We sleep in, kind of.
Awake at 05:20.
Plans for a pre breakfast walk are dismissed as we lay in bed with the window open and let the cold air in. Croatians know how to party, there is plenty of noise on the street. I don’t understand the langauge so I cannot tell if it is a happy time or an angry time.
“When you drank the world was still out there, but for the moment it didn’t have you by the throat.”
Charles Bukowski
Off to Boogie Lab to try the brunch menu.
Today we catch the train to Slovenia.
We arrive at The Boogie Lab around 08:30 and it is already packed. We grab a table and order some coffee and wait for the brunch menu to become available at 9:00.
We order a slice of the ham and artichoke pizza to share while we wait.
It is a tight squeeze, every available space is taken and a waiting list starts building at the door. The person responsible for the list has arrived and her job is not easy. The list is growing. Her single biggest concern is the amount of families, particularly those with babies and toddlers arriving.
They all have the same look. Tired, harried and irritable. Trying to manage a baby, a pram and a three year old. It is not easy for the cafe either. They need a table for four, plus space for a pram, only two people will likely eat or order coffee. The place is not built for this demographic.
“Tired, tired with nothing, tired with everything, tired with the world’s weight he had never chosen to bear.”
F. Scott Fitzgerald
I can’t imagine the thinking of the parents. It is Sunday, below zero outside. Everyone is tired. Lets all get rugged up and head somewhere. The park? Somewhere for kids? Of course not. Let’s share our bundles of joy and bad temper in a place that makes everyone less comfortable. We will go to The Boogie Lab. We will huff and puff and sigh dramatically when we are told to wait. Then, when we get a table for six, only two of us will eat. Finally, to make the entire experience worthwhile for everyone, the baby will scream throughout.
Fun times.
“I think by the time you’re grown you’re as happy as you’re goin to be. You’ll have good times and bad times, but in the end you’ll be about as happy as you was before. Or as unhappy. I’ve knowed people that just never did get the hang of it.”
Cormac McCarthy
We order the bacon and eggs on brioche and the Boogie Breakfast. Both are delicious. This place really is about the bakery. I have never tasted bread like this.
We pay the bill and head out through the maze of prams. The lady in charge of the waiting list looks as depressed as the parents. There are about fifteen people waiting for a table and as we depart what appears to be a mothers group arrives. Four mothers, four prams, three toddlers and four babies. Spread the joy with your glorious little children.
I only have one pair of jeans for the trip. We head out to get some more. It turns out to be an exercise in embarrassment as I can’t get half of them to fit. We head home.
“It’s OK, you can fix that your’e fat. The big problem you have is that you can’t fix stupid”
Rachelle Griffin
Check out and head to In the Yard for a coffee to kill some time before our train leaves for Slovenia. We used to come here when we were last in Zagreb. I remember why we stopped, the coffee is as cold as the service.
The train is leaving from platform 4. There is an announcement over the PA and everyones on our platform leaves. The man who sold us our tickets appears to let us know the train will now be departing from platform 1. He walked all the way from his office to tell us because he knew we would not understand the announcement.
It is three hours to Ljubljana. We share a booth with two men from Georgia. There is little change in scenery as we make the trip. As we approach the city, the snow capped mountains and blue sky remind me just how far from Dubai we are.
Bucket list😀