Zooming into Zagreb!

The National Theatre where I saw the Nutcracker ballet.
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Well, I arrived in Zagreb, Croatia after a smooth train ride that lasted for about 6 hours. I got into the city about 10:30 at night. I followed the hostel's excellent directions and hopped on a tram that headed in the hostel's direction. I hopped off and followed little yellow painted feet right to the hostel's door. Could it be any easier? WELL...I spoke too soon.

I got to the front door and a memo was on it to call a specific number to check in. Ok...I have no mobile and I have no idea where I payphone is. Just great. Now, it's starting to rain and I have all my gear with me. I started banging on the door and peaked in a bunch of windows. And, finally a hosteller opened the door. No sign of the owners - but the hostellers informed me that they often saw them coming from the back of the hostel all the time and they thought that the owners lived back there. So, I popped in the back and all I could find was a large 3 story building that looked more like an apartment complex than a house. So I was pondering on whether I should ring the buzzer or just go back to the hostel and all of a sudden a large guard dog broke the silence of the night and started charging out of it's dog house barking. I screamed louder than any other time in my life because it came out of nowhere. (Think Janet Leigh in Psycho!) And, I was sure I was going to be attacked by some large bulldog/small bear. I quickly ran out of there and decided to go find a payphone.

My ear deafening arrival to Croatia!

View of the city from a look out.
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Well, I headed off and eventually found a payphone that required a phone card - so I was going to be unable to call the owners. I stomped back to the hostel - angry because I had not furthered my pursuit after 15 minutes of walking around in the dead of night. So, I got back to the hostel and the people inside were like 'What happened to you? We came out looking for you and you were gone we figured you had been dragged off into the bushes by some animal!' Well, I had kind of forgotten that my ear deafening scream could be heard probably within a 3 km distance. Turns out the owners ran out of the house and were roaming the streets looking for me. They thought I'd ran away because I was so scared. I found the lady roaming the streets in search of this loud screaming girl (a.k.a. me). She was so scared. I had woken them up from their sleep. Apparently the dog is theirs and is quite nice. Just protective. But, she is on a chain (thank God!!!) I gave them a heart attack and she joked that she does not need a doorbell. I am the first person that that has ever happened to. It was actually quite funny in hind sight. And, it was nice to know that they were all concerned about my livelihood.

View down an old street.
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The next day wasn't quite as traumatizing as my arrival the night before. I checked out the city of Zagreb (Croatia's capital city), and possibly my last Cathedral. Pretty city with a gazillion shoe stores (I have behaved myself so far!) and also bustling with Christmas spirit.

I scored tickets to the Nutcracker ballet here and the performance was fabulous. It was neat to see my all time favourite Christmas performance in a different country on the other side of the world. I love ballet and the Croatian National Ballet Company did a great job of staging the Christmas classic. Plus, I had great seats in the centre quite close to the stage. The ballet was staged in their beautiful Croatian National Theatre.

Neat church with a cool roof.
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I also managed to box up and send some stuff home. Another 8 kgs...uh oh!! I just hope it gets there, as I am sure I am the first person in Croatian history to send a parcel to Canada ...4 people!! Wow...talk about a waste of resources! Plus, it is by ship...so I just hope it shows up before I do...or at least by next Christmas! I will start praying...