I started today slow since I had no idea what there is to see in Zagreb. There was little activity in the hostel aside from a few older people who seemed to have just started the first day of "having a conversation" classes. It really sounded like Oblivion NPC dialogue, or perhaps a film from James Nguyen. When I walked into town, I found it to be extremely busy and lively compared to yesterday night, with people on the streets everywhere and live music all over the place. The downtown is pretty charming, though there are an incredible amount of cranes and scaffolding on almost every large building which somewhat detract from the ambience. I initially thought this was just a product of Croatia's booming economy stimulating development, but it turns out to mostly be from an earthquake a few years back. As such, the National Museum of Croatia (I feel it's more or less obligatory for me to visit national museums at this point) is still closed, as is the giant cathedral in the center of town. So with those out of the question, what is there to see in Zagreb? Well, it's true that there are an incredible number of museums about weird things. Mushroom Museum, Museum of Unfinished Art, Museum of Broken Relationships... I wasn't really drawn to any of these so I stopped by a local restaurant Reddit recommended to think over my next move. They served something called štruklji which is almost like a hybrid of mac & cheese and lasagna. Apparently it's a very traditional Croatian dish. It was pretty good (and quite cheap), though I did find myself wishing it was actually just mac & cheese.

After that I went to wander around some more, still not having found much that appealed to me, when I ran into a Quebecois guy who I recognized as having been on the train from Budapest. We decided to go over to a park that ChatGPT recommended I visit. He's a little odd, but as we spent more time together he opened up and I came to like him a lot more. We took the tram over to the park and walked around for a while. It wasn't the most exciting thing ever, but it was really pleasant and quite large so it was nice to walk around for a while. One disadvantage of being so far east in CET is that the sun now sets extremely early and we had couldn't stay out in the park for too long. After a brief pit stop in our respective hostels, we went out to get some dinner, and after some further deliberation, we stopped by a ramen place. I've eaten enough terrible ramen on this trip that I was looking for something of a palate cleanse, and this was some of the best ramen I've ever had. It had good Google reviews but I was still impressed by its quality. We stopped by a nearby bar to get a few cheap beers and I increasingly came to enjoy the Canadian's company - unfortunately he had an early train tomorrow morning and wanted to go to bed instead of really going out. I wandered around the city streets alone for a while looking to find something interesting or hoping beyond reason that I'd somehow meet a group of welcoming locals, but I had no real plan or means to achieve this. It's hard to meet people when you don't speak any of the local language, and I've gone out by myself enough times on this trip that I know it's difficult to enjoy yourself given these circumstances. The NPCs back at the hostel weren't my type and the Hostelworld chat was unusually silent, so those weren't options for socialization either and I eventually conceded defeat. That said, I was glad to see the city on a Saturday night - it was lively beyond what I'd thought possible given how quiet everything was yesterday. Apparently this may have been due to yesterday having been Slavic Day of the Dead.

On my way back, I made a quick stop at the train station. I need a reservation to get on the train down to Split, but you can't buy one through Eurail, so the app tells you to go to the station in person to print out a paper reservation from a kiosk. Unfortunately, I discovered that the only way to buy a reservation from the kiosk is to have specifically bought a ticket, which I of course have not since I'm intending to use the Eurail pass. It was late enough that the info counter was vacant, so I suppose I'll have to go in and ask tomorrow morning. Oh, the Balkans. Assuming I manage to get onboard, it's a 6 hour trip down there tomorrow, and I'd get in at around 9:30, but given prior experiences I'll be astonished if we're in before 10. I guess our odds for punctuality are a little better given that we're not crossing any borders but I'm not optimistic. I shudder to think what it's going to be like crossing the border between non-Schengen countries seeing how slow it is even now. I'm looking to stay in Split probably 3 nights - the first two at a hostel and then one at an essentially free luxury hotel owing to some sweet credit card perks (thanks, Dad!). Should be a nice change of pace from some of the less desirable hostel experiences I've had as of late and the privacy will definitely be appreciated.