Polish Ham: Zagreb

View from the bus (Dubrovnik to Split).

Friday, I woke up at 5 am. My bus was scheduled to leave at 8 am. I am mental, I know I am. Even with all this traveling, catching buses and trains nearly every other day, I am still obsessed with getting there on time and not rushing, and so I always leave myself plenty of time, most of which I end up spending sitting in the station, twiddling my thumbs, which just adds to my travel time. But I am calm and happy sitting in the station, twiddling my thumbs, knowing that I am there on time. I can't help it. I always wake up twenty times during the night making sure I don't oversleep. Sometimes I am glad that I am traveling solo because then other people aren't aware how crazy I really am. But now you know.

I woke up extra early because I wanted to shower, and then I had to pack because I had washed a bunch of clothes and half of them still weren't dry after two days. My room was a drafty 60 degrees, to the point where even the clothes I didn't wash were starting to feel cold and damp. And then I wanted to catch the 6:30 am bus to the station that came by my villa hourly. I couldn't handle taking the 7:30 which would allow me virtually no waiting time, and you know how I feel about that.

So there I was, with all my bags, some of my clothes still damp inside (yes, I had to wash them again later), sitting in the bus shelter, watching the sun come up, and my bus goes right ahead and passes me. The driver looked right at me. Maybe it was a mirage, so I waited for another ten minutes and nothing happened. So with my luggage, I decided to climb down the zillions of stairs to get into the main town, where there were other buses running more frequent. I was pretty calm about the whole thing, and feeling pretty proud of myself for not freaking out. Then again, I had given myself three hours.

So I hopped on another bus. "This goes to the bus station?" I asked the driver. He nodded. And so we rode along and we came to a stop where there were many buses, which I took to be the bus station. The driver watched me in his rearview mirror as I scrambled off. He drove off without saying a word. It was not the bus station. Bastard! He knew where I was going! What is with these bus drivers?

Sick of the bus, I started to walk, asking everyone if I was going the right way. Everyone I stopped along the route told me to go straight for 10 minutes, even if I had already walked for 10 minutes. When I finally got there, I was dismayed to find that nothing was open and my breakfast would be potato chips and Twix, which felt like a real low point. Because I am insane, despite all that mishap and folly, I still waited at the station for about 25 minutes.

I boarded the bus to go back to Split when suddenly I had that feeling, that twinge in my throat, that I was getting sick. It could go either way. That did not make me happy. With Dan meeting me in Budapest, this is not the time to be ill. As the bus drove along the edges of mountaintops, overlooking the shiny blue sea, I became sad because I could see that it was a beautiful day--it had been raining the last two--and I was going to spend all of it sitting in a bus or train.

I arrived at Split and I had about two and a half hours to kill before my train. The sun was scorching and I was overdressed in my corduroys and black sweater. I started to sweat. I started to feel nauseous. I was so hot but there were goose bumps on my arms. My bags might as well been filled with bricks. I walked to this restaurant I liked close by to the station and it was closed. None of the cooks had shown up, the guy at the door told me. No, there was nothing around that was any good.

So I trudged my way back to the main part of town, where I was harassed by people asking me if I needed to rent a room. They wouldn't leave me alone and I suddenly felt so ill, I just swatted them away like flies. "No, I don't need accommodations!" I huffed. One guy even came up to me twice, not believing me. "Are you sure?" "YES!"

I managed my way back to old Fife's. The waiter recognized me--I have been there three times in the last week and I tipped him very nicely last time--and he was talkative and happy to serve me. Funny how each time I go there they go from downright rude to sincerely nice. I ordered vegetable soup and some fish. No wine today since my stomach was flip-flopping from the bus ride. Instead I downed a mini-jug of water, and I felt a little better with a full stomach.

Then I sat outside on the bench, facing the water, letting the sun shine on me, knowing that this is the last time I will feel this sun and warmth for a long time. My hair is starting to grow out and my bangs are starting to get in my eyes all the time. Today, they formed one large curl. At that moment, I couldn't stop thinking about it, and so as I sat in the sun, I just smoothed out my hair out in annoyance and wondered what happened to the calm Yvonne of this morning.

Me and my curl in Split. Look at that thing!

I boarded the train to Zagreb which was actually a bus for the first few stops (don't ask, it happens to me all the time), and watched my last Croatian sunset through the window. Soon the outside became so dark I couldn't see a thing, but could feel the train tilting and winding through the curvy mountains. At one point, I peered intently outside and could make out white snow on the ground. It was official: I was going back to the tundra.

I arrived in Zagreb, weary, my legs and butt hurting for sitting so long. I had finished my book, my ipod died, I had spent the last two hours of the trip just sitting. I found my hostel where I am spending the night, which was sort of like deciding to find rest in the middle of a frat party. When I got there, there were a bunch of people sitting out front, drinking and screaming and laughing, which could be heard inside. The guy working there seemed ready to head out and join them. I crawled into bed at 11, listening to the party below, then woke up to drunken snores from all the guys sleeping in my room. I left at 6:30 am, while everything was still asleep, managing to bump into some random guy sleeping in the hallway and avoid the bloody tissue sitting on the counter in the bathroom. It felt like a surreal dream.

I managed to take the longest train from Zagreb to Budapest. I know you can get there in about 5 hours, my train took 7, stopping at every single town in the country of Hungary. I had nothing to do except sleep and write down Polish vocabulary. It was about 100 degrees in my train cabin but that only seemed to bother me. I wasn't feeling that sick anymore, but I didn't feel my best. When I arrived, my body ached, I smelled, I was hungry for real food. I was happy to be in Budapest.

I traveled a total of 932 kilometers, equivalent to 17 ½ hours total on a train or bus (plus waiting in the station), in about a day in a half. But it is all worth it. A glimpse at the city looked promising, and I am waiting patiently for Dan the man to arrive, which makes it all worth it in the end.

Zagreb at 6:30 this morning.

Lots of travel ain't pretty. At least the curl is gone.

Me in Zagreb.

Yesterday, I arrived in Zagreb at 3:30. All the stores closed at 3:00. As soon as I got there, the city was already shutting down. GUYS! It is Saturday, this is ridiculous! This meant that I couldn't go and purchase a guide book, and so I spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around places that appeared to be important--the big church, the main square, the street with the row of restaurants. I found a cake shop I really liked, ate a slice of pizza (while thinking to myself, Am I really in Croatia right now eating pizza?) and then I spent my evening in the hostel family room watching Bourne Identity with a group of English guys and two American lawyers. Today, I moved on to Split.

Zagreb, eh. Split, wow.

As my bus chugged along the mountainside, and I could see glimmer of the ocean, the off-white and orange buildings from the distance, I nearly burst into tears with happiness. I stepped off the bus and Split just smelled warm and salty and wonderful. I took off my puffer; it was about 70 degrees.

Looking for my hostel without a map, I saw palm trees and water and I was just madly in love with it all. Somehow the hostel appeared, it was so easy breezy along with everything else about this place, and so I shoved my things inside and went out to explore.

Having not eaten anything except potato chips, candy, cake and pizza for the last two days, I needed a proper meal and so I went to this placed called Fife's Café that the girl from the hostel recommended.

"They have really good fish, but terrible service," she warned. So I wasn't surprised when no one approached me for 20 minutes after I made numerous nods to the waiter. The bottom of the menu states, "The complaint book is at the front desk."

Finally, when it came time to order, everything I wanted--the mixed grilled fish and grilled vegetables--were no longer available. I ordered the fish the waiter recommended, which turned out to be one of those monster whole fishes--bones and eyes included--on a plate. Not something I would normally order, but you can't complain about fresh fish--or fresh bread, or potatoes, or a small carafe of white wine. I found myself getting a little antsy at times with the slow service and I would tell myself, almost in a yoga chant, "Relax, you have nowhere to go."

Afterwards, I climbed up a bunch of stairs to check out the view of the city, which then turned into this beautiful walking path, lined with fragrant trees, cactus shaped like octopuses and an array of wild flowers. Beyond that, cornflower blue ocean meets mountains meets cornflower blue sky. It was the first time I had seen the sun or blue skies in about two weeks, and I was just beaming, basking my face in the glow. The walk was quiet and I thought about how happy I was that I made the decision to come here. It reminded me that you are never stuck in life, you should never feel trapped, there are always other options awaiting you. I almost burst into tears again.

Today was the first day of daylight savings time. It was past 4 and the sun was already setting, so I found the perfect spot and sat down and watched. It was not a spectacular sunset. There were some clouds in the sky, so after a while, the sun merely hid behind the clouds lighting them from behind. I admired this quiet beauty for a while and then figured that it would not get better than this, so I started walking on the path. But then in a few minutes, I could see that the sun was starting to peek out, bright and pink and stunning, the clouds reflecting the pink tone, and I cursed myself for the second time today for not being patient. So I walked back to the original spot and watched the sunset until completion. "Relax, you have nowhere to go."

I walked back into town, found myself some gelato to top of this extraordinary day. Then I went back to the hostel where I talked to my Australian roommate Sarah and we agreed to go out for a drink. It was a quiet Sunday night, not too many people at the bar, but it was nice to sit and chat about our travels. After all, I have no other place to be.