Zagreb, Croatia Day 2

Zagreb, Croatia Day 2

Our trip thus far has really been terrific. Going from the south and working our way to the north has really made the differences in countries and cultures more clear. I wish that we could have hopped over to Italy because it would have been nice to have some first hand accounts of the latest happenings. I have a feeling that similarities would be appearent with Greece and parts of Turkey. Having spent a number of years on the East Coast of the USA, and knowing a bunch of Italians, the Mediterranean countries sure have a lot in common. Maybe instead of dwelling on the slight differences they have, they should realize how similar they actually are. One conclusion that I have made is that most people just want to relax and have a good time together. Mostly over a coffee or a beer. No matter where you come from, people understand the language of "chill". If they don't, they should try it. If they don't try, they are just afraid of having fun. Sucks for them.

Today, we just got some groceries and made a killer breakfast here. Scrambled eggs, vegetables, and coffee was the fuel. Then we just
randomally walked around. We made it to the train station to get tickets for tomorrow to Slovenia and returned with more food for an early dinner. Once again, we got the Cordon Bleu frozen jammers and had some chunky weird pasta. The kitchen here is nice and easy to use.

While hanging out here in the hostel, I met another American. This time a guy from Tennessee that has been traveling all around Europe solo. His name is Daniel and he just got here from Spain after running with the bulls. Not believing him, I asked a few questions... Yeah, he did. And, he had video to prove it. In his run 10 people got sent to the hospital and he got hit by one, but not hurt. The video is pretty good and you can see him just for a second. Truly amazing! He made it all the way to the final stadium without bailing over a fence or being trampled. Some 3500 people do this at a time and it's intense as he said. A funny thing, he mentioned that spectators throw wine on the runners and the cheering is extremely loud. All the bulls get to be in a bull fight and the meat gets eaten in entirety. The bulls live a rich life getting fattened up and go out in full glory. PETA, eat your heart out! Maybe not, that's meat too.

Upon meeting Daniel, I had to question him about the American denial issue. I posed it as a question, not giving my stance away, about if he has or knows of people that mention that they are from Canada. It didn't take long for him to agree with me and see where I was going. It was great to meet a genuine American. Andrew had a lengthy conversation with him as well. But thank God, Daniel had to get to the train station, and the conversation had to end. Andrew gets rolling and, as we have seen before, might get crazy. We will have another time for this mayhem. They ended the conversation when they both liked the same Game of Thrones books. All Hell would have broke out if the night could have gone on.

Last night we had a roommate from Austria. I had just taken a shower and was standing there in your get out of the shower gear as the hostel girl came in with him. HELLO! I just stood there and they came on in. Things could have been much worse, but i thought we had the place to ourselves. Guess not. This guy, Clemens, was visiting Zagreb to see his sister and a girlfriend. We chatted for a bit and he went out to go to some clubs or something. We left before he woke and the most interesting thing happened. While sitting on a bench in the town center, taking in the sights, he walked right in front of us. CLEMENS! Once again, what are the chances of this? We talked even more and went to the train station and sat down for a beer. The conversation was full of Garner conversational screw ups, as usual, which provided the humor of the afternoon. Running into him was not as weird as seeing Louis in Montenegro after we saw him in Sophia a week earlier. Now, we were used to these occurrences. Clemens must think we are nuts. He was our first Austrian friend and I hope to hear from him. His job might take him to Nebraska in the USA in the future. I hope, if he goes there, he can get some time and make it Las Vegas. It would be super cool to see a friend we have made come to our turf and show him around. Maybe someday. We split, and he had to get to meet his sister that had food waiting for him. Nice guy, and Austrian. Go Austria!

Now it's time for bed. We must make it to the train station for a ride to Ljubljana, Slovenia tomorrow. Hopefully, it's just a couple of hours and the border crossing is smooth.