From Z(agreb) to B(russels) Part II

Remember way back when I was on vacation?  It seems so long ago!  Finally I'm getting around to the second half of the trip.  Missed the first part?  Check it out here.

Day 6
The alarm went off way too early.  When we booked the plane tickets, it seemed like a good idea.  Plus it was the only direct flight from Zagreb to Brussels.  But when the alarm went off, it was not feeling like a good idea.  We put the finishing touches on our packing and started lugging our suitcases down the two flights of stairs.  As soon as I got into the taxi I realized I had forgotten to give my postcards to the hotel clerk to mail.  But guess what?  There was a post office at the airport!  Hooray!

The flight was uneventful.  I tried to to sleep but settled for keeping my eyes closed and drifting in and out of wakefulness.

We landed in Brussels and passport control took forever but finally we were in a taxi heading for our hotel.  The sight that greeted us outside our hotel was the beginnings of a Christmas market!  Unfortunately it seems we were about a week too early for Christmas and Christmas markets - decorations were up or being set up but not turned on.
The hotel clerk checked us in and told us we were in the Istanbul room.  We stepped inside of the room and found out why - the room even had a hookah pipe!  Instantly the song of the trip became Istanbul (Not Constantinople).  In fact, it's still in my head!  We started calling it our Cave of Wonders room.  Or our Princess Jasmine room.

It was by now definitely lunch time!  We ended up at a seafood restaurant across the square from our hotel.  Our waiter was awesome!  I had salmon, which was good.  But dessert was DELICIOUS!!  It was my first exposure to speculoos, a type of gingerbread, but my dessert was in ice cream form.  Yum!!  And shockingly this was to be my only ice cream of the trip.  I know, right?  Me, the queen of gelato.  It was just too cold.

Our next stop was Church of Ste. Catherine, which was just a block from our hotel.  The church was completely under construction.  From there we walked to the Grand Place, which is a super cool.  I really like this square.  Since we were there, we visited the City Museum, which was inside the King's House.  The top floor held a collection of Manneken-Pis costumes.  That little statue has lots and lots of costumes!!

We wandered around a little bit more, poking our heads into chocolate, lace, tapestry and beer stores before walking over to see Manneken-Pis himself.  And then it was dinner time.  We found a little pizzeria close to our hotel (delicious!) and then headed back to the hotel for an early night.

Day 7
We slept in a little and then had the joy of using our Princess Jasmine shower (oh how I missed our Zagreb shower).  It was on the small side which wouldn't have been too bad except the shower head was right in the middle.  And it was sort of at a slant so everything kept sliding.

Breakfast was a decent spread.  And they had a make your own cappuccino machine!  And remember that delicious gingerbread ice cream?  They had it in a spread which tasted fantastic on toast!

We set off to explore Brussels.  We walked through the Grand Place up to St. Michael's Cathedral.  This is where the royals are married and buried.

From there we walked up to the Upper Town and went through the BELvue Museum, which went through Belgium history (from 1830 to the present day) as well as a look at the kings.  In 1830, Belgium gained independence from the Netherlands.  Underneath the BELvue Museum were the remains of a 12th century palace which we explored as well.

Our tummies were telling us it was time to eat, so we had lunch at the restaurant at the top of the Museum of Musical Instruments.  The view was nice and the food was good.  The menu was all in French and Dutch so we had to guess a little but I ended up with a curry chicken which I enjoyed.

Next up was the Magritte Museum - Rene Magritte was a surrealist painter.  I wasn't sure what to expect with a surrealist painter, but I enjoyed the museum, much more than I expected to.  It was a good mix of paintings and letters and photos from his life.

We explored a bit more, did some shopping and by then it was dinner time.  We had crepes for dinner!  Yum!!  It was a super tiny little restaurant, but very good.  And I had peach beer which was delicious.  I am not much of a beer drinker (I just don't like the taste) but this peach beer was something else.  So good!!

Day 8
After breakfast at the hotel, we took the metro to the train station and caught a train to Brugge (about an hour or so away).  For their honeymoon, my parents had bicycled around Europe.  One of the places they had gone to was Brugge and some of the photos they had taken in Brugge are still hanging up in their house.  So of course I wanted to go!  I had been to Brugge once before and was blown away by its charm so I was eager to go back.

We arrived in Brugge and didn't read Rick's instructions close enough and the 4 minute bus ride we thought we were taking into town turned into a 34 minute bus ride.  Darn!  Guess it would have been better to take the 20 minute stroll into town.  But we made it to the Market Square to find more preparations for a Christmas market.

We started following Rick's City Walk, passing by Burg Square, the Basilica of the Holy Blood, and the Blind Donkey Street.  Lunch ended up being frites (or french fries) which we ate while sitting by the river. 

