Between the Cold Front, Overcast and Rainy Skies, and Icelantic Volcano.....

.....there hasn't been a lot of sunshine this past week. Sometimes I think this winter is never going to end for me but yesterday (Thursday) the sun came out in the afternoon and today was beautiful but still pretty cool temperatures. The airport here is closed because of the volcanic ash and, more importantly, the Frankfurt airport is closed indefinitely--which is where I connect back to Houston. So, at this point, I can't leave but I still have another week of work here.

Rain or shine, and despite cold temperatures, I've been walking two to three hours every evening. It stays light here until about 8:30 pm so it's nice for walking. I'm pretty familiar with the Old City by now but am constantly finding small parks, squares, statues and fountains in unexpected places. The statuary here is absolutely amazing--there are at least three dedicated to St. George after his slaying of the dragon and I found a small statue of a child relieving himself in a pond. I just try to imagine what storms of protest this statue would cause in Houston--I'm sure every religious group in the city would be protesting it--but here nobody seems to really even notice it. Artwork, of all types, is everywhere here.

I walked down by the Central Train Station which, like most European cities, is the central focal point for the city. From here, the streets fan out and up into the older part of the city. The building is very old--and this was the station I arrived at in 1970--but I really just don't remember that trip. Next door is the Regency Esplanade Hotel of Oriental Express fame. The Oriental Express train ran from Paris to Istanbul but since Yugoslavia was one of those twilight areas--Communist yet pro-Western--this hotel was a major stopover on the route and supposedly was, during the Cold War, a haven for spies, smugglers and arms dealers. They must have been pretty wealthy because this place is no economy joint.

I had a good group this past week. I had students from Slovakia, Macedonia, Serbia, Czech Republic and Bosnia. As you probably remember, there have been a lot of fighting and wars between these countries during the last twenty years but everybody got along just fine--in fact I think they pretty much went out as a group most every night to eat. We had a group dinner with some of the embassy staff Thursday night and I tried a "typically" Croatian dish which was basically just a wide selection of grilled meats. It was a good time, though, and the kind of thing I miss being able to do when I'm working in Africa.

I had hoped to take two day trips out of the city this weekend but it's early for tourist season and I don't think there's going to be enough sign ups for the trips to make but I will be able to go out to one of the national parks that is supposed to be really beautiful. Saturday night I plan to go to a Dinamo Zagreb soccer game and see how they play it over here.