Zagreb Soccer and Awesome Lakes

Last week in Latvia.  This week in Croatia.  Our string of three trips in three weeks is at the midway point after a soccer tournament in Zagreb over the weekend.  The trip was a regional tournament sponsored by the Attache's work.  As her spouse, I was accepted on the Vienna team competing with nine other teams from the region: Bosnia, Serbia, Croatia, Albania, Montenegro, Hungary, and Macedonia.  Turns out most of the other teams were all of European blood and the Vienna team was all-American so we got a pretty good ass-whipping.  The picture there shows us in typical form during our zero win four loss record.  But the tournament was fun and well-organized and not only did I meet a bunch of great soccer players, I learned the capitals of the Baltic states!  Skopje, for example, is the capital of Macedonia.  I didn’t know that. 

Zagreb, the tournament host city and capital of Croatia, (I knew that one) is a small European capital but has the energy of the biggest cities in Europe.  Picture this: in the middle of the old town a DJ is blasting music all night as a thousand Croatians dance on the street.  It’s not what you see in everyday Europe, but add the fact there was typhoon-rain coming down and no one cared. Check out the chicks there grinding in the rain.  Well that’s crazy Croatia for you.

Following the tournament we drove to my now all-time-favorite spot in Europe!  Plitvice Lakes National Park.  We had terrible weather and got rained out on the second day of our visit, but in two hours of hiking I saw more waterfalls than I’ve seen in my entire life.  The lakes were either the cobalt blue of the Great Barrier Reef or the emerald green of the Florida panhandle.  Crazy awesome and a must see. 

Tournament Pictures: click here.

Plitvice Lakes Pictures: click here.

Next up: Normandy.  

Comments

[phil & valarie]

Really great pictures, Guys, as always! V was in Zagreb in the mid-'80's, when everything seemed covered in a coat of grey grime - so nice to see that wonderful old town area bright and sparkling! H, you did an exemplary job of documenting G in all his glory (except perhaps for the ball-protecting shots, lol!) ... I'm also betting that it was H who created the team mascot bottle ... We are of course impressed by the female player - she really mixed it up w the guys! Please relay our admiration to her. Awesome lakes really are awesome (karst topography, Heather?) Particularly enjoy the shot of H on the bench, gamely getting her bum wet for the sake of photographic history - that's our girl!!
The whole place looks magical (except for the broken piling under one part of the corduroy bridge - yikes!) and we wish we had been with you. Please keep the news and pictures coming - we love it all!