This weekend I went to Koprivnica to stay with Dada, Vlado and their daughter Nika. So on Friday I tried to get on the 3:52pm train to be in Koprivnica at 452pm. When I started to get on the train, an official looking guy (had the uniform and hat and had just got off of the train) came up to me and looked at my ticket. He told me (in Croatian) that I could not get on this train, I had to go to the next platform. A nice guy who spoke English told me that my ticket was for the "lower" class of train and it was at the next platform. So I went over to that platform and by the time I realized that the train didn't leave until 433 the other train was gone. So I waited for the 433 train.
Needless to say, 3 platforms and 15 different directions from 15 different people later, I was on the 505pm train and on my way to Koprivnica. When the guy came around to check tickets he looked at mine and starting talk in Croatian. I asked him if he spoke English. He got this worried look on his face and said "Your ticket no good. have to pay more. um...umm...I be back" He never came back and my stop came so I got off. I guess it pays to not be completely fluent!
Friday night I had dinner with my hosts and then we walked to town for ice cream. Again, I think all most Croatians do is drink coffee, walk around the park/town and then have ice cream. I got a nice walking tour of Koprivnica. It's very small but very nice. Almost everyone in town walks or rides their bike to work, school or shopping. And no one locks their bikes up at all.
On Saturday I got to sleep in (830) and we had breakfast and then went for coffee. Since it gets really hot during the day we just came back to their apartment and relaxed. Vlado made his special spaghetti which was the best spaghetti I've ever had (sorry BA). Then we went for coffee and kolać (cake) at Dada's parents house and took a long walk. They have a beautiful ranch with rasperry and cherry trees (yum). Dada and Vlado are going to retire there some day they hope. After that we went to Đurđeon to the Rooster Festival.
It actually is a holiday and everything in the area was closed yesterday for it. The main part of the celebration is the re-enactment of the battle that took place there in the 13th (or 15th, I've hear both) Century. As legend has it, the Turks invaded and surrounded the fortress were all of the people had fled too. The Turks figured if they surrounded the city long enough the the people would run out of food and either surrend or die. For 60 days they surrounded the fortress and that is when the people ran out of food, except for 1 rooster. Apparently an old woman had a dream and was told to fire the rooster out of the cannon at the Turks. When they did this, the Turks thought that their plan had failed because there is no way they would fire food at the Turks unless they had enough to stay for a really long time. So the Turks gave up and left.
So the performance was a re-enactment of this battle. It had probably 300 people in it and took place in the field in front of the fortress/castle that the battle actually took place at. It was amazing!
Today I hiked up a steep hill and climbed a tower to to see an amazing view of Koprivnica. I could even see Hungary!
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