We’ve been on the road for a little over two months now, and traveling now feels like a way of life. I can’t remember what it’s like to own a closetful of clothes (in fact, I think when I finally unpack my boxes, I won’t remember anything I own and it will be really exciting! Like shopping!) or to sleep in a familiar bed. Our full time job is navigating unknown waters, with some freelance writing on the side. Considering that we don’t have busy classrooms, it’s remarkable how busy we have been keeping: we each have projects that we work on, and it doesn’t feel like there are enough hours in the day to tackle our to do lists and see everything in these marvelous locations PLUS fuel our bodies (finding and consuming food takes a surprising amount of our time and energy). Which just goes to show you can take workaholic teachers out of the classroom, but you can’t take the working hard out of us two.

One thing that’s been keeping us busy is trip planning. Before we left, we had a rough itinerary (that has since been carved up and redone more than a few times), places to sleep each night, and that was pretty much it. So while we are in one place, we are spending some down time figuring out what the deal is with the next place. While we were in Rovinj, we were also planning Zagreb.

It was during one of these laptops-out sessions that I came up with and immediately felt very passionate about the idea of themes in each destination. After reading some blogs and guidebooks, I noticed that our next location, Zagreb, had a substantial amount of bizarre and quirky sights: loads of street art, the world’s shortest funicular, and a bunch of funky museums. So the theme of Zagreb was “Weird Zagreb”, and as we were picking and choosing activities, we kept that in the back of my mind.

I’m happy to report that this experiment was a huge success! It was so fun to have a structure to our time in Zagreb, and we did things I wouldn’t have otherwise. The theme presented a bit of a challenge, and I love organized fun. So without further ado, Zany Zagreb!

The Museum Of Broken Relationships

One of Zagreb’s top attractions is this ode to heartbreak. The museum has a series of rooms with breakup artifacts: shoes, stuffed animals, journals, an axe, a wedding dress, anything you can think of.  Each item is accompanied by the story, written by the person who submitted the object. I have to admit, I didn’t feel a lot of sympathy for 90% of the heartbroken writers and rolled my eyes more than a few times at the melodrama, but it was a memorable experience and definitely not dull. I like the stories with some humor, and the most poignant artifacts were from people who came out of long relationships. My favorite display was an internet router and the story simply said. “We tried. Not compatible.” Isn’t that the story of all breakups, when you get right down to it?!

The 80s Museum

This was less of a museum than a recreation of a typical 80s house, and it was very entertaining for these two millennials—born in the 80s, but with no memories of the decade—to explore a recreation of what our parent’s house may have looked like when we were brought home from the hospital. The best part of this museum is that it is interactive. I will fully admit I don’t know how to play a record player, but I got to learn and successfully blasted some Abba. There was a rotary phone you could dial, 80s video games, a typewriter (WOW we have come a long way from that to the laptop I’m using right now!), 80s furniture, all kinds of clothing you were encouraged to wear around the museum, and even a cupboard above the TV with naughty magazines from the pre-internet 80s! Things were so quaint back then.

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The Naïve Art Museum

 My favorite museum in Zagreb, this is a museum dedicated to the Naïve art movement in Croatia, primarily in the 1930s. Essentially, it is folk art by artists who aren’t classically trained, and the museum had multiple pieces from the artists so you could really get to know each individual style. I found the art enchanting: so full of color and expression and intrigue. These paintings had flair. The one that made me laugh was titled “Goitery Jan”…and indeed she was. Poor Jan!

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The Museum of Illusion

 This place was SO fun. A combination of full body illusions, puzzles, and tricks to the eye, we had a blast playing around in here on our last day in Zagreb. Honestly, the simple wooden puzzles commanded most of our attention, and neither of us ended up solving them….which may nag me forever.

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Street Art Tour

We went on a self-guided tour of all of the murals and eccentric street art in Zagreb, and it was awesome. Zagreb has so much street art, which contrasts nicely with the elegant buildings and more traditional sculptures and fountains! In addition to murals in parks and on the sides of buildings, there is an entire park called “Art Park”. Discovering each colorful spot was half the fun.

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The Museum of Modern Art

 The granddaddy of weird in Zagreb, this was right next to our Air BnB: we could see it from our balcony! The place is the size of an airport, and I think we saw five other people our whole time there. Because of the size, there were some HUGE installations: a slithery red scultupre that snakes down two flights of stairs, an entire car perched on its side, an entire gallery devoted to masks of domestic violence survivors. Modern art without the crowds is definitely a different experience: some of the sculptures and paintings gave me a scare when I rounded the corner, but we also had all the time in the world to examine the pieces we found intriguing. And takes lots and lots of pictures.

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