The bells were ringing for 7 o'clock mass. I asked if we could go, and he snickered. 'Of course.' So, feeling VERY out of my element, I entered the church. There was a little foyer, with doors on the left and right sides of the foyer to actually enter the church. Church notices, etc were posted on boards, and we entered the right side door. There were 2 little stone basins of water, blessed, and people dipped their fingers in and crossed themselves. The service was in Croatian, not latin, and Ivan whispered translations, and we did the whole "stand, sit, kneel, stand, sit, kneel" thing for most of the mass, then we left. We were hungry. He promised to bring me back the next day.

We went to this little restaurant and had Cevapi (chev-ah-pee), which is like raznici, but the meat is different, more like a sausage-blend of meat, in 3 groups of 4 links. The bread was the same, tho. It was good, just not as good as the raznici. Went home and slept, my legs and feet were killing me. I don't think I've walked so much in years.

[OnyxCougar]

Day Three (Tuesday)

Woke up hungry again. Had more bacon and eggs with buttered bread. No hash browns this time. Our main project today was to get me registered at the Zagreb police station and to pick up Ivan's glasses, which we didn't do the day before, and take me to the cathedral in the daylight. We took the tram to Jelacica and walked to the Police Station. I was a little nervous, we were supposed to register within 48 hours of arrival, but we arrived on Saturday night at 11pm, they were closed Sunday, and we arrived too late the day before. We registered with the Embassy on time, but we were late in Zagreb. We went upstairs and there was no one in the particular line we needed, so we waited.

Sometimes rudeness trancends lingual barriers. This woman at the counter looked at us and sniffed softly, then motioned for us to step forward. Ivan (of course) did the talking, and told her we wanted to register me. She laid her arm on the counter and beckoned at me. I didn't need him to tell me, 'She wants your passport.' I gave it to her, and she looked at it. Looked at all my stamps. Then she put it on the counter and said something. Ivan nodded and pulled me aside by my arm. 'She isn't the one who does this. We have to wait till the other lady comes back from lunch.' I asked him why she needed to see my passport if she isn't the registration lady. He didn't answer me, tho. About 15 minutes later, lunch lady came back, and he went through the same spiel. She said something and there was a looong exchange, and Ivan again pulled me aside, but this time, he pulled me out of the office. 'We have a problem.' he said. I became alarmed. 'What problem?'

He explained that to register me as staying at his house, he needed the ID card of the owner of the house. (ID cards are so important there that just having the ID card of someone is like having them there.) The owner of the house, his cousin, was in Bosnia or somesuch (where he is from), and therefore, we couldn't get her ID card. We put in a call to Hrvoje, who was going to get Kelle registered in Kutina at his mom's house there. We made plans to take the train out there the next day, and Hrvoje would register us in Kutina. Great. No problem. Off to Jelacica to pick up Ivan's new glasses. Up two flights of stairs to the optika shop, and 1800 Kunas later (that's about $260) he paid them off, and could actually see what I look like. He didn't run screaming into the night, tho.

Walking through the Trg on the way to the cathedral, there was a little old lady with a cart, selling big pretzels. I squealed in delight. I love big warm pretzels with salt on them. Ivan bought two and handed it to me. It was cold. Hmm. He took a bite of his and didn't spit it out, but wasn't happy about swallowing it, either. They were day-olds, and basically, this old lady would go around with her cart in the morning and buy up the day old pretzles from the bakeries, then take her cart and resell the pretzles in the square. Well, I didn't much mind, we walked up the hill, and I munched on both our pretzles, and snapped some pictures.

[OnyxCougar]

We sat down outside as we got to the cathedral's square, so I could finish our pretzles. There was a bench under a large tree, so we rested and talked for awhile, watching the children and all the bus tours. I was surprised that most of these what looked to be 6th graders had cell phones. Most of them were on them, in between arriving in the bus and being rounded up for the tour. After about an hour, I fed the birds the rest of the bread and we wandered into the cathedral. I took loads of pictures. We must have spent like 2 hours looking at everything. I picked up a rosary for the only catholic I know, and grabbed a couple keychains from the kiosk outside the cathedral.

