Christine in Croatia: This week, Winter in Zagreb

*A Hunting Lodge, Super Bowl 50 and Burger King*

Samobor Mountains:

ever take a ride and find,

not only do you not know where you are...

you can't get back to where you have already been…

and it's winter, the winding roads are narrow,
some not paved and some just simply end...

and the only sign of life...may also be lost**

And then you find... a hunting camp!
Complete with wild boar being skinned out back
and the camp cook preparing food for the, soon to return, hunters.

So last Saturday we did get lost, high up in the mountains of Samobor.
Finally spotting some sign of life (smoke).
Tom asked for directions
(yep - he really did - we were that desperate).
Not only did they tell us how to get back down the mountain,
they fed us! The best wild boar stew ever!
(okay I was pretty hungry and it's the only wild boar stew I ever had,
but over the years, we have had plenty of wild game,
and this was really scrumptious:-)

The views were awesome, the roads scary!
We knew we were almost down,
when we spotted another vehicle - a logging truck!

Photo from my iphone picture locater

The Žumberak Mts. - only 25 km (16 miles) from, Zagreb.
FYI: The Zumberak - Samobor Mountains Nature Park covers an area of approximately 430 km2 (170 sq mi)

Mainly hilly-mountainous, entirely rural area without any urban settlements. The central part of Zumberak, Kraska plain, is characterized by many clearings, deeply incised valleys, sinking rivers and caves…

The area was designated a nature park as a protected natural resource by the Act of the Croatian parliament on 28th May, 1999. The park got its name from the old village of Zumberak (burned down in 1793; remains are located a bit above the new same-named village).

** "Divlje vode" (Wild waters) is a Bio park within the Nature Park, they have llamas . Although the llamas we encountered were pretty far from said park.

more info: divljevode.com/hr , pp-zumberak-gorje.hr/, goincro.com/en and en.wikipedia.org

American football:

Tom, Nick and me - playing football, in a park, in Canada

Here in Croatia, as in most of Europe, The foot-ball that rules is soccer (nogomet here). Most people take no notice of American football. You wont see anyone playing it in a park, nor any signs of equipment in sports stores. So to find out anything about the Patriots, you have to go online. Really what did we do before the internet!

AFC CHAMPIONSHIP Final:

New England Patriots 18 Denver Broncos 20

"Cornerback Bradley Roby saved the game by picking off Tom Brady's pass on a 2-point try with 12 seconds left to preserve a 20-18 victory for the Broncos over the Patriots Sunday in the AFC title game." NFL.com

Bill Belichick “...a crash landing to the end of the season.”

A game that came down to the last 12 seconds!

So the Pats are not playing in Super Bowl 50.

So now I don't really care about this Super Bowl

But I do hope the Broncos lossssssss !!

( just saying )

___________________

Tom Brady “...Our team fought hard all year, right down to the final play. I’m proud of the effort we all put in to prepare each game as if it were our last. We never quit nor lost sight of what we were playing for. It’s rare to have the honor of being on a team like that.”

__________________

FYI: “In a departure from the NFL tradition of using Roman numerals, this game is Super Bowl 50 instead of Super Bowl L (the Roman numeral for 50)”
Smart decision, I think.

The game (www.nfl.com/superbowl/50 ) is scheduled to be played on February 7, 2016, at 6:30 pm Eastern time at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California... I've read that the stadium has had repeated problems with the grass surface, including the grass collapsing!

Rijeka and Burger King:

and this week we drove down to Rijeka to catch revival service.

Remember to pray for Croatia!! ( worldcfm.com )

and on the way home...

Whopper jr.

On the A1 highway we take to & fro, there is now a Burger King. We stopped for a Whopper & fries for T. and a Whopper jr. for me.

I’m a BK fan from way back (might have something to do with working there as a teen…way back in the 1970’s). And although I don’t crave fast food often, it is nice to have the familiar.

Welcome to Croatia Burger King!

FYI: Globally popular McDonalds was one of first to come, and will soon celebrate two decades in Croatia. In recent years KFC and Subway have also opened restaurants, and most resent, in 2014 ... BURGER KING on A1 and a second one in 2015 (info June 2015 croatiaweek.com), “We are delighted with the opening of BURGER KING® restaurant in Arena Centar [Mall] in Zagreb, especially since this will be our second BK restaurant in Croatia. The first one opened at Draganić-south rest stop (on the A1 highway) in 2014…” said Hermann Ircher, CCO of Marché International, who hold the BURGER KING ® franchise in Croatia.

Just keeping it real, CC