And They Lived Happily Ever After...

Most fairy tales end with a prince and princess holding hands and walking off into a peaceful sunset.  Ours ended with frantic last-minute packing, waking the kiddos at 4:30am to get to the Ljubljana airport, a seven-hour layover in Amsterdam, a nine-hour flight across the Atlantic, and Sy throwing up all over the plane the second we touched down in Minneapolis.  Very nice.

In all seriousness, we will be forever grateful for this opportunity and everything that we have taken away from it.  As with every experience, the people are what made it so special.  There are too many to list, but we do want to thank Cindy and Don, for being such good friends and putting up with three screaming kids whenever we got together; Petra and Rok, for showing us around Slovenia and opening up their home to us; Mijo, for being a bright spot in each and every day; Mirko, for his incredible hospitality and warmth in Belgrade; and the countless others who showed us amazing generosity and kindness whether they knew us or not.  All of you taught us a lot about ourselves and how to live.  Needless to say, it was an emotional goodbye.

We also need to thank our good friends Alec and JC, who picked us up from the airport and brought us home safely, and Mason and Auntie Becky, who came over to welcome us home.  It was tough leaving Slovenia, and it was great to have familiar faces here to greet us (even though we could barely stay awake during our “welcome home” party).  And we need to thank our house-sitters, Kim and Seferino, who left our house cleaner than it’s been in ages and left flowers, wine, snacks for the kids, and a beautiful card and note that made Chantelle cry (in a good way).

Finally, thank you for choosing to be a part of our journey.  We had a lot of fun writing this blog and are happy that we could share our experiences with you.

So, our blog is now finished, except for one more picture below.  Thank you, Mijo, for the pin.  And yes, blondes do have more fun.

Last Hurrah

To borrow a line from the monkeys in Madagascar, "If you have any poo, fling it now." 

We have three days left here and are trying to absorb as much as we can of what we have to grown to love about this place.  It seems like forever since we have been in St. Paul, but just yesterday that we were packing to come here and wondering what we were getting ourselves into.  It is tough that it's coming to an end, but I guess the good news is that, if you exclude our savings account, we should make it back reasonably unscathed.

As I walked this morning to get milk for breakfast, it struck me that even after five months here I am still in awe of the peace and charm of this city.  The pictures below are of some of the fountains that are in all of the old town squares that add to that peace and charm.  As they say here, "Ljubljana je lepo mesto."  It truly is a beautiful city, and we are fortunate to have been able to experience it the way that we did.

Statehood Day Celebration

Last night, the main Statehood Day event celebrating Slovenia’s twentieth anniversary of independence took place in the newly remodeled and re-opened Kongresni Trg (Congress Square).  We figured it was a must-see for us, and since we couldn’t get a babysitter, it turned into a must-see for the kiddos as well.  We loaded them in the strollers for the 9:00pm (21.00) show and joined Cindy and Don and their daughter, Allison, who is here visiting.

We arrived early to get a good view and ran into our Partisan friend, who was all decked out and part of the official contingency.  He took time for a picture with us and gave all of us flags and programs in English.  We also met a very nice Slovenian woman who stood with us the rest of the evening, helping to keep the kiddos content.

We did luck out with a front-row view from one of the side streets and it was quite an experience.  The event kicked off with a procession of presidents and prime ministers of surrounding countries (Austria, Italy, Croatia, and Hungary), followed by a march of current and former members of the military and a symbolic firing of cannons from the castle.  Slovenia’s president gave a short commemorative speech and then there was an hour-long show of music and dance.

We had seen various parts of the show during the week as they practiced, but the energy that night in the packed square was spectacular.  One of the highlights was a stirring rendition of Kayama (“Gather Together”…Lion King fans will recognize it), in which the singers all sat in the open windows of the old congress building.  Another was the finale, in which our new favorite band, Siddharta, performed the song Livingstonov Poslednji Poljub (“Livingston’s Last Kiss”), a sort of rock opera song about inspiration and achievement based on Jonathan Livingston Seagull.  During the song, they showed home videos of famous Slovenes as children, and from what we gather, this has become a song of national pride.  It’s tough to capture the electricity in writing or even in photos, so we attached some links to YouTube videos below…do yourself a favor and grab a set of headphones and listen.  It was enough to give even non-Slovenes, who had no idea what was really going on until after the fact, goosebumps.

The night ended with a fireworks show for the ages from the castle.  Celia slept through it, but Rosetta and Sy can’t stop talking about it.  We’re afraid they’ll be disappointed at their next 4^th of July display.

This has been a really eye-opening piece of being here that maybe we should have given more thought to:  the significance of achieving independence and the pride that goes along with that.  This is something I know I have taken a bit for granted in the U.S. and will come back with a better appreciation for it.  Na dzravje.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pP6Z9STtMaQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yg4Q5oA3WPY

Cognac History Lesson

This is our good friend Mijo.  Mijo is a server at the Divine Cafe on the river and one of our favorite people we've met here.  It's not hard to find him...he works from open to close seven days a week and is always on the lookout for people he knows.  He always picks the kiddos up to greet them and gives them cookies and gum.  Needless to say, they love him.  And when we're leaving, they love to say, "Adijo, Mijo!"

