Hello,
Arrived in Slovenia in early May after a bumpy flight on the Singapore - Frankfurt leg. I have never experienced such turbulence for such a protracted time. Weather here so far has been mixed - about 20 and sunny most of the time but with occasional rain - especially in the afternoons. Have already visited Italy with my mother, going on the ferry from Piran to Venice, then train to Rome and then on the way back here by train stayed in Florence for one night. Florence was my favourite place -the buildings are incredible - I recommend it to anyone visiting Italy.
Anyway some observations to date...
Flights to Slovenia
The entertainment always begins at check in at Melbourne. A first was a hula hoop checked in as oversized luggage. Then there was dumb and dumber sorting through their baggage at check in trying to work out what could go as carry on and what as checked in luggage. But that's alright - the people waiting to get checked in had plenty of time as we had already been waiting for an hour.
The flights were fairly uneventful apart from the person sitting next to me either being very thirsty and hungry or just wanting to get the most value out of her airfare. When drinks came round she asked for an orange juice then before the steward could get to the next row of seats she scoffed that down and asked for a coke. At another meal time she had finished her meal and she was obviously eyeing mine off as she asked me whether I was going to eat my salad. I let her have it as obviously she was on the point of collapse and I didn't want it anyway.
At passport control in Frankfurt I showed my Slovenian passport and was allowed straight through but my mother, who was born in Slovenia but had an Australian passport, was interrogated as to where she was going, for how long and for what purpose.
Apartment Sagas
Yes - they continue. First the lock on the bathroom got stuck and I couldn't get in. A neighbour came to the rescue and managed to unstick it. Lucky no one was inside. Then when we came back from Italy the water was cut off because a bill was not paid through direct debit from my bank account. But it gets more complicated than that but I will spare you the details! Suffice to say we got the water back the following day and another neighbour helped to get that sorted out. I am really lucky with the people living in the same building (there are only 5 apartments) they have been really friendly and, out of their way, helpful.
Trip to Italy
Boarding the Venice ferry at Piran there were some people that got their just deserts - they pushed to the start of the line only to learn they couldn't board because they didn't check in and get their boarding pass. They clearly can't read the instructions on their tickets either.
While waiting to buy lunch in Venice I saw a person came up and try to buy an iceacream in Italian. Unfortunately, his vocabulary was limited to numbers only; "uno chocolate icrecream" did not quite cut it. Luckily the shop assistant had a better command of English than he did of Italian.
Venice was very busy with many tour groups. According to the information sheet in our Venice hotel the time of silence was from 1-3pm and 11pm-8am. They take siesta time there seriously.
Rome was chaotic. The Romans don't believe traffic lights are necessary no matter the amount of traffic or the number of streets converging at one point. Apparently pumping the car horn is the most effective traffic management strategy there. Scooter riders are crazier than the car drivers: zigging and zagging through traffic, cutting across cars and ignoring the few traffic lights and signs that there are. While car drivers' preferred hobby is to play chicken with pedestrians trying to cross at crossings (the key is to cross in groups or with someone in a uniform). Rome's traffic is just as chaotic as Kathmandu's except that they are much more aggressive than in Nepal. Our guide to the Vatican said that Rome is not Italy and thank goodness for that. But the driving in Florence was also aggressive except they didn't use the car horn as much and the centre of Florence is pretty much a car free zone anyway, so you don't need to undertake any risky maneuvers like crossing a street.
Anyway, back to Rome...the hotel in Rome had beds like ironing boards: narrow and hard. But he ancient buildings were spectacular, particularly the Colosseum. And on the tour of the Vatican it was obvious where all the money had gone. The Vatican Musuem seem to to have acquired a lot of non-Christian stuff.
Florence as I mentioned was spectacular - although I had the biggest but most expensive icecream I have ever had there; it cost about A$9.
Italian TV
There are not many countries where you would have a TV program on people watching soccer games. But that's what some stations do that don't have the TV rights to the games; they have commentators in a studio watching the games, advising and reacting to goals being scored and analysing them. And it's probably only the Italians that could make this more entertaining than some of the games themselves.
Another characteristic of Italian TV is that male presenters need to be either bald and short or have the demeanour of a used car salesman (or preferably both) whereas women presenters need to look like supermodels.
Italian Trains
The trains in Italy were great. Down to Rome at times the train got to just under 250km/h and it was generally a smooth ride. A far cry from the Albury train!
Saw some interesting passengers along the way. Including the Chinese yuppy family eating salads and on their phones (not much interest in the scenery) or alteratively sleepiing and for added comfort threy had ther pink bear fan to keep them cool - and that was al on a 1.5 hour trip. Then there was the Ametrican that I had to turf out of my reserved seat on the trip from Florence. He asked whether I was sure it was my seat. Obviously surer than he was as he wondered off into another carriage.
Now for some pictures from the Piran-Venice leg of the trip, more to follow....
