Sunday, July 31, 2016

This morning is a day to see Zagreb. We all met at the city center at 8 a.m. Breakfast was delicious pastries at a nearby bakery for most of us. The three guys decided not to join us for this first part of the day. Just about a block from the city center square is a large open market. We spent the next hour and one half doing some shopping for souvenirs. Poor Olivia was sick today with a stomach virus.  Jenni joined us for the shopping part, but Vito didn’t. At 9:45 we all met again at the horse statue on the city center square where Jenni left us and Vito joined us. The three guys also joined us at this time. Then we got on the tram where we went a few blocks to a park where we met with two people from the Croatian Red Cross. The lady’s name was Silva. She was our tour guide for today. Our time this morning was spent on a walking tour of the city center. There is a new city (the lower city) and an old city (the upper city). The upper city dates back several centuries and climbs up a hill.  Many of the buildings in the lower city were built in the lower city were built in the late 1800’s but in the neo-classical designs.  Upper city buildings were built as far back as the 14th century.  The tour was very interesting but also very tiring. At the end of the tour we were able to go through the main cathedral in Zagreb. It was very beautiful. Zagreb is very proud of its history and has character actors for different eras throughout the city. Today we were able to see the “changing of the guard” close to the cathedral and a large group of people in traditional Croatian dress. We then went to lunch at a nice restaurant close to where we were the night before. It had a variety of food from soup to salad to sandwiches and hamburgers. It was so humid and hot today that it was nice to sit for a while in an outside restaurant with fans and misters.

Our next activity for the day is a cook-out at one of the local parks. Since Olivia is still feeling bad I am staying with her while everyone else goes to the cookout.
Since Susan stayed with Olivia, Sam is writing this portion about the picnic in the park.

After taking a tram from the city center to the bus station we waited a while for the proper bus. Once it arrived we all rushed over and got on the bus, just to find out that it was time for the driver’s break. We all got off and waited around for 10-15 minutes and then piled back on the bus. We were supposed to take the bus to just over the river, but mistook a highway running under the road for the river, so we all got off at the wrong stop and had to wait for the next bus to arrive. After explaining to the driver that we had gotten off at the wrong stop he graciously allowed us to get on his bus without paying any extra and took us to the correct stop, just past the river. After exiting the bus we walked across the highway to a large park. It was only a fairly short walk to where the cook-out/service was to be held. The service portion was supposed to start at 5 pm, but since several of the expected guests were running late it did not start until after 6 pm. Chris led us in a couple of songs and then Jimmye delivered the message, which was interpreted into  Arabic by a visitor from the Libyan Red Crescent, their version of the Red Cross. We later found out that this visitor was a Muslim, but since Jimmye was speaking from the Old Testament he was comfortable doing the interpreting. Once Jimmye began the prayer, another person had to interpret it. After the prayer some of us walked over to a nearby pond and watched the ducks as the kids threw rocks in the water. When we returned to the cook-out the first batch of hot dogs were ready, so people started filling their plates. An announcement had been made earlier that all the food being prepared was Halah, since there were several Muslims present.  Wonda did a head count and counted at least 45 people at the cook-out, a very good turnout. When everyone had eaten and visited for a while the party began to break up. We separated into our various ‘family’ groups and headed back to our apartments. I went with Jenni, Vito and Eli back to their apartment so Susan would not have to travel home by herself. On the way back to the tram stop we stopped in a McDonald’s for some ice cream before catching the tram home.