Day 58 (Day 15 New Journey) Zagreb, Croatia
We overslept till 9 so late start this morning. There are over 18 museums in Zagreb, 12 or more Catholic
Churches, two or three Greek Orthodox and then I am sure a few protestant but we didn’t see then.
Lovely parks, big squares with lots and lots of outdoor dining.
H
Today was market day and there were fruits, vegetables, flowers, gifts of
every kind you can imagine and very busy with locals and tourists alike
walking around and buying fresh and beautiful things. And of course the
whimsical statues.
I want to see the Naïve Museum which is an art movement colloquial to this
area with the big bold colors, representative country scenes and people but
today is Monday and most Museums are closed which we knew about Europe
but forgot so we were in search of it and came upon a unique Museum listed as
one of a kind, the Museum of Broken Relationships. Someone decided to set up
a Museum with stories about relationships, love found and lost, bad breakups
and bitter or sad endings. So there were various rooms with these articles given
by people from all over the world and their “story” of what the article
represented to them about young love, first loves, marriages, parental and
grandparent love and the losses that occurred and why this was important
finality for the person giving this to the Museum. So one story that was lasting
for me was a letter to a father who rejected his son and the son’s final wishes to
the father, one about a Mother who divorced and bought two Hummel like
statues of her girls, one with a letter for the child who wrote to her missing father all the time and one
of a little girl who loved to knit and knitted scarves for her dad. Or the one that Michael liked which was
a jilted lover male who had his girlfriend move in with him only for her to end it and go off with her new
lover for a month and when she came back he had taken an huge ax which he gave to the Museum and
hacked her furniture to pieces so when she came to collect the furniture all there was were pieces. So I
said we had experienced the worst Opera, Furnace and now the maybe not worst but certainly most
unique Museum, The Museum of Lost Relationships.
The Cathedral was lovely but not unique nor outstanding. The one I loved was the second church we
visited that had the most beautiful Chagall like stain glass windows. And the third was the unique one
that had the roof much like the one in Budapest and was closed but we could see had the largest crucifix
over the alter and we’ll go back tonight when it reopens to take a better look.
It rained and we had to duck into the Funicular station and rode it
down once the rain let up.
And we sat down for lunch and as in every outdoor restaurant the Roma beggars, old women, women
with babies or little children come to beg and they are so persistent, Please, Please, Please and it can
take you 3 to 4 firm NO, NO, NO’s to get them to leave. So first came a little girl dirty and in a dress,
then a girl or boy we weren’t sure with the pants and long hair. We rejected them both and then as we
sat there the two of them came together and a slightly older girl joined them. The one little girl/boy had
been sitting on the bench in front of us counting the money so when the older girl came up with her
purse she collected the money and then took out a book to record the morning take. They hung out
there for quite some time and we observed how they eyed people who they thought would be easy
touches and then dispersed and went after them. The older girl hung out for quite a while and then
decided to come our way again to try the table in front of us and then us which again we rebuffed.
Finally the three came back together and off they went to another area. I asked the waitress about the
Roma children and if they went to school and she said no, they just beg, it is their life that they chose.
So sad.
Tonight we headed back out and up to the “uptown” but the church wasn’t open which it said it would
be so we walked up and down and up and down just like the Camino so we felt at home. We sat on the
Square again for a drink and watched the kids running up and down and no Roma children but one tall,
skinny Roma man just standing around. We had a nice dinner and tomorrow out to a beautiful national
park with lots of waterfalls and that we saw on Rick Steve’s so we are excited.
The lesson for today, go to a museum of broken relationships
and you find out how lucky you are to have a long, healthy
and loving one to hold onto. Michael wrote this poem in the
book left for remarks:
How lucky am I?