Training for Twists and Turns

Slovenia train travel spoiled us for this trip. Then it was an easy 9 hours relaxing in a cabin for six with only the 2 of us most of the time. Our train to Munich was not so fabulous, though the RailJet promised luxury even in 2nd class. We were in one large open carriage; our seats were two to two facing each other with a table between us. It would not have been so bad if it were only the two of us occupying four seats, but a Hungarian grandma was with us. Okay, still not bad, but she did take up more of her seat than RailJet's designers had probably intended, spreading her girth into my train space. Still being generous with my seat, the legroom was minimal. If I had not been taking Pilates and Ron, yoga, we would have had difficulty twisting into the necessary pretzel positions to sit with a modicum of comfort. 

Grandma was traveling with her 2 darlings under 10 year old grandsons who were sitting behind us. If any nationality could earn a gold medal for nonstop talking, it is Hungarians. Those kids were talking the minute we got on the train, twenty minutes before it left, and never, ever shut up the entire trip. This is not to say they were bad, they were well behaved, but talk, talk, talk. They could teach how to do a Congressional filibuster without a second thought.  

To add to the mix, I woke up with a cold this morning. I had felt a dry throat for days, but with all of my sinus issues, it never really means anything until a full outbreak. The cold broke out this morning. A nose that was running a marathon with the intention of gaining the gold medal, I could not keep it in tissues. If I could diaper it, it would have needed changing every hour. It was not fair. I have been looking forward to this trip for weeks.

We arrived in one piece, though cramped, found our way to the underground station we needed, and hunted for buying a single ticket. There are no booths, but there are dozens of ticket machines, but even the directions in English are not totally understandable. We needed to change lines after one stop; do we need 2 tickets like we would in Budapest? I asked a cop who was in a huddle with a gaggle of other cops. He excused himself from the group, went with me to a machine and gave directions as he punched in the information needed. We only needed 2 one way tickets, each at 2.50 Euros. Our host had weekly passes ready for us when we arrived. Seven day passes are a paltry 12.30 Euros, a substantial savings.

As we approached our B and B, it soon occurred to me that we were staying in an apartment building, not a house as I had thought. The only problem with this was that our host will be gone until November 2nd; he has a friend waiting for us. We didn’t know anyone's last name, so didn’t know what bell to push. We are standing out in the cold, wondering what to do. Ron wanted to press all buttons and ask if anyone knew which apartment we needed. I remembered I had the guy’s home number and was directed to call so his friend could answer if we ran into trouble finding it. I called, she answered. We made it in. We are alone until November 1st when a Danish guest will arrive. The hosts return on the 2nd. They left breakfast food for us in the fridge.

We found with the help of the friend, a lovely typical neighborhood Bavarian restaurant down the street. After close to 3 weeks of the Atkins diet, I blew it with a cabbage salad and a beer. I am saving my first pretzel for the Hofbrauhaus.

After dinner, I hit the bed with the hopes of sleeping off the cold. By 1:30, I was up and wake. Time for a sleepy time pill to do the trick.

Related articles

• A Bavarian Experience At The Hofbrauhaus (webnerhouse.com)
• Budapest boasts low cost city breaks | British Airways - Travel Industry News (travelnews.britishairways.com)
• Leaving on Railjet Train (budgetnomad.blogspot.com)

Pin It Now!

sLOVEnia Photos are Published

If you would like to view the Slovenia photos, they are all in one album in my photo blog at Ryan and Ron Do the World.

Pin It Now!

Bled - Not Past Tense of Bleed

Today’s adventure was to bus our butts to Bled to see the castle there, like seeing 2 castles was not enough. What else do you do in sLOVEnia than visit castles and caves? First order of business was to beat off the Italians in the breakfast room to grab a table. My goodness, one would think it was the last supper or breakfast the way they crowded in there, but it was reminiscent of my grandmother’s nature to be an early riser. By 5:30 am, half of her day was over.

