Strange Christmas Eve in Zagreb, Croatia

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(the article below accompanies this video)

Christmas Eve in Zagreb. On this clear, cold, and sunny day, the capital of Croatia sparkled with a big sense of happiness and calm. The town was quiet, but things were happening here and there. Masayo and I spent the day walking around town, trying some ice skating in an outdoor rink, and letting the festive atmosphere soak in and bounce off as it would. My BGs were up and down, and included two separate readings of exactly 297.

Still, except for that diabetic con, it was a day of Croatian pros in this lovely city.

At 9:00 am my blood sugar was, like it was last night, good: 127. In our room at Apartman Lilly in residential Zagreb Masayo made eggs in our private kitchen, and we had some cinnamon cereal we bought yesterday.

I’d find out later that this destroyed my blood sugar.

After breakfast Masayo went across the street to the Billa supermarket to get food for tonight – we assume that on Christmas Eve and Christmas itself nothing will be open for meals so we’re making them here.

Then it was time to go get our first real look at Zagreb; after arriving yesterday from Slovenia we didn’t do much. “Upper town” and “lower town”, the popular areas in central Zagreb, aren’t too far away from us. Trams were actually running but we decided to walk the couple of kilometers. The weather was fantastic, sunny and crisp.

After walking several blocks down wide streets flanked with impressive buildings decorated with grand architectural stylings, like endless rows of medieval castles, we came upon a large outdoor ice-skating rink. My heart jumped. Here was my chance!

We’d tried ice skating back in Bratislava, Slovakia, and I’d embarrassed myself by never getting the hang even of the basics. After an hour of trying I was still walking awkwardly around the ice rather than actually skating. My failure in Bratislava had made me vow to try again when the opportunity presented itself.

Here in Zagreb on Christmas Eve the challenge was on.

But not yet; the rink was only open at intermittent scheduled times and the next one was in a half an hour. So we continued north, into a small park situated around a gazebo in the center. There were amplifiers sitting in the gazebo and it was decorated for “Advent in Zagreb”, but nothing was happening at the moment. Must be something festive going on tonight.

Around this time my day pack broke. I bought it used for almost nothing at a little basement junk store in Budapest, Hungary. You get what you pay for. I had to carry it the rest of the day around Zagreb in my arms since it was the shoulder straps that snapped.

Wonder if it’s reparable.

We sat on a bench under the white-bark trees, which were wrapped in Christmas lights. The sun was slicing in at a low angle, casting long thin shadows across the park grass and the cold concrete paths that led beside Christmas vendors in small white huts. An older man in a full Santa costume stood in a small clearing with a guitar, busking passionately in the spirit of the season. Even stingy me put some money in his basket.

It was in this charming setting that I checked my blood sugar for the bad news about breakfast: I was 297. I expected to be pretty good, or if high, not that high. But diabetes doesn’t lie. Something had gone wrong and 297 was the result.

I took no shot yet; I wanted to wait to find some food and do it all at once. (Not that I was hungry – high BGs tend to take away my appetite.)

Smiles and begging at a pharmacy

Near the park we first stopped in at a pharmacy. I wanted to restock my thyroid pills. But I had no idea what the procedure in Croatia is for buying pharmaceuticals. One of my rules for traveling with diabetes is that things always work out, somehow. Here was the test of that theory.

Having written down several European names for my medication (levothyroxine) from Wikipedia, I showed the list to the pharmacist and she said she had it.

But I would have to have a prescription.

My face must have fallen, and I must have seemed pained and at a loss for words. I sheepishly said that I was just traveling and had no area doctor. Right away she said that she could “make an exception” for me.

My theory was proven, at least in this instance. I know that pharmacists the world over generally enjoy helping people, and if there is anything they can do to connect people with medical needs with medication, they’ll do it. I bought the box; it was cheap and I was grateful.

I also asked about OneTouch Ultra strips while I was there. I didn’t need any, I was just curious. She said that a nearby pharmacy would have them and that they’d be about $30 for a box of 50. Not a terrible price.

