Dobredan from Slovenia!
I write this from the capital Ljubljana, which was supposedly founded by Jason and the Argonauts ... who were a really great band. Thrash metal seems really big here so that works for me at least. Slovenia claims to be the home of democracy too. Apparently Thomas Jefferson cited the Slovenia model when creating the declaration of independence though I am pretty sure there are many places that claim that whole democracy thing.
The first issue I face with this entry is the lack of apostrophe on this keyboard. Contractions and possession must be avoided in this entry. Wish me luck.
It is really amazing how green Slovenia is, it has something like 70% tree coverage. It certainly makes for a pleasant train ride. Although the weather has now gone from cold and wet to insanely hot. Which is fantastic when you only have one pair of shorts. Europe: 1, Australia : 0.
Upon arriving in the nation capital Ljubljana on a weekend, you will be greeted by a ghost town as everyone pretty much packs up and heads for the hills. It reminded me a little of our wondrous Australian capital Canberra, albeit with less adult product and fireworks shops. Instead of a tourist bureau you can instead be welcomed by the crazy people that tend to loiter around train stations.
Ljubljana is a compact capital. The old town is about 4 blocks wide - step away from it and you are pretty much in former communistic housing come ghetto. The castle and old town really are cool, but the sheer contrast from tourism and poverty is disarming for Europe. Even playgrounds are surrounded by barb wire and exist only to house homeless people.
There also seems to be a strange fascination with morbid statues of dragons eating people, people beating dragons to death and people beating each other to death. Some statues are so distorted in appearance that they are virtually guaranteed to become the stuff of your nightmares. Ahh the sweet memories of travel.
Off topic, I would like to highlight how I was once hopeful of learning as much language as I could as travels continued. In reality, once you hit the fourth or fifth country it becomes a fool's hope to do so. I know the locals really do appreciate it when you at least make some effort to communicate with them in their tongue but my brain has kind of melted all the words into one super language. Now when a local offers greeting, some strange murmur is the only response. The language barrier truly reaches new heights.
In case you have no idea where Solvenia is (fair enough really), it was once part of Yugoslavia. In case you still don't know where that was, just throw a rock over the water east of Italy. Slovenia still shares much in common with the other former Yugoslavian sister states and other countries around it. One thing being the love affair with meat. In fact one restaurant conversation with a waitress went like such
Me: "What is this?"
Waitress: "This is a meat."
Me: "What is this?"
Waitress: "This is a meat too."
Me: "What is this?"
Waitress: "This is also meat."
Me: "Ahhh what is this?"
Waitress: "This is a platter. Of meat."
Me: "I guess meat it is then!"
Waitress: "OK. Perfect! Would you like salad?"
Me: "THERE IS SALAD?!"
Waitress: "Yes, of course!"
Me: "Yes, salad please. Yes."
Waitress: "OK."
Shortly thereafter the plate comes out, covered in meat. The salad, a mound of raw onion. Welcome to Slovenia.
I write this from the capital Ljubljana, which was supposedly founded by Jason and the Argonauts ... who were a really great band. Thrash metal seems really big here so that works for me at least. Slovenia claims to be the home of democracy too. Apparently Thomas Jefferson cited the Slovenia model when creating the declaration of independence though I am pretty sure there are many places that claim that whole democracy thing.
The first issue I face with this entry is the lack of apostrophe on this keyboard. Contractions and possession must be avoided in this entry. Wish me luck.
It is really amazing how green Slovenia is, it has something like 70% tree coverage. It certainly makes for a pleasant train ride. Although the weather has now gone from cold and wet to insanely hot. Which is fantastic when you only have one pair of shorts. Europe: 1, Australia : 0.
Upon arriving in the nation capital Ljubljana on a weekend, you will be greeted by a ghost town as everyone pretty much packs up and heads for the hills. It reminded me a little of our wondrous Australian capital Canberra, albeit with less adult product and fireworks shops. Instead of a tourist bureau you can instead be welcomed by the crazy people that tend to loiter around train stations.
Ljubljana is a compact capital. The old town is about 4 blocks wide - step away from it and you are pretty much in former communistic housing come ghetto. The castle and old town really are cool, but the sheer contrast from tourism and poverty is disarming for Europe. Even playgrounds are surrounded by barb wire and exist only to house homeless people.
There also seems to be a strange fascination with morbid statues of dragons eating people, people beating dragons to death and people beating each other to death. Some statues are so distorted in appearance that they are virtually guaranteed to become the stuff of your nightmares. Ahh the sweet memories of travel.
Off topic, I would like to highlight how I was once hopeful of learning as much language as I could as travels continued. In reality, once you hit the fourth or fifth country it becomes a fool's hope to do so. I know the locals really do appreciate it when you at least make some effort to communicate with them in their tongue but my brain has kind of melted all the words into one super language. Now when a local offers greeting, some strange murmur is the only response. The language barrier truly reaches new heights.
In case you have no idea where Solvenia is (fair enough really), it was once part of Yugoslavia. In case you still don't know where that was, just throw a rock over the water east of Italy. Slovenia still shares much in common with the other former Yugoslavian sister states and other countries around it. One thing being the love affair with meat. In fact one restaurant conversation with a waitress went like such
Me: "What is this?"
Waitress: "This is a meat."
Me: "What is this?"
Waitress: "This is a meat too."
Me: "What is this?"
Waitress: "This is also meat."
Me: "Ahhh what is this?"
Waitress: "This is a platter. Of meat."
Me: "I guess meat it is then!"
Waitress: "OK. Perfect! Would you like salad?"
Me: "THERE IS SALAD?!"
Waitress: "Yes, of course!"
Me: "Yes, salad please. Yes."
Waitress: "OK."
Shortly thereafter the plate comes out, covered in meat. The salad, a mound of raw onion. Welcome to Slovenia.
1 comment:
I assure you, THIS working man is not a happy man. Communism was just a red herring anyway...
Thanks to your description, I now understand why my Slovenian friend never seemed to miss home...
Glad the weather has turned a tad warmer for you, not so glad for the people you'll be sharing trains with after wearing your shorts for the next 2 months (It's SUMMER, what were you THINKING MAN!).
Thanks for adding the beer list - I expect detailed tasting notes on each one upon your return.
Molly, Doc and Rell say hi.
And to find the apostrophe, Put it in H!
Post a Comment