The train ride from Budapest to Zagreb was mostly uneventful, except for having to change compartments. I did chat with some fellow travelers whom I met up with later in Zagreb on Thursday.
I am Couch Surfing while I am here and my host has been awesome. While in Budapest I hosted a couple of times, but this has been my first time to actually surf. In a way it is kind of bad since I am being spoiled my first time out! I know that I will not always be able to surf at every destination and/or my future hosts may not be as awesome as my current, but it is damn nice to have a cool host for my first “official” surf.
Got a good night’s sleep after a l-o-n-g day yesterday (Wed) and wondered into town around mid-morning. Got my coffee on and grabbed some wifi before knocking down some errands and then stomping about town.
Zagreb has a cool vibe to it: It’s big enough without being overwhelming; the people are friendly without being overly demonstrative; people are fashionable, but not pretentious or arrogant; and the sidewalk/coffee culture is vibrant. There seems to be a ton of artsy stuff available and the architecture is a curious mix of Austro-Hungarian in the center parts and prison like, communist era block houses the further out you get. All in all, it feels like a very livable city.
After stomping around, I met up with some other backpackers whom I met through some people I met on the train. I can see how easily this is going to happen as I continue to travel. It was an interesting first experience, nothing overly exciting to share other than group dynamics get pretty interesting when a hand-full of strangers band together for some short term activities. I guess it goes to how clearly our primate nature is driven by our desire (need?) for social interaction.
I had the camera out for while and took some general touristic type photos. I’ve posted the gallery flickr.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidmarkerickson/sets/72157622519666905/