After we were done, we walked north past some souvenir shops, and passed another church on the left. It was getting dark, so I took some pictures of the park we walked through, and then looked around in some shops as we mosied down toward Jelacica Trg.

It started to get cold. It had been about 65F during the day, but the temperature would drop to 35 at night. The sky had been blue for the 2 days so far, but there were clouds over the horizon, and we knew there would likely not be blue sky for much longer. Unfortunetly, we were right. From that night on, it was cloudy for the rest of our stay, except one day while we were on Preko, and that was partly cloudy. It felt much like England.

We walked around past the church, through the park.

[OnyxCougar]

Kelle had told me about this bar that Hrvoje had taken her to that served the best hot chocolate in the world. I asked Ivan if he knew where it was, and he wasn't sure, but he would ask Hrvoje when we saw them next. As we were walking down the street, I pulled Ivan into the various little shops. I've always wanted a black velvet choker with a little charm on it, and when I told Ivan what I was looking for, we went on a quest. We walked all over Zagreb looking for one. At one shop, they had chokers, but not velvet. I ended up buying a metal bracelet with leather cord accents and small metal beads. It is SO kewl! It was 90 kuna, which is about $12. I wear it every day. Ivan said it makes me look like Xena.

We kept walking and I saw this little kiosk on the street, that had this beautiful mask laying on a basket to the side. I gasped and told Ivan about how Kelle has been a mask collector for years, since she was small, and she had like 26 masks, all of them gifts. They were stolen when she moved last year, and she was heartbroken. We noted the location of the little kiosk, and Ivan said he would tell Hrvoje about it, so he can buy it for her. We completed our little circle and arrived back at the Trg. Ivan and I picked up some roasted chestnuts on the walk home. He can tell the good vendors by the smell. Now I know what "chestnuts roasting on an open fire" is about. He tried to teach me the difference, and I can tell really good from really bad, but I didn't get enough practice to be able to determine the finer subtlties. We caught a tram back to the house. On the walk back to the house from the tram station, Ivan taught me zero to ten in Croatian. I fell asleep right after getting in the door. The jet lag was really catching up to me.

[OnyxCougar]

Close up of Our Lady's angels:

[OnyxCougar]

Day Four (Wednesday)

Every day started with an agenda. "What do we have to do today?" was the first question of the morning, usually right after, "How did you sleep?", "Is the heat on?" and "Can you make me a hot chocolate, please?". The sky was cloudy, and on the agenda for the day was our trip to Kutina, for the sole purpose of getting me registered at the police station, so I wouldn't be deported. Yay. I was excited, I got to see a city other than Zagreb (which I hadn't seen much of), but more than that, I got to be on a train, something I hadn't done since my visit to England as a teenager. I had been on the underground, but that didn't count, that was more like Zagreb's trams. This was a no shit TRAIN, and I was pretty excited.

Turns out it was actually not all I had hyped it up to be, and the scenery out the window looked SO much like England, I was nearly disoriented. Had the clown cars been on the other side of the road, and the signs in English, I'd have lost it. That's how much they look alike. It was so weird. We arrived in Kutina, and got off the train and called Hrvoje. He gave Ivan directions and we started walking. (Just so you know, I weighed myself when we got home, and I was literally 10 pounds lighter. I blame the walking.) As we walked, I picked up 2 leaves right next to each other, one big green leaf and one big orange leaf. The benefit of going to Croatia in the fall was the colors of the trees. The leaves were still turning, and we saw the riot of colors. I can only imagine what New England looks like, but I think it's similar to what we saw in the Croatian countryside. Simply gorgeous.

Went up over the hill and passed by an elementary school. A window on the second floor was open, and there was a music or choir class in session. Children were singing with a piano and although I didn't understand the words, it was very beautiful. Thier voices rang out in the afternoon air, and I looked up to the window, wishing I could see the children, and wishing my command of the language was such that I knew what they were singing about. Sounded rather national anthem-ish.

