Zagreb, Croatia
I slept in quite a bit today and did not get up from bed until after noon. I then showered, dressed, and drank a carton of juice I had bought the night before. Finally, after slowly getting ready, I left the hostel after 14:00 and sauntered down to the Mimara Museum (a large art museum), passing by the beautifully built Croatian National Theater in Zagreb on the way; however, by the time I reached it (after taking my time, as well as many photographs, throughout Zagreb), it was 15:00 and I feared that two hours would not be enough time to see the collection (the museum closed at 17:00); so, I walked north, past the short funicular, up the hill of Gornji Grad, and to the Upper Town of Zagreb. I then walked to the Museum of Broken Relationships, which is located in the baroque Kulmer Palace (dated 1776 AD), and entered inside; this museum contains artifacts from previous romances and relationships that didn’t last, as well as a description of the relationship and breakup to accompany each artifact; it is certainly a different museum and the insights I had in to these once private relationships that spanned the globe and the last century proved to be a bit fascinating; however, it appears that there are a lot of crazy people out there based on the evidence on display inside this museum. After visiting the Museum of Broken Relationships, I walked on to the Croatian Museum of Naive Art, which showcases a distinct segment of the art of Croatia from the twentieth-century AD by painters and sculptors with no formal art training. After viewing the different works on display (some were well done), I exited the museum and walked past the Old City Hall, on to St. Mark’s Square (the square located in the Upper Town); in the center of the square is St. Mark’s Church; the church was originally constructed in the thirteenth-century AD, but was radically reconstructed in the second-half of the fourteenth-century AD (when it was turned into a late Gothic church of the three-nave type). I walked around the Square (past the Croatian Parliament) and then entered inside the church. After viewing the inside of St. Mark’s, I walked east and entered inside Stone Gate (“Kamenita Vrata”), the only remaining gate out of four that once connected Lower Town to a part of Upper Town; today the Stone Gate serves as a chapel . . . with an actively used pathway that cuts right between the altar and the pews (it is strange to see people praying in the chapel as bicycles and pedestrians pass by). I then continued on to Ivana Tkalčića Street and to the empty Dolac Market. Next, I walked to Zagreb Cathedral (Roman Catholic), a building whose current form dates from 1880 to 1906 AD; however, it exists on the foundations of previous incarnations (the earliest dating back to 1217 AD – albeit, there was a church prior to even that). I entered photographed the exterior of the cathedral and entered inside, but there was a mass in progress, so I didn’t venture much further than the entrance (another time I’ll have to walk around the inside). I then exited the cathedral and walked back to the hostel, stopping at the supermarket along the way to buy wine, cheese, salami, and olives. I returned to the hostel and worked on the website some while listening to the new Muse album; I also chatted with two new dorm roommates (two gals from Florida) for a brief time. Later, after 20:00, I left the hostel to eat dinner; I ended up at a restaurant on Ivana Tkalčića Street and had a spiraled pub sausage with baked beans and a beer. After dinner, I returned to the hostel and typed away on my laptop. Later on, as I finished listening to Muse’s ‘Drones’ and while I updated myself with current news articles, I drank the bottle of Croatian red wine I had bought earlier; the wine was made of Frankovka grapes and tasted of spices and red berries, but most of all reminded me of a flat, past-its-sell-by-date, cherry coke – most likely my taste buds are not properly tuned . . . Anyway, after 02:00, I finally fell to bed and went asleep.