2023 Croatia – Zagreb
27th April 2023
We had an early rise to catch the train back to Vienna and our connecting flight to Zagreb. Because time was tight we booked a five-minute taxi ride through the hotel which cost nearly the same as the four-and-a-half-hour, first-class train journey to Vienna.
It was a short flight to Zagreb and we arrived at the Hotel Dubrovnik early evening. Despite being so far inland there was a very good fish restaurant we were both looking forward to visiting. The food was great but I didn’t enjoy the meal much because of the young child in front of us who was playing cartoons on her mother’s mobile phone. I was relieved when their food was served as I thought we would get some respite from the noise but no, the woman fed her child the entire meal so he didn’t once look up from the screen. When it was time for them to go she even managed to put on his coat without interrupting his viewing. We did manage to eat dessert in peace. We would never dream of eating dinner at home with a TV in the background so I don’t see why we should be forced to do it in public.
The reason for this visit to Zagreb was to go to the IKEA store. In England, we used to treat it as a day out and sometimes arrived home with a car jammed full of their goods. We had been looking for a settee for ages but either the back was too low or the seat too narrow. Even with the large selection in IKEA we only found one that we liked and it was a good price so we ordered it. We spent the rest of the day strolling around the store and as we couldn’t take much on the plane we made a note of what we wanted so we could order it from home and have it delivered. Disaster struck at night when my favourite Zagreb restaurant ran out of duck but we still had a pleasant meal.
Our flight the next day wasn’t until 10 pm so we spent the day pottering around. We were treated to some kind of changing of the guard ceremony which I had seen many times before but not in the middle of a street like that. 
The afternoon started to drag and I was ready to go home but it was a sunny afternoon and we managed to find a lovely little park so Federika left me there to have a quick nap. It was interrupted when I felt something nibbling my big toe which turned out to be a large puppy. The owners were concerned but I waved to them that it was ok and I was happy to play with their puppy even when it playfully bit my toes a little harder than was comfortable. After a short barking session, it bounded off back to its owners leaving me with dog drool seeping from my ears but of course I loved it. It wasn’t long before I was back to sleep, and not long before I was woken up. This time it was by a young couple who sat near me and started looking at a video on their mobile phone with the volume up loud.
29th April 2023
We arrived at the huge and completely empty Zagreb airport with a choice of 70 seats in the café, if only air travel was always like that.
Now we come to the end of our Italian adventure 2010 and it is time for me to say “auf wiedersehen” and “sbohem” until next time.
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2023 Mexico
