Fri 23.Apr.2010
Ptuj, Slovenia
Around Town
![default title default alt text](pix/2010/p4201707.jpg)
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.
![default title default alt text](pix/2010/p4201710.jpg)
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.
![default title default alt text](pix/2010/p4201714.jpg)
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
![default title default alt text](pix/2010/p4211717.jpg)
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.
![default title default alt text](pix/2010/p4211723.jpg)
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.
![default title default alt text](pix/2010/p4211727.jpg)
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.
![default title default alt text](pix/2010/p4211739.jpg)
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!
Contents Copyright 2012 Jeff Bulf