Croatian Independence Day

"On this day, October 8, twenty-two years ago, Croatia severed its last remaining ties with Yugoslavia."

Not that we knew that when we wandered onto the streets of Zagreb today and wondered at how quiet it all was - felt like we had to speak in hushed tones. Then we encountered 32 girls dressed in blue (the colour of Zagreb, seen everywhere) uniform, being ordered about in an incredibly harsh manner by some sort of sergeant major-type guy - but when he barked, they smiled. A crowd gathered and when the girls finished their marching and baton-throwing (with no music; just the sergeant barking), they all politely clapped.

Strange, and yet charming... and so the day continued, ending with ordering we knew not what at an underground cafe place - the waitress tried to explain and not wanting to offend, we just said yes. It was called "chevap", and turned out to be tiny lamb sausages tumbling out of a pocket of bread, served with a paprika sauce and chopped raw onions - delicious, actually.

Apart from the "cheerleaders", the only other celebration we saw was a packed mass in the Cathedral, which I found strangely moving, though not a word did I understand.