And So It Ends

We arrived at the sleepy airport this morning at 4:50 am and were the first to the counter, the first to security, the first to the gate. All firsts!

 

Our last day in Slovenia in Ljubljana began with the walk up to the castle. We opted for the 11-Euro Tour Guide ticket and it was well worth it. The tour to the various areas of the castle included actors playing roles from knights to French occupiers as they unspooled the history of Ljubljana in general and the castle in particular. Later, some of the same information was transmitted by a 3-D movie where we wore those special glasses. Then on to a Puppet Museum that included a segment on puppetry as resistance in World War II. For Slovenia was occupied by both Italy and Germany and resisted every step of the way. We climbed up the circular stairs that would have given Jimmy Stewart vertigo to the highest point in the castle and enjoyed the expansive view. 

 

It was a hot (almost 80 degrees) summer day and we enjoyed the descent through a shaded path through the woods, sauntered through the Farmer’s Market, had a plate of cheese and meats for lunch at one of the ubiquitous outdoor restaurants and I orded a Cockta, Slovenia’s answer to Coca-Cola, with a pleasing herbal taste to it. 

 

Back to the hotel for an afternoon rest and then out again to a nearby park that I had wanted to sit in on our previous visit to this lovely city, but got rained out. My idea of a great day in a European city is to sit in a park with a book, a journal and the capacity to just watch the world go by. I was so excited to finally get to do it and things started out well with an outdoor exhibit about education in Slovenia, made compulsory just before the U.S. was writing its Constitution, thanks to the foresight of the most interesting ruler, Maria Theresa (hope to research and share more about her later). Not only did she see the importance of education, but back in 1770, made it equally available to both boys and girls. Radical! We backwards Americans are still hesitant about a woman President, but Slovenia (then the Austro-Hungarian Empire) was not only fine with it some 250 years ago, but benefitted enormously.

 

Alas, my park fantasy was doomed because nearby was a crowd of youth blasting some recorded inane and maddening disco music, of which all you could hear was the insistent thump of that damned disco beat. If I could go back in time and change one thing about the world, the first would be to get rid of Hitler early and the second the inventor of the disco beat. That relentless thumping with no variety, no nuance, no change in the medium-tempo, no life-giving groove but just a stupefying drilling into the brain, is just wrong, wrong, wrong. I couldn’t bear its unchanging assault and walked away from it until I outdistanced its range. That was over a mile away!!! Finally, I could hear the birds babbling, the brooks bubbling, the basketballs bouncing, the church bells bonging. Even the sound of car traffic was a relief compared to the disco monster. Coming back to the hotel meant walking towards the belly of that beast—90 minutes it had been doing its damage and what was baffling was not only that it wasn't illegal in a public park, not only that others were not being driven crazy, but that the people generating it thought that somehow this was a good soundtrack for a visit to the park and were oblivious to its effect. AAARGH!!!!

 

Down to the river for a final meal of salad, grilled vegetables and pizza and there it was, the last night of two glorious weeks in this mostly heavenly place (minus the Piran bus system and that damn beat). Bid farewell to Terry, who today is taking the train to Frankfurt to connect with other lifelong friends from The San Francisco School for another three weeks touring Germany. Me, I’m ready to go home and do a laundry and get a haircut and play my piano and see my daughter and next week, my other daughter and grandkids. All of it made more special from this most marvelous time away. 

 

But first, two flights and many long hours ahead.