We entered the market place where Hrvoje and Kelle were selling flowers for Hrvoje's mom. (A note on the flowers over there: Remember the bouquet of flowers that Ivan bought me on Day One at the market? When we got back to the house I put them in a big blue vase with some fresh water and put them on the table as a centerpiece. Those flowers stayed alive and hadn't even started wilting when I left 10 days later.) We walked through the little market, and I was struck by how much this was like a swap meet back home. At the end of the row were our partners in crime, and after exchanging hugs, Kelle and I went off for a coke at the little cafe at the top of the street. Girl talk time!!

The first thing I noticed was the large blue stone set in the gold ring on her left ring finger. Yep. She's engaged. It had been in his family for 4 generations now, and he had given it to her the night before, in front of his mother at the dinner table. It's a longish story, and it's her story to tell, so ask her about it when you see her next. I ordered 2 cokes in Croatian ("dva cola, molim te"), and we sat at a little table in the cafe and got stared at for speaking English and laughing and squealing and going on. This skrungy looking guy that wandered into the cafe said, "Ahhhh...Amerikanki." I half looked at him and said, "Da, je sam Amerikanka." He nodded and said something really fast that I didn't catch, so I replied, "govorim malo Hrvatski" (I speak little Croatian). He nodded and acted like he wanted to come on to us, but wasn't quite sure how since he didn't speak English. We purposely turned from him and resumed our conversation and he wandered away. Catching up on the story and the events since we parted in Zagreb at the Police Station, we finished our cokes and Skrungy Dude came back and asked us something else (I forget what), and I managed to answer him, and shortly after, we got up, paid our tab and left.

[OnyxCougar]

Got back to the guys, and I gave Kelle some money, we decided to "go shopping" in the market. We walked down from Hrvoje's little stall and found these guys selling leather jackets. Man, they wanted to sell em, too. Kelle tried one on that had roses on it, and I asked how much. 1000 Kuna. Kelle only had 500 Kn that I had given her. She took the jacket off. When they heard us talking, they asked if we were American, I said yes, and we started to walk away. "No, no, 800 for the jacket," they said. We shook our heads and tried to walk away again, "Nonono, 700." I grinned at Kelle. "All I have is 500 Kunas," she said, "and I'm not spending them all here." We started to leave again. They held us back. "How much do you have?" he asked. "500," she said. "OK. 500 Kunas." I did some quick math in my head and told her I could give her more Kunas the next day, before we left for Preko. She left with the jacket. They swarmed me next, I told them no, I'm happy with my jacket. "750 for both jackets..." "No, no..." And we escaped back to the boys. We were pretty proud of ourselves, getting a leather jacket for 500 Kunas, which is less than $75, and actually bargaining them down 50%. Hrvoje wasn't so pleased. "HOW MUCH??!!" he nearly shouted. We told him and he became very upset. Kelle managed to calm him down and our enthusiasm was kinda muted, but we still shared a secret triumph between us. Later on in the trip, Kelle was DAMN glad she bought that jacket.

We waited at the flower stall for Hrvoje's brother, Goran, to get there, so that we could walk down to the police station. Kelle hadn't been registered yet, either, so we were gonna do it together. On the way to the police station, Ivan and I realized we had walked WAY out of the way to get to the market, almost twice as far as we had to. That was ok, though, if we had taken the shortcut, I wouldn't have heard the kids singing.

We arrived at the police station and Hrvoje became the spokesman of the group, since he was registering us girls. They took our passports and we waited. Apperantly the lady didn't quite know what to make of us, and likely this was the first time she had seen Americans in real life. Kutina is like 10,000 people, and one of the bigger villages. She came back from the back office, and handed Hrvoje some forms, which he filled out and returned to her. She took the forms and our passports and walked behind the counter to a different part of the station. We waited 10 minutes and she came back, instructing us to to go out and wait by a different door of the police station. We did. A detective-type person arrived 20 minutes laterand took Hrvoje into the building. Ivan, Kelle and I waited outside for 20 minutes and talked about MUD stuff.

