Arrival

[Zagreb tram]


14 March, 2010

(Day 1)

Arrived at Zagreb airport mid-morning. Nonchalance about missing luggage in direct proportion to level of exhaustion. Suitcase arrived promptly on next Lufthansa flight. Looking forward to meeting my classmates, but didn't have the requisite energy to pull it off. Everyone was congregated in the airport cafe waiting for the next arrival. As I sat slumped against a wall nearby, a kindly old man approached me:

Man: "??", "??", "??" (in Croatian)
Me: "I'm sorry, I don't know Croatian" (in Croatian)
Man: "Do you speak German?" (in German)
Me: "A little" (in German)
Man: "Are you okay?" (in German)
Me: "Yes. I'm very tired. I'm here with them [pointing towards group]" (in German)
Man: "Okay" [he smiles understandingly and walks away]

That's how tired I was - complete strangers were worried about me. Ha ha.

A brief excursion into town gives us just enough time to eat before we leave for Zadar on a bus. It seems a shame, because we have no time to see the city or visit any kind of library or memory institution while we are here. We arrived at the Zadar bus station after a 3+ hour drive. It's dark, we're tired, and we wait patiently for the taxi situation to get resolved so we can get to our hostel.

The hostel is adequate. It's clean and quiet. Nothing left to do except go to sleep.

Zagreb airport -
http://www.zagreb-airport.hr/en/

Zadar Youth Hostel -
http://www.hfhs.hr/page.php?page=hosteli&hostel=zadar&lang=en