9 October 2014 first blog from Zagreb

October 7 saw Mike and me out in the dark morning at 0500 to catch the RIT cab to the Dubrovnik airport for our 6 day stay in Zagreb. You may remember that Mike's classes are half  students in Zagreb and half in Dubrovnik. The class is linked by computer and small camera. The Zagreb students see him in a postage stamp size shot. Since the connection is suboptimal for both sides, he volunteered to teach in Zagreb a couple of the weeks during his stay. Of course I tagged along for the first trip and we added 3 days to the trip for sightseeing.

RIT had arranged the travel and hotel and we were promptly picked up at Zagreb airport and taken to Centar Antunovic, a beautiful modern amenity-packed conference center. Just as I was thinking, I was a little underdressed, the receptionist alarmed us saying there were no reservations for us. After feeling like babes lost in the woods, we were able to sort out that we were at the wrong hotel. Villa Antunovac is our home for the stay. No pool. Very close to the center of the city with about 10 guest rooms. RIT has used this hotel for several years and in the beginning it was a five-minute walk to RIT Zagreb. They have a new campus farther away  and now it's a tram ride with bus transfer. Mike is taking advantage of very reasonable taxi rates since he only has 2 round trips to RIT while we're here.

So you ask, "What is there to do in Zagreb?"
Our hotel is across the street from a large brewery that reminds me of High Falls.

brewery in the daylight

It has a great restaurant associated with it. At the recommendation of our hotel desk, we gave it a try after Mike returned home late from his first day of teaching. (Mike says the students actually appreciate his jokes. I chuckle at that.)

Apparently, every Tuesday night at the brewery restaurant is a planned special meeting of a local dance club. We were surprised to see senior citizens waltzing to national favorites and frugging and getting down with a little Elvis thrown in. The music was provided by one man singing. He accompanied himself on an electric keyboard set to sound like an accordion. (That's right, he actually wanted the accordion sound.) Everybody was dancing and when he started belting out Blue Suede Shoes in Croatian I had to join in. Turns out they appreciated my effort and many came over to greet us, grabbing an English speaking friend on the way to translate. The manager of the dance club has a daughter who also teaches at RIT in Zagreb and hugged and kissed us just because. We felt like celebs. This was the Zagreb we were looking for.

Still relatively unknown, enjoying a late dinner with Mike

Dancers waiting for the music to restart

"Blue Suede Shoes" and I blow my cover

One enthusiastic dance partner

Delicious grilled bacon, sausage, bacon wrapped chicken and
cevapcici  (little mixed meat sausages) with potatoes

70,00 kunas is about $12 dollars, great price

The arch over the entrance outside

8 October was a national holiday.
We heard that many businesses would be closed and Mike felt he needed to do more prep for his classes so that we would have Friday, Saturday and Sunday to enjoy. With a little apprehension, I took off on my own. I decided to walk to the old city center down Ilica Street and not try the tram. It was a 30 minute walk through a dark old section of town with 3-5 story stone and concrete buildings painted dark colors and stained by the air pollution from the frequent tram traffic. Ilica street is the most famous shopping street in Zagreb but from where I started walking it was not attractive, had some vacant store fronts and much grafitti. There were many single women walking and I felt very safe. I looked at the architecture and despite the paint and soot  noticed most buildings were decorated with stone statues, carved corbels and trim work. Yup, just needs a little scrub so the original architecture can be appreciated.  As I approached the city square named after a beloved governor, Josip Jelacic, the architecture changed and building upkeep improved. This part of the city design is more open and inviting.

Another corner with statue
on my way down Ilica street to the square

tram traveling down Ilica street

Josip Jelacic statue in the square

Some beautiful buildings facing the square

 What contrast to the first part of my walk!  The magnificent twin spires of the cathedral can be seen from all over Zagreb.

the Cathedral with some repairs going on.
Note the size of the people in front of the cathedral.

 Many sites were tributes to the area's history.

St. Mark's  Church  with gaudy roof

Stone Gate was turned into a makeshift chapel
to honor Mary the official patron saint of Zagreb since 1990 

Citizens were out in good numbers with kids and dogs. Street venders were selling roasted chestnuts and corn on the cob. Mike and I will take this walking tour Friday and visit some of the museums that Zagreb is noted for. I am especially looking forward to the Museum of Naive Art. Much naive art was painted on glass by northern Croatians when they had a break from their farming. These untrained artists had a natural feel for color and balance.

   The remainder of the day was a walking tour of the old upper town, a drink break was followed by a walk through the lower town. Lower town is very green and somewhat newer. It has many beautiful public parks arranged in an horse shoe pattern. In lower town you start to see modern architecture mixed with the old.

This was a beautiful building with shops along the ground floor. 

High end shopping

center of the building with glass domed ceiling
and 4 long halls of shops meet at the center

Some new  mixed architecture

H&M left Eastview Mall but is big here

A corner building with a corner entrance is very common

We were fascinated by the title "The Museum of Broken Relationships." True to its name there were numerous simple exhibits submitted by heartbroken men and women. Each exhibit included a short story of the heartache and a touching peculiar memento from the relationship. Many sweet young loves, or jilted lovers, many two-timers, many short or long term affairs that ended in disappointment for any reason were painfully preserved here. Dear Abby could have predicted many of the doomed relationships. This is a touring exhibit and there were some entries from the US. Each broken heart entry would live on in this museum for all eternity.

The October weather here is sunny and warm. Leaves, if they intend to be, are not colorful yet.
That's it for tonight. Stay safe and be good to those you love.