American Donut

There is one thing you can always count on in Croatia--the sublime to the ridiculous. American Donut is a prime example. I stopped in this place with my Swedish friend Edin thinking he was leading me to the Croatin version of Krispy Kremes from America. Well, this simply was not to be. As luck would have it, this Zagreb based chain of shops doesn't have a donut in sight. Not one single one. Not even a pastry. They do have "sendvic" of various types and you can get a cup of the local coffee brew Franch. And a beer any time of day to go with that sendvic. But a donut? Don't count your chickens before they hatch. I will continue my search for a donut in Zagreb. Here's to American Donut--the shop without a donut!

Tale of Two Cities

Zagreb and Boise are both Capital cities. Zagreb, Croatia is the capital of--Croatia. Boise,Idaho is the capital of a state in the United States. Boise has a Capital building that looks much like the national Capital in Washington, D.C. where America conducts its legislative business. Zagreb has what is called the Sabor and is actually a really tiny building compared to the one in Idaho. The political and legislative business of Croatia is conducted at the Sabor.

Zagreb boasts of 800,000 or more people. Boise boasts of 200,000 or more. Croatia has about 4.5 million people. Idaho has about 1.5 million people. Croatia is the size of West Virginia and Idaho is the size of, well, Idaho. Suffice to say it's a rather large land mass and I was too lazy to google a proper statistical comparison.

Zagreb is at 45 degrees North latitude and Boise is at 43 degrees North latitude. It's hot and humid in Zagreb and reminds me of living in the Midwestern US, like Illinois or Indiana at this time of year. Zagreb has afternoon thunder showers just like Boise because of adjacent mountains. Boise was 80 degrees F today (July 6)and Zagreb was just a bit warmer) Zagreb is at about 400 meters (1200 or so feet). Boise is at about 2800 feet (900 meters).

Zagreb has Sljeme Ski Area that hosts the Women's World Cup Slalom Race (called the Snow Queen--there's even a cool snow globe goblet looking thing they get). Boise has Bogus Basin Ski Resort which has hosted in the past World Cup Moguls events. Boise has Jaret "Speedy" Peterson, a Silver medalist in Freestyle Aerials. And also Kristin Armstrong, an Olympic medalist in bicycle racing. Zagreb has Janica Kostelic, the best female ski racer ever in the world to date; and also her brother Ivica Kostelic who took two medals this year in Slalmon and Super Combined. Like Boise, these athletes are the pride and joy of their country.

To Toronto with Love

On one of the oddest airline routings of all time, I found myself on a 12 hour layover in Toronto on my way to Zagreb. Luck would have it that the G8/G20 Economic Summit was coming to town in hopes it could entirely disrupt the lives of Toronto's citizens and waste a tidy sum of $1 billion at the same time.I figured this was a great opportunity to see how another country puts into place a security system to protect the WORLD's leaders.You know, folks like Merkel of Germany, Obama of USA, Medjedved of Russia, and an assortment of other neer do wells from the big and little dogs that comprise this esteemed group of well off folks from around the globe.

I grabbed a cup of coffee at the Toronto Airport, hopped on a City Bus (a mere $3)that led to the subway and off I went to downtown Toronto, home of the Hockey Hall of Fame. Anyone who knows me well, knows how much I love a good game of hockey. Saddened that not a single Canadian team made it into the Stanley Cup finals (GO Chicago Blackhawks!)I thought it only proper to pay homage to the game differently.

After a leisurely walk around Toronto's waterfront I settled in to watch World Cup Soccer with Slovenia vs England right there in front of me on the Air Canada Center's enormous outdoor video screen. Joining me were literally hundreds of Toronto's finest eating donuts and sipping coffee in true Police Security style. I chatted up these men and women who were happy to chat about anything and everything including how best to get around once everthing was blocked off, and what businesses they were likely to have to shut down when the "circus" officially arrived the next day. But, they would not let me photograph them so you could see how much they actually like World Cup Soccer, too. I asked them politely to root for England despite the fact that both countries (Canada and USA) had ditched the British years ago for our own respective independence. Also, a win against Slovenia by England better positioned the USA to move on to the next round in the World Cup.

The Toronto Police Security forces were paid well for this part time/overtime gig. Purportedly about $70 or more an hour. Though of course this would soon entail them being provoked by moronic protestors bussed in from elsewhere to mostly burn tram stations and make a mockery of the nice city and folks of Toronto. I found it to one of the most culturally and ethnically diverse cities I've been to in North America.By days end one subway station had a fire set to it. I read later several hundred rioters were arrested. All this drama for a silly economic summit that was busily ruining Toronto's economy in it's wake. And the Toronto Police I met couldn't have been nicer. They'd have much more enjoyed hanging out with their family and friends than whacking idiots on the head. Police forces I encountered included bike, horse, car, foot patrol, car patrol and even marine patrol on jet skis and boats. But most who had a chance were watching that football match on the side of their beloved Maple Leafs arena before the rest of their week was to be ruined.

A New Summit Scheme--Guantanamo Bay

After much thought and discussion with my international friends in Croatia we came up with a real solution to this dilemma. And it will save a bundle of money so people could actually benefit their economy.

Why not move the next G8/G20 Summit to Guantanamo Bay!Think of the savings.There's only one airstrip into the place, so no need for all that extra security. Protestors could be taken out with ground to air missiles before they even arrive. If they let a few more of the so-called prisoners go home to wherever they came from there should be more than enough room in those jail cells for the Presidents and Prime Ministers of all the G20 nations to spend the night. And meals should be no problem. the remaining prisoners can serve up from the existing cafeteria, so there is no overhead labor cost for fancy hotel meals and whining and wining, and dining. This all equals CHEAP SUMMIT in my book.The only other option short of moving it to Guantanamo Bay is to downtown Detroit so they could see what a really devastated economy looks like or perhaps they could just all stay home and have a meeting on SKYPE. They'd probably get about the same amount of meaningful work done; and for a lot less than $1 billion Canadian!