Toni’s house in Zadar, Croatia.

I’m back from Zadar, alive and uncastrated.

Off-season is definitely the time to go, even if it means sharing the beaches with grumpity German geriatrics. We didn’t see much of Zadar itself, but then I have trouble getting aroused by city landmarks these days anyway. A few years ago I pretty much overdosed on old cathedrals and “historic medieval cores” and until Pfizer comes up with something to help me, I probably won’t be able to enjoy sightseeing the way I used to. (An exception to my touristic ennui is Japan: I yearn for it.)

However, I did get a genuine burst of joy after stumbling on Toni’s house in Zadar. The house (here’s a picture from afar) is covered with numerous esoteric sayings, all of them seemingly unrelated. From what little I could see, the inside seems to be filled entirely with building materials and junk. Remember that part in A Beautiful Mind where the wife stumbles onto Nash’s shed in the backyard? It was like that.

I should add that housemaster Toni has a webpage with the easy-to-remember address www.toni-za-guinnessovu-knjigu.zadar.net. The site is also in English, and there’s something poetic about the nearly impenetrable phrases that appear there. It’s like reading Joyce. You don’t know what’s going on, but it’s still good.