Croatia Challenge

Firstly, I am liking the name change and picture change :)

Ok, so Zagreb is beautiful. There's an upper and lower town. Back in the day, they were two separate countries and they fought alll the time! The main square of Zagreb is where the border was and hence, where most of the fights occured. I am staying at this place called the Funk Lounge Hostel. One of the girls has a little dog that follows her everywhere and its so beautiful. Today I went for a walk through the park near the hostel, did the two suggested walking tours through the different parts of town, and then went to the Museum of Broken Relationships (more about that later)..

1. Pavement

Three different types of cobblestone in one area
(Upper town, Zagreb)

Street view of cobblestone

Which path to take?
(The one less travelled)
[Maksimir Park, Zagreb]

2. Breeze

The breeze of the flag
The wind through the trees
The breeze beneath the eagle's wings
(Maksimir Park, Zagreb)

Breeze through the leaves
(Maksimir Park, Zagreb)

The winds of change: new life forming at the beginning of Spring
(Maksimir Park, Zagreb)

The winds of change
(Maksimir Park, Zagreb)

3. Watch

This clock on the wall stopped during an earthquake in 1880!!
Upper town, Zagreb

People watching
Dolac Market, Zagreb

 Ok, here are some other photos I think you'd like...

Can you spot the camoflagued frog? He scared the daylights out of me when I first saw him!
Maksimir Park, Zagreb

Street graffiti in alleyway leading from upper to lower town

Funky as fountain
(Is this how you and squirrel make out? Squatting? haha)

Beautiful park in town: distinctly winter
Zrinjevac, Zagreb

Ok, so there's a museum called the Museum of Broken Relationships. It has won the award for the most innovative museum in Europe. This is their speil:
"The Museum of Broken Relationships grew from a traveling exhibition revolving around the concept of failed relationships and their ruins. Unlike 'destructive' self-help instructions for recovery of failed loves, the museum offers a chance to overcome an emotional collapse through creation: by contributing to the Museum's collection..... An unavoidable sight in your exploration of Zagreb and a unique emotional journey around the world through hundreds of break-ups."

So basically they would have a random item (say a shoe or a book) and then there would be a description about the love story behind the item, the meaning of the item, or whatever the owner of the item wanted the world to know. It was an amazing museum. It made me really sad and I'm still recovering. Some of the stories were funny, others were gob smacking. They were broken up into categories. The funniest one was the kinky section (not called that but, can't remember the name), where the objects were handcuffs, vibrators, fake boobs. The fake boob story goes the husband bought the wife a thing like you see on the movies where the are trying to make a man look like a woman (like Mrs Doubtfire when she puts the fake boob cover thing on). He bought her that because it turned him on and he wanted her to wear it during sex. Not suprisingly, they broke up. The saddest category was based on lost love because of tragedy. One of the saddest was around a book. The author of the book is the person who donated the book and is based on the tragedy. Two guys broke into her house while they were sleeping and stabbed her husband twice. He died. The book is about her trying to deal with it. It's a true story. Another one was about a couple that were together since they were young and broke up because they needed time to grow as individuals. The girl committed suicide a year later. I was tearing up reading these. Other stories were about love in the war, love affairs, a few about rage where someone was cheated on. It was such a good museum. I felt really out of it when I left. I don't know how I feel at the moment. It really shook me.

Here's a few photos:

"You talked to me of love, gave me small gifts everyday: this is just one of them. The key to the heart.  You turned my head; you just did not want to sleep with me. I realised how much you loved me only after you died of AIDS."

Tides of time & Rage and Fury

:)

The Museum of Broken Relationships

Whims of Desire a.k.a. the kinky section

Entry

I thought of you and so many others with this quote. So many people trying to figure it out.
"Shortly after birth, in a misguided if well intentional way, I was baptised a Christian by my parents. It took me  15 years  to be able to break that forced relationship."

I hope your day has been lovely. Probably won't have pictures tomorrow as I'll be on a train for six hours travelling to Budapest. But if you put up the next categories, I'll photograph in the next few days around Budapest, Hungary.

I miss you. I need a de-brief and a hug.

All my love,
West xxx