Vinyl records and a brownie

So with a fresh supply of thyroid pills (and still with my high BG) Masayo and I continued through the sunny and shadowy streets of Zagreb looking for some food. We ended up on a very touristy street in the north part of town, stopping at a hip record store. I looked for Ray Charles, as is my wont, but they didn’t have any. It was mostly brand new albums; I saw the Bob Dylan Complete Basement Tapes vinyl box set for the first time here.

At an outdoor cafe called Index Food I ordered a brownie and coffee. I took a large shot, juggling the three factors of currently high BG, a brownie, and plans to go ice skating.

The brownie was thick and tasty – good luck, Humalog. Then it was time for some Croatian culture, old style: Zagreb Cathedral.

Zagreb Cathedral

Zagreb Cathedral, a big twin-spired building dating from the 1200s in the north of the city, is the tallest building in the country. Wikipedia refers to it as “the most monumental sacral building in Gothic style southeast of the Alps” – a rather obscure superlative if you ask me, but impressive to someone I guess.

When we approached it we saw that one of the spires had a large box around its middle section, printed with a photo of itself. Apparently some restoration is going on and this is an effort to make it look as nice as possible. I kind of liked it, maybe more than I would have liked seeing the real thing. It gave it a weird kind of character. They should have colored the outsides blue though, to match the actual sky.

We peeked inside the Cathedral where long lines of somber-looking folks were waiting to approach the front. Christmas Eve devotion.

Ice-skating, round 2

But we didn’t hang around too long – the ice-skating rink was still pulling us. When we arrived back at the rink there was another thirty-minute wait so we ordered some coffees from a nearby stall and sat on a bench to wait.

The coffee, naturally, was too small to be taken seriously, but the good news was that my BG was now 139. Seemed a bit too good, so soon after it was 297, so I knew I’d have to watch it.

Finally the time came – we paid and got our rental skates on. They were nicer than the ones back in Slovakia; those laced up but these had space-age straps that snapped into place across your foot.

Meekly venturing onto the ice I began stumbling like before, but took a closer look at what others were doing: pushing off with one foot and leaning forward more than I was, gliding on the other foot. I tentatively tried this, ignoring my fear that by leaning forward I’d fall onto my face.

And it worked! I was going slow and losing my balance, but I was indeed skating. After a few minutes, as I got bolder and bolder, I was even going faster than Masayo who had skated rings around me in Bratislava. She was having problems with one of her skates rubbing her ankle the wrong way and struggled with that. As for me, I was gliding around in large circles, crashing into the wooden railing less and less. (But still totally outclassed by ten-year-olds who were flying around effortlessly like Olympic medalists warming up.)

At one point I pulled off into a corner and checked my blood sugar on the ice: 79. A bit too low for all this activity; I had a Snickers.

After a little more skating we’d had our fill. Masayo’s foot was screaming, and I’d satisfied myself. Quite a feeling of accomplishment – Christmas Eve in Zagreb was treating me well.

Christmas Eve dinner

We put our civilian shoes back on and started heading back to the apartment room. The sky was by now a stunning explosion of purple and orange as the winter sun set in late afternoon to the southwest. A tiny sliver of crescent moon was visible through the long glowing clouds and the air was getting noticeably colder.

Back in the room Masayo made our Christmas Eve dinner: pasta with meat sauce and a salad, plus tangerines and crackers. I studied the nutrition info on the various packages so I’d know exactly how many carbs were in it, and took my Humalog hoping that I could maintain the excellent post-skating blood sugar reading.

The food was great but the shot didn’t work: at 11:00 pm I was 297 for the second time today. Both of these readings were surprised today, especially the nighttime one. Dear Santa, bring me better blood sugars at night before bed.

Not having any idea what the problem had been, I took some corrective Humalog and went to bed. Except for those two 297s it was a really great day, and I naturally took to the stately but approachable vibe of Zagreb.

Midnight

At midnight, as the 24th became the 25th, bells went off outside and went on for some time – for five or six minutes the church bells sounded as fireworks exploded overhead. In the room I played Lou Rawls and Bob and Doug MacKenzie Christmas music in iTunes. My kind of holiday – no presents and complicated ceremonies and forced jollity, just good times with Masayo in an interesting new place.

Tomorrow is Christmas Day and we have no plans whatsoever. I imagine it will be a relaxing and restful day. Hopefully the weather will be as nice as today.

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