APPROX 12:25 AM - On the way out of Belgrade, we were all talking in the corridor. Chad was looking out the window trying to get a handle on the city of Belgrade, at least as much as one could get from the window of a moving train. Belgrade actually has a fairly impressive skyline, but there were also neighborhoods literally built out of trash. It was Pleasantville meet junkyard.

After some brief discussions with Elena and Ilin-Dime about whether or not we were going to get off in Zagreb or continue on to Ljubljana, we headed back to our cabin in search of rest. Alli plugged in the iPod for some meditation music to drown out the snoring, and every once in a while we could hear our Serbian friend kick the wall or squeeze the water bottle to wake up Ignatius Reilly.

APPROX 3:45 AM - At three forty-five and in the ensuing hour, we crossed the border between Serbia and Croatia. Needless to say, these two countries don't like each other very much, so anything that comes into Croatia from Serbia gets scrutinized, even if it's American tourists in the wee hours of the morning. The Croatian guard had a sense of sympathetic humor, though, especially when he heard the snoring noises that had since begun to sound like a wounded animal caught in a trap. He looked at Alli, realized we were tourists, and proceeded to the next cabin.

APPROX 5:25 AM - Ignatius began to talk in his sleep. It wasn't in English, so we didn't understand it.

JUST AFTER 7 AM - We awoke from a knock on the cabin door. It was the conductor letting us know we were a few minutes from Zagreb. We had sort of made the decision before leaving Belgrade, but we quickly discussed it again. We decided to take the suggestions of our Macedonian friends and continue on to Ljubljana. After informing the conductor, we fell back asleep. Thankfully for Alli, there was still life left in the iPod.