Our Arrival and First Day (5/18-5/19/08)

After a few weeks of anticipating this trip, we finally made it into Zagreb, the capital of Croatia... and I think it´s going to be great! My first overall impressions of the city were from a bus, riding from the airport to our hotel. On a Sunday afternoon, around 6 pm, there are many people out and about on their bikes or walking around the city (more than I´m used to seeing around Atlanta). I´m totally ecstatic to even see some rollerbladers (it´s not as cool as it was 10 years ago). I can´t help but notice the amount of sidewalk space, though -- at least twice the width of ours and lots of great grassy areas and park benches in between. People of all ages are out, from babies in strollers to elderly adults with canes and walkers. Something to note, though: no one is in exercise gear and everyone is moving at a leisurely pace. We had heard before the trip that running isn´t common; in fact, intense exercise isn´t a norm. Because physical activity is such a big part of daily living, people in Zagreb don´t take time to work out as we know it. And this lifestyle works well. Over the 1 and 1/2 day period I only notice maybe 6 or 7 people that would be considered obese -- and this is includes some serious people-watching at an outdoor cafe while we enjoy some coffee and wine over a 5 hour time frame. You´re probably thinking that we are taking the relaxation to an extreme here, but honestly we only stayed about an hour longer than some locals. Taking a long coffee or beverage break throughout the day is typical and this social habit is undoubtedly a great stress relief. The only negatives I want to mention over the past 36 hours include indoor public smoking and the dangers of the citz Tram. There are bans agains indoor smoking, but apparently they are not enforced and right when we got to the baggage claim, 7 or 8 people from the flight were already smoking. The number grew, I´m sure, but I wanted to make sure my luggage made the flights (which it did). The other hazard to beware the first day is the city Tram. You could initially mistake it for a trolly, but after it flies past you at about 45 mph, you realize it´s more like a subway train above ground. A pretty dangerous thing for distracted pedestrians and ignorant tourists. We found out that there is at least one Tram-hit every year and the injury is traumatic - and unfortunately often deadly. So we are learning to keep one eye on the Trams and the other on the shoe shops. -Lauren