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summertime
it’s past the halfway point of my favorite month of the year. (okay, actually that’s december but this takes a close second) that means it’s time to step back and think about how i best want to enjoy my summer. really, i want things to sloooooowww down a little bit, but between hanging out with czech kids for ten hours a day every day for three weeks (i’ve just finished week two!) it’s kind of hard for that to happen. on one hand, it’s inspirational since kids are all about just enjoying a simple moment. on the other hand, i often come home exhausted, but doing something simple like eating…
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lake bled
dober dan! i can’t believe i haven’t told you about the rest of my full week in slovenia yet. i spent four nights in ljubljana soaking in all of those good vibes and day tripping to a sweet cave and a fantastic little town on the adriatic sea. but it was time for (what i thought was going to be) some lake-side relaxation. for that, we headed north on a easy seventy minute bus ride to bled, slovenia.bled, bled, bled. i had heard so much about you… maybe too much! we arrived in early afternoon and pitched our tent at the campground. yeah, there’s likely only one campground. even if…
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lost in vary
we interrupt this slovenia post barrage to bring you dispatches from the 49th annual karlovy vary international film festival in beautiful karlovy vary, czech republic. today is the final day of this year’s fabulous festival, and i felt like talking about it. so here we go. after figuring out how things are done last year, alex and i came in ready to conquer the festival. we got in the secret “good line” at the box office an hour early and were first to get our tickets! we definitely learned that the key to film festival success is GET THERE EARLY, and we aced it so hard. this year, we spent…
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to guidebook or not to guidebook
for the vast majority of the ten years i’ve been traveling europe, i’ve been an absolute rick steves fan. scratch that, disciple. on my very first europe trip, which took place in august 2004, i and a couple friends went through a local travel agency. and why not? it wasn’t very common at the time to plan your own trips and i was pretty green to the whole backpacking thing. she turned me on to the books of the local (washington state) hero and fellow UW alum, rick steves, and for many years i followed his itineraries absolutely by the book. on some trips, if rick (yeah, i feel comfortable…
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day at the adriatic
the continuing saga of my week long trip to western slovenia continues with a day trip to the adriatic coast– a town called piran to be exact. what’s that? you didn’t think slovenia had a coastline? au contraire, mes amis. check this out……… not only is there a little stretch of coastline smushed between italy and croatia (27 miles of it, or 43km), but it is on the adriatic, my friends. i’d never been to this particular part of the mediterranean before. and damned if i was going to be two hours away from it in ljubljana without making a day trip out of it. so i spent a whole…
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škocjan caves
when visiting slovenia, you will certainly find out that visiting one of the huge karst caves in the western region of the country is the most popular attraction near ljubljana. i’m sure there’s more than two, but the two biggies are postojna (post-oy-na) cave and škocjan (skoe-tsian) cave. they’re both huge, as in, some of the largest caves in europe. they’re both firmly on the tourist trail. but upon duly doing my research as i am want to do, i discovered that postojna is definitely the most popular choice and therefore, much more crowded. it’s a bit larger than škocjan, more well-lit, and you tour by riding in a train…
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ljubljana
in slovene, “ljub” is a root word that means love. which is perfectly fitting for the capital of slovenia (as the tourism slogans are branding it these days), a small city that is easy to love. it was a wonderful place to land on a first visit to slovenia. everyone is relatively friendly and helpful, speaks near perfect english, are excited about sharing the best their country with you. it’s easy to make comparisons to other cities, like prague, vienna, or even perhaps venice near the waterfront. it felt like a welcome strangeness to see famiiar slavic words written all over, but a much more mediterranean feeling to the actual…
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czech reads
one of my favorite things to do when in another country is to voraciously read the best literature of that place. it really puts you better in touch with not only the culture and history, but you can bet every czech has also read those books so it gives you something to talk about. here are some of my favorite czech reads over the last year… hrabal is a super eccentric and beloved twentieth century author who often writes about life in prague during the communist era. published in 1976 but not officially until 1989 due to censorship, we learn about the story of an old drunk working as a…
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how i travel: apartment rentals
i’ll be the first to admit that i love a good hotel stay. nothing makes me feel more pampered then cozying up in a fluffy white robe and ordering some room service. but being young, generally underemployed, and and on a budget, this isn’t economical nor does it make much sense. for the past eight years i’ve mostly stayed in hostels, sometimes pensions or bed and breakfasts… but in the past couple of years, coinciding with my switch to becoming a slow traveler, renting an apartment (or a private bedroom in a shared apartment) has become absolutely the top option. although a hostel or hotel makes more sense for a…
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june noms
ah yes, the time of the month i like to talk about food is here. june has been so inspirational to me in terms of cooking. perhaps it’s all the fresh produce available… or the retrograde in mercury… or the warm weather! whatever the reason, i’ve finally had a healthy dose of inspiration to make a bunch of fun recipes. all of them were alex tested and approved, and he put up with all this food photography. what a guy. mushroom & caramelized onion risotto: a healthy favorite of mine made with the two vegetables alex formerly disliked. i used no butter and only a tiny amount of milk to make…
