Backtracking...........After arriving back from Vienna I proceeded to park my car on a street near my flat back in Prague. Immediately my metallic blue Skoda car was missing. It could have been the fact that I parked on a hill, and me, driving stick shift, had to choose between practically parking in the middle of the street, or rolling backwards and hitting the car behind me. Without a car (possibly stolen), I decided to it was a good time to leave the Czech Republic and make my way to Croatia. Here are the last pictures in Prague....my flat.
Notice my little drying rack. I do not own a dryer. Therefore, if I actually decide to wash my sheets, then the rack will be totally covered. Choice: clean underwear or clean sheets....hmmm.
My shower, sink, and washing machine
This is the grand foyer. Yes, I find it a little strange that the toilet bowl is located in the foyer.
I have only cooked pasta and chicken fingers
My stoop
Croatia is a familiar place. It is akin to the motherland, Italy. It is nearly winter time, so NO, I am not talking about hairy armpits (males and females). The Croatians are very religious catholics, many houses including restaurants have front gates, the wine is outstanding, the politicking is abundant, people will sit, drinking coffee for hours, and there is interregion superiority complexes (Northern Italy vs. Southern Italy = Croatia vs. Slovenia). I have been in Croatia a week and have visited two restaurants and toured the center of the city of Zagreb. The people here are really friendly and feel responsible for making sure I am happy and having a good time. We are talking about trips to the vineyards and to the Adriatic Coast. Next Thursday and Friday are national holidays in Croatia. For these holidays I will be spending a lot of my time in a cemetary......yup. On the Day of the Dead, known in Croatian as Dan Mrtvih, Croatians prepare their dead family members for a "journey back to heaven" (as described by my friend Alma). All the graves at Mirogoj cemetary are visited and candles are placed on all of the graves. It's supposed to be a spectacle. Although I still haven't figured out the flash on my camera yet, I will take pictures. Here is what I have visited so far in Zagreb. The first week in November I'll be in Athens for 5 days and then another 5 days in Poland (Krakow, Warsaw, and Katovice) the beginning of the third week in November (Aunt Kathy??). In between Athens and Poland I'm visiting Bucharest, Romania and Bratislava, Slovakia.
My current residence: the Hotel Esplanade
Zagreb town center
This is the cathedral in Zagreb. It was beautiful inside and it reminded me of Florence. At the altar lays the body of Blazeni Stepinac in a glass casket. He was the archbishop of Zagreb. In the 1940's the communist government of Yugoslavia (which Croatia was a part of) ordered him to separate the Croatian church from Rome. Because he refused, he was found guilty of collaborating with the Nazis and went to prison for 16 years. In between his 16 year imprisonment, Pope Pius made him a Cardinal. The communist regime refused to let him partake in his duties of Cardinal. When he died the autopsy showed he was poisoned while imprisoned. After reading that story, I felt a little weird taking his picture.
Favorite candy store of the village people. SUPER!
Just when I thought I was lost, there are these secret passageways all over the city that will get you even more lost.
I am a big aficionado of the porch.
Jesus, overlooking the Heineken sign. After all those years of drinking wine, he probably just wants a beer!
This is my client in Croatia: PLIVA. There are multiple employees dedicated from 8:30 AM to 3 PM whose sole purpose is to provide people with fresh cappuccino, espresso, vanilla latte, multivitamin juice, etc.
Team Croatia: Karolina, Darko, Tomislov, Alma, and me.
See you soon!!
