The Night Train to Zagreb

Our dear friend from the Peace Corps, Tina, lives with her lovely family in Zagreb, Croatia.  They have invited us to join them at their island house several times while we've lived here, but the timing has never quite worked for us.  In February, I decided that I must at least visit them in their Zagreb home before we return to MN.

I booked a spot in a sleeper car from Zurich to Zagreb, a fifteen hour overnight train ride.  When I purchased the ticket at the SBB office in Bern, I made sure to ask if this would be a Swiss train.  The agent assured me that it was, and I was comforted to know that I could expect a certain standard of comfort.  The agent had also encouraged me to save some cash by getting a spot in a 6 berth car, saying that typically the trains are quite empty and I may very well have the car to myself.

When I boarded the train that Friday night in Zurich, I found myself in my assigned sleeper car with 6 other people (2 young women sharing on bed).  Everyone was pleasant, but just as the train got on its way, they announced they'd like to shut the light off and go to sleep.  It was 9 p.m., but I had been looking forward to settling in with my book for a bit first.  Being somewhat flexible, I ran to use the bathroom before "lights out".  I squirted in nice portion of soap on my hands and then realized that the train had no water.  (I found out later it had frozen.  This did happen to be the coldest spell this part of Europe had experienced in years.)  I wiped the soap on some toilet paper and returned to the car to get settled for sleep.  The ride overall was uneventful and the sleeper car was quite toasty, although the quality of the train was not Swiss and most definitely brought back memories of my time in Eastern Europe.

Tina, Angus and their two children met me at the train station and then showed me central Zagreb.  We visited a chocolate festival, a church and a yummy bakery.  We then returned to their home in the hills near a village outside of Zagreb.  They have their own small vineyard and a lovely renovated home overlooking the valley.

 Tina, Tate and Jack feeling the love of chocolate!

 Angus, Tina, Jack and Tate. The one time Jack wouldn't put his tongue out:)

Partial view from their glassed fronted home.

We spent the rest of the day visiting, mostly near the cozy fire.  On Sunday, we attended their village's celebration of Fasnacht (Carnival).

The entire weekend with them had been snowy.  Sunday afternoon we discovered that my train had been delayed several hours.  When I finally boarded with the help of Angus, I found my car, sharing with 5 men this time.  They all seemed harmless, although one did strip down to his bright red undies and got settled in his bed before the train even got moving.  I found it quite funny.  He was making his bed, undressing and eating a sandwich at the same time.  At one point, he laid down on his sandwich, not realizing until I pointed it out.

We got underway and after some reading, I snuggled into my sleeping bag and went to sleep.  I woke up sometime after midnight feeling very cold.  I quickly realized that most of the passengers were up and moving around, stomping their feet and blowing into their hands.  The heat had gone out on the train and they were all freezing.  Thankfully, I had brought my sleeping back along.  I put my coat on and buried myself back in my bag.  Although I was still cold for the remaining 8 hours of the trip, I was much better off than the rest of the passengers.

Thus, my adventure on the Night Train to Zagreb.