Hrvoje came back out, not looking happy, and we had to go back to the original counter in the first part of the police building. Miss Thang typed up and printed out our registration papers and we left. Keep in mind no English was spoken throughout this process. Soon as we walked out of the police station, Hrvoje started cursing. Turns out that because we had been in Croatia longer than 24 hours before he brought us to be registered, they are going to sue him. Sue as in prosecute. I'm still not quite clear on what they are going to do, exactly, he's not even sure, but he plans to be in the US before they realize he is gone. More than likely it's just going to be a fine. The detective that pulled Hrvoje into the building told him that as long as we were registered with the American Embassy in Zagreb on time, it was foolish to get us registered ANYWHERE if we were registering late. Basically, if we wouldn't have registered, they would never have known we were here, and there would have been no problem, but since he registered us LATE, he's getting in trouble. "You shouldn't have even come," he told him. Greeaaaaaaat.

We were all hungry, so we went to a little cafe for lunch and had more Cevapi. It was Kelle's first taste of it, and she didn't warm to it nearly as much. It was right about this time, Kelle got a hankering for beef. "BEEF!" she would say anytime she was asked what she wanted. Apperantly, there aren't many cows in Croatia, but there sure are alot of pigs and lambs and sheep and chickens. But mostly pigs.

We talked things over, and Hrvoje had started to calm down when Goran called from the flower stall, wondering when he was getting back. Hrvoje, still pissed at the police station and now being rushed, gulped down his food, and left. We were to follow after we finished. After he left, the three of us discussed plans on when we were going to Preko. When Kelle and Hrvoje left for Kutina on Monday afternoon, they had only planned on staying overnight, mostly because Kelle had been so nervous about meeting his parents and staying at their house and such. She only took stuff enough for an overnight trip, and didn't have a bunch of clothes. We had planned on Preko on Friday night, and they had planned on taking the train to Zagreb, picking up Kelle's clothes and going back to Kutina that night. (It's a two hour train trip one way.) I reminded Kelle that the next day was Samhain, (Halloween) and as it's the Wiccan New Year, we wanted to celebrate it together. So we left the restaurant and found Hrvoje. We explained the situation, and he called his mom, and told her they were leaving from the flower stand, and to send Goran to watch it. There was some arguement with his mother not wanting him to leave, but they ended up coming with us back to Zagreb. At the Kutina train station, we sat, looking at the view across the tracks. The sunset was stunning.

We got back to Zagreb about 8:00pm ish, and they went back to Hrvoje's apartment, with a promise that they would come over the next night for Samhain festivities. Ivan and I went back to his house, and I studied some croatian while he did some cryptograms. Slept like the dead.

[OnyxCougar]

Day Five (Thursday) [Halloween]
Samhain (sow-in [sow rhymes with cow]) is one of the most celebrated of the Wiccan holidays, as it is the day that DIVIDES years for witches. It is the day in between years, and part of neither the old or new year. It marks the beginning of the cold season, and is the opposite of Beltain, in that respect. The word Samhain is actually derived from two gaelic words meaning "warm end". This "in between-ness" is not limited to Wiccan years, however. It is also the time that the veil between the worlds is thinnest. The ancient Celts believed that when one died, they went to a place free of hunger, pain or thirst, called "Tir nan Og" to wait for rebirth. The separation between this world and Tir nan Og is thinnest on Samhain. Many witches practice divination on this day, believing that their ancestors can make contact across the veil and guide them on this day. This was also the time that the Celts traditionally brought their herds in from the fields and culled the weakest animals to match the livestock's winter food supply. This meant a day of feasting as well, as they had alot of meat from the culling, and a time to preserve the remaining meat for the coming winter.

We were in Croatia, a land that had been inhabited, historically, since Jesus was a baby, and Zagreb itself was at least 900 years old. There is alot of history there, countless people lived and died in the area, and it was particulary important to me, as my maternal grandmother's mother and oldest sister were born in the old Czechoslovakia back in the early to mid 1800's. In a sense, I was very close geographically to my grandmother's family roots. We have so little information on the Koprovic/Sprc line that it is very difficult to track them down. The only document we have to go on is my grandmother's delayed birth certificate from Oklahoma, which indicates her father's name as Koprovic and her mother's maiden name of Sprc, both born in Czechoslovakia. Not even a city there, just the country. Keep in mind that Czechoslovakia, in the 1800's, encompassed ALOT more area than it does today, the political borders were very different. It is entirely possible that they could have been from a region which is now Poland, Hungary, Austria, or Yugoslavia, which is now Slovenia/Croatia/Bosnia and Hercegovina/Czech Republic/Montenegro.

