Woke up this morning with our plan all set out from the previous night’s conversations. We met Inga at her place and took a long walk around Lake with Buddy. Paul tried to impress Inga with his increasing command of Slovak vocabulary with the addition of the word “lake”. After that, we all piled into the car to find Lukie’s yellow langose wagon.
Our car navigation lady had no problem finding the location of the food wagon, where we were warmly greeted by Lukie and were introduced to his mom. We were all treated to gofry, or waffles, Slovakian style. I have never seen so many options for waffle toppings. Once the order was placed we soon enjoyed our delicious fresh waffles by the cart. Next came the langose. A yummy savory concoction of a slightly sweet puffy dough fried in oil, then topped with cheese and chili sauce. A taste sensation of crisp outside and tender inside. I think e could do well in the US with his cart. I know of a spot just outside Smith Hall in Newark where he would do a booming business.
Fitted with a bag full of langose for the road, we took Inga and Derek back to Inga’s place. Â After many sad tight hugs and kisses we told the car navigator lady that we wanted to go to Croatia and were on our way south.
We passed many farmsteads and villages as we were leaving Slovakia. The distant mountains far off to our right were covered in clouds. It was a gray cloudy day for the first few hours of the drive. We could see that there was some rain in the mountains, but we never had any fall on us. There was a lot of activity in the fields as we drove along. Farmers harvesting the last of the fall fruits, moving their sheep and plowing up their large fields. Even the small homestead gardens were hives of activity. The neat rows of grape vines that cover the hillsides were all fading to yellow, the 
great fields of sunflowers have all been harvested, and the corn fields have all gone tawny. The mistletoe is very visible in the trees as Autumn starts to setting in.
The car lady is telling us that it will be a bit over 6 hours to Zagreb Croatia, we have stopped at the 1/2 way point, a little way out of Budapest to grab an afternoon latte and some nibbles on the yummy langose that Lukie packed up for us, suitable for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Dark was approaching with an hour or so to go to our destination just inside Croatia. There was a strong ticking on the window, much like the sound you’ll hear when driving through a light rain. But, it wasn’t raining. And, the wipers didn’t clear the window, but smeared hundreds of bugs in great streams all over the window. We pulled over at the next rest area, which are frequent in Hungary, to clean the windows. These bugs must be a regular hazard in the area as the window cleaner was not the usual squeegee type but a long bristle brush with a good sturdy handle.
Most country border crossings in Europe are non-events. There is a small road sign to clue you in that you are crossing a border, much like you’ll see a sign in the US welcoming you to a new state. Then there’s the border crossing building, which usually doesnt serve a purpose any more and is typically left unoccupied. These buildings can range from simple tool booth style setups to more elaborate affairs with a phalanx of inspection lanes, long booths with lots of doors and windows, and second floor observation platforms. It’s usually just a matter of driving on through.
Upon entering Croatia, we observed a border crossing that was still fully functional as all vehicles were required to stop at the gate. The van in front of us was stopped when we pulled up behind it and it was commanding the attention of at least 6 policija. Apparently, one of the routine questions is, “Are you carrying any dead bodies in your vehicle?” to which the driver in front of us must have replied “yes”. He proceeded to open the back door of his van and we could see he was transporting a casket. Of course, that merited closer inspection, and the casket was summarily opened so that we could see a body bag. At that point, the inspectors motioned for him to pull over for a longer chat. We were next and asked to produce our documents and those for the car, as well as open the back for inspection. The border guard asked where were were going and Paul said, “Varazdin”. The guard looked quizzical and asked again. Paul repeated “Varazdin” and the guard repeated “Where?” Then Paul said it was the first big town inside the country and the guard said, “Oh, you mean ʋâraʒdiːn”. The guard stamped our passports (the first country to do so beyond landing in Germany) and we were on our way.
We checked into a hotel near the center of town and headed out for supper. We were a bit late to the party and every place was serving only drinks. Luckily, Lukie’s food had kept us well fed all day and a couple beers were all we needed. There was an unattended popcorn cart in the square that provided something to go with the beer.
