Shopping in Europe – particularly Slavic countries…

People who know me know that I like to grocery shop – not clothing shop because I go to the tentmaker for all my clothes. I do the lion’s share of grocery shopping for our family, largely, I think, because I like to eat and to cook. So, for our holiday in Eastern Europe I talked Pat into getting a car rather than relying on public trains and buses, in part because we both like the independence it gives us, but also because this allows me to shop for my own groceries. Or so I thought….

Measurements in Europe are in the metric system – duh – I knew that. Currency is in Euros (at least so far) – duh again. Putting together kilograms and $1.32 dollars to the Euro while at the same time reading ingredients, or better said, not reading them because half the letters have little marks over them, taxes this rapidly aging brain. So, I am becoming one of those strange old dudes standing with a package in his hand in the middle of the grocery aisle with a puzzled expression on his face.

Yesterday I stood in the market staring at what I thought was a package of bacon – and, btw, I love bacon. Asking fellow shoppers what I was getting didn’t get me anywhere other than polite and quizzical smiles. When I got back to the apartment we are staying in – one which having the car made possible - and opened the package to fry the bacon, there were bones in it…. Like rib bones…. What is up with that. So I started to taste it until I decided I needed to figure out if it were smoked or precooked or whatever so I wouldn’t die from eating it, and then I encountered the little accent marks on the packaging. So I cut off the bones, fried the slices, and found out I had bought a piece of ham. It ended up being good but it sure wasn’t what my taste buds were anticipating.

So far, buying cheese is a complete guess. Buying wine is pretty easy – it’s inexpensive enough that if you buy bad wine which we haven't encountered yet, you can just move on to the next bottle! And buying beer is its own reward.  We haven’t tried buying shampoo or conditioner yet – that adventure awaits us. In another entry, Pat will talk about doing laundry.

The adventure continues.

Our initial experiences in Ljubljana....

European clothes dryer

As Pat has said, we fled the damp and cold of Vienna with its delightful urban feel - especially the neighborhood where our hotel was located - and its plethora of Rococo buildings, art, and furniture -for the warmth and sunshine of Slovenia. We had planned on stopping in Graz for a night but the need to just plop (and do laundry) overcame us. Jean Reitan had suggested we contact her friend from Summit Country Ann Clement, who lives part time in Ljubljana, for advice. It turns out Ann was not scheduled to come to Slovenia until April but she did give us advice on where to stay. We followed her advice and booked the Apartment Ljubljana, a charming 1-bedroom place about a mile or so from the center(72 euro/night)  – on a bus line, (although we are walking it because the walk is easy and pretty along the river). We’re here for four days, leaving on Sunday for points south. We are next to two supermarkets and the wonderful Mango café where the staff was so helpful when we first arrived. The place comes with parking, internet and a washing machine (alas, air drying). It fit our needs to regroup just perfectly.

The dragon Bridge

The dragon

Willows are blossoming

We love the city and the country. People are so friendly and generous with our English only language abilities.... We went to the Slovenian Philharmonic in Marjan Kozina Hall last night where they premiered two Slovenian composers’ pieces and both composers were present. The second part of the program featured the full orchestra and the Slovenian Chamber Choir doing a Fran Gerbic symphony, The Hunter’s Symphony. When we went to reserve tickets we were told the concert was free. When we actually arrived, an usher sought us out (we must stand out so much that they remembered us, or more likely, they are just such courteous and thoughtful people) and told us about their mistake – tickets would be 12 Euro each. The woman we had talked to earlier actually had reserved two tickets on the main floor, row 8, and she gave us two CDs of the orchestra’s work as a gift. It was a magical night of unfamiliar music, a magnificent orchestra, and a beautiful setting including the walk home through peaceful and very safe Ljubljana.

So where else should we go in Slovenia? We are generally heading south to the Dalmatian coast but we are not in any hurry and we do have a car. We thought we would drive to Bled tomorrow but we are open to suggestions. It will be hard to beat sipping coffee and wine at a café in the 60+ degree sunny weather along the river, but we plan to see the castle and some of the other must-sees on the tourist map.

We're Back and Lots to Tell You March 9 to March 14

Braver folk than us venture out on a cantilevered platform

Pat venturing on the catwalk at the summit

Our "Hillary Steps"

What it looked like when we saw it...

Although we didn't mean to leave you hanging (literally), Don unintentionally left off without telling you about our ascent to the summit of Lomnicky Stit (peak) in the High Tatras. We took two cable cars to the top of the mountains; it was quite thrilling because it was so gray and foggy that we couldn't see but a few feet in front of us. When we got to the top, we took a walk on the observation deck and saw what we could. It was probably not the best day to do this, but when you are travelling and this is the day you set aside, then you just follow your plan and hope for the best. The sun did come out for a bit, so it wasn't quite so forbidding, and you'll see from the pictures that it was worthwhile and an experience we will long remember.

