A bus took me to Ljubljana a remarkably pretty little city where I did all the Slovenian tourist things including climbing up (well I took the funicular up, I climbed down) to the castle overlooking Prešernov Trg, the town’s main square. Looking down on the town centre from the castle tower
In the middle of the square is a statue of Slovenia’s greatest poet, France Prešeren.
Leave the square, walk a short distance up Wolfova ulica and you’ll find a terracotta figure of a woman looking out from a ‘window.’ She’s Julija Primic and she’s gazing lovingly across the square at the poet’s statue, although in fact the look should be in the other direction. He was the admirer, she never fell for him and he never got over the rejection. 
Presumably the restaurant where I had my very Slovenian dinner that night (pork knuckle) was named after her – Julija.
Ljubljana felt remarkably stylish and well off, an impression confirmed in a ‘post Berlin wall’ article in The Economist for 7-13 November, Slovenia has the highest GDP per person amongst the old Soviet bloc countries. Which still leaves it at only just over 60% of the Western European average.
A bus took me to Ljubljana a remarkably pretty little city where I did all the Slovenian tourist things including climbing up (well I took the funicular up, I climbed down) to the castle overlooking Prešernov Trg, the town’s main square. Looking down on the town centre from the castle tower
In the middle of the square is a statue of Slovenia’s greatest poet, France Prešeren.
Leave the square, walk a short distance up Wolfova ulica and you’ll find a terracotta figure of a woman looking out from a ‘window.’ She’s Julija Primic and she’s gazing lovingly across the square at the poet’s statue, although in fact the look should be in the other direction. He was the admirer, she never fell for him and he never got over the rejection.
Presumably the restaurant where I had my very Slovenian dinner that night (pork knuckle) was named after her – Julija.
Ljubljana felt remarkably stylish and well off, an impression confirmed in a ‘post Berlin wall’ article in The Economist for 7-13 November, Slovenia has the highest GDP per person amongst the old Soviet bloc countries. Which still leaves it at only just over 60% of the Western European average.
The town centre is dominated by the Loggia di San Giovanni, sporting a clock tower looking remarkably like a squashed down version of the one in Venice’s Piazza San Marco along with a collection of statuary. It stands below the hill topped by the town’s castle with its gallery of antique art. 
I had to fly from London to Trieste in Italy and Ryanair were offering seats for £14.99, it was a no brainer. The flight left on time, I got a window seat, my carry-on bag fitted their strict limits, I’d brought along my lunch from Stansted Airport’s Pret à Manger outlet (cheaper than the sandwiches they flogged on board). I’d printed out my boarding card beforehand (Ryanair doesn’t offer airport check in, except for a premium additional charge). In the air I resisted buying a Ryanair €2 scratch card (to help you get rid of loose change of course) and I ignored the subway-style adverts plastered along the overhead bins. 
I’ve been on the road for the first couple of weeks of November. Starting with a visit to Ireland for an Irish Tourist Board (Fáilte Ireland) conference in Galway. Walking along Galway’s main pedestrian street I came across a strangely familiar statue of that noted Irishman Oscar Wilde. 
Over the years I’ve travelled in many malarial regions and taken plenty of anti-malarial drugs. Touch wood I’ve never had malaria, but malaria can take a long time to present, so my travels in Africa earlier this year could still effect me. I certainly know I’ve been at risk because I’ve travelled with people who were less careful or even less lucky and came down with malaria.
I’d made a Singapore stopover between Melbourne and London. Melbourne was briefly home to the biggest wheel in the southern hemisphere, the 120m Southern Star. Melbourne’s unfortunate big wheel stands close to the Lonely Planet head office and opened for business on my birthday last year. One month later, in January 2009, it ground to a halt and that’s how it looked just before I left Melbourne - partially dismantled. The wheel had started to crack up, a failure blamed on its (Japanese – Sanoyas Hishino Meisho) design. There’s no date set yet for its restart. 
the traffic is always bad. Add on US$5.50 for the tunnel charge, plus a tip and you’re at US$55. My Pakistani taxi driver was a nice guy, I tipped more.
Coming back to our room one night a little frog hopped on to Maureen’s foot in the courtyard outside the room. And then hopped lazily away.
Walking on a footpath between Sayan and Ubud that morning I passed this noticeboard in the village of Penestanan. Clearly foreign visitors staying in Penestanan are very interested in psychic healing and other new age pursuits. My favourite sign on this board was from a lady who announced she’s been working with ‘many Ascending Masters and Archangels.’ No wonder she could offer ‘x-ray clairvoyance.’
We all know the peace symbol – which actually started life as the semaphore symbols for the letters N and D since it stood for Nuclear Disarmament.