The Soda Post

One of the fun things about wandering around grocery stores in different parts of the world are the local products you come across that you don't see at home.  With that in mind, I've bought and drank several different kinds of soda that were mostly bad. Basically Coke and Pepsi don't have to worry.  Let's run through the list for your amusement.  As a note, I'll describe what they are (with help from internet research after the fact) but when I drank all of these I was going in blind with hope springing eternal.

Kofola

Where?: Prague, Czech Republic

What?: A cola type soft drink.  A pharmaceutical company was trying to find uses for excess caffeine from coffee roasting and the syrup they produced led to this.  It became popular in the communist era because of the lack of access to Western products.
Any good?: No, it's terrible.  I didn't come close to finishing the bottle.
What did Chrissy think?: "Gross, it's like non-alcoholic Jagermeister."

Almdudler

Where?: Vienna, Austria

What?: It's a soft drink made with grape and apple juices and herbs

Any good?: Not really.  It starts off as oddly fruity but gets more bitter as you continue drinking.  Hard to describe (sort of like ginger ale) and you think it might be good at first, but it gets worse not better.

What did Chrissy think?:  "Weirdly tasty."  She of course only had two sips.

Cockta

Where?: Ljubljana,  Slovenia

What?: A Slovenian soft drink made from rose hips, herbs, lemon, and orange.  It isn't caffeinated.  It was also popular in the communist era because of the lack of access to Western products.

Any good?: No, it's really weird.  I expected it to be similar to cola from the color but it has a way sweeter taste that is strange.

What did Chrissy think?: "It's like someone spiked Coke with Sweetarts."

Sky Cola

Where?: Zagreb, Croatia

What?: It's cola.  Owned by a large conglomerate that dominates the Croatian market.  They have the most popular bottled water, mayonnaise and supermarkets in the country.

Any good?: Not bad, but nothing special.  It's cola which I like, but I prefer Coke.

What did Chrissy think?: "Yeah, that's cola."  Noticing a theme?

Pipi

Where?: Split, Croatia

What?: It's orange soda made by a company based in Split who also makes other sodas and alcoholic beverages.  Apparently they went bankrupt not that long ago and shut down for a bit, but they are back up and running.

Any good?: I know it's called Pipi and it's yellow which is unfortunate, but it's pretty good.  I enjoyed it.

What did Chrissy think?: "It's like carbonated Tang."

Birthday at Plitvice Lakes National Park

My 30th birthday included multiple rainbows, hand feeding a chickadee, numerous waterfalls and travertine pools, a 4 hour hike, 5 hours of bus riding, and chocolate creme schnitte. 

The Sun Came Out!

Check out the difference:

Caves, Another Castle, and More in Slovenia

Slovenia is a small country but has a lot of different terrains and natural features. Chrissy has shown you some in the city in Ljubljana and the lake and mountains in Bled, but it also has numerous systems of caves and we visited the most popular one at Postojna.  You can see part of the cave above, but since there is not much light down there and you can't use a flash it can be hard to get a good shot.  Still it's a remarkable place to visit that includes a train ride from the entrance deeper into the cave and a walk around the truly massive place.  There are even salamanders that are native to the cave that are white and can't see but they only have to eat once every seven years because of their metabolism.

Speaking of caves, we also went to Predjama Castle which is built into a cave.

Predjama was built more for defense and protection and never really as a place to live.  The caves inside provide a natural escape route into the mountains. 

Notice the castle walls on one side and the cave walls on the other.  Here's the view to the outside from the top of the castle/cave:

And a look out from part of the castle where you can actually see:

We did row out to the island as Chrissy mentioned was the plan in the last post.  Here she is in action:

In the church on the island there is a rope that you can pull to ring the bell.  They say if you can make it ring three times with one pull your wish will come true or you will have luck in love.  I managed more like one ring with three pulls.  It was really hard. 

Here we are at the steps leading up to the church on the island.  If you get married in Bled the groom is supposed to carry the bride up all of the steps on their wedding day for the marriage to be prosperous.  It's unclear how often this actually happens.

Finally, I would like to thank everyone who sent along a birthday message or video.  I really appreciate it. 

Birthday in Bled

Slovenia really is a beautiful little country.  We've moved on from Ljubljana to Lake Bled. Currently between tourist seasons, it's a sleepy little town on a beautiful lake with a hillside castle and a church on an island.

See church on said island, the only island in Slovenia.  This is the lakeside view. We're hoping to row out to the island today. 

Lake Bled selfie

Note the hillside castle now in view on the left

The foliage here, though wet, is beautiful

We hiked up to the hillside castle

And sampled the "creme schnitte", or Bled cream cake for Jim's birthday, but they didn't have candles. 

