Zagreb Tour Part 2

Next on our tour was the market. All of the umbrellas represent Zagreb.

 



We then saw a statute dedicated to prostitutes.



Then The Stone Gate - this is the only remaining of five gates that were around the walls of Gradec, the Upper Town built on a neighboring hill to Kapitol. Inside the gate is a painting of Mary with Child that was left undamaged by a fire in 1731; this fire destroyed all the nearby houses.  A chapel was established around the painting and there is now a Baroque Iron grille.





Then we saw the Church of St. Mark. You cannot get into the Church but the roof is what makes it special. The colored tiles on the room are from the Coats of Arms of Croatia, Dalmatia, Slavonia and Zagreb.

Then we saw the Church of St. Catherine - a Dominican Church.

Tour of Zagreb - Part 1

After a goodnight sleep and a lazy morning we were ready to go see Zagreb!

We walked around for a little bit and got some quiche for breakfast (Chris' first quiche ever) and then hopped on a walking tour. The tourist office told us just to look for someone with a name tag so after staring at everyone's necks we finally found the right person. On the tour there were 5 of us; Chris and I, and three brits with one living in Croatia.  The tour started off with a history of Croatia - slightly depressing. We learned that there is a big unemployment issue ever since they separated from Yugoslavia. I highly recommend these walking tours, I am not sure Chris would. 

We learned that Croatia is 90 percent Catholic.   We went to the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. They are currently are redoing the spires so  they have a picture of the spires over them. 

Behind the altar is the tomb of Blessed Aloysius Stepinac. During World War II he helped Jewish people escape persecution.

Honeymooning in Croatia!

When people asked us where we were going for our honeymoon and we responded with Croatia we got some quizzical glances. Flying to Brussels I wore my Bride t-shirt (thank you Allison and Target) which got us a personal bottle of champagne. 

 At the airport in DC 

It is always nice when you land early except for when you already have a 3 hour layover.  We had about 3 1/2 hours to kill at the Brussels airport and no gate to wait at since they only tell you the gate an hour before your flight.  We then traveled to Croatia on a plane that wasn't too small on the outside but was a turbo plane that was very loud. However, I was so tired didn't stop me from sleeping the whole flight. 

 We rented a car and had some trouble figuring out the GPS since the street name spelling was a little off. Chris then struggled to get the car in gear for about 5-10 minutes and then I realized he didn't have the car all the way on. Driving to Zagreb I lost the rights to hold or look at the GPS ever again but we finally. Made it to our hotel! After a good nap and some great Italian food our first day in Croatia is in the books!

Adios Espana!

O Spain!!! I am so glad that we were slightly crazy and this planned in trip 3 weeks.  We ate a lot of patatas bravas and drank a lot of sangria (it was so cheap how could we pass it up?) and it was so wonderful, even if my pants were tighter.  Madrid, you tested me with your rain and cold and at some point I think we were close to losing it but in the long run you were worth it.  My packing skills could have been better on this trip but thank god for some overpacking.  I am glad I tried my spanish, even if after 10 years it was still awful.  Honestly Spain, I will be back - how can I not when you have cheap sangria and tasty Patatas Bravas and those cheap sandwiches in Madrid.

Madrid By The Pictures!

Some Random Picutres of Madrid:

 I was jealous we didn't get to do this.

Game Time!

So when we first started thinking about going to Spain Bridget said the one thing she wanted to do was to go to the Real Madrid game.  Before we left we both looked on how to buy tickets but couldn't figure it out.  So Bridget asked her cousin to ask his program and his host gamily how we could get tickets and they told us about a website that was legitimate. So when we were in Seville we decided to buy tickets and with a prayer we entered Bridget's credit card information.  They were supposed to drop the tickets off at our hotel in Madrid.  The game wasn't until Sunday and we got to Madrid on Thursday, when we asked the concierge if the tickets were delievered she was like o no not yet, too soon.  Well soon they would become sick of us because I think we asked every time we walked into the hotel.  Wehn we got back from Mercado de San Miguel we still did not have the tickets and the game was in a few hours. Bridget was convinced that we weren't getting them and were being scammed, I believe it popped on and off her credit card a few times. She tried emailing and calling them but they were closed on the weekend.  So we took a nap (what else is there to do in Spain) and when we woke up I went downstairs and asked one more time and he said that they just got a phone call that they were about to be delievered.  I ran upstairs and told Bridget and she said she just got a call too double checking on our hotel.  So a few minutes later I went downstairs and picked up our tickets.  Bridget still thought there was a chance that they weren't legit but we said a quick prayer and headed to the stadium.

 

 

 

 

 When we got to the stadium there were tables selling gummy candies and nuts, we were like um that is an interesting game snack. I think we held our breaths as our tickets were scanned and were delightfully surprised when they actually worked haha. Our seats were actually in the same spot where we stood for the tour; they were high up and Bridget forgot her glasses. The players were hard to see but it was still awesome being there. We were slightly confused at the anthem that was sung because it was just really music and not singing.  

 



 

Some weird things we noticed:

•  They had all of these security guards sitting around the field.
•  There was no eating or drinking during the game escept for the nuts and gummies.
•  At halftime they all pulled out sandwiches in tin foil.
• We decided to go get some food but couldn't find the food stands until we realized that they were  the floor below and not all over the place like here.
• Also, I believe there wasn't any drinking during the game.  

It was definitely a great experience and I am so glad I got to see Real Madrid win even if getting the tickets took years off my life. :)

Nothing like self portraits

Hold Me.............

On our way to Meracdo de San Miguel we saw these guys...................I ask Bridget if she would hold me up - yeah i think she just ignored me. hahahha.