Our next stop was the Groeninge Museum, which was mostly Flemish painters (Flemish primitive, which basically means pre-Renaissance).  Whenever I hear Flemish, I generally think dark paintings, but that just goes to show you what I know.  These paintings had a lot of color!  From there we went to the Church of Our Lady, which had a beautiful Madonna and Child (by Michelangelo) as well as paintings from the 13th Century, which were fascinating.

Even though it was cold, we decided to brave it and take a boat ride through the canals.  Waiting in line, we were entertained by 4-ish yr old boy who was singing about ducks.  Swim, ducky swim.  It was quite the song.  The boat ride was fun, if cold!

Since lunch really wasn't that substantial, it was definitely time for an afternoon snack of waffles!!  We went into this little restaurant and were the only people there.  But I had probably the best cappuccino I have ever had!  I don't know if it was the cinnamon or the whip cream that made it so good.  Probably both.  And the waffles were good too!

We finished up our day by meandering through the town, going in and out of chocolate and lace shops.  There was a post office in the Market Square so I stopped to get my stamps and even though there was no one else in the shop, they wouldn't help me until I got a number.  But as soon as I took a number, it came up and I was helped.

It was dark by now and the Christmas decorations were actually lit up!!  Hooray!!

We were trying to decide whether to eat in Brugge, or wait until we made it back to Brussels.  We decided on a Rick restaurant and set off to find it.  We completely missed the street the first time, but finally found it.  Between the bus and trying to find this restaurant, Rick was not on our favorite people list.  Thank goodness we didn't give up on the restaurant, because the food was so good!  It served "Flemish specialties" and we had the beef stew.  Which came with a side of applesauce (random, right?  but oh so good!).  And I tried the cherry beer tonight.  Yum!  The restaurant was on the small side but it was decorated for Christmas and they sat us next to the fireplace (which after a cold day was a great way to warm up).

Then it was bus to the train station, train back to Brussels, metro to the hotel and bed.

Day 9
Our last day, and our last breakfast at the hotel.   Gearing up for the Christmas market was in full swing as we stepped out of our hotel and saw the Ferris Wheel they were assembling.  On the next block was a merry-go-round with random sea creatures and birds.  We slowly made our way over to Mannekin Pis to see him in the daytime.  And we started walking towards Notre Dame, passing by a section of the old city wall leftover from the 13th Century.  Notre Dame had beautiful stained glass.

From there we walked over to the Museum of Ancient Art (the Modern Art section was closed).  I don't know if I would consider the art we saw to be ancient.  There were lots of paintings of St. Sebastian, St. Anne and St. Barbara.

We walked back down and had lunch at the crepe place, which was once again delicious.  And finished up the day by going to the Costume & Lace Museum, which had lots of beautiful clothes.

We made it back to Grand Place where they were in the process of putting lights up on the Christmas tree.  But the stupid crane they were using did not make it easy to take good pictures.

Dinner was at the Italian restaurant near our hotel.  Pizza - but just any pizza - pizza with salami, mushrooms, and Gorgonzola!  Wow, that sure isn't margherita pizza!!

Then we headed back to the hotel room to pack.  Packing is never my favorite thing to do.  But finally everything was in the suitcase.

Day 10
No breakfast at the hotel this morning.  Instead we were in a cab on our way to the airport.  We said our goodbyes and then Jana was off to Houston and I was off to Seattle.  

Istanbul Room

Grand Place

View of Brussels

I forgot who he was...

Watch out when you are taking feet pictures!

Yummy fries!

Brugge

Christmas Decorations

Ferris Wheel being assembled outside our hotel

Mannekin Pis

Our last day and they finally put the lights on the tree

From Z(agreb) to B(russels) Part I

At one point we thought about trying to squeeze in a day trip to Antwerp so we could say we'd gone from Z to A but it wasn't in the cards.

Day 1
This trip did not get off to the smoothest of starts.  A few hours before I was to leave I realized the spot on my camera lense wasn't just a spot but some sort of scratch.  I took some test pictures and thought maybe I would be able to live with the spot but then I thought more about it and realized I wouldn't.  So I jumped into the car and took off for Best Buy.  I got a brand new camera in under 10 minutes.  Which is a miracle in itself that I was able to decide on one in such a short amount of time.  But then again, I basically chose my old camera - just a newer version.  Crisis #1 averted.

And then it was time to leave for the airport.  In the car I did my usual check.  Passport?  Yes.  Credit cards?  Yes.  Debit card?  Ye....no.  No?  No!  What?!  I don't know if I can make it through the trip without a debit card.  Fortunately we hadn't been on the road too long and were able to turn around and pick up my debit card.  Whew!  And I still made it to the airport in plenty of time.  Crisis #2 averted.