In the morning we had breakfast (I was becoming a fan of bacon, eggs and bread with butter on it), and Hrvoje called. There was no hot water and therefore no heat in his last-minute apartment. He wanted to know if they could come over and stay with us until he found something else. "Sure," Ivan said, "come on over." So they said they would pack up and take a taxi to the house in the evening.

Later on, Ivan and I went to Volovcica Trg, and wandered around for awhile. He went into a little (and I mean little, like big enough for three people to stand in) store in the Trg, looking for a spatula. We didn't find a spatula, but I spotted a mask, and went "Ooooo!" Ivan bought the mask for Kelle, and also got a set of playing cards (he's really interested in Blackjack. I'm teaching him how to play.). He also was thinking of her drawing ability, so he bought her a package of colored pencils. We left, and I called out, "Hvala! Denja!" as we left the store. Hvala (vah-lah) [Thank you] and Denja (djane-yah) [Short for Dovidenja, Goodbye, or God be with you.] I got into the habit of doing it, and still catch myself occasionally saying it as I leave a small store. Hvala! Denja! It's just one of those things Kelle and I noticed ourselves doing. If you call us and we answer the phone with, "Molim?" (moe-leem), don't hang up. It's us answering the phone by habit.

There is a "china shop" next to the bakery in the Trg, but it's more like a dollar store. We had passed it every time we went to and from the trg, but Ivan hadn't wanted to go in. This time I made him come in, and I found a whole bunch of different little masks. Ivan became excited and we bought one of each for Kelle. We were looking for plain paper and a pencil sharpener for her too, and now we needed to find wrapping paper for these masks. The lady in the store told Ivan about the stationery shop down the street, so we left, (Hvala! Denja!) and went there. It was getting dark, and we were expecting Kelle and Hrvoje back at the house in a little bit.

It was chock full of goodies, so I picked a blue foil wrap and a purple marbley looking paper. Ivan picked up this container. It is a heavy cardboard notebook shaped box that opens up flat, but when you close it, a blue elastic band holds it closed. He picked one with this funky design on it, so I plucked it from his hands and picked a white one with cyan and navy blue anchors and other navy-ish designs on it. We got her paper, an eraser, a sharpener, and a regular pencil. Taking our loot home, we scrambled to wrap everything before they got there, and I got the last mask in the metallic bag about a minute before they walked in the door. Ivan couldn't wait to give her the bag, and when she opened it, she opened the art stuff first. Ivan explained he wanted her to draw him a picture when we were in Preko. She looked at everything and was pleased. So I made her open the other little packages. She saw the first mask and started crying. After all the masks were open, she had them arranged in front of her, and Ivan remarked how it was his birthday, but Kelle got all the presents.

We put everything away and I broke out my tarot and beast cards. Kelle's particular gift manifested itself and we went on a quest through Zagreb that culminated in 4 icicles getting home at 11:45 pm. We watched some croatian news (in Croatian, of course) and went to bed.

[OnyxCougar]

Day Six (Friday) [Croatian All Saint's Day]

November 1 is All Saint's Day. This is a primarily Catholic, but generally Christian holiday, celebrating, well, all of the Saints. In the 8th century, Pope Gregory IV established the Celebration of All Saints Day on November 1 and the prior evening, to honor the martyrs of the Church. It is a different day than All Souls Day, which is a Roman Catholic holiday on November 2 or 3rd, depending on which day of the week it falls on. All souls day commemorates the faithful departed or those baptized Christians believed to be in purgatory. It purposely follows All Saints' Day in order to shift the focus from those in heaven to those in purgatory. The Church of England abolished All Souls' Day during the Reformation. However, the day has been reestablished in Anglo-Catholic churches.

