Compared to yesterday, anything would be more low key... we had done a lot and were tired from our adventures. But we were in Zagreb and we couldn't waste it indoors all day!! We started our day by stopping at a grocery store on the corner to get something for breakfast... it turned out to be a VERY profitable trip. I found: sesame oil, Thai red curry sauce packet, Tabasco sauce, taco sauce, and coconut milk... all things I have not yet figured out where to buy back in
Macedonia. I was GOING to find a way to get them in my suitcase and back to Tetovo!! I didn't find anything that sounded good to me for breakfast.. but there was a popcorn vendor outside on the street corner, so I got that for breakfast :) Today's journey was going to be more walking with two goals, first to find books in Croatian and then to have lunch at a specific restaurant.
The walk turned out to be very successful- we walked through the park, by the
botanical gardens (that are closed till
April 1st - rats!!), more amazing architecture... One thing I noticed about Zagreb, at least the part we were in, was the difference in the architecture of Skopje...in Skopje the architecture is more soviet style, which makes perfect sense when you remember that there was a terrible earthquake there in 1963 and many things were re-built. In Zagreb the architecture dates back hundreds and in some cases thousands of years. But back to our journey of the day... Being that it was Sunday finding an open bookstore was seeming to be a bit of a problem... HOWEVER there was a mall open, and they had a toy store and there in the back were books! I have decided that there are 3 things that I now collect when I travel. 1. paintings, drawings or artwork from the country 2. a Christmas tree ornament and 3. books in that language for my classroom. I now had collected all three!
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Our last stop was Hansel & Gretel's Restaurant. It had a great atmosphere! I had Slovanian Pepper Steak which was a flat steak that was folded in half with pepperoni inside, and then a peppery sauce on top- it was DELICIOUS! For dessert we stopped at the little pastry shop next door that was fashioned like the witches house from the story- it looked as though it was a gingerbread house with candy! It was a wonderful last stop in Croatia!!
That was our journey, we went back to the hostel, rested a bit, and then it was off to the airport...
I have to share a bit more about our airport experience. We took a tram from the hostel to the bus station, to catch a bus to the airport. All went without a hitch, and we were there by
7:45 for our
9:10 flight. The guy at check-in said to be to our gate by 8:10... the funny part was it was impossible to do so because the security gate was closed.... all the people that were on the last 5 flights out of Zagreb were sitting/standing waiting till about
8:20 or so for the security check to open... made it pretty hard for us to get to our gate by 8:10... but at least we weren't alone in it! After getting through security we went through passport control and got our stamp in our passports for leaving the country. This brought up an interesting question for me. If we had been stamped as "leaving Croatia" what country were we in? Did we have a location? Did we even exist? Now these questions may have had to do with the fact that I was extremely tired, but Cassidy and I got a good laugh and discussion from it! We waited about 10 or 15 min before boarding the bus to the plane started. However halfway through people boarding the bus, they stopped us and told us it would be 5 more min. We sat down, but could see the poor people that had already gone through the gate with their boarding passes just standing on the bus. Sometimes it pays to not be at the front of the line I guess. Not sure why we had to wait, but after the 5 min we were able to get on a bus to the plane. The flight went with no problems... even though it was a bit loud since it was a propeller plane :) We made it back to Skopje about midnight and melted into our beds.
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| bags packed waiting for the bus to the airport.... |
Lesson: Have faith that they system will work even if it is different than what you are use to!
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