Paul Goldberg Blog

Back in the US

We landed back here on Monday after three totally uneventful flights. Since then we have been unpacking and preparing to repack the coach for departure in October. We have been recovering from jet lag. We have been trying to sort though the far to many pictures both of us have taken. We witnessed Josh, our eldest grandson, get his driver’s license – whatever happened to the rush to DMV  on the birthday and taking the drivers test 30 days later – We were so overjoyed that he can be mobile that I went with him the next day to buy his first car, a 2011 Silver Toyota Corolla. He will pick it up on Monday.

Endless rounds of wonderful entertainment have already begun and seem to be set to continue until we leave for our “other life” as nomads.

Our last day in Ljubljana (type that 3 times fast!) we wandered along the river at 9:30 AM as the art market and antiques market were set up. As we wandered we watched a troop of acrobats set up their mats on the street and start to perform.

Later their place was taken by a typical Slovenian (could be Austrian or. . ) brass band with accordions. Actually by the time they started playing we had rejoined most of our group to ascend to the Ljubljana Castle by funicular and we were able to hear them clearly way up there.

Taken from the Castle Tower

We left the group and toured the Interactive Puppet Museum in the Castle before heading down the steep switchback dirt path back to the river. There we found lunch at Sokol which is featured as a game meat restaurant, but they had nice veggie options and I really enjoyed a venison goulash in a bread bowl. It was nice to find a goulash without pork so I could order it. 

We found, with some help from another couple on our tour, Ann and Jim, a small contemporary art gallery featuring Malevich’s work and other pieces including this:

With just few hours left before the Farewell Gathering and dinner we made our way to the Gallery of Modern Art. There we took a chronological journey through Slovenian 20th Century art and history. It was a very valuable and different way to understand the history of war and stress that has lead to this absolutely delightful city full of people who seem to be striving to make the best of good times in an area that has seen little enough of such times in recent memory.
There is much more in my head and hundreds of pictures to sort through and eventually shape into some sort of a reminder of this trip.