Mijo is Albanian and moved here from Macedonia.  As a gift, he gave us a small bottle of his favorite Albanian cognac, Skënderbeu.  He told us to look up Skënderbeu because he is Albania's greatest war hero and has legendary status (similar to Aaron Rodgers).  In the 1400's, Skënderbeu led Albania in its resistance against the Turks, who attacked repeatedly in an effort to expand the Ottoman Empire.  He also defended Albania against Venice, who saw him as a threat to their power, but eventually they became allies.  After his death, Venice was unsuccessful in defending Albania from the Turks, but Skënderbeu's efforts are credited with keeping the Ottoman Empire out of western Europe.

All of this took place not far from where we were in Montenegro.  When we were there, people talked about the cultural differences between the coast, which was part of Venice, and the rest of Montenegro, which was part of the Ottoman Empire...apparently they are not at all alike.  It's interesting to visualize where all of this was happening and to connect what was going on then to what is going on now.

What is most interesting to me, though, is the fact that I learned more about Albania from a bottle of cognac than from my high school history class....

Long Live the Megane

The Megane is dead.  At least to us.  When we returned from Belgrade, we took it to a mechanic who told us it needed 500-600 euros of work, and we shouldn't plan on driving it too much (at all) until this was done.  So, we passed the car on to someone who was happy to give us 350 euros to try to fix it himself.  We wish the Megane the best, as it did all we asked it to.  Happy travels, our friend.

Ljubljanski Vinska Pot

We feel fortunate to live in the walking district because of all of the interesting events we stumble on that are held here.  Once in a while it's not so fortunate, like Thursday evening when we returned from Montenegro and there was an international bike race that ran by our apartment...the airport shuttle couldn't get anywhere close and we had to walk through the crowds with our luggage and car seats, trying to keep tabs on three monkeys who wanted to head in different directions.

Saturday, however, was one of the fortunate times.  We walked out onto the street to find the bi-annual "Ljubljana Wine Walk" taking place.  About one-hundred wineries from all over Slovenia had vendor stands set up, which lined both sides of the street.  There was live Slovenian music and dance, lots of food, and a lot of people having a lot of fun.  And in true Slovenia style, it was completely laid back...you paid a deposit for a wine glass, walked around sampling wine, then returned the glass to get your refund (we didn't quite make it to all of the vendors, but we did our best!).  It was a nice way to end Grandma Rose's stay with us, as she left early Sunday morning and we're back on our own for our final ten days.

The wine walk was part of two weeks' worth of festivities to celebrate Slovenia's declaration of independence from Yugoslavia on June 25, 1991 (Slovenia didn't actually receive independence until July 7, 1991, after the "Ten Day War").

10 Days in Montenegro

Lots of sun, lots of beach, a drive through the mountains, and another visit to the emergency room.  What a trip.

Montenegro is as beautiful as advertised.  From what we saw, the country is essentially mountains and coast (I believe that Montenegro or Crne Gore translates to black mountains but don't quote me on that), meaning that pretty much wherever you find yourself there is a scenic view.  It also means that unless you are standing on the beach, wherever you find yourself you are in danger of falling off a cliff.

We stayed in the hills above Sveti Stefan, a small seaside village.  Sveti Stefan itself is sort of a geographic anomaly, as it sits on a rock just off the shore and is connected to the mainland via a narrow isthmus.  It was a fishing village until the 1950’s, when the government of Yugoslavia turned it into a resort hotel.  We had dinner out on it one night, and it’s absolutely beautiful.  They have maintained the original building structures, so you wouldn’t know you’re at a resort…it feels like you’re walking through a fifteenth-century stone village.

The best thing about Sveti Stefan and the hills above is there is literally nothing to do except go to the beach.   There are two small (really small) grocery stores, a handful of restaurants, a street vendor who sells beach supplies, one ATM machine (that was out of order), and sporadic internet access (hence no blog posts, although it’s hard to believe we would have spent much time on the laptop anyhow).  That’s it.  No bars, no souvenir shops, nothing.  Most of our days consisted of getting up, eating breakfast, walking down the hill to the beach, staying at the beach all day, walking back up the hill, showering, eating dinner, getting the kids to bed, and watching the sunset over the Adriatic from our balcony.  Jerry and friends were definitely referring to a different Saint Stephen…it’s tough to gripe about this one.

We actually did venture out twice.  One day, we hired a van to drive us to the Bay of Kotor, which is billed as both the southernmost and second-largest fjord in all of Europe.  There are old walled towns, fortresses, and monasteries all around the bay, with mountains rising straight up on all sides.  From the bay, we drove straight up one of those mountains on a single-lane road on the edge of a cliff (so, yes, there were issues whenever we met someone driving down the mountain) from sea level to 1700 meters.  It was like no drive any of us had ever been on, and Chantelle was thankful I wasn’t behind the wheel, as it would have taken years off of her life (mine too).  The pictures below were taken about three-quarters of the way up.  We then drove around Lovćen National Park to Cetinje, which was the original capital city from the 1400’s.  Another day, we took a bus to Budva, a town just north of Sveti Stefan with a walled old town and fortress overlooking the sea.  Of course, the kiddos thought the bus ride was the coolest part of that outing.