In all of Catholic Europe, All Saints Day has become a day to visit cemeteries, to light candles and place flowers on family graves. Of course, one also goes to church to say a prayer for loved ones as well as for the Saints. Therefore, November 1st has become a state holiday in many countries with Catholic majorities, like Croatia. The largest cemetary in the country is called Mirogoj (Meer-oh-goy). We did not go to Mirogoj on All Saints Day because we had decided, while we were in the states, that we wanted to go to Hrvoje's family's "summer home" on the Adriatic Sea.

The train was scheduled to depart Zagreb in the evening, switch trains in Knin (k-neen) with an early morning arrival in Zadar (zuh-dar), which is in "North Dalmatian" coast area. Then we were to take a ferry from Zadar across the Zadar channel to the Island of Ugljan (oog-lyan). From Preko, the town we come ashore at, we were going to take a taxi or bus to the little village where the house was, Sutomisicica (Soo-toe-mish-cheet-sa). (The population was 441 in 1991.)

[OnyxCougar]

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[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.

[OnyxCougar]

Day Seven (Saturday)

We pulled into Zadar at about 7am Saturday morning. We grabbed our stuff and walked from the Kolodvor to the harbor. At was about a mile. Along the way, buildings here and there were studded with more bullet holes and I tried to imagine what it would be like to live in that kind of environment. It's that kind of moment when I realize how fortunate I am. I've lived outside the US for years, off and on, and occasionally I'll have a moment of clarity, and I'm very thankful for what most Americans take for granted. Americans that haven't been outside the US (and I don't mean heading to TJ or Vancouver) just don't have the rare opportunity to appreciate what live is like in the rest of the world. It's a very humbling feeling, and at the same time, it inspires pride that I live at the standard that I do. I live just a hair above the poverty level in America, but even this is quite a step above the middle class of Croatia, where the average income is 1000 kunas a month, which is a little under $200.

We arrived in the harbor at about 8am, and Hrvoje checked on the ferry. It departed for Preko at 9:30, so we had 90 minutes to burn. Ivan and I went potty at the ticket station while Kelle and Hrvoje went across the street to a little shop that had a table and four chairs out front. We met there, and had a coke while we waited.

Time passes as it always does, and soon it was time to board the ferry. I had been on ferries before, (most notably the one from Dover, England to Calais, France, crossing the English Channel) so I wasn't too excited about the trip to the island, but I LOVE the ocean. The guys kept reminding me (over and over) that this was NOT an ocean, it was a SEA. "Yeah, yeah," I replied. "Ocean, sea, what's the difference?" They looked at each other and I realized they didn't know the difference, so I made it a point to call it an ocean just to spite them. If they can't tell me the difference, they don't deserve to correct me. So NYAH. (I went and looked it up.

The ferry trip took about 30 minutes, and I snapped some great pictures of the harbor and the island on approach. There is a little island on the way to Ugljan, off to the left, and Kelle and I decided we wanna buy that island, kick off the current inhabitants, and build a great big mansion there. So it's "Our Island" now. We never actually set foot on it, but it's ours.

We got off the boat in Preko and there was a little restaurant slash ticket office for the ferry there. There were buses lined up facing the village, so after a few discreet inquiries by Hrvoje (who felt like he was home), he bought us bus tickets and we got on. This was another of those buses that were the big chartered kind. There were so many people packed in the bus that the four of us stood, and Ivan was leaning against the closed door of the bus and would have to lean in and squish me while the doors were open, and then he could lean back after they closed. Ivan and I would get out at every stop that people were exiting, then get back on. When I say full bus, I mean full bus.

We got off at the fourth stop, which was basically a side road jutting to the right of the main road the bus was on. Down the lane to the right was a beautiful church. As we walked past it, people were gathered around in the side area, dressed in dark clothes, singing. We were walking past a funeral. Hrvoje was carrying the 2 huge bags and Kelle's backpack, I had my backpack and Ivan was pulling my suitcase along on the rollers. The lane went slightly downhill past the church, and then made a little left hand curve. On the left hand side of the road just down from the church, there was this little booth that looked like a white telephone booth. When we got closer to it, it turned out to be a statue of Mary, and there were rosaries and flowers and other little tokens that had been placed on her hands and on the wood around the statue. The lane then curved right and we saw a sign for food and a castle to the right. That piqued my interest, but we kept walking. We passed the soccer field on the left, a little harbor beyond it, and houses.

