One more reason

I just learned a horrible, odious fact.
Birds,
now get this,
birds do not sing because they are happy.
The next time you'll hear a thrush sing, don't go all romantic.
Because what the thrush is doing, is warning all the other birds to stay the heck off its branch and keep off its nest.
These news depressed me terribly.
And has absolutely nothing to do...

...with this post :)

This is the opening line of Simon Templar, on an episode of The Saint, called The Fellow Traveller.
It is an old tv series from the sixties that I enjoy watching now and then, when I want to watch something that doesn't require much brain activity, on my side :)

But as I said, it has nothing to do with this post!

Or it might have, after all...

Because this post has to do with memories. Starting with a park in Zagreb, Croatia, a small canteen and tables under the trees, wonderful music and cold beers, an inquiring squirrel and, of course, birds singing :)

It also has to do with a lovely lady, from the other side of the pond, who is inviting us to share our markets across the globe and be part of the #MarketFriday community, initiated by @dswigle :)

The year was 2008, when we still travelled without a smart phone on our hand, giving us all the information we wanted. At the very best we had a printed travel guide to consult and mostly it was intuition and luck that guided us!

So when we passed the upper point of the world's shortest and oldest funicular and headed towards the park, we had no idea what we'll come across.

How could we know that we were only a few meters away from what it was meant to be, our favourite spot in the city!

The sight of the hanging notes came seconds after the sound of the music and the clicking of the glasses. The scenery was mesmerising on its own, with all those big trees offering shadow and a cool shelter in the heat of the August while the jazz music and the tasteful decoration made it even better!

The display of a few pieces of art completed the picture, making this small spot, look like heaven into our eyes :)
We didn't have to think twice before we sit and grab a couple of cold beers!

The place was self service so no waiter came to our table but shortly after we sat, a squirrel came, climbing on the trunk of the closest tree and welcomed us in the most charming way :)

I didn't have the time to take a picture of him but I caught @traisto smiling with this unexpected encounter :)

I searched for the place in google and I found out that it is still operating. It is now called Fantastic Food and Drinks and it still looks lovely! What was more interesting during my search was that the park is marked on google maps as Art park Zagreb. With a little more searching I have found this:

Art Park Zagreb
Every summer one of Zagreb’s central parks transforms into a unique open-air gallery with good vibes and great atmosphere.
You can enjoy the gallery in the open, take morning yoga classes, relax in a hammock, watch movies and listen to the music. A great place to chill out during the summer heat.
_source

So I am guessing that the tiny art exhibition that we saw was kind of a precursor of something much bigger and even more beautiful. Now except from my nice memories, I have one more reason to want to visit Zagreb one more time :)

Before I close I want to share a couple more pictures of our trip, related with to spirit of #MarketFriday in the sense that they insinuate a money transaction. I am talking about street musicians making their living, a small shop and last but not least our favourite sandwich shop, during our stay.

Do you recognise the handsome young man waiting for his sandwich?

I'll give you a hint, that last picture was taken by @traisto :)

---

_{photo by @traisto}

Unless stated otherwise, all the pictures and the words are mine.

Thank you for reading and if you want to know more about me you can check out my introduction post.

Commenting, upvoting and rebloging are highly appreciated!