And, of course, there was an emergency room visit.  This time, it was Grandma Rose (there must be some connection between Rosettas and foreign emergency rooms).  A week into our trip, she had been having a blast on the beach when she got sand in her eye and cut a blood vessel.  Technically, our son picked up sand and threw it in her eye, but we’re trying not to remind her of that.  The beach manager, Milan (who is a huge NBA fan and follows the Timberwolves because Nikola Pekovic is Montenegrin and Darko Milicic is Serbian) and one of his employees, Dragan, drove Chantelle and her mother to the emergency room and made sure she got the treatment she needed.  It was a definite scare but it looks as though everything will be okay.  If you don’t count Italy, which we visited by accident, we have now been to four countries here, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, and Montenegro, and have been to emergency rooms in three of those.  We’re not really sure what that says about our crew.

All in all, we would say our final big trip was a success.  We had a great time, no one got sunburned and no one lost an…errrrr…we all came back relatively in one piece.  Montenegro is certainly a country we would like to go back to and explore some more.

Four Down, One to Go

Well, not exactly.  It's a little more than four down, a little less than one to go.  A waiter asked us the other night how long we would be here, and when we told him until the end of June, he said, "Wow, a long time!"  When we told him we had been here since the end of January, he said, "Wow a really long time!"  So, I guess it's a matter of perspective.  If we had just gotten here, the month of June would be a long time, but we didn't, so it's not.

However, we're going to enjoy these last few weeks as much as possible.  Tomorrow, we are off to Montenegro for ten days and then we come back to Ljubljana for our final two weeks.  Grandma Rose will be with us until the 19th...we're not sure why she didn't volunteer to stick around to the end of June to help us get home (actually, I don't think she ever gave us an answer...she just laughed when we brought it up).  It's been a lot of fun having her here, and she has definitely enjoyed the market, the street vendors, and the Sri Lankan jewelry store downstairs.

To make sure we keep our memories fresh, we have been taking pictures of some of our favorite people here.  Below are some from the market:  our bread and pasta vendors, and our fruit and vegetable vendors.  They have completely spoiled the kiddos, giving them donuts, cookies, strawberries, and carrots everytime we're there.  Grocery shopping back in St. Paul isn't going to be the same!

The Bridges of Ljubljana

Ljubljana is known for its bridges.  The most popular are the three that cross the Ljubljanica in the city center:  the Triple Bridge, the Dragon Bridge, and the Cobbler’s Bridge.  The current form of each bridge was designed in the 1930’s by the famous Slovenian architect, Jože Plečnik, who has had a hand in just about everything that was built in the city center.

The Triple Bridge was the original bridge that led to the city gates.  It is still the main bridge in the walking district, connecting Preseren Square to the old part of the city.  It was redesigned with a foot bridge on either side of the main bridge…hence the name.

The Dragon Bridge was designed for the symbol of Ljubljana.  Legend has it that a dragon lived in a lake near Ljubljana, and it was killed by Jason and the Argonauts on their way back from Colchis after stealing the golden fleece.  Of course, the original version of this legend had Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers slewing Ben Roethlisberger in Dallas, but you know how stories get changed.

The original Cobbler’s Bridge was a wooden bridge where the town’s butchers resided.  Apparently, they threw all of the waste in the river and it smelled so bad that the mayor paid them to move.  Shoemakers took their place, and so the bridge got its name.  The city’s bakery was also near this bridge…they used to put unscrupulous bakers in oversized birdcages and dunk them in the river from the bridge so people would know not to buy from them.

There is a fourth bridge, just south of the walking district, that was recently relocated from a different part of the city.  The gentleman I had dinner with a few nights ago called it “my bridge.”  This was the bridge that his Partisan brigade crossed to re-take Ljubljana from the Germans in World War II.  Awesome.

Birthday #3 (x2)

Celia and Sy turned three yesterday and there was plenty of celebrating to go around.  Chantelle made an unbelievably phenomenal lasagna, our favorite café gave us unidentified chocolate rodents for dessert, and there were lots and lots of presents.  The kiddos especially enjoyed having Grandma Rose here to help celebrate (Celia and Rosetta think they are very cool sharing their bedroom with her…we’re not sure whether Grandma or the girls are actually getting any sleep though).  Celia and Sy are “big kids” now, and Sy has assured us that he is not sucking his thumb anymore, although we have yet to see the evidence.  Among gifts, Toy Story, Cars, Hello Kitty, Bob the Builder, the Disney Princesses, Thomas the Train, and My Little Pony were all represented.  Besides toys, all three of the kiddos got tourist t-shirts from Cindy and Don, Rosetta’s with "Cinderella’s" castle on it and Celia and Sy’s with the dragon that goes “RRRRAAAAAA!”