Day 62.

Budapest, Hungry to Zagreb, Croatia is not that far distance wise, but there are no direct flights so we have to layover in Stuttgart, Germany.  The flight from Budapest to Stuttgart is smooth and efficient.  I tell the gang they are becoming a well-oiled machine getting through the airport process.  Leanne flashes me a look and says, “I just hope you didn’t jinx us.”

We get off the plane and locate our gate for the flight to Zagreb.  We have ~45 mins until the flight leaves.  There is a sign pointing to a stairwell indicating our gate along with 10 other gates is down the stairs. The problem is that there are people lined up and around the 4 flights of stairs with the line disappearing around the corner down below.  No Bueno. 

We take our place in line. There are no agents or airport personnel anywhere. I spot an elevator down near the stairs.  Hmm…maybe we can bypass the line taking the elevator.  Leanne disappears and after five minutes reappears looking a little more frazzled.  “The good news is that the elevator goes down to the front of the line for passport control,” she says, “the bad news is that an angry mob of people who’ve been waiting in line started shouting at me trying to lynch me until I closed the elevator door on their arms.” “Apparently that explains why no else was attempting to use the elevator,” I respond.

We are resigned to wait it out.  The line inches forward ever so slowly as I stare intently my iPhone clock.  I’m about to give up on my perfect travel record when listening to the people around me, I realize  else is waiting for the same flight.  They can’t take-off with half of the plane still on the immigration line, can they?”

The answer is no and we end up making it onto the plane.  As Leanne is settling into her seat, the top of the armrest comes completely off and falls on the floor.  The flight attendant comes over to help but seems perplexed how to put it back together. “I hope the plane wings don’t fall off as easily at the armrest does,” I joke.  Leanne is hysterically laughing while the flight attendant gives me a look that I can’t tell if she’s annoyed, angry, amused or actually scared herself. I make a note to self to avoid making “wings falling off the plane” jokes in the future.  That is one thing I don’t want to jinx myself on.

We will be driving from the length of Croatia over the next week so I have rented the largest vehicle available which in this case is 9 seater van that is about 3 times the size of every other car in the lot.  On the drive from the airport into Zagreb, which is the capital of Croatia, we see numerous communist era apartment buildings.  On the drive, we look up facts and history of Croatia which was part of Yugoslavia during the communist regime.  As we arrive into the city, it is transformed into a magical city devoid of cars.  The majority of the city center are cobblestone lined streets where cars are not allowed.  I caveat they do have tram lines that run through the city center so you can hop on and off the tram but no cars.  I’ve never seen anything quite like it – the lack of cars made the city quaint and peaceful. 

After checking into the hotel, we get a late lunch at an outdoor café.  The lack of cars allows the restaurants to set up outdoor tables and umbrellas in what would have been the street.  After lunch, J&J Off-the-Beat-N-Path Big Sauce Tours kicks in.  First stop is the 80’s museum.  It was classic.  They had the rotary dial telephones, cassette players, box shaped tv’s with rabbit ears, typewriters, commodore 64 and all sort of relics from Leanne and my childhood. The kids look at us asking in disbelief “you guys actually used that stuff?”  Somehow the boombox with cassette tapes and pong video game can’t compete with Apple Music and Fortnight.  We decide to extend our stay even though we have other things planned under the category of “when you have a hit, you roll with it.”

Ashley’s not feeling well so Leanne and Ashley peel off the group and we continue on to the Museum of Broken Relationships.  People donate an item with the story behind it related to bad break-ups.  Apparently, the museum is well known as we have to wait 30 mins to get it.  It is a novel approach.  Some were hilarious and some were on the sad side. For example, there was a mangled phone on display with the notecard saying, “my boyfriend gave me his cell phone when he dumped me so I couldn’t call him anymore.”  Leanne would return with John the next day and John tells her that I asked the museum if they were still accepting items.  Leanne believed him until I dispelled the notion and cleared the record to avoid being in the doghouse.

We walk around seeing a couple churches, marketplaces and getting views from the top of the city. We return via the 2ndshortest train ride in the world.  I’m not sure who tracks these records but we avoid walking 300 steps by talking the train straight down the hill.  Maybe there is a career in traveling around the world validating the marketing claims all these cities make.