It’s a struggle to identify a unifying theme of the day today. Ups and downs, as well as lefts and rights, probably is the best I can do. We made a wrong turn trying to get to the Plečnik cemetery, we got completely lost looking for the old town and the beekeeping museum in the…
When we were driving via a twisty back road up and over the mountains to Bohinj this morning, Troy said she imagined I would describe the view in eloquent, dignified, refined language. Whereas she would just say “It was a fucking gorgeous drive.”
My circadian rhythms must have been all akimbo, because I simply could not sleep for most of the night last night. After I finished yesterday’s post, I quickly conked out. When I woke up, I was wide awake, but it was still dark. It turned out it was 12:30. And no matter what I did,…
If I remembered how awful it is to sit in an airplane for 9+ hours, I would start having second thoughts about my love of travel. But here I am in Ljubljana, seeing the stuff I’ve been looking at pictures of, only it’s real! And it’s charming.
i’m ready. There are still two hours before I leave for the airport, but I’m all packed and ready to go. The big pile has been squeezed into my Rick Steves convertible carry-on and my souvenir bag from being a Jeopardy! contestant. Combined weight is 28 pounds, which is more than I’d like to be carrying,…
I’m feeling anxious. I’ve had generalized anxiety before, nothing severe, but I’m feeling specifically anxious about this trip. I’ve got a nervous feeling in my gut and I’m not sleeping well, waking up in the middle of the night or much too early in the morning. I’m not sure what I’m anxious about, though there…
Hard to believe, but it’s just one week until I leave on my trip. I started packing last night. Well, not really. I made a pile on my floor of some stuff that’s coming with me (including some stuff that most likely won’t make the final cut when I actually do start packing). The pile will…
I love shopping on vacation. It’s not about buying souvenirs. In fact it’s not necessarily about buying anything (though I often do spend my American dollars abroad). Shopping on vacation is about seeing how locals shop, and how the things they buy and the way they buy them are similar to or different from how…
There’s only one artist from the countries I’ll be visiting that I’ve ever heard of: Ivan Meštrović. But I only just figured out why I’ve heard of him. For a while Meštrović taught at Syracuse University, where I (much later) went to college. And a number of his sculptures are displayed on the SU campus.…
Just as two years ago I struggled for the right term to describe Denmark, Sweden, Estonia, Finland, and Iceland (I settled on “Nordic,” but that wasn’t really right), there isn’t a good term that describes the places I’m visiting on this trip. I use “Balkan” reluctantly, and I acknowledge that it’s not technically accurate, but…
With essentially three full days in Dubrovnik, I will definitely spend one of them on an all-day excursion to the Bay of Kotor in Montenegro. I’ve already written about that. There are a couple of other options for day trips out of Dubrovnik that won’t require a full day. Cavtat Cavtat (pronounced ‘tsav-tat’) is a small town just…
Regardless of whether you are visiting Dubrovnik for the first time or the hundredth, the sense of awe and beauty when you set eyes on the Stradun never fades. Indeed it’s hard to imagine anyone becoming jaded by the city’s marble streets, baroque buildings and the endless shimmer of the Adriatic, or failing to be…