We left AquaCity in Poprad for Bratislavia on Saturday--about 350 kilometers in five hours. In spite of our trusty GPS, we went back and forth over the Danube three or four times trying to find our apartment hotel. At least we didn't have to pay a toll everytime we crossed the bridge! Don's persistence paid off, and we found the Mamaison and settled in for the next two nights Saturday and Sunday). The weather in Bratislava was overcast, and the city was quiet. National elections were held on Saturday which contributed to Sunday being a day of rest for city residents. The town was peaceful and not crowded by we had a nice dinner and took lots of pictures. My favorite is still the worker--a man coming out of a manhole cover on the street corner. Bratislava has quite a few of these whimsical sculptures.

On Monday March 12 we left Bratislava and stayed in the Hotel Senator on Hernaiser Haupstrasse in Vienna. They have a marvelous trolley system here which made staying 15 minutes away from the City "Zentrum" enjoyable. For ten euros each, we bought two-day passes that we could use on all of the buses and trolleys. We made it to the Schoenbrunn Palace in time to take the Grand Tour of the Imperial Apartments--about 40 rooms. Although it's a bit chilly, one of the benefits of off-season travel is that you beat the crowds. Don and I practically had the place to ourselves! The furnishings and decorations were lush and each room we went through was more fantastic than the one before it. We couldn't take pictures, so you will just have to come to Vienna and see for yourself!

Tuesday was spent walking around the city and experiencing what most travellers experience--getting lost! We took the trolley into the City Zentrum, and it took awhile to get our bearings. There was so much to see, and when you are on your own and not on a tour, you just have to figure it out and hope that you are seeing what you are supposed to see. Luckily, our hotel had a good tourist map, so we managed to see quite a bit of the city. The Stephansdom Church on Stephansplatz was impressive, and we took lots of pictures there as well as the Hofburg complex of buildings that includes the Imperial Palace and the Imperial Apartments and went through the courtyard.

Since it started to get cold, we strolled over to the Museum Area. Unfortunately, the Leopold Museum is closed on Tuesdays--Don and I were looking forward to seeing the Klimt exhibit--but we made lemonade out of lemons by going to the mumak (the modern art museum), and checking out the exhibit of Claes Oldenburg's work. Crazy stuff--like soft sculptures of telephones, toilets, and medicine cabinets--but we loved it and spent over three hours in this very modern steel and glass building. A nice dinner of weinerschnitzel, potato salad, and beer topped off by a walk past the Rathaus and other government buildings lit up in the night rounded off our successful Vienna day and got us back to the hotel early enough to prepare for our journey to Ljubljana, Slovenia on Wednesday.

Just got into Slovenia which is a beautifully hilly country on Wednesday afternoon. We'll post more tomorrow, and Don will put up some pictures. It's 11 p.m., and we're tired!

We decided to change the look of the blog not because we didn't like the look we had but because it can be hard to read reversed type on a dark background. We'll see how we like this look.

The thermal spring - next to the hotel 

One other comment about AquaCity, the resort in Poprad where we are staying. I've pasted in a picture of a thermal spring (probably the work of an intrepid PR dude; I can't imagine that it is really a spring like in Yellowstone) because this whole place runs on the energy of geothermal resources. Everyone here is very proud of how "green" AquaCity is - they even sponsor a automobile rally named "Carbon-neutral Rally!"

But the amount of energy used to warm millions of gallons of water, heat and air condition this place, etc. is  rather huge. I've learned that 90% of the energy used is from this geothermal source - a 59 degree Celsius lake 2500 meters underground - and the remaining 10% that currently comes from electricity is being replaced with solar.

The award plaque

Now this is all well and good for the environment, but the real benefit is that this low-cost energy source makes it possible to keep this whole place running during the parts of the year when many fewer guests are here. And the services that are directed toward the community of Poprad and the region surrounding Poprad like free swiming for area school children, make this a real benefit to the people of the region. The other health and wellness services (like the cryotheapy Pat talked about in a previous entry, etc.) available to the community at pretty affordable prices also improve the quality of life and give the area another source of pride. And, I am told, they are generally profitable.  This whole complex was dreamed up in 2003 and was opened in 2007. It is partially owned by the town and by an investor who combined his desire to build Slovak commerce and pride with his ardent respect for the planet and the future. It strikes me as an exemplar of when environmentalism and business goals meet with a community's foresighted desire to improve the quality of life for its citizens. Let's just hope it is not really corrupt and falling apart - but from what I have seen I really don't think so.

Looking up the cablecar track before we got on....

We'll save the lowdown on the cable car trip to Lomnicky Stit, the highest point in Slovakia, for our next post. But I'll put in one photograph just to wet your interest....

Pat and Marian on the Chata balcony

Marian at the Chata in Latky, SK

View from Chata balcony

Well, we are still learning how to compose with pictures in HTML so bear with us. Here are a few shots from our first night in Slovakia staying with Reni's folks at their beautiful vacation home in the mountains south of Bresno.


