Zagreb - Vitality and Style

We spent most of today covering 375 klms to get us from Krka to Zagreb. It was a pretty journey... alpine scenery at its best... there were remnants of snow on the mountain peaks... the leaves on the beech trees were fresh and shining... the sun was shining at the right angle... the air was reasonably clean. More on our trip later.

Let's get to the highlight of the day. We were in Zagreb Square just on sunset... there was lots of hustle and bustle as the citizens of Zagreb hurried to make their way home. The street workers were in full force... selling their trinkets... their tours and their entertainment. One ballad singer was in full flight... not attracting a large number of tips. Weaving his way through the crowd came one individual who was very much taken with the quality of ballad singing. We watched him listening... he was well under the weather... which accounted for his weaving ambulation. He took a swig of wine from his bottle cunningly disguised in a paper bag. But generosity got the better of him. He wanted to show his appreciation for such a fine performance. He took his half-drunk bottle of wine out of the paper bag and placed it into the tips hat that the balladeer had lying on the pavement. What greater sacrifice can be made by man. The balladeer was half way through his song... and thought it bad form not to complete the number. But he could see what was happening and knew that a half-drunk bottle of wine in the tips hat would not entice further tips. He started waving his foot to get the gentleman to remove the bottle. The gentleman interpreted the foot waving as a sign of appreciation. With exaggerated gestures that only inebriation can create, the gentleman made it abundantly clear that he thought the half-drunk bottle was only a modest gift in the face of such balladeering talent. So the foot-waving and the humble gesturing continued until the completion of the song. I haven't laughed so much for ages.

As regards the best tourist destination, you are probably aware that Greece established an early lead and has held off a couple of competitive contenders. Yesterday, Croatia's coastline put in a 'diamond' performance... probably edging ahead of Greece in the coastline category on account of Croatia having cleaner air on the day. Today was competition in the alpine category. Greece was pitting its rugged excitement against the gleaming cleanness of Croatian beech forest. We are not comparing apples with apples... and whatever the result there are likely to be protests. So the judges have decided to keep the result of today's competition a secret until police support can be organised.