2 train rides and Zagreb

Mt time in Croatia ended with a bit of a travel day. I took a train ride from the coast of the country into the capital of Zagreb where I had to catch a train later that night for Austria. The ride was beautiful. The country itself is just a stunning country filled with lush green hills and fields. We passed through some very small towns with farms and meadows dotting the landscape.

I arrived in Zagreb around 2 that afternoon and had until 9 that night to do some sightseeing so I dumped my stuff in a locker and headed off to explore for the day. I went and saw a couple of very ornate and beautiful churches along with the old town. It is a very pretty city with lots of tree lined streets and parks. It is fall so all of the leaves are changing colors and the air was cool and crisp.

I boarded my train that night at nine and it was supposed to arrive in Salzburg at 4am. I was tired and ready for a bit of sleep. I parked myself in a 6 person compartment which was only filled with 2 other people and we headed off. I closed my eyes and about 30 minutes later, they were asking for our tickets (which is understandable since they have to check our tickets). I then closed my eyes again when a few minutes later we were aroused by the police needing to see passports (ok, again understandable because we were leaving the country, and I did get another stamp which always fun). After that was done I closed my eyes and was just beginning to doze off when once again we were aroused by the police needing passports, only this time it was the Slovenian police (so I guess it was understandable because we were entering their country and yet again I got another stamp). As I closed my eyes again hoping for some sleep, one of the guys in my compartment starts talking very loud on the cell phone and then begins slurping yourgurt from a container when he is done cause he has no spoon, completely oblivious to the fact that 2 of us are trying to sleep. Finally, he quits and I get some shut eye for what feels like about 2 minutes before I am awakened again because we are stopped in the capital of Slovenia. At this point, another guy gets into our cabin and decides to get chatty at midnight. I was trying to be polite (my patience was wearing very thin at this point because tiredness was looming), but finally just closed my eyes and he eventually quit talking. I closed my eyes when not even an hour later, the police are waking us up AGAIN for passports (my understanding with them was almost gone at this point and we did not even get a stamp!). As I shut my eyes again, we were then aroused by the train people about 30 minutes later needing to see tickets again ( iwas frustrated at this point and just wanted sleep). Finally, they left us along long enough for me to get about 2 hours of sleep before I woke up to my alarm clock blaring in my ear. I had stuck it in my purse and this was serving as my pillow for the night as well. It was 4am and we should have been arriving at our stop soon.

When we stop, there were a few of us who were getting off in Salzburg, but the sign did not say Salzburg so we were very confused. We got off to find out what was going on (keep in mind I am tired and have not slept more than 2 hours the whole night and it is cold out) when I see this guy on the inside motioning me to come back in. I go back and he is explaining to me (in German) that something is broke and needs repaired on the tracks I am assuming so he says we have to go around and it will take 2 hours longer and we will arrive in Salzburg at 7am. We comunicate in hand gestures a few words of broken English and acting it out. I say alright. Then I go and tell some other people who were getting off with me so they know what is going on, there was 1 guy and a family there. The dad of the family looked very skeptical and did not believe me so he asks the other guy to go talk to this guy since they both speak German and the other guy was bilingual. So he comes with me to talk to him. The guy explained the same thing to him that he did to me. So the guy kinda laughs and looks at me and says that we have to wait. I laughed and told him I got that. Then I said for for a few hours until 7 right? And he says yup, then he heads off to tell the family. I almost wanted to go with him so I could gloat cause I was thinking to myself, I may not speak the same language as people but I sure know how to communicate jsut fine with them. I grabbed another hour and a half of sleep before being awakened just before we entered Slazburg. Needless to say, it was not the most restful night ever!