Friday, September 25, 2015
We were up about 6:30am this morning. Clay woke me. I don’t
know how he woke. Breakfast was not too crowded which was a surprise because we
knew there were 10 tour buses parked at the hotel last night when we got back
from dinner. It was cool, windy and cloudy and did not look like the clear
warmer weather forecast for today. The forecast turned out to be almost
completely wrong. It was warmer, but it was socked in with rain all the way
from Bled to Zagreb. I guess the good news is that the majority of the day was
spent sitting on the bus. The bus left at 9am. We stopped Ljubljana about 11am
and had a guided walking tour with a local guide. Then we had free time until
1pm. We were near an open air market and old town along the river. We were to
find our own lunch and/or do sightseeing. We found a kind of bakery that was
selling pizza rolls and chicken rolls so we got those and a Coke and a locally
brewed Union beer for Clay and found a covered area with a table by the river
to eat. Mostly we just wandered around trying to stay a little dry. My windbreaker
doesn’t keep me dry and now my little umbrella is leaking as well. That was an
expensive umbrella that we had to buy in Dublin too! I can’t tell you much
about Ljubljana except it is the capital and it has a lot of buildings in
Viennese Jugendstil-style architecture.
We got back in the bus and drove a couple more hours to
reach the border between Slovenia and Croatia. In the ever increasing border
tensions in this part of the world, Valentino and Gabriella informed us that things
change every time they reach a crossing. Today we got moved from one line to
another and then we had to get out of the bus and walk across single file. We
each had to present our passport to the Slovenian border guard for inspection and
a stamp then cross over the hand the passport to the Croatian border guard and
he stamped it. It was our longest time yet spent at a border crossing on this
trip. Since traffic was heavy and the weather was bad even though they thought
we were about 20 minutes from Zagreb, we stopped at the first Ina station in
Croatia for 20 minutes to use the facilities. It took longer than 20 minutes to
get into Zagreb and the Westin, our home for the next 2 nights.
We were lucky and got our room 1124 right away. We had told
Gabriella that we would do the optional tour here tomorrow and we had an errand
to run here. As soon as we got our luggage in the room, we headed out with
umbrellas. Gabriella had never come up with an offer or quote for our travel
options between Zagreb and Budapest and time had run out. We were going to the
train station to buy tickets for Sunday, plus Gabriella needed to finalize our
transfer plans. We stopped at the front
desk to ask for a map and directions. He asked us where we were going and told
us he had seen on the news that the border was closed between Croatia and
Hungary for trains. He offered to arrange a private car and driver. Gabriella
saw us talking to him and came over and they argued in their language and she
asked us to wait for free time tomorrow. We declined to wait another day in
case the train was not an option we’d only have one day to make plans. We have
already priced ourselves out of the flight option by waiting this long! So, we headed off in heavy rain and traffic as
the sun was setting to the train station. We were trying to hurry in case they
closed at 6pm or something. We don’t know what time they close but we got there
and the lady at the ticket counter informed us that the border was closed to
train traffic. She confirmed that the border was still open to vehicular
traffic now. We walked back quickly to make the farewell dinner. I earned 2
blisters in the process! I have walked miles over the last 2 weeks without incident
and now I have a blister on each big toe! Anyway, we went back to the guy at
the front desk who was like I told you so. He was right and we asked him to
arrange a car and driver. He picked up the phone in front of us and it was
done. Less than a minute’s work! It will be 400 Euros. That is a lot more than
the train trip we thought we would be making but less than 2 flights booked 2
days in advance! Gabriella was disappointed when she asked us, but she said the
guy she had been calling to try to set up to drive us had never returned her
phone calls. So, just as well. Fingers crossed we get to Budapest in a day. If the
borders close and the driver is willing, we can cross through Slovenia or
Austria. Fingers crossed all this rain fills the Danube and Amadeus Silver II
is in Budapest on October 1 and we sail all October!
The group’s farewell dinner was in a lovely Art Nouveau room
on the 17th floor of the Westin. They greeted us each with a glass
of sparkling wine. There were 5 stringed instruments played by a group of men
who also sang. Mostly traditional music we were told. There was one bass and 3
small guitars and one tiny guitar looking thing. It was nice. It was
candle-lit. They served a chicken vegetable soup, followed by a cheese and
pastry appetizer, the main course of either white fish or a breaded fried ham and
cheese stuffed turkey cutlet with potatoes and vegetables all accompanied by
red or white wine and followed by flan. Coffee and tea were offered self-service
after. We left soon after dessert.
Tomorrow the bus leaves at 9am for the Zagreb city tour. We
also have an afternoon/evening tour booked. Tomorrow morning is the last time
we will see Valentino and he was missed at dinner tonight. But, he lives here
so he got to go home and will get to sleep in his own bed tonight so that is
worth something too. We got our credit card forms from Gabriella for all the options
we took and will fill them out for her to collect in the morning. I know we
will spend tomorrow through dinner with her, but Gabriella hasn’t said if she
will be around on Sunday morning when people transfer out of the Westin. Clay and
I have scheduled our private car and driver here for 10am Sunday.
That is it for me today. Good night.