Honestly, we could wait for breakfast, because the book store did not open until 9am anyway. I was not leaving town until I had that new Gaarner book in my hot and sweaty hands. Of course once I made it into the store, I had to browse the entire English section to make sure no other treasures were left un-salvaged from the throws of being piled in stacks without receiving appropriate attention and a potentially new home. Ron found a book too for our friend Laszlo, who is part Slovene on his mother’s side, so this is a gift from his mother country. On the way out, I noticed stuffed animals all over a few shelves. Some were owls, which were weighted to act as bookends. There were also dogs, cats, but the piece de resistance was this little bull, which was absolutely adorable. When I picked him up, he had the heft of a heifer, but as I set him back into his spot, the saleswoman, a twenty-something, beauty said, “That yuk is a doorstop. That is why it is so heavy.” With a quizzical look, I ask “Yuk?” Again she states with a smile, “A yuk!” Now the light goes on in my head, a yak; she is mispronouncing a for uh. Should I play English teacher? No, there is a bus to catch, so I leave the yuk-yak behind, but know I am going to regret this all day. I was not deprived of stuffed animals when I was a child; at times it is downright embarrassing, but I love them still. They make me smile; they make my heart lighter when I am feeling blue. There are over fifty teddy bears imprisoned in New Jersey in a storage unit just waiting for rescue operations to proceed. 

The bus is sitting there waiting patiently for us to board. Had we missed it, there would have been another in an hour, but why wait? The trip is about 1 ½ hours and cost 6.30 each way per person. For the air conditioning alone, it was worth the cost. We were in and out of heavy traffic, causing us to be delayed extending the trip to 2 ½ hours. Some of the scenery along the way was a delightful distraction, but little cat naps took precedent. Those church bells from hell rang every 15 minutes for unreasonable lengths of time that were not in sync with any timepiece that I could tell.

Once in Bled, we stopped at a restaurant across from the bus station. I am not sure what there is to the city, because we barely ventured from where we were left off. Restaurant prices, at least across the street from the station are much higher than in L-city. However, the bowl of garlic soup that I chose was a delectable bargain for 3.90 Euros. Ron had fries, but one thing I have been neglectful in reporting is the wasp problem. It seems all over the country, they have been invaded by a highly unusual number of wasps this summer. Everyone has been complaining about them as well as their aggressive nature. Our guide Palona shared that she was sitting in her yard with her dog. She was stung twice and the dog once, all without provoking the yellow creatures into battle. Others have shared similar stories. No matter what you are eating, the wasps appear from nowhere and hover over the meal. The ladies who have flower kiosks almost need to wear beekeeper outfits, they are so overloaded with flying beezz.

So the reason we were in Bled was to see the castle. I saw the castle from the ground, it seemed pointless to traverse the football length path and then climb up the 399 steps, to reach the ticket office of the castle. Taxi!! At the base is St. Martin’s Church, which had the largest chandelier that I have ever seen in a church. There are pictures in the photo blog. My first impression was that this church was decorated by a gay man. The murals were different, but I could not decide in what way. What did attract my notice were the organ pipes. The organ was gorgeous. If I were religious, I would have prayed to find an escalator or elevator outside to get to the castle. No such luck.

There was a footpath past private homes leading to the castle, so I thought it would have been impossible for a taxi to get up there regardless, so I started the walk. With the first 100 steps, I proclaimed “I am not doing this. I am NOT climbing all the way up this &*$% mountain to see another #$(* castle. By step 101, we had reached the first stairs, a series of 9, with a wide platform, before you make a sharp right turn to access the next set of stairs where there are maybe fifteen before the next platform and so on and so forth. As you can guess, but step 101, I was so out of breath, I could no longer protest anything, but this is when my stubborn Italian nature kicks in dueling with my lazy self. One side is saying “Relax at the restaurant and wait for Ron to come down. Look at his photos and you can say been there, done that.”  The stubborn side is saying “Just do this one set of steps. Don’t be a quitter. Your mother always called you a quitter, do you want to make her right after all?” 

By the time, I reached the ticket office, when I turned around; there to the left was a parking lot. A taxi could very well have made it up here. *^%$&%$! Oh, but that is not the end of the climb. To actually get to the castle, there are more steps, more inclines of cobbled paths. When you are seeking out a respirator, there is not much interest in history. The rooms were uh, rooms. There were fake people in some doing what presumably people of different eras would be doing, but what was the most magnificent was the view of the lake. Even more breathtaking was this little island on the lake where someone had built a church. It made for a photo opportunity for sure. Having spent so much time getting up this damn hill, we spent a goodly amount of time roaming around looking at the view. However, in the back of my mind, I had thoughts of the yuk-yak in the bookstore and knowing he needed me to adopt him. Just in case we didn’t make it back before they closed, I found an adorable owl hand puppet in the castle gift shop, so I bought him as a consolation prize just in case.

