Turisticka Fotos I

In this post I am going to upload a bunch of touristy photos. I’m not in any of them because I was out exploring alone today. These are the kind of photos that lose their appeal once the trip is over, but I didn’t want you, dear readers, to think that all of Zagreb looks like Novi Zagreb with its brutalist Communist-era concrete architecture. In between snaps I’ll add trivial observations, not necessarily about the pictures.

I have a transit pass and I’ve taken the bus several times. This involves swiping a pre-paid card. I have not yet seen anyone else do that. V. tells me that you can buy a ticket on your mobile phone by sending a text (what a concept!), but I haven’t even seen many people doing that either. To be sure, no cash is involved, and I have no idea how payment of transit is monitored. Are these people riding the bus for free? Those old ladies are not buying transit tickets on their mobiles. Probably they have monthly passes, but no one seems to look at them. By the way, the transit system is very good and very well used. Every bus and tram is full, and they come by frequently. Sigh. I love it.

The drinking water is excellent. I wish Kitchener water tasted so pure! How is it that in a land with more fresh water than any other country tap water in many Canadian towns and cities tastes awful. Why are we buying so much bottled water? Because ours tastes like a swimming pool. Insert shake of head and big sigh of frustration. Or maybe a photo.

It’s true that Eastern European women have hair in many shades of red and purple. The drug stores have shelves upon shelves of hair dye in every shade. From my reading beforehand, I know that the scarcity of hair dye was a major problem for women under Communism. Everyone had the same colour, as there was no choice.

Older women also wear fur coasts unapologetically. 

Tonight at dinner with the chair of the English literature division of the department I suddenly understood that Croatians think of themselves as central Europeans, not Eastern Europeans. Um. 

On Fridays fresh seafood from the coast arrives in Zagreb. So last night I ate a whole grilled squid. Delish. 

Taxi drivers will tell you the story about what living in the post-Communist Croatia is really like. In fact, they can't wait to tell you. Okay, so I've only taken one taxi so far, but it was a very interesting chat!

On Sunday night I’m going to a restaurant called Ivica i Marica (Hansel and Gretel). Seriously. But it’s supposed to have good Croatian food. Lots of Italian food here, as was to be expected. Of course, we can get good Italian food in Canada—shout out to Giancarlo’s in Toronto!

I learned how to order a big coffee with milk today: Kava mjileko velika. Molim (please). Hvala (thanks). That makes my vocabulary about ten words rich now. Maybe fifteen.