I wandered around for a while more in the morning. Last night ended up being very late, not because I was doing anything interesting, but because I was booking hotels and trains and wrote in the blog for a while. Early on I went to ask about the train reservation thing and found the process to be extremely straightforward now that someone was there at the booth. Reservation secured, I did some shopping and a few other chores. Croatians are incredibly advanced in the cheap wine game - they've innovated far beyond mere boxed wine with a goon inside. Much of their wine was being sold in giant plastic containers that I thought at first were oil, and further more of it in the sort of cartons that you'd usually find juice in. That's on top of the traditional boxes and glass bottles, of course. I bought some somewhat disappointing tiny plums among a few other things and went back to the station to catch my train.

The train was different from most in that it had 6 person compartments rather than open rows of seats. This would've been awesome if I were travelling with a group, but I ended up being in a compartment with a bunch of Croatians speaking loudly to one another in Croatian. Oh well. The ticket inspector came around and I was totally unsurprised to hear her say that we wouldn't be getting in around 10, but actually more like midnight. The train rarely went over 35 MPH so I'm shocked it didn't take longer, honestly. The scenery was nice until it got dark, but again, that was pretty early due to our position in the time zone, so most of the ride was in complete blackness.

At some point the two older women left the compartment so it was just me and this high school girl. We each took one of the rows of seats and I had intended to sleep, but she was super talkative and I didn't get much of a chance. She talked a lot about her dreams to have kids as soon as possible and the prevalence of drugs in Croatian middle schools. It was hard to tell what was true and what was her embellishing to try and sound cool. She'd then complain at length about Croatia (the trains, in particular - she rode this route regularly and apparently today's delay was a relatively minor one) without seeming to see any connection between the social problems she dismissed as inconsequential and the broader societal issues she complained about. It was interesting to speak with a local, though I'd prefer to speak with one who's not 17. Eventually a few other people got on in our compartment again and most of the trip was quiet from there on out.

I was thrilled to discover that we got into the station merely one hour late at 11 rather than midnight. Honestly, it could've been a lot worse. While the train was incredible slow and a rather bumpy ride, there were no connections or waiting around in stations, nor weird shuttle bus sections like when I went to Zagreb. We moved slowly but steadily which is really all I can ask for in a country like this. The hostel was a quick walk from the station and I checked in before meeting an Australian guy (UMass Boston grad) who also wanted to get dinner. We got some extremely cheap kebab and I went to bed. No idea what's in split, but the hostel seems really social so I'm hoping to meet people who I can explore with.