Reach out Touch Face

I decided to make the most of being in Zagreb with fun colleagues and hit the town on Friday night. After a good dinner, we headed out to the Oliver Twist for a few drinks in an English Pub that could have been anywhere in the UK. After midnight, one colleague, who is making the most of her time without her husband and 18 month old child far away in DC, really wanted to go out dancing. We asked the bartender, got directions and headed off into the frigid night.

We found the place relatively easily but were amazed to discover that we were not welcomed with open arms, but had to wait outside in the icy air in the line to get in! We eventually made it to the front of the line and were ushered in by a well dressed bouncer. After paying a cover of $4 and checking our coats, we went downstairs and noticed that we were a little out of place. Half of the people in the club were well dressed in rather revealing but ordinary outfits. The other half were pretty much fully covered, but wearing pleather. As we walked in the door we were greeted by a woman in a full pleather black bodysuit with a high neck and a short zip strategically placed for easy access. Her only accessory was a tasseled whip. We thought this was odd, but got a drink and headed for the dance floor at the back of the club where we discovered an ongoing performance by two pleather clad professional female dancers. What was most interesting was that everyone (male and female) just stood around watching. There were several people with cameras in the room flashing photographs as much of the dancers as of those watching them. After the performance, the club went back to dancing. Any time a couple got a little hot and heavy, the crowd would form a circle and stare and even flash photographs. Not clubbing behavior that I am used to!

The creepiest point in the evening came when we were talking to a couple of Croatian guys who all of a sudden got upset about something and started to move away. We asked them what was wrong, and they pointed out to us that there were gays next to us, referring to two men dancing together, and they couldn’t’ be near the gays. A sad commentary and I fear not a unique opion in these parts.

We arrived home at 3am after a 45 minute walk through the snow covered and abandoned streets.