Up the lane we went, and we asked several times, 'Is it much farther?' 'Are we there yet?' 'I gotta pee!'. We were going up a pretty steep hill, and soon it became pretty evident that the natives did NOT walk around on this island, because we saw 9 year olds and above riding motorscooters everywhere, eliminating the need to trudge up the little back lanes between the houses. We don't know how Hrvoje did it, with all those bags on him, but he walked up the hill like it wasn't a big deal and didn't even break a sweat. Ivan wasn't winded, but was getting tired. We passed this foul smelling bend in the alley that had trash standing, and we held our noses and kept walking. Kelle and I were gasping for air, sucking down our inhalers and sweating and hot and just seriously ready to lay down. We had to stop for about 30 seconds and then roll our eyes dramatically and trudge on, our calves screaming for mercy. Finally we got to a set of wooded doors that looked like the gate in the movie Romancing the Stone. Remember when Joan Wilder and Jack are in this village and they are at the gnarly old wooden gates? They turn to leave, and Jack says, "Write us out of this one, Joan Wilder." This columbian or whatever behind the gate says, "Joan Wilder?! You are Joan Wilder? The writer?" She nods and the guy is like "Well, in that case, mi casa es su casa!!" and he opens the gates and it's this luxurious courtyard and so completely NOT what you imagined? Yeah. The gate was like that.

Hrvoje unlocked the gate and opened it up. We all peered in. It opened into a courtyard. To our right was the communal bathroom. A little down from that was someone's front door. Further up from that was a little area with a basin and a short garden hose. Directly in front of us was a steep staircase leading up to a door on the left, a small walk to the right and another door. The door at the top of the stairs turned out to be the one we wanted. It took Hrvoje about 5 minutes to open the door, accompanied by helpful remarks like, "Don't snap the key off, Hrvoje," and "You have to be smarter than the lock, dude," and "Just say no, man." Eventually the key turned and Hrvoje stood and triumpantly opened the door. It swung open to reveal a kitchen table directly inside, a door to the left, and a stove, fridge and sink past the table. The door was open, and there were two twin beds pushed together with heaps of pillows and blankets, a wardrobe, a table, and several windows.

Now, Kelle has one phobia. Spiders. This is an island, and an apartment that hadn't been used in months. One of the small windows in the bedroom were broken, probably from the children next door throwing rocks or something. The bottom line is, no one sat until Kelle was satisfied that all the spiders were dead. Spider corpses were also not acceptable. And there were spiders everywhere. Hrvoje opened the window and shook the blankets and pillows out, and Ivan and I looked around for live crawling ones. Kelle stood in the kitchen, supervising.

Once the "all clear" was sounded, Hrvoje laid one of the mattresses down on the floor, and made the bed. Ivan and I would get the twins, and Kelle and Hrvoje were sharing the mattress on the floor. It was about 11am and I was tired, but eager to explore the village. We set our stuff down and went downstairs, out the gates, and walked down the lane to the intersection. The sign said stuff about food and a castle with an arrow pointing left, and to the right was a street with houses and a little market on the right and a soccer field to the left. We were hungry. Kelle wanted "BEEF!" None of us had eaten since the train the night before. We turned left toward the castle. I never saw a castle, but there were so many trees that it could have been there and I just didn't see it. We came upon this little restaurant that was actually this guy's house, and it looked closed. Hrvoje explained that we were way off season, and we turned to go when the proprietor stepped out and spoke to Hrvoje. After a few seconds, the man walked away and Hrvoje said, "He's opening for us." I was stunned. The man came back. "Do you vant to eat outside?" He indicated the covered patio. It was warm. "Sure," we said, and he washed down the plastic tables and put a nice table cloth on it, and set the table.

[OnyxCougar]

A picture taken from the ferry.