CROATIA TRIP - DAY 6 - VIENNA TO SPLIT

Today is travel day. We left the hotel at 5 a.m. to catch an early train that would take us through the absolutely most beautiful country in Austria, Slovenia and Croatia all the way to Split, on the Dalmatian coast. I noticed subtle changes as we crossed national boundary lines, for example, the Slovenian farms seemed slightly smaller than the Austrian ones, and every one had a vegetable garden, and the pattern held as we continued south into Croatia.

We had a layover in Zagreb the capital of Croatia, enough time to walk around the train station, get a bite to eat, and to purchase strawberries from one of the almost 50 vendors selling them. Between Zagreb and Split is one of the areas most deeply affected by the war. In fact, we went through Knin, where it is generally agreed that the whole thing started. We saw abandoned fields and homes an area of industrious people and fertile soil, but I didn't know enough about the whole situation to make a direct connection. Now I know more, and wish I could go back to make a better connection between what I saw and when I know to have happened.

The photo is a scene from Zagreb -- part of our European streetcar series.