12 hours, 12 photos

Something different: I decided to do a small photo project just to see how it would turn out, 12 hours 12 photos. Pretty straight forward: take one photo every hour where ever you are. Zagreb seemed to be a fitting city for this project and it was a bit of an unusual day for me so why not?

This is the main square in the old town in Zagreb. The cathedral is getting cleaned... like just about every other church in Europe.

I took a stroll to the huge inner city park where the zoo is located. It was a long walk so an hour later I wasn't there yet but this shop sign made me laugh.

Back from my long walk, this is my dorm... nap time!

Lunch! The most amazing pasta with pesto I have had since Florence, Italy!

Notice board in the hostel kitchen. Where to eat, what to do, how to get a free beer... everything a traveler needs!

Snapped this one on my walk to the train station.

Yeah! European hockey! I met a photographer on the train from Sarajevo to Zagreb a few days ago. He was in Sarajevo covering the "Brangelina" event and we got to talking about Canada which of course lead to talking about hockey. Long story short, he invited me to a playoff game Zagreb vs a Czech team on Sunday. The Zagreb team is about 50% Canadian players as well as a Canadian head coach. We had 4th row seats which was pretty cool. This is the warm-up... Czech team is in white.

Player intros.

The most AMAZING hockey fans! Matko describes them as "drunk football (aka soccer) fans at a hockey game". I haven't been to a football game in Europe before but I have seen them on tv and would have to agree. The fans were on their feet the whole game, singing and chanting the entire game. They must have had at least 12 different chants and songs. A group of fans behind us had huge drums and were pounding on them leading the crowd in songs/chants. It was an amazing experience.

The Czech team has a Canadian player who was in jail for 6 years for hiring a hitman to murder his agent. This isn't him... it just reminded me of that story. It was front page news of the local newspaper on the day of the game.

Final score: Medvescak 3, Znojmo 1

Medvescak is pronounced med-VES-chuck.

Back at the hostel... one more photo before my 12 hours was up...




I couldn't end this post with a photo of chairs so saved this one for last. Croatians are awesome... they didn't have a singer for their national anthem, they had a guy drum the national anthem! He was amazing and the crowed went NUTS when he finished. Think Travis Barker but better.

Kylie

Sarajevo and food!

Having escaped Mostar alive, my first meal in Sarajevo was Italian pizza. Proper, stone baked, thin crust, Italian pizza... made by Bosnians. It was amazing! Maybe I was starving at the time, maybe I had talked it down in my mind ("it wont be as amazing as the pizza you had in Sorrento"), but it was really good! So good in fact, I returned to the restaurant a couple days later for another pizza... then a few days after that, I took a friend there for lunch! If you are ever in Sarajevo and have a hankering for some proper pizza, check out "Cheers" just off the main pedestrian street.

Delicious! My (second) veggie pizza baking in the oven.

Veggie pizza number 2. I had to stop myself before I ate the whole thing so I could snap a picture on my phone for y'all. 

Snow covered Sarajevo. Compared to Mostar, this is nothing. 

This made me think of you, Mom. 

History time! As you know (or should know...) the trigger for WWI was the assassination of Archduke  Frans Ferdinand, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, on a visit to Sarajevo. Thus, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. It was an interesting series of events: at first a bomb was thrown at the car but exploded far behind the car. The parade was more or less stopped while Frans and his wife insisted on visiting the injured spectators in the hospital. Afterwards, they were on their way back to the castle when their driver took a wrong turn and young Gravrilo Princip (19 years old), shot the couple. The kid tried to shoot himself but the gun was wrestled from his hands before he could. He then tried to ingest cyanide but vomited the expired poison. He was seen as a hero for a long time and a marble stone with his footprints was placed on the spot where he shot the Archduke and his wife... until the Russians took over control of whats now Bosnia and moved the stone (which I think is in the museum now). On the wall of the museum is a commemorative plaque (pictured above) that says "from this place on 28 June 1914 Gravrilo Princip assassinated the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie". In the background of the photo, you can see the Latin bridge (which was re-named to Gravrilo Princip for a short time) which Frans and Sophie crossed in their car before being shot and killed. 

Latin bridge with the Museum and place where Gravrilo stood on the corner. 

This building was covered in shards of mirror. 

Burek... a type of "pite" or pie that is famous in this region of the world. Its originally Turkish, made of flaky dough and traditionally filled with cheese. More common fillings also include meat as well as spinach which is what I got.  

"Garage" in Croatian. 

I am amused by simple things... this is a sign that was posted on the bank door. The choice of dog in this picture... compared to the one below...

No beagles and no German shepherds :(

And no guns... just so you know. 

Sarajevo rose. Where a bomb exploded and they filled it in with red coloured paint/concrete as a type of commemorative thing. It was night time right after the gala so the colours are off but you get the idea. They are all over the side walks in Sarajevo but because of the snow, this was the first one I had seen all week. 

The gala... if you squint, you can see me near the front... there is a photographer in the front wearing orange, I am 3 rows behind him. The announcers are introducing Angelina Jolie to the stage at this point. I didn't get to see Brad at all, he was apparently really drunk so hiding back stage all night. 

