more on ljubljana
ljubljana is a most interesting and unusual place - most especially for the tourist
after spending the last two weeks in towns like vienna and prague that are 100% tourist friendly (and sometimes, it seems, orientated), our expectations of ljubljana were very different to the reality we experienced. upon arrival at the station one is impressed with every indication of tourism: english signs, english speakers etc. but if you walk through the town - aside from the castle and the odd "information centre" - the telltale features of the tourism industry barely show their nobly little heads. must note that learnt something new about myself in ljublijana: i had never thought i'd be unhappy that there wasn't a souvenier shop... my plan to collect a small flag-sticker from each destination has been totally thwarted - at first by my inability to remember to collect smal flags, and then by the inability for a local entrepreneur to sell terrible kitch items to tourists. forced myself to get over this and after sleeping the afternoon away in the park, we strolled down the riverside central area of the city past bar after bar full to the brim with locals. no rowdy drunken englishmen (though we were to meet some of these on the train later in the evening) and no loud italians (whom we are amongst as i type! in a good way of course...)
it was interesting to talk to some local kids on the train out of slovenia who were suprised that we couldn't find hostel accomodation, but then noted that this year was a big boom in backpacker tourism for ljibuljana. not sure if it is a good thing but there is no stopping it, practically every kid i met with a backpack was travelling a very similar route to us, and ljibuljana is definitely worth it.
found a great place in the twighlight that was hosting an outdoor stage upon which a slovenian-french-jazz-gypsy band played odd tunes and cute melodies. this was followed by a fashion show, put on for a local t-shirt designer and modelled by a crew of ljibljanians that included two limping bikies. a supermarket meal and a couple of takeaway slices of pizza later and we were sitting in the guardarobe at the trainstation at 12am with 3 hours to kill. met a couple of german scout leaders who had just packed their troop off to sleep by the railway until the morning. ventured back into town to share a couple of beers to pass away the remaining hours in fine style amongst hanging skeletons and gravestones in an unusually themed underground bar. the owners went to the extent of hiding their bathroom behind a secret "library" bookshelf door... quite amusing and i'm sure frustrating for the inebriated and busting.
we are now amongst the family in parma - the overnight death train from ljubljana required 3 changes and allowed no time for sleep. but we have slept deeply here and after a lovely day in bologne and ferrara yesterday we will tour the parma countryside this afternoon. we saw my little cousin (well technically it is a second cousin... or is it a first cousin once removed. a cousin is a cousin in italy so i shouldn't really worry) perform in a play in ferrara which was part of a fundraiser for a school. she was an incredibly cute fairy in a suprisingly profesional production; most of the other players were adults and the cast included an acrobat who played with david-bowie-labryinth style crystal balls while hanging upsidown. quite cool.
must say it's great to be amongst family and in our state of comfortable relaxation i have realised that i am indeed quite tired. several meals at anna maria's house will fix this, but we almost missed one last night due to an unplanned tour of some sorbelo country roads: some of which were new even to our driver and navigator stefano & lily, my cousins once removed (or something) who have lived here their whole life.
may have to edit this post later today, we're keeping everyone waiting (the royal we that is)
after spending the last two weeks in towns like vienna and prague that are 100% tourist friendly (and sometimes, it seems, orientated), our expectations of ljubljana were very different to the reality we experienced. upon arrival at the station one is impressed with every indication of tourism: english signs, english speakers etc. but if you walk through the town - aside from the castle and the odd "information centre" - the telltale features of the tourism industry barely show their nobly little heads. must note that learnt something new about myself in ljublijana: i had never thought i'd be unhappy that there wasn't a souvenier shop... my plan to collect a small flag-sticker from each destination has been totally thwarted - at first by my inability to remember to collect smal flags, and then by the inability for a local entrepreneur to sell terrible kitch items to tourists. forced myself to get over this and after sleeping the afternoon away in the park, we strolled down the riverside central area of the city past bar after bar full to the brim with locals. no rowdy drunken englishmen (though we were to meet some of these on the train later in the evening) and no loud italians (whom we are amongst as i type! in a good way of course...)
it was interesting to talk to some local kids on the train out of slovenia who were suprised that we couldn't find hostel accomodation, but then noted that this year was a big boom in backpacker tourism for ljibuljana. not sure if it is a good thing but there is no stopping it, practically every kid i met with a backpack was travelling a very similar route to us, and ljibuljana is definitely worth it.
found a great place in the twighlight that was hosting an outdoor stage upon which a slovenian-french-jazz-gypsy band played odd tunes and cute melodies. this was followed by a fashion show, put on for a local t-shirt designer and modelled by a crew of ljibljanians that included two limping bikies. a supermarket meal and a couple of takeaway slices of pizza later and we were sitting in the guardarobe at the trainstation at 12am with 3 hours to kill. met a couple of german scout leaders who had just packed their troop off to sleep by the railway until the morning. ventured back into town to share a couple of beers to pass away the remaining hours in fine style amongst hanging skeletons and gravestones in an unusually themed underground bar. the owners went to the extent of hiding their bathroom behind a secret "library" bookshelf door... quite amusing and i'm sure frustrating for the inebriated and busting.
we are now amongst the family in parma - the overnight death train from ljubljana required 3 changes and allowed no time for sleep. but we have slept deeply here and after a lovely day in bologne and ferrara yesterday we will tour the parma countryside this afternoon. we saw my little cousin (well technically it is a second cousin... or is it a first cousin once removed. a cousin is a cousin in italy so i shouldn't really worry) perform in a play in ferrara which was part of a fundraiser for a school. she was an incredibly cute fairy in a suprisingly profesional production; most of the other players were adults and the cast included an acrobat who played with david-bowie-labryinth style crystal balls while hanging upsidown. quite cool.
must say it's great to be amongst family and in our state of comfortable relaxation i have realised that i am indeed quite tired. several meals at anna maria's house will fix this, but we almost missed one last night due to an unplanned tour of some sorbelo country roads: some of which were new even to our driver and navigator stefano & lily, my cousins once removed (or something) who have lived here their whole life.
may have to edit this post later today, we're keeping everyone waiting (the royal we that is)
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