Still Here and Still Busy

Although reports exist to the contrary, we haven’t dropped off the face of the earth.  Not only are we still here, we’re über busy trying to see as much of said earth (particularly Europe) as we can before we move back to the States next summer.  This leaves me with a problem.  I spend most of my free time planning trips and preparing for them which leaves me very little time to document them on the blog.  I haven’t finished blogging about Rome, about our trip to France with my parents, about our month in Utah, about Croatia or about any of the fun day trips we’ve taken in the last nine months.  I would eventually like to get pictures up of all of these adventures, but for the time being I’m going to focus on Croatia. 

Last week, Ben and I were able to go to Croatia for the entire week WITHOUT KIDS.  That's right – we were able to traipse about the Adriatic coast unhindered by the smaller and slower legs of our children and unbothered by the whining that inevitably accompanies long days of walking and/or driving.  Don’t get me wrong.  I love my kids and they really are exceptional travelers.  However, it was really wonderful to have an adventure with just Ben. 

We had originally planned to go to Greece for the week, but as I was researching and planning I could never get the trip to come together.  For some reason, it just never felt right.  Given the unrest and instability in Greece right now, I’m really glad we didn’t ignore those feelings and went to Croatia instead. 

Our first day we drove to Zagreb.  It’s about 9 hours of stunningly beautiful driving through here.  I don’t think that there’s a road in Austria that’s ugly.  Slovenia felt just like home (Utah) to us.  Case in point:

Southern Utah county….

                                          

….or Slovenia (formerly part of Yugoslavia)???

                                          

Look again closely…

                                          

Definitely not Spanish Fork (although there are probably plenty of billboards for gun enthusiasts there too).

We did A LOT of driving (around 1800 miles) and nearly all of it was through beautiful, lush, mountainous regions.  Inland Croatia, however, is a barren wasteland.  Think Nevada desert.  Not a lot there.

So, Zagreb. 

                                       

I really liked the vibe in Zagreb.  It is a bustling, clean, modern city with a great downtown.  The statue in this square (see below) was disassembled and hidden during communist times because the man portrayed (Ban (which is kind of like governor) Jelacic) was feared to be a nationalist symbol behind whom the Croatian people could rally.

                                                                 

We loved the colorful tiles on this roof.  The coats of arms represent the region of which Zagreb is a part.

                        

The building to the left of the church is where the offices of the prime minister are.  The newer looking part of the roof is where Serbian shells hit during the recent war and has since been repaired.  There was some kind of important meeting the day we were there.  You can kind of see the red carpet where the prime minister met an important guest (this person arrived in an impressive looking motorcade and was surrounded by secret service types) and escorted her into the offices.  They were greeted by a ceremonial military guard as well as a very real military guard (you should have seen the guns they were carrying) as well as a band which played some catchy military sounding marches.  I took a quick picture, but I didn’t want to be too persistent – after all I was in close proximity to government officials and lots of heavily armed soldiers.  I guess OPSEC is always on the mind! 

       

I loved all the hanging flower boxes in the area…

                           

I find the lack of vowels in Slavic languages fascinating.

We had some delicious pizza in Zagreb.  Good pizza should ALWAYS be documented.

          

I must pose this question, however.  Even if a pizza is vegetarian, is that any excuse to use cucumber as a topping?  I think not.

Our next destination was the cathedral.  It has a name, but it is so long and impossible to pronounce that all of the guide books refer to it simply as “the cathedral.”    Apparently at least one of the spires is always under renovation.  At least they put a picture on the scaffolding so you can get a general idea of what it looks like, haha.

                           

I thought that this relief above the entry was particularly interesting.  Not only is the style completely out of character with the rest of the exterior, it shows very clearly the Godhead (Holy Trinity) as 3 distinct beings.  This cathedral was severely damaged in the late 19th century and was pretty completely rebuilt.  I imagine this sculpture is fairly modern.

                                

We loved the inside of the cathedral.  This inscription is in a pre-cyrillic language invented by none other than St. Cyril himself.  Apparently the Croatians toyed with the idea of adopting this as their national alphabet when they gained independence.  I bet the kindergarten teachers were all relieved when that idea was killed.  Can you imagine?

                               

                     

                                 

                       v

                                 

The subject matter of the relief on the altar is one that I have never seen before (and we’ve seen a LOT of art).  The sculpture depicts the Holy Family doing their daily chores while being helped by angels.  I wish the picture were better.  The detail is really quite beautiful.

Finally we wandered the local outdoor market.  I’m sure people thought I was really weird, but I couldn’t help talking pictures of the bright and beautiful piles of produce.

                 

   

That’s it for today.  I’ll try to post more this week, but I make no promises.  Das vedanya!