A terrible dessert we tried. Bosnians LOVE it so we had to try it. I don't know what it is but tastes like sugar mixed with nut flavoring formed into a square. The texture is really odd (main reason why I dont like certain foods is because of the texture... ie cooked mushrooms but in this case that didnt matter much) and it is stomach-churningly sweet. The block we shared was huge and we each took a small taste, the rest went in the trash. 

Vuchko- mascot from the Sarajevo Olympics in 1984

This isn't Sarajevo, this is Zagreb! Its the Canadian embassy. Down the road is the massive Japanese and Brazilian embassies. Our little Canadian one has a bulletin board out front with articles about the Inuit. haha.  

Valentines Day! I totally forgot about this until I was walking back from the gym and saw this guy walking ahead of me. I love Valentines Day (pun intended)!

More hearts in Zagreb! 

I snapped this one this morning in Zagreb, Croatia. Its the first nice weekend since the massive cold snap and snow storms in Eastern Europe so the cafes have been packed all day... I also like this lady's boots but that was an after thought, not the reason why I took this picture. 

One week to the day I will be returning to Canada. I am dreading it for so many reasons but also looking forward to a few things such as friends I haven't seen in ages (my fellow "dessert" loving pal) and getting to visit the Yukon before starting back to work! 

Carnival tonight and playoff hockey game tomorrow in Croatia, yippy!

Kylie

Kotor and Birthday!!

Another birthday over seas! As Tanya said to me on the day of "you seem to be collecting overseas birthdays". The first being my 11th in New Zealand. I spent that one with lots of family and friends then jumped off the bridge at Patau. I was so scared but upon my most recent trip back, that bridge isnt so big:

This is obviously not me but this is the bridge.

On my 25th birthday, I can now say I spent it in Montenegro in a seaside town called Kotor. The day began with an AMAZING french toast breakfast then it was off to climb the fortress walls that surround the Old Town of Kotor and snake their way up the mountain behind it.

 

As if a caution sign would stop us... pffft! 

 

This is the splendid view from about half way up. One of the guy I was with was convinced the tall skinny trees are imported from Italy. Not so, they are native to the area but he would have nothing to do with this fact stated in the hiking guide. He was so sure of this because he had seen the "exact same trees on my last trip to Italy"... as if that makes sense. 

 

Over 1300 steps to the top... this is in the "medium risk zone" of the walls. Up ahead you can see the steps just stop but the wall continues. Onward we went. 

 

Our efforts kept being rewarded with more and more magnificent views of Kotor Bay. The old part of the town is where all the red roofs are at the bottom of the photo. The sea is out around the bend to the left if you kept sailing. 

Looking back down the way we came up. 

 

St. John`s Fortress at the top. Lots of evidence of "other" troops having built on top of and modified John`s fort.

Formatting is not working out for me today.. this caption goes with the photo below: Oh the retched thorny bushes that snagged my clothes anbushes d pierced my skin on the hike back down! We took the road less traveled on the way back so encountered too many of these nasty things.

 

 

 

 

 

Birthday cake and a couple of beers followed this delightful hike! 

I am working on putting together a "snow post" from my "adventure" in Mostar when I was stuck in this tiny town for 7 day with no news as to when I would be able to leave. It was the first time I had seen over 3 feet of snow fall over night. No, that does not happen where I come from. 

Ahhh, my time here is slipping away. Soon I will be back to the motherland not knowing what to do with myself!

~KRG

Budapest and Belgrade (Beograd)

Ok, this is a little bit of a random post as I had a few picture of Budapest that I wanted to share and a couple randoms from Belgrade. Not a whole lot to see in Belgrade, just an industrial city with a few interesting buildings and a fort but most of the city was destroyed during WWII and the subsequent wars so the historical buildings are few are far between. That said, it was freezing and snowing in Belgrade, so my camera hardly made it out of my bag as that would mean taking my mitts off to snap a photo.






Budapest, near the Parliament building. Holocaust memorial- Jews were lined up along the banks of the Danube, told to remove their shoes, then shot into the river which carried the bodies out of the city. 






Leave it to me to find the chocolate shop! Budapest, famous chocolate cafe/boutique. It was closed the whole time I was in Budapest... so sad!





Fairy statue sitting on the fence along the banks of the Danube. Modeled after the sculpture's daughter.



Famous Chain Bridge in Budapest. I am standing on the Pest side looking toward the Buda side. My, it looks like a gloomy day. No rain, but quite chilly that day.

The lovely Parliament building in Budapest. It is truly more stunning than the Buda Castle across the river. The sun finally came out for a few hours!   

Fountain on the Buda Castle grounds. Apparently it's the most photographed part of the castle. It is depicting the hunting of stag but I didn't want a big dead deer in the photo... hounds are cuter! 

Parliament from Buda Castle. 

Parliament at night. Wowza! 

Grande Market Hall, Budapest.

Grande Market Hall, Budapest. Nothing like sipping vodka shots and drinking beer at 10am... not that I was doing that, but a large group of elderly Hungarian men were. 

The only photo I took on my phone while in Belgrade: Largest Orthodox Church in the world. They've been working on it since the 40's. The outside facade is finished, now they are working on the inside. Lack of steady funding has been the major limiting factor. 

While standing at a bus stop attempting to find my hostel, I snapped this photo of the map at the stop. Belgrade city transit gets a lot of funding from the Japanese government (no idea why)... the smiley face is where I am (train station) and the heart is the "heart of the city" (and where I wanted to be).