Lesson number one when traveling is don’t wear light colored pants on the plane.  Thankfully I was not the one that needed to learn the lesson.  The lady across the isle from me was wearing khaki pants and for some reason decided to order tomato juice.  When the flight attendant came to pick up her lunch tray she knocked her full glass of tomato juice on her lap.  Lucky for her there was only 8 hours left on the flight.  The flight attendant felt very bad, and I know she did comp the lady some money.  Also the lady was  at least smart enough to pack other pants on the plane so she was able to change out of her wet pants but the rest of the flight consisted of the flight attendant apologizing to the girl.  That was my highlight of my flight.  4 movies and no sleep made for a great travel day.

Arriving in Zagreb was like no airport that I can remember before.  I have been to some pretty small airports but I never remember an airport not having a gate or at least a better method to get people out of an airport.  Zagreb airport did not have any gates.  They put you on a bus and then drop everyone off where you are all put in a tiny room and wait to go through customs.  There were no official lines so basically you just push your way forward.  By this time I was so hungry from not eating anything that I felt like the floor was moving.  Really I just needed food and sleep.

Instead, I would try to drive through the center of Zagreb in a manual car.  My first time driving a manual and I decide to drive to the center during rush hour….and with no sleep.  Not smart.  Didn’t start off well that where you pick up the rental cars is just along the street of the airport.  A guy saw I was leaving and insisted that he was going to wait for my spot.  I felt rushed already.  I did manage to get the car out but let’s just say there might have been a little whip lash.  I can’t say I enjoyed the drive.  We made it there somehow.  I did kill the car a couple of times.  The parking lot was located down a narrow one way street that you have to get out and punch in a code.  I felt like I was learning to drive all over again.

If driving wasn’t hard enough getting the car trunk to open was even harder.  We had a hard time at the airport but figured it out.  Then we couldn’t get the trunk open in the parking lot.  We must have tried for almost a half an hour before we decided to fold the seats down in the back seat and pull them out that way.  I think I might have it figured out now.  Yet another great feature in this not very fancy car.  I feel bad for the lucky person after me that get’s this trasmission.

It’s about time again for me to take a trip and explore a new part of the world.  I’m always amazed at how many countries I still haven’t been to in Europe, but this trip will include 3 countries that I have never stepped foot in. In a few days I will be leaving for Croatia with my friend. We are packing a lot of cities into this little over 2 week trip. We will mainly be in Croatia but a couple of little side trips to visit Mostar, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Kotor, Montenegro. We will be driving the first week from Zagreb to the south of Croatia. Then we will fly back to Zagreb and then head to northwest Croatia. We’ll end the trip with brief stops in Bled, Slovenia and Vienna.  I have drawn out a map of the cities we are staying in so you have an idea of where in the world I am. Hope you follow along with me.

The Naschmarkt is one of the greatest outdoor markets.  I always spend time walking around from stand to stand looking at all the weird items that I don’t know.  It always amazes me how many vegetables and fruits I have never heard of.  You can buy any kind of nut, spice or olive.  There are also a lot of restaurants and their version of food carts.  I always think Portland’s food carts are overpriced when I can come here and get a large portion of homemade pasta and pesto for 4.50 Euros.
One of my favorite vendors is the Gegenbauer oil and vinegar shop.  They have unique vinegars that you can sample.  First you smell the vinegar and then they put a little drop on your hand for you to taste.  This time I was sold on honey, blueberry and tomato vinegar.  I can’t wait to try them on my food at home.

This is one of my favorite travel bookstores.  They have maps of pretty much any major city you want in the world and travel books that cover every country in the world.  Each time I visit here I always make sure to make time to go look at travel books.  Besides, I’m always thinking about where I can travel next…

It is nice to visit a city and not feel rushed to do everything the instant that you get there.  Since I have been here before I know the places I want to go and to eat.  I know the most efficient way to get around so it is nice to not have the pressure of figuring out how to get places.  It was great to visit Schoenbrunn today and just take a book and read some.  To not be in the pack of tourists trying to get a photo of the same fountain is a good feeling.

We took a 4 hour train ride from Maribor, Slovenia to Vienna, Austria.  It was beautiful mountain scenery which does cause the train to have to go a little slower.  I was worried that there wouldn’t be significant room in our train car for my large suitcase but lucky for me I was able to keep it in the bike storage area.  The train wasn’t very full so we had 4 seats to ourselves. 

We had to take 2 subways, but really that was no big deal.  Vienna has one of the easiest subway system to use.  We have an apartment near the center of town.  We are pretty much across from the Opera house which is one of my favorite places to enter the center of the city.  Now I must go out and explore one of my favorite cities in the world.

It was time to turn the Polo in.  We drove almost 1,000 kilometers in the car.  It got us up the Julian Alps and to the Adriatic.  It was pretty hard to find a reasonably priced automatic in Slovenia but I’m glad I did.  The Hertz in Maribor was not in the center of the city but about 3 kilometers out of the center.  We decided to return the car 2 hours early so we could have the rest of the day free.   Hertz was supposed to open at 8 so we didn’t think we would have any problem.  When we got to the place it looked more like a repair shop and there was a driving school across the way.  There was a little sign for Hertz and the door was locked.  I asked people in the office next door (seemed like they were the AAA of Slovenia) and they went and got the phone number.  She called Hertz for me and said they would be there in 10 to 20 minutes. 

Maribor has been different from any other city in Slovenia I have visited.  There aren’t tourist busses or English menus everywhere.  There were some cute clay houses around all of the trees on a main square.  I’m pretty impressed that people don’t steal them or knock them over.  I can also say I have seen the oldest producing grape vine in the world.

We found a cute market to walk around and then we headed to the square to look at the music going on.  We also needed some lunch and since it seems like nobody eats out here it has been harder to find food.  Most people eat at home and just go out to get a drink.  There were some sausage stands in the square, and we thought maybe we should try some sausage.  I walked up to the stand and asked if they spoke English.  Naturally they did not so I ordered 2 plates of sausages using German.  I would have loved to know that one plate was 6 sausages but of course that isn’t advertised.  They  were wonderful people and I tried really hard to be polite and eat all of my sausages but I just couldn’t do it. 

Our drive from Bled to Maribor was about 2 hours.  Pretty crazy to think that you can drive across country in 2 hours.  We arrived in Maribor and decided that since we still had the car we would go check out a town called Ptuj which was about 20 minutes away.  Not sure it was worth the drive but it did allow me to fill up the car before returning it the next day.

Ptuj was pretty quiet.  Not many shops were open so we just did an hour walk around the city before returning to Maribor.  This part of the country is really popular for wine.  I suppose if you like wine then you would have a great time visiting all of the wine cellars.