I quickly checked everything else - camera, phone & kindle.  I don't have much to say about the long flight or the short flight except finally we were in Croatia.  (I met up with Jana in Frankfurt.)  We had a super chatty taxi driver.  We got to the hotel and found out (to our dismay) there was no elevator at our hotel.  Ugh.  So we lugged our suitcases up the stairs.  Fortunately we only had to go two flights of stairs.  Other than the lack of lift (or elevator), the hotel really was great.  It was in a fantastic location.  And it was quite large.   

We set off on a search for food as we were both starving!!  I'm sure you aren't surprised we found a pizzeria.  It wasn't the best pizza I've ever had, but it wasn't the worst. 

To keep awake (and shake jet lag) we wandered around, looking at the Cathedral and walking through Jelacic Square.  But finally we gave up the fight and went back to our hotel and went to bed, figuring a long, good night of sleep would be just the ticket.

Day 2
Well, that long night of sleep turned into a very long night of sleep.  We woke up with just a few minutes left before breakfast is over.  We threw on clothes and went downstairs.  Breakfast was good - the usual spread of meat, cheeses, rolls, yogurt and cereal.  And cappuccinos!!  Delicious cappuccinos!

We got ready to explore Zagreb.  The funicular took us up to the Upper Town (or Gradec).  I do so love funiculars!  Our first view after stepping out of the funicular was the Burglars' Tower.  It is from this tower a cannon is fired every day at noon.  And that cannon is loud!!  Next stop was the Church of St. Catherine which was absolutely beautiful on the inside.  There was a panorama view of Zagreb near the church.  Continuing up the street we ran into another church, the Church of St. Mark.  This church had a very colorful tile roof.  I can't really tell you about the inside because it wasn't open.

A block from the church was Ivan Mestrovic's former house which has been converted into a museum.  I like to think of Ivan Mestrovic as a Croatian Rodin.

The City Museum was close and so it was our next stop.  It was a very cool museum but it did start to drag on towards the end.  Our old friend (from Vienna) Maria Theresa (of the Hapsburgs) made a few appearances.  Surprise, surprise - Croatia was once part of the Hapsburg empire.

We had lunch at the self proclaimed oldest pub in Zagreb.  The menu didn't seem to have any food listed but when the waiter came over he assured us they had food.  In fact, he would make us a sandwich himself.  It was a decent sandwich followed up by a delicious cappuccino.  Have I mentioned I love drinking cappuccinos in Europe?

Our next stop was the Museum of Broken Relationships.  There was a lot of funny stories (one about Frisbee was my favorite), some sad stories, and a few fairly disturbing stories about the end of relationships.  It was a good museum.

We wandered around a bit more and did some shopping before heading to dinner.  Our waitress was great and recommended a good wine and pepper schnapps.  The pepper schnapps was quite interesting.  We also split a chestnut cake for dessert.

Towards the end of our meal, two priests walked in dressed in full priest garb.  (Doesn't that sound like a joke?  Two priests walk into a restaurant...)  We weren't sure what was going on and our waitress explained they were baptizing the new wine.  It is a tradition every mid-November to bless the new wine year. 

Day 3
So, we did not spend the most restful night.  I don't think I slept for more than an hour at a time.  Instead I got to listen to the stupid bells that seemed to go off at random times.  I think I finally fell really asleep right before the alarm.  Figures.  Apparently that long, long, long night of sleep caught up with us.  Stupid jet lag.  I had a much needed cappuccino at breakfast.

We walked up to the Upper Town to the Croatian Museum of Naive Art which was a really enjoyable museum.  My favorite was a portrait entitled "Cross-Eyed Steve" and sure enough it was a portrait of the artist's cross-eyed neighbor. 

The next museum (Natural History Museum) was not my favorite.  It seemed like a bunch of collections haphazardly thrown together.  I could have done without the rooms of stuffed birds or the ginormous shark but the minerals and fossils were interesting.

The Arts & Crafts museum (in my opinion) had little to do with arts and crafts.  But instead it had lots of furniture.  And a room full of clocks (one of which was a hidden Mickey!).  I'm all the way in Zagreb and I find a hidden Mickey!!

We walked over to the bus station to catch a bus to the neighboring town of Samobor.  Once we arrived we tried to follow Rick's directions into town but they were completely useless.  My theory is this was a new bus station and Rick's directions were from the old bus station.  We finally made it to the main square and by that time we were starving!!  It didn't help that daylight was fading fast either.  So we took a few photos and looked around before finding a place to eat.  I wasn't up to being adventurous so I had gnocchi, which was delicious.  After dinner we walked along the river in the freezing cold towards what looked like the ruins of an old castle.  We reached a little shrine to some saint and figured it was time to turn back.  When we reached the main square it was definitely dessert time!  We split a cream cake, which was the specialty of that area.  No espresso or cappuccino for us, because unfortunately the machine was broken.  So instead we tried Bermet, also a typical drink of the area - a sweet red wine.  It reminded me a little of sangria.

