Moving To Zagreb

Cappu-Sara: a most compelling reason to move to Zagreb.

Happily, the heat has abated here in Zagreb, making much more enjoyable to go out, walk around the city and tour its' sights. It's a pretty city. Small, compact, but quite pretty. Take the funicular to Upper Town and see the city spread out at your feet. Lovely.

Too lovely are the women here. Every few steps, it's "dobra dan" (meaning: "hello" in Croatian). I've said it a lot in this city. Gobin keeps asking me when I'm moving here. I might be crazy, but I'm not that crazy - this isn't Mexico City, afterall...

But it certainly is tempting.

Whatever the desire may be, I still have more Empire Building to do at home in Maryland before I can start setting up worldwide outposts just to sarge women.

My time here is coming to an end. I will be heading to Paris this afternoon and while I am enjoying life on the road, I'm starting to long for the comforts of home. My bed sucks so i really don't miss that. I've got friends wherever I go, so I'm not missing that either. I don't have a steady woman at home either, so I'm not missing anything there. The food has been excellent on the road, so I don't miss that. Gee, maybe I really don't miss anything and am just feigning that longing for home because everyone else feels that longing for home.

Okay, so the real reason I "need" to get home is because I'm running out of money. If that were constant and never-ending perhaps I would never return to the United States.

The main market here is amazing. The produce is beautiful. The meats look stunning. The seafood immaculate. I saw a piece of tuna that just looked stellar. I wanted to buy it. So many ingredients that I wish I could try.

Instead, Eva cooked lunch for us. Croatians are interesting. Unlike America (and perhaps the rest of the world), there's no set time for meals. Lunch easily means three or four o'clock in the afternoon and nothing else the rest of the night. Perhaps this is a better way to eat. Whatever it is, it certainly is a lot to eat. Lunch spreads are not simple salads and light sandwiches, it's full-blown, multi-course meals. Meals so large, they're best capped with an afternoon nap. Perhaps this is how Spaniards live too?

Lunch started with a simple salad of spinach and arugula with a light vinaigrette, sliced fresh tomatoes with basil in olive oil and balsamic, and some roasted scallops on the half shell. Amazing. Next up, a bowl of langoustines stewed in tomatoes and pasta. Delicious. Little, tiny langoustines that you peel off the tail shell and suck the heads. Fantastic. But that's not all, next up was a meat course. Roasted pork wrapped in pancetta in a tomato cream sauce with gnocci.

Dios Mio, this is some serious eating. Hearty meals here seem commonplace. These are American-sized meals and after a week in Copenhagen eating very little for way too much, it's a shock. American-sized they may be but industrially processed they are not. Advantage: Croatia.

So much food I've taken to multiple laps around the town square each evening.

Some of you have been wondering where the images are? While on the road, it's a bit harder to upload images to the blog, as well as keep up with the adventures. I've got more images as well as reports coming after I return to the United States.