Next, we'll try to capture a sense of AquaCity in Poprad, a lovely town butting up against the High Tatra mountains. We drove about two hours to get here from Latky where Reni's parents own a retirement home. AquaCity is in one sense sort of like Clementon Park with its water attractions, but it is an inside and outside park with a luxury hotel and spectacular wellness and spa treatments, so it is so much more. The focus here on wellness and prevention, rather than fixing you after a major illness, is exhilarating. Today we concentrated on utilizing what was here in the resort. There is an olympic-size 50 meter pool as well as several other thermal pools-some of them outside which is a treat. A few of them have bars, so you can get a drink as you lounge (Don and I discovered Happy Hour exists over here as well and had a drink at one of the swim-up bars...). My favorite was the Vital Center where you could visit various rooms at your leisure. There were steam rooms and inhalation rooms as well as cold pools and an arctic cave--we even had a water walk that is supposed to make your feet and ankles feel better. In between treatments, you can relax on a hot stone bed that looks out over the High Tatra Mountains--not too shabby. Think of it as circuit training without the exertion.... There was a laser show tonight--think Disney World but with hundreds of people in the water in a huge pool with water turning different colors--and you would be somewhat close to our experience. Clearly, we are not in Kansas anymore!

Tonight, I also had my first cyrotherapy session. After donning scrubs and mittens and booties as well as a headband and nose cone, I went into a chamber for 30 seconds that was -60 degrees C, and then went into another chamber where the temperature was -130 degrees C for two minutes. Of course before going in, I was interviewed by a medical doctor who took my blood pressure and ascertained that I could take this treatment. When exiting, I rode on a stationery bike for ten minutes to spread the hormones throughout my body--at least that's what Don told me after he interviewed the doctor while I was the guinea pig. Those of you who know me know that I am not particularly adventurous, but I didn't even have time to think about it. We interviewed the doctor--who when I told him I was from Philadelphia immediately mentioned the Flyers--and said I was an adventurous Philadelphia girl--so I was honor-bound at that point to just suck it up and swallow my nervousness --which I did and it was a cool (in more ways than one) procedure. It's close to 11 p.m., and I'm writing this off the cuff, so I'm going to exit now. Don's going to post pictures of the hotel room--and we are going on two cable cars tomorrow afternoon that will give us the Tatra experience--we go to the summit.

View from our room's balcony

Notice the spa robes on the beds....

Chromotherapy just before the laser show

We've arrived...

Hi Everyone, Pat here.....

We arrived safely into Budapest, rented the car and drove three hours to Latky, Slovakia to the cottage of Reni’s parents. There is some snow on the mountaintops, but the roads are generally clear. We found the Royal Hotel in the mountains by using the Interational GPS Don bought before we left—best money spent so far! Reni’s Dad, Marian, met us there—and Reni’s Mom cooked us a wonderful dinner and breakfast. Had a wonderful night with Reni’s parents and brother Matteo before heading to Poprad. 

We are at the Aquacity Resort for the next three nights. They have internet access, so we should be able to get our blog cooking. Still feeling like fish out of water, but then that’s part of the experience. We wanted to imitate what it would be like for others to fly to Europe and come here when they are jetlagged—and we’re doing it.  We’ll be posting on the blog and including pictures, but we wanted you to know that we landed safely; Reni’s mother gave me an angel, so I am putting it in the car to protect us—tell Mom that Eileen!

We figured we’d go for a swim and visit the spa and have an early dinner and start tomorrow—although we are already asking lots of questions.

As many of you know, Pat and I are off on an excellent European adventure this spring. I wanted to give you our departure and return dates along with some idea of our itinerary.

Our trip commences on March 5 when we leave Philly for Budapest, arriving on March 6 where we will pick up our rental car. We will be traveling around central and eastern Europe for the next 5 1/2 weeks. Currently we plan on starting in Slovakia for a few days, visiting Vienna, Graz, Ljubljana, and heading down the Croatian coast to Dubrovnik with a side trip to Sarajevo. Then, we swing into Albania and visit Tirana before heading east into Macedonia, Bulgaria, and the Black Sea (said with a strong Turkish accent) and then going north to Romania (and Dracula) and west again back to Budapest. This is all tentative. Since we are independent and have our own wheels, we could keep going south to Greece or never go south at all and visit Italy or even Scandinavia….

In any case, we leave Budapest on April 12 and fly to Malta for a "vacation from our vacation." If the snowy weather we've all heard about persists in Eastern Europe, then the sun of the Mediterranean will be pretty welcome. We fly back to Budapest on April 23 to begin the third phase of our adventure – Slovakia.

Actually, the Slovakia leg is the genesis of our focus on Eastern Europe. Ever since our visit for Dan and Renie's wedding in 1999, we have been wanting to return. An assignment from Dan's English language newspaper, the Spectator, to visit wellness/spa facilities across Slovakia and write about our experiences as English-speaking more mature travelers, makes this possible. We'll be rockin' and rollin' across the Slovak countryside getting massages and playing a little golf. Not too shabby. Of course, then there is the writing part…. And, I'll be missing the first two months of the Phillies season.

Follow us on our blog (you can signup on the Blog to get email notices of when we make a posting) and on twitter (I sound like every talk show on TV) and, if you find yourself in Europe somewhere where our paths will cross this spring, get in touch. We'll be monitoring our email pretty closely. And, applications to carry our bags will be gratefully appreciated….