Now, one would think that the walk down would be so much easier than going up, but reality begs to differ. Traipsing on a steep declining cobble stoned path takes some agility and concentration not to slip and go tumbling down, doing a Jack and Jill goes down the hill impression. Calf muscles strain to maintain. Hmmm, calf reminds me of the yak. I really want that yak. We make it down without incident and return to the bus station with a thirty minute wait. A taxi driver offers to take us if he can get 7 total to fill his van, the cost only 7 Euros and a forty-five minute trip since there are no stops along the way. There are only 4 of us interested, no other takers.

As soon as we returned, we double checked our train tickets for tomorrow’s return home. The cheap fare is good on the Citadella train. We leave L-city at 8:50 am and arrive home by 6 pm. Track 7, all set. We headed for the outdoor market to get food for the train ride, but we are too late, all but one stand is already vacated and this one is 85% packed up. They still had fresh figs, which we don’t see in Budapest, so we bought some of those and some grapes. We also tried the milk machine and bought 2 dl of raw milk for 20 euro cents. It was cold and delicious.

Dropping the food off at the hotel, the bookstore was still open and the yuk was waiting patiently for me to come back to grab him from that shelf of despair. The young woman who was here this morning was no longer around. I had told the current clerks of my needing to return. They shared that the morning woman had been to Tibet and when she returned, found the yak for the store. Really, he could pass for Ferdinand the bull, but I guess if you were in Tibet, he would be a yak. Each time they said yuk, we would say yak. They would say, yes, yuk. They could not hear the differences. He is meant to be a doorstop, but is too cute to sit on the floor. He will have to find a place of honor.

There is something about vacationing brings out decadence. We would never think of ordering cocktails at home, but where we ate last night had a 2 for 1 offer on cocktails, so we headed over there for drinks. I ordered a Manhattan and Ron ordered a classic martini. We each received 2 of our orders immediately. My Manhattan was in a cocktail glass used for non-iced drinks, but was filled with crushed ice. Ron’s martini had a sugar coated rim, like you would salt a margarita. Ron’s drink tasted closer to what it was supposed to be than mine did, but really they were disappointing. We are still not sure we have had real cosmopolitans yet.

Ron had asked the saleswomen at the bookstore for a dinner recommendation off the beaten path. We followed up and went there for dinner. As we were walking, there was an American behind us speaking to his walking mate. He was telling the other person that he is a contractor with the US Defense Department for the 4th largest defense contractor they have. As he is continuing to brag, I am thinking if that were my job, I certain would not be sharing the information without caution on the streets. What he was saying about his organization was not about to bring in world peace and only continues to make the US look like a world hungry dictator want to be. At this restaurant, they don’t have menus; the offerings change daily and the wait staff provides the menu. Hence, you don’t know what you are paying until the bill, unless you do ask. We both had beef, Ron’s was with blueberries, mine was with a cream sauce. The beef was chewy, but the portions amble. Had the beef been tender, the portions would have been minimal. We sat outside due to the heat and it was indeed off of the beaten track. When the bill came, we were a bit overwhelmed. It came to close to 50 Euros, double last night’s dinner.

On the way back, we stopped to listen to music on the bridges, walked past where HAIR was being performed, so we could hear the music in ENGLISH, but the voices were not great. One last dessert and coffee and we were ready to go back to pack. And no church bells tonight.

Pin It Now!

Howl

Can anyone explain to me why supposedly grown men need to make Wooooo-wooooo-whooppie at 4am? Well, rather they started much earlier, but continued until 4am and some even later. Other than having a contest for bird imitations, it is beyond my scope of imagination. Yet, there were what seemed to be hundreds outside last night making these and other such noises from next behind our place.

We wandered down for breakfast still with eyelids sealed from lack of sleep, even a shower could not dissolve the sleep glue. Breakfast here is nice, with lunch meats, cereals, and a coffee machine that makes a variety of choices. Lovely! I hit the double espresso button multiple times. Beyond eating, we had plans to do the free walking tour, but with time to spare we went to investigate the source of our nocturnal dismay. 

You will see the 'compound' in the photos, but it looked like a ghost town taken over by wayward sculptors and artists who have very active graffiti friends. I have never seen anything like it, but it heralded as the best alternative place in the country. At night, ten different pubs open offering different brands of music.

