Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Indecisive

I’m not really big on souvenirs,  as you may have gathered,  but I did spot this cute (hate that word) coffee cup in a shop in Ljubljana on Monday.   We had most of a day to kill before going on to Grosulpje so T.C. could meet up with her new lawyer ‘friend’.  (they’re not friends,  really) 

I figure that a souvenir had bloody well better be functional,  and I have coffee cups from a few places.  Haven’t broken any yet,  thankfully.  By even saying that,  I hope I haven’t messed up that stretch of luck.  I’ve busted enough other stuff,  so maybe that counts.

 

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Ain’t it purdy?

 

The thing is,  the young lady in the shop did such a nice job of putting it in a little box,  that now I’m not even sure I want to use it. 

 

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OK,  so maybe it didn’t require all that much skill to shove the thing in a box,  but she was really quite cute,  so maybe that influenced my opinion on the matter. 

Seems like such a shame to take it out of there (and spoil all her work). 

I’ll have to think about it.

 

What I was mostly indecisive about was,  whether or not I wanted to shove some more pictures up here.  I’m pretty sure I’ve annoyed everyone with enough pictures of Slovenia in the past,  so repeating myself is quite likely.

 

We wanted to visit the aging Auntie on the Sunday (I didn’t take any pictures,  that just wasn’t going to happen)  but visiting hours didn’t start until 3:00 p.m.  so we figured we’d head up to the Ljubljanski Grad.

In all the times that we’ve visited Ljubljana,  including staying at the Hotel Lev, (um,  that site is in Slovenian,  but there’s nice pictures)  we’ve never ventured up to the Ljubljana Castle,  the history of which is too long and complicated to get into here.  Suffice to say there’s a really neat funicular,  and the cost was only ONE EURO each to go up and return.   Oh,  and there was no charge for admission to the castle!  I know there normally is, since the prices are listed on that “funicular” site,  but maybe there was some sort of Sunday deal?   No clue.   And no complaints.

 

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So that was quite enjoyable.  Ljuba and I took the hike up the tower,  (this one)

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Just to take a look around.

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That peach coloured church down below is the Franciscan Church of the Annunciation. (In case you need to get your bearings)  The rather interesting building just off to the left there is the Nebotičnik.   We went up to the top of the Nebotičnik a couple years ago when daughter number two was here with her husband. At least I think that was the time.  She’ll correct me if I’m wrong I’m sure.

Click the link if you want to read about the Nebotičnik.   Do you think I could come up with the name of that building when I was pointing it out to Ljuba?  No, of course not.  Naturally if I had a slightly better grasp of the Slovenian language,  I would possibly have remembered that Nebotičnik in Slovenian simply means,  “skyscraper”.   Sucks to be dumb.

I thought the stairs going up to the top of the tower were kind of neat.

 

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The other somewhat cool thing about that spiral stair case was, you couldn’t meet anyone coming the opposite way.  If you went in on one side,  you were directed to go up.  If you entered from the other side,  the sign directed you to go down.  In a not so surprising turn of events however,  there were some Chinese tourists who had some slight difficulty grasping that concept.  You can see a few of them in that photo above.  I also was taken with the designs on each of the stair treads.  (you need to click that picture,  really)

 

Just for your further entertainment,  I’d like to present to you yet another example of the use of the English language here in Europe.   Unfortunately however,  there are times when it might be a good plan to run your idea past someone who speaks the language?

 

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Hey no worries!  I won’t be laying a finger on anything that you might wish to expose!  Gah!

I think they mean,  “items on display”?  Maybe?

The nuances of the English language can be fun,  yes?

Nobody saw me take the picture.  They’ll never know.

This was in a trendy little shop that had many,  many overpriced but cute items for sale.  You know the type.  A cork screw with a really cool looking thingamabob on the end for twenty Euros,  but fortunately I can get a perfectly serviceable one at the check out for one tenth of that price?  Plus, when the Two Euro version finally breaks after I’ve opened a couple hundred bottles of wine (as will every cork screw eventually)  I’ll be much less upset if I’ve only paid a couple Euros for the thing.  But that’s just me I guess. 

 

I’ll do a little more of Slovenia tomorrow.   Maybe.

Be careful what you expose out there.

 

Thanks for stopping by.

 

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3 comments:

  1. Thanks much for the interesting photos. Looks like a beautiful setting for a biggish city. ..... Gunnar

    ReplyDelete
  2. But sometimes cute is the only word that really works. Like that cute clerk. That picture of the staircase is incredible. Definitely way cool. As hot as it is today we won't be exposing anything around here cause it will burn up.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Love that red spiral staircase.

    You could always put a few flowers in the coffee mug, an artsy vase.

    ReplyDelete

Well, I've been getting too many spam comments showing up. Just a drag, so we'll go another route and hope that helps. So, we won't be hearing anything more from Mr. Nony Moose.
I guess I'll just have to do without that Gucci purse.