Our adventure in Samobor over, we took the bus back and then took our first ride on the tram back to the main square. 

Day 4
I slept much better, which was good because we woke up early to catch a train to Ljubljana (in Slovenia).  After breakfast at the hotel, we caught the tram (since we were now experts) to the train station.  And Jana bought us tram tickets in Croatian!  (Although, there really wasn't a language issue - they spoke better English, for the most part, than I did!) 

This would turn out to be the day of passport stamps.  Right before crossing over to Slovenia, the train stopped and Croatian officials came on the train and looked at our passports.  And then right after crossing into Slovenia, Slovenian officials came on to the train and looked at our passports.  When we first stopped Jana and I looked at each other.  We were both thinking "did we need a visa to enter Slovenia?"  But no, this was just standard border crossing. 

In our train car was another woman who was Croatian and ended up getting roped into helping someone who was on the wrong train.  Woman 1 (who was lost and spoke a little Italian) was trying to get to Belgrade and was going in the wrong direction.  She kept asking Woman 2 (the nice Croatian who spoke a little Italian) where we were going and where we were.  Woman 2 kept answering her and was very nice and very patient about it.  Literally she (Woman 1) kept asking basically those same questions for an hour.  Over and over and over again.  The train is going to Villach, Austria.  We are approaching Ljubljana, Slovenia.  It was bordering on the ridiculous.  Hopefully she was able to finally get where she wanted to go.

Rick's directions from the train station to the main square in Ljubljana were much better!  We walked along the riverside market (which was decently active for being such a cold day) and ended up at the Dragon Bridge.  I do love dragons!  Another random thought - I always associate St. George and the Dragon with England but St. George is everywhere!!

We turned around and walked back along the river to a pizzeria recommended by Rick.  I had - you guessed it - margherita pizza!  It was much, much better pizza than what we had on the first day.

After lunch we continued our meandering with our destination being the funicular to take us up to the castle.  Yay!  Another funicular!  There wasn't much left of the castle and the view ended up being a bust as there was this haze/fog that had settled on the city.  We watched a little movie about the history (or Jana watched and I listened while closing my eyes) and went through the museum.  We took the funicular back down to the lower town, wandered around some more, did a little shopping and then headed back to Zagreb.

For dinner we wanted to try one of Rick's recommendations in the Upper Town, so we took the funicular up but they did not have any availability.  Darn.  So back down to another Rick restaurant (and a pizzeria) where I had the gnocchi (I was trying to branch out from just having pizza).  It was good, but I have had better.

Day 5
Our last day in Zagreb.  And our last breakfast at the hotel (as we had booked a stinking early flight the next morning). 

First on the agenda was to visit the market and do some shopping.  Foremost on my list - postcards!!  I had been looking and looking for postcards but had not found them anywhere (well anywhere in Zagreb - I did find some in Ljubljana).  Success!  I finally did find postcards along with other treasures. 

Random fact - the cravat (the ancestor of the neck tie) was first invented in Croatia.  So of course I had to do some tie shopping.  The proprietor of the tie store was really cute and sweet and didn't speak a lot of English.  And I swear he was mixing some German in with his Croatian.  It was probably the most fun shopping I did.

We dropped off our packages and headed over to the Cathedral to look at it during the day before heading back up to the Upper Town to see if we could have lunch in the restaurant we were turned away from yesterday.  And we could!  Our waiter recommended an appetizer and it was yummy!  Some sort of fried puff things with cheese.  Lunch was steak with fried potatoes - yum!

On our way to the Archaeological Museum we started noticing lots and lots of people in Croatian soccer scarves, shirts, hats - you name it.  Sure enough, the Croatian national team was going to be playing Turkey that night.

The Archaeological Museum was very well laid out and it had a mummy!!  Which I just think is fascinating.  It had been in someones collection and they decided to donate it.

Our next stop was the Old Masters Gallery which was a small museum on the top floor of a building and by the time we were done, everyone else in the building had gone home and it was very dark. 

As we walked back to the main square we were seeing more and more soccer fans, some of whom were singing and carrying on. 

We had dinner at the pizzeria we had eaten at the night before and this time I did have pizza - but pizza funghi!  Mixing it up a little from my regular pizza margherita. 

We could no longer put off the inevitable and we went back to the hotel to pack.  We turned on the soccer match, which ended in a tie.  But not long after the game ended we could hear singing from the main square.  Guess the tie was a good thing?

So ends Part I - stay tuned for Part II where we get to eat chocolate and fries and waffles in Belgium!

Cathedral

Feet picture - on the funicular

View of Zagreb

Church of St. Mark

St. George

Ad for the Zagreb marathon

Hidden Mickey

Samobor

Market in Ljubljana

Dragon Bridge

Not the greatest view from the castle

Jelacic Square

Yummy appetizer