We walked on our own waiting for the free walking tour to begin. It was supposed to be 2 hours, but went close to 3. There is something about Slovenians speaking English. They drop the prepositions. The guide said for example "I explain you what we are seeing here." There were multiple prepositions that were missing in the 3 hours. Now before someone excuses them by saying well in their language... I just need to say that when I studied French and later Spanish, if I used that excuse, the teacher reminded me I was learning a foreign language and needed to learn the rules of the language, not depend on my own. The group was large, so at times it was difficult to hear, but she still did a good job. It really bugged me at the paltry tips people gave at the end when that is what they work for.

By 4pm, it was nap time to try to rescue some of the rest that escaped us last night. Although it was quiet, it was hot. When we dragged ourselves up after 2 hours, we ventured to the castle here in the city called (duh) Ljubljanski grad, the Ljubljana Castle. Entrance for the castle itself is 9 Euros, but the lookout above is an additional 5. We were warned against it by our tour guide. There are two choices: walk up or take the funicular. The distance up is about 2 times that of Budapest Castle, so you darn well know we took the funicular and at 3 Euros round trip, it is a bargain compared to Budapest. The ride lasts quite a bit longer too. We were allowed to venture all throughout to see the different rooms, some reappointed with dummies to recreate a scene. At least I hope that guy hanging in the torture chamber was just a dummy, a fake one at that.

Our hostel offers all you can eat dinners for 4.90 Euros. Tonight was Bar-B-Que, translating in my mind to dripping with a sauce. Their interpretation was meat grilled on a grill, sans sauce. They had pork steaks and two different types of pork sausages. I had no complaints since pork it my favorite, but we did wonder about those with religious restrictions.

After dinner was over, they had live music. Ron found that the group came from 6 different countries as far as Scotland. They played violins,  french horn, guitars, and an accordian. They had an hour to practice playing together and then brought it all together. They were magnificent playing everything from some classical pieces to some hillbilly rock.  

Photos will be in the photo blog once we get home.

Pin It Now!

The Other L Word

The train ride was painless, not at all what I had anticipated. I don’t do well in confined spaces for very long, if I know I cannot escape from them. I had not even considered the lack of air conditioning, but of course the weather did not disappoint. It was in the 80s. Some train person had the foresight to open every window on the train. The cross breeze made it acceptable. We were in a cabin for six, but only one thirtyish-year-old man asked to join us. No one bothered to look at our tickets for the first two hours; by that time we were in Veszprém. An hour later, the man left us and we had six seats to ourselves.

We had cleaned out the fridge, taking food that would spoil with us for our meals. Loaded down with four sandwiches, extra cheese cut into thick chunks, two beers (they do spoil when unattended), a large bottle of water, three tangerines, and assorted other goodies, we looked like a catering service. What the conductor happened to walk by again, he looked in, said something like “Oh, you are Hungarian. Good appetite”, in Hungarian of course. 

During the trip, I finished the novel that I started when the train pulled out of Deli station: The Dressmaker, by Elizabeth Birkelund Oberbeck. I only brought one other book with me; I am thinking I should save that for the trip home otherwise I will chew on my foot out of boredom. There were plenty of catnaps in between reading, so it wasn’t all recreation. Sleeping on a train takes stamina holding your head in place. It’s not easy.

We arrived fifteen minutes late, in the other L word, again better than expectations. There were innumerable stops for ten to twenty minutes, but no passport control to hold us up.  We had no idea where to go to find our hostel once we arrived. We only had 2 ½ months to prepare for this, but that is a map thing. Everyone knows I don’t do maps, but Ron is Mr. Map. He fell by the wayside on this one. We walked 2 blocks in the wrong direction, before we asked for directions.

Once we were turned around, our hostel was a breeze to find. I have to say even in the dark, this city has more graffiti than Budapest ever thought possible and that is a real stretch. The hostel is a converted prison. Our room is an old cell, needless to say, there is only one window that opens on high, with bars on it, preventing any cross ventilation and is HOT. The temperature when we arrived was still in the mid-80s. More about the hostel later. It is time for a b and b = beer and bed.

For those not in the know, The L Word was a television show on cable TV.

Pin It Now!

Leaving on Railjet Train

We are leaving in an hour for Ljubljana, Slovenia by train. It will be a grueling 9 1/2 hours of travel for 3 days of tourism before boarding the train to return. Needless to say, there are no budget airlines and the train tickets were only 39 Euros a piece, so with a few good books packed, we are off.

I will have my trusty netbook with me to capture the day at the end of each and of course my camera. If there is WiFi, I will share as soon as possible.

If you don't understand the title of this post, click here.

TTFN all!

Pin It Now!