A Photo a Day Keeps the Parents at Bay: Broken Relationships

Day 50 - Zagreb, Croatia

I had planned to sleep in this morning since I had a room to myself and didn't have to be anywhere at a certain time. That didn't really happen however, as I had my window wide open to make up for the lack of air conditioning and the sun was shining right on my face.

I was downstairs for breakfast around 8:30 and everyone else was there then too. By 9:30 everyone and organized themselves and some of us caught the tram into the centre of town. We got right down to business and odd some shopping. Steve and Karren were convinced that they had found a white dress that was the perfect one for me. They brought me to it and I tried it on and sure enough, I had to buy it! I also got a tank top and some comfy pants for the upcoming 9 hour train ride. While we were shopping it had started to pour outside. We missed the rain entirely while inside. It was great timing.

We then headed off to the Dolac market to check out all the fresh fruit and veggie stalls. It was a colourful sight to see. I got some delicious, juicy apricots.

We winded through the streets and made our way back to the cookie factory we saw the day before on Tkalciceva street. They had peanut butter cookies! I was so excited. We sat and had our cookies and a cappuccino outside. Unfortunately the peanut butter cookie didn't taste like peanut butter - more of a sugar cookie. The rain started again so we sat there for a while and waited it out.

When the rain stopped Karen and Steve and I decided to go for a walk in the lower town since we hadn't been over there yet. We had a walking map with us that highlighted all the main sights and told us about them. We room turns playing tour guide. It was a really lovely walk and we saw some very nice parks, buildings, sculptures, fountains, botanical gardens, etc. It rained off and on while on the walk, but we didn't mind. It was still warm out at least.

We finished our walk around 3 and then split up. I went to go check out the museum of broken relationships. It's this quirky award winning exhibit that displays artifacts and letters that people from around the world have donated after a break up of some sort. Each artifact had an accompanying letter written by the person who sent it in talking about the meaning and the relationship and sometimes why they failed. It wasn't just typical relationships however - there was a section about parents that abandoned their children and things like that as well. It was both a happy and very depressing museum. Some people sent things in to get help them get over there sadness and others were really lovely stories with happy endings.

I left the museum and sat on a curb and are my last cookie from the cookie factory before going back to the market to get some fruit before it closed at 4.

I got to the market at 3:20 and it was already shut down! There was one lady left selling bananas and plums so I grabbed a couple for breakfast the next day. I also made a quick stop at a store to buy some body lotion and got side tracked and decided to buy some nail polish too so I could be girly one day. It's been a while.

After that I decided to catch the tram back to the hotel and grab a snack along the way since I hadn't eaten lunch really. I stopped at the corner store by our hotel and grabbed peanuts and a beer. Delicious and nutritious.

When I got to my room the air conditioning was still broken and I had asked the lady at the desk in the morning to take a look at it. There was no way I could sleep in the room that hot again the second night so I went back down and she said I could change rooms. I went from the Penelope Cruz room to the Angelina Jolie room. It was definitely an upgrade and all was well again.

Then I had a lovely shower before going to meet Steve and Karren in their room for a I I feast of wine, chocolate, strawberries, and left over peanuts! Around 8 pm we decided to go across the street for dinner at a Mexican place that some of the others had gone too. The service was a bit crap, but my burritos were amazing! And I had guacamole...yummmm.

Then me and my onion breath went back to the hotel and got ready for bed. The Argentina vs. Netherlands match was on at 10 pm however, and since I didn't have wifi or a working tv in my room I went down to the hotel bar and sat there and watched the first half while doing some blogging. I got to bed around midnight, which was quite late considering the next day was a 5:30 am wake up time!

Dolan Market: