May 14, 2024

 3 countries via two taxis and two trains today!  Getting up to the train station this morning was a challenge.   Right off the bat we had to haul our cases (and ourselves) up two flights of stairs just to get to the station from the road.  And no…..there was no elevator anywhere!  Left Budapest from the Deli Station at 9 a.m. and were supposed to make a connection (6 minutes only!) at approx 2/3 of the way through the trip.  Unfortunately our first train presented some challenges.  Initially, it didn’t list Zagreb (or the connection point) as a destination so that was confusing but ultimately we located it just in time at track 6.  But…..again…..the gremlins were at work and the car our reserved seats were in was not attached to the train!  We were supposed to be in car 421 but…..ended up having to simply “find a seat” in any car we could.  We ended up in 422 and it turned out to be a great trip!  There are 6 seats in each compartment on the train and ours was full.  Luckily, one of the 6 knew how to open the window and so in short order we had fresh air (lots of it) in our compartment.  It was wonderful!  In fact, we could even open the sliding door to our compartment and open the window opposite across the hall of the car and get a great cross breeze.  

The Hungarian countryside was dotted with farms and fields.  It was a very pretty journey but once we crossed into Slovenia the pretty journey got even prettier.  Everything was greener and the hills were a little higher and the air a little fresher.  For much of the time a river meandered alongside of us.  It was really a wonderful trip and after the third stop (there were many many stops) there were just four of us in our compartment so we were able to spread out a little and in fact play some cards and make new friends.  Biz and Travis were travelling from Australia for three months and ending their travels with a stop in Greece where they’d made all the arrangements to get married.  What a lovely young couple!  After this trip and a little more time to pack up in Oz they’d be making a move to England for work and to live for the next couple of years.

Remember we had to make a connection (with only 6 minutes)….well….by the time we were about half way to our connection stop our train was already almost half an hour behind schedule.  Things were not looking good for our connection!  On the upside, there would be another train coming through there on its way to Zagreb a few hours later that we’d be able to catch.  Hmmmmm…..the “joys” of travel.  LOL. The good news is that the other train was also several minutes late and our conductor was able to let them know at the station that we were just minutes away so they actually held the train for us!  We literally jumped off one train and on to the other one!  (Well, if I’m honest, there was no jumping involved.  The trains are high and the stairs are more like a ladder so jumping would not have been the smart option!). Luckily Travis helped us get our bags off the train and while I hefted mine onto the next train and clambered aboard, Travis was still helping Lynda lift hers up which resulted in us getting separated by a couple of women with massive backpacks.  It was a super rush getting onto the train and I got blocked into the first compartment on the car we’d climbed onto only to discover that Lynda was nowhere in sight!  The train was already moving out of the station and the conductor was asking for our tickets and still I couldn’t find Lynda.  I said to the conductor (I had both our tickets on one) that this was for my friend and I and that I didn’t know where she was and was concerned that she didn’t make it onto the train to which he just waved his hand and said “okay okay”.  His dismissive response did not give me any cause for confidence…..I was actually afraid that she hadn’t made it onto the train!!!  SHIT!  What would I do?  I left my case in the compartment and set out down the hallway looking in every compartment as I went trying to find some sign of her or her bag but saw nothing I recognized.  It was as though she had vanished.  I was at the end of the car when she came around the corner heading toward me pushing her bag.  She was oblivious to my near heart attack at the thought of her being left at the station as she happily reported she’d found a compartment that had lots of space in the next car.  I went back to retrieve my bag and followed her to the almost empty compartment she’d secured and heaved a sigh of relief when we decided if we ever get separated like that again to not leave the car we get into.  LOL….all is well that ends well and this ended really well as our new compartment mate was a young girl (grade 12) returning home from high school (one hour away).  It turned out that she was only with us for one more stop but that was enough time to learn from her that we were coming into Sevnica, Slovenia which is the hometown of Milania Trump.  She told us that since Trump had been elected as president in the US tourists had been flocking to this beautiful little town and that now they were selling Milania cakes and Trump burgers!

But enough about anything to do with Trump.  The Slovenian landscape is gorgeous and if that young woman is any indication of the people…..it would be a great place to spend some time!  But we are off to Croatia so Zagreb….look out…..here we come.

It wasn’t long before we arrived in Zagreb station and located a taxi who would take us to the apartment we’d booked for two nights.  Once we got to the place we decided to upgrade by moving down to the main floor to avoid the stairs.  The room we’d been booked into was on the third floor and there are 24 stairs just to get to the first floor!  Nope!  I’ll gladly pay the extra 10 euros for that “upgrade”. Our little apartment is very comfortable and will give us ample time to explore Zagreb before moving on to our next destination.

Walking around tonight we discovered that we are almost directly across the street from the Canadian Embassy.  And next to that building is another Embassy so I guess we are in a swanky part of town and our apartment is on Embassy Row. Our apartment building is 140 years old and we are in the historic lower town district so we are very close to everything here.  There is a strong coffee culture here with little coffee bars hidden down alleys and on street corners.  As soon as we arrived we decided that would be the first order of business.  Lynda had a coffee and when I saw hot chocolate on the menu I decided I’d give that a try.  OMG!  Maybe everywhere in Europe makes their hot chocolate like this - I don’t know - but I remember having hot chocolate in Rome one time and it was the same…..kind of like drinking rich chocolate pudding.  Your spoon can’t stand up in it but…..it’s so thick it looks like it almost could!  What a wonderful welcome that was.  From there we explored the theatre (it was open as there was a performance scheduled to begin in 1/2 hour) and walked up and down some of the main streets.  There aren’t nearly as many huge gorgeous buildings as there were in the last couple of cities we’ve been in but Zagreb has some nice ones too.

For dinner we decided on Japanese for a change of pace and what a treat it was.  The little sushi place we found was super nice inside and the wait staff excellent.  Then the food came and it was even better!  We marvelled at how lucky we are to have travelled through three countries today and then to be enjoying a fourth country’s cuisine for dinner was like icing on the cake.

Back in the room now….tomorrow will be another day filled with sights and sounds and based on the number of cafes we saw….a lot of coffee too.  :-)

L & L