So with some help from our new hostel friends, we managed some surprise candles and ice cream from the grocery store.  Happy Birthday Jim!

I feel sLOVEnia

We are very much enjoying in our time in Slovenia, an incredibly beautiful, charming, and easy to navigate little country. Here are some highlights from the capital,  Ljubljana:

The Baroque ceiling fresco in St. Nicholas cathedral

The new friends we made on our walking tour. Shout out to Simon and Emily on their silk road trek, check out their blog here: arcadiagardendesign.co.uk/blog.php

The St. Martin's day festival on the Triple Bridge. We lucked into this one as it was supposed to be the day we arrived, and we would have missed out, had it not been rained out. The rain date made it delightfully accessible to us. St. Martin's day is the celebration of grape juice turning into wine, and is a large wine tasting and cultural event. Slovenian wine is excellent.

See the cultural element, local folk dancing

The Dragon Bridge. Dragons are the symbol of Ljubljana.  It is rumored that Jason and the Argonauts slayed one here, way back in the day. And of course, patron saint of Ljubljana is St. George the dragon slayer.

View of the castle overlooking the city from atop the Skyscraper terrace. We're not totally sure why it's  called the skyscraper seeing as its only 12 stories tall, and is definitely not the tallest building in the city. Regardless, the view is pretty excellent.

Our dragons at night selfie

A note on some Slovenian food:

Berek: A sort of Philo dough snake filled with either spinach, meat, or "pizza". Heavy, cheap, and tasty.

Horse burger: More a curiosity than a culinary delight. A distinct taste, and a little rubbery.  Worth a try, but not something we'll be craving a taste of later.

Prekmurska layer cake. There's no cake, just to be clear, just layers of soft philo, cinnamon apples, walnut butter, poppy seeds and sweet cheese. Dense, and tasty, but you only need a piece half this size to be satisfied.

Also, we're very excited about the videos we've been receiving. The competition is getting stiff. Today is Jim's birthday and we intend to celebrate with a castle hike and some Bled cream cake, and continued video viewing. Thanks for all the love from abroad!

Live Sports Abroad Part III: Women's European Handball Federation Champions League

Continuing our series, we went to a women's handball match in Ljubljana, Slovenia. This was fun because it's a sport you really don't see in the States.  You may catch a game or two during the Summer Olympics, but that's it.  Let's get to the questions.

Seriously, Jim, are you trying to go to the most random sporting events you can find?

Well, maybe.  I'm equal opportunity on sporting events of all kinds.  Weird and mainstream.  Basically whatever we can go to that has a cheap ticket.

So, what the heck is handball?

The best way I can describe it is sort of like a cross between lacrosse and basketball.  I don't have a full grasp of the rules, but basically teams pass a ball between players and try to throw it into the goal.  Contact usually resulted in a whistle and play being reset for the team with the ball.  I believe there are rules about how much you can travel with the ball.  Nobody seemed to get called for anything like travelling, but I'm pretty sure it exists.  There are two 30 minutes halves with not much stoppage, so the game moves quickly.  Here's some shots of the action:

OK, who was playing?

First a quick word on the league.  It is a yearly tournament comprising of the respective national championship winners of the top European countries in handball.  We saw the Slovenian national champs, RK Krim Mercator from Ljubljana take on the Russian champs, Dinamo-Sinara from Volgograd.  Krim has won the national championship in Slovenia every single year since the 1994-95 season.  The league has only existed since 1991 when Slovenia gained their independence from Yugoslavia.  So, they are 20 for 23 in national titles, but have won the Champions League only twice.  Still, they are basically a Slovenian handball dynasty.

How was the game?

It was really entertaining.  It's pretty fast paced and it was close throughout.  Going low seemed to be the usual strategy for scoring goals.  It appears you can bounce the ball off the floor into the goal.  There is an area around the goalie you can't touch with your feet, but you can jump over it and shoot so there are lots of entertaining jump shots.  Krim had the lead by a point or two for most of the match but Dinamo-Sinara tied it up around halfway through the second half and ended up winning 26-24.  The whole thing was over in a brisk hour and 25 minutes.

Mascots?

Nope.

Any good Jumbotron action?

There was one, but it just showed pictures and videos of the team and random ads.

Anything good at halftime?

Not much, some kids played a mini game of handball for a bit.

How was the crowd?

Small, for an arena that can hold over 12,000, but Krim did have a modest fan section that was into it complete with drums and noisemakers.

What were the concessions like in a Slovenian arena?

For this, they were basically non-existent.  Two stands open selling drinks and no merchandise whatsoever, but here's a giant Krim shirt that was in the stands:

Anything strange worth mentioning?

The referees were twins.  At least I'm reasonably sure that they were.  The following pictures are two different people:

What's part IV going to be?

I have no idea, but if I can find something you'll hear about it.