Saturday, December 27, 2014

Zagreb and Ljubljana



10/6/2013 - After the 10+ hour bus ride, I arrived in Zagreb with just enough time to check into my hotel and quickly see the Museum of broken relationships. I had been looking forward to this quirky museum!





People donated love momentos, wedding photo albums you could leaf through of people who were now divorced - old items of clothing that they donated instead of throwing out into the street, etc.  The stories came from all over the world. We are all connected by insane stories like this. I loved it. 

Zagreb is terribly under-rated.  I wish I had more time to wander and I loved the Hotel Jagerhorn.  It was just a stop-over but I hope to spend another night there one day. I went out for some truffle pasta and some more Croatian wine!





I took a short train to Ljubljana.  A few years ago when my friends and I were voting on international marathons for our 2012 trip, Ljubljana was a big contender.  We decided on Amsterdam instead. (which is great, because I hurt myself that year and could only run a shorter distance and Ljubljana does not have a half marathon) I had always wanted to check the city out.  It was charming, I would definitely come back with friends. There was nightlife that would entertain us. I was by myself so I wasn't roaming the streets at night for very long but I could see potential. 




Slovenian food - sort of like Italian with some other eastern influences.  You can see the pasta, goulash and pork knuckle on this menu. 


I was visited by a little friend who ate some of my crumbs.  Later I stopped for some fantastic coffee (top photo) 



Flags advertising the upcoming marathon - WAAA I want to run it!







I stayed at a place called Petra Varl. It was a great rental efficiency apartment with a tiny kitchen!  I did sit on this porch for a little bit until it was too cold. I pretended and fantasized that it WAS my apartment. I definitely made morning coffee in the french press just like I do at home. There was a bag of coffee in the cabinet. One European thing I need to adopt at home is the electric water-heating kettle. My Slovenian self, Sarja, heated water with it and was very impressed.



I took the funicular up to the castle:





I made a mortadella sandwich and packed a fancy lunch from the grocery store. I had a long, long train ride to Budapest the next day:


I chose a horrible mediocre place for dinner.  Instead of talking about my food (that still makes me sad over a year later), I will post these pictures of my walk home from dinner. 






I was up before the sun to catch the train to Budapest!







No comments: