Fri 23.Apr.2010
Ptuj, Slovenia
Around Town
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Still here in Ptuj, Slovenija, where there is littlle to say that isn't said better by the pictures themselves. I could still wish for some brilliant sharp sun for photography, but Spring is the Season of Mists to one degree or another, so ya takes what ya gets.

And what ya gets isn't bad, at least in person.

A small joy: Slovenian ice cream (sladoled to the locals) is as good as Italian. Arguably even better, because you get to eat it in Slovenia.
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There is a big outdoor market today. All the streets of the old town pedestrian zone are lined with stalls selling everything from genuine local produce and handcrafts to standard fake designer luggage and watches.

Socks, brooms, and wicker baskets are big items in the sense that there are lots of stalls selling them.
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As in Slovakia, it is all but impossible to find a Slovene language phrasebook for foreigners. The nearest I have ever found here is an English phrasebook for Slovenes. Just bought it again this week.

Perhaps - as with Slovakia - I'll find a phrasebook for German-speakers in Vienna. (I suspect you can find anything in Vienna if you know where to look) but I don't expect to be there until after Jeremy's wedding celebration in Merrie Englande in June.

And Back Home at the Ranch
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Among my hosts is a big and old dog, some kind of chunky short-haired shepherd, reddish and black hair. He is too old and mellow to be a very fearsome watchdog. He barks at everybody, but took very little persuasion to come over for me to scratch him behind the ears.

Still, the pooch is big enough that i am glad we are friends.
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Also at the house is a man about my age who was born and raised here, but spent most of his working life in Stuttgart! Speaks little or no English, but we babbled away together in German for a good hour over breakfast.

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Down in the foreground, in front of that row of houses, you can glimpse the river Drava (Drau upstream in Austria), and the local water slide park. Everybody calls this the spa, and I gather it has an indoor portion, presumablly with baths and hot springs.)

The weather is not yet appropriate for the water slides. The river is a year-round phenomenon.

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I still haven't visited the castle. My breakfast companion this morning - the German-speaker - tells me that it is a must-do. What the hey, it is right here. I need to circumnavigate that hill on one side or the other to get into the center from "home".

That is it for now. time to order another "white coffee" (bela kava - a tall mug of coffee, milk and whipped cream, standard all over Slovenija) and get this page uploaded.

Na svidenje!


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