๐ธ๐ฎ On the road again
Weekend vibes
Chacha's got the weekend vibes (not that she actually knows it's the weekend)....
A rainy night toast
The view from the top of Ljubljana's ฤopova Street towards Preลกeren Square, which is named for the early 19th century poet France Preลกeren, who posthumously lends his name to various squares, streets, cultural centres and awards in the country.
The 7th stanza of his poem 'Zdravljica' ('The Toast') is the country's national anthem, and it's also stylistically embedded in handwritten gold lettering into the street here.
Not the best weather for wandering around outside tonight, but it did at least make for some nice photos....
If anyone was curious, here's what's written on the street translated into English:
"God's blessing on all nations
Who long and work for that bright day
When o'er earth's habitations
No war, no strife shall hold its sway
Who long to see
That all men free
No more shall foes, but neighbours be!
Who long to see
That all men free
No more shall foes, but neighbours,
No more shall foes, but neighbours be!"
Cobblestone Porn
This narrow alleyway connecting Mestni trg and Ribji trg has always been one of my favourite 'hidden' corners of Ljubljana's old town....
Disaster movie storm watch
Summer in Ljubljana. It's all the rain that keeps it so green and pretty....
Thinkersโ Corner
The Slavoj ลฝiลพek mural in Ljubljana's Metelkova alternative arts district has been replaced by Hannah Arendt, which seems appropriate given where the world is headed....
The same spot last year:
Chemtrails Appreciation Society
The Ljubljana branch of the Chemtrails Appreciation Society must have gone to Defcon 1 the other day when they saw this in the afternoon sky....
FeKK with a twist of irony
This free open-air short film festival started with a film about Greek olive farmers dealing with drought and fires, which made it all the more ironic when rain came about 20 minutes into the screening and cancelled the rest of the evening's slate....
Das Ist Valter
Another meaty Balkan lunch. This one wasn't as good as the one posted a few days ago, but the place is cool. It's a popular chain named for an early 1970s Yugoslav film ('Walter Defends Sarajevo'), which plays on continuous loop at all of their locations. One day I'll have to try and time the meal with the beginning of the movie....
Golden Years
A monument to the one and only Napoleon Bonaparte. Located on Ljubljana's French Revolution Square, it commemorates the short-lived Illyrian Provinces that lasted from 1809 till 1814, and in some circles* around here are still fondly remembered as the 'Golden Years'....
*These circles mainly being the tongue-in-cheek messages I send to a few French friends who used to live in Ljubljana.
All packed and ready to go
Chacha doesn't travel much, but she does frequently check to make sure that her go bag is ready just in case. Can't be too well prepared these days!
Bumper harvest
When it's zucchini season, and your friend's weekend house in the countryside is having a bumper harvest....
A little piece of dystopia in the heart of Ljubljana's old town ๐ฅฐ
Ljubljana's central market was just about the last place I would have expected to find one of these dystopian Amazon-style automated shops, where you scan your card when you enter and cameras keep track of what you take. It was depressing enough seeing these in Seattle earlier this summer....
Waiting for the airport shuttle
Arriving at the train station at 4am sharp is a pretty good sign that it's going to be a long day of travelling....
Dragon Ball G(reen)
Who needs Mozartkugeln when Slovenia's got Dragon balls? And only โฌ22 for eight of them, or just over โฌ150 per kilo? What a steal!
BioSinging all the way to the fucking bank
If โฌ22 Dragon balls aren't your thing, perhaps you'd be interested In a small 'bear' salami, which is only โฌ50 or a nice round โฌ333 per kilo. Ah, and it's also 60% pork and only 25% bear.
I don't know WTF is going on at Ljubljana's once quaint and reasonably priced airport, but I don't like it....
NB: Actually that's a lie, I do know what's going on. Germans bought the airport, and immediately jacked the prices up. And then the whole world went crazy after western govts printed trillions of dollars out of thin air a few years ago and hoped no one would notice that everything changed.
But even so, โฌ333 per kilo for bear salami (that's actually pork salami) in Slovenia still feels like a proverbial bridge too far.
Cloud Appreciation Society
Flying never gets old, and even if you're cheap, a window seat is almost always worth paying extra for...
Welcome to Frankfurt! ๐ฉ๐ช ๐ฉ๐ช ๐ฉ๐ช
It feels like peak German civil engineering in 2025 to have a traffic jam for the airport buses that take passengers from planes to the terminal. Don't think I've ever seen that before.
But this wasn't as bad as the long moving walkway that connects the two main terminals only being accessible at either end by two small elevators or five flights of stairs. Truly mind bogglingly poor planning....
NB: In addition to operating one of the most shameful airports in Europe, Fraport are also the alluded to Germans who are slanging that โฌ333/kg bear salami (that's actually pork salami) at Slovenia's only international airport.
Guten appetit!
One positive thing I can say about Frankfurt airport is that after seeing prices at Ljubljana airport (also owned and operated by Fraport as mentioned above) earlier in the morning, paying only โฌ5.20 for this slice of breakfast pizza legitimately seemed like a good deal.
It also goes to show that the behavioural economics concept of anchoring really works - with a hat tip to that convenience store in Reykjavรญk, where I paid almost double that amount for a 3am slice last month.
Oh, the places you'll go!
Not sure I'd want to fly on such an unserious looking aircraft, but I was digging Condor's candy cane plane from my window seat next door.
Very Dr Suess. Really brightened up the otherwise dreary surroundings. And presumably destined for the North Pole....
Greetings Moldova! ๐ฒ๐ฉ ๐ฒ๐ฉ ๐ฒ๐ฉ
Chiศinฤu's quaint airport
Chiศinฤu's airport is as efficient as it is quaint. You can go from taxiing to 'sightseeing' in the parking lot in under 10 minutes - or at least that's what I did yesterday....
Finally getting somewhere
All right, now we're finally getting somewhere....