Arrived in Slovenia in early May after a bumpy flight on the Singapore - Frankfurt leg. I have never experienced such turbulence for such a protracted time. Weather here so far has been mixed - about 20 and sunny most of the time but with occasional rain - especially in the afternoons. Have already visited Italy with my mother, going on the ferry from Piran to Venice, then train to Rome and then on the way back here by train stayed in Florence for one night. Florence was my favourite place -the buildings are incredible - I recommend it to anyone visiting Italy.
Anyway some observations to date...
Flights to Slovenia
The entertainment always begins at check in at Melbourne. A first was a hula hoop checked in as oversized luggage. Then there was dumb and dumber sorting through their baggage at check in trying to work out what could go as carry on and what as checked in luggage. But that's alright - the people waiting to get checked in had plenty of time as we had already been waiting for an hour.
The flights were fairly uneventful apart from the person sitting next to me either being very thirsty and hungry or just wanting to get the most value out of her airfare. When drinks came round she asked for an orange juice then before the steward could get to the next row of seats she scoffed that down and asked for a coke. At another meal time she had finished her meal and she was obviously eyeing mine off as she asked me whether I was going to eat my salad. I let her have it as obviously she was on the point of collapse and I didn't want it anyway.
At passport control in Frankfurt I showed my Slovenian passport and was allowed straight through but my mother, who was born in Slovenia but had an Australian passport, was interrogated as to where she was going, for how long and for what purpose.
Apartment Sagas
Yes - they continue. First the lock on the bathroom got stuck and I couldn't get in. A neighbour came to the rescue and managed to unstick it. Lucky no one was inside. Then when we came back from Italy the water was cut off because a bill was not paid through direct debit from my bank account. But it gets more complicated than that but I will spare you the details! Suffice to say we got the water back the following day and another neighbour helped to get that sorted out. I am really lucky with the people living in the same building (there are only 5 apartments) they have been really friendly and, out of their way, helpful.
Trip to Italy
Boarding the Venice ferry at Piran there were some people that got their just deserts - they pushed to the start of the line only to learn they couldn't board because they didn't check in and get their boarding pass. They clearly can't read the instructions on their tickets either.
While waiting to buy lunch in Venice I saw a person came up and try to buy an iceacream in Italian. Unfortunately, his vocabulary was limited to numbers only; "uno chocolate icrecream" did not quite cut it. Luckily the shop assistant had a better command of English than he did of Italian.
Venice was very busy with many tour groups. According to the information sheet in our Venice hotel the time of silence was from 1-3pm and 11pm-8am. They take siesta time there seriously.
Rome was chaotic. The Romans don't believe traffic lights are necessary no matter the amount of traffic or the number of streets converging at one point. Apparently pumping the car horn is the most effective traffic management strategy there. Scooter riders are crazier than the car drivers: zigging and zagging through traffic, cutting across cars and ignoring the few traffic lights and signs that there are. While car drivers' preferred hobby is to play chicken with pedestrians trying to cross at crossings (the key is to cross in groups or with someone in a uniform). Rome's traffic is just as chaotic as Kathmandu's except that they are much more aggressive than in Nepal. Our guide to the Vatican said that Rome is not Italy and thank goodness for that. But the driving in Florence was also aggressive except they didn't use the car horn as much and the centre of Florence is pretty much a car free zone anyway, so you don't need to undertake any risky maneuvers like crossing a street.
Anyway, back to Rome...the hotel in Rome had beds like ironing boards: narrow and hard. But he ancient buildings were spectacular, particularly the Colosseum. And on the tour of the Vatican it was obvious where all the money had gone. The Vatican Musuem seem to to have acquired a lot of non-Christian stuff.
Florence as I mentioned was spectacular - although I had the biggest but most expensive icecream I have ever had there; it cost about A$9.
Italian TV
There are not many countries where you would have a TV program on people watching soccer games. But that's what some stations do that don't have the TV rights to the games; they have commentators in a studio watching the games, advising and reacting to goals being scored and analysing them. And it's probably only the Italians that could make this more entertaining than some of the games themselves.
Another characteristic of Italian TV is that male presenters need to be either bald and short or have the demeanour of a used car salesman (or preferably both) whereas women presenters need to look like supermodels.
Italian Trains
The trains in Italy were great. Down to Rome at times the train got to just under 250km/h and it was generally a smooth ride. A far cry from the Albury train!
Saw some interesting passengers along the way. Including the Chinese yuppy family eating salads and on their phones (not much interest in the scenery) or alteratively sleepiing and for added comfort threy had ther pink bear fan to keep them cool - and that was al on a 1.5 hour trip. Then there was the Ametrican that I had to turf out of my reserved seat on the trip from Florence. He asked whether I was sure it was my seat. Obviously surer than he was as he wondered off into another carriage.
Now for some pictures from the Piran-Venice leg of the trip, more to follow....
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