Tonight, we are in Slovenia... exiting Croatia for a few days... to see one of Europe's prettiest countries... Slovenia. There are multiple reasons to visit this pretty country... but I asked Joye to include it in our itinerary for a very 'base' reason. My friend, Graeme, claims that Slovenian blonde girls show remarkable talent in the way they... wear blue jeans... walk down the street... and chew gum all at the same time... with a style unsurpassed by girls in any other nation. I know Graeme is a connoisseur in such matters... but I wanted to double check his assessment. This afternoon it was raining... further research is needed.
We arrived in time to visit one of Slovenia's leading tourist attractions... a giant cave... Postojna Cave. You think you know caves... how about one that is 22kms long... how about one that has a major river running through its lower level... no my friend, when it comes to Postojna Cave... you have to think caves again... from basic principles... with your imagination restrained.
Family members will be aware that Joye carries a touch of claustrophobia... manageable in most situations... but can bubble to the surface in extreme circumstances. Today, we had extreme circumstances. We had a crowd... we were put on a train and taken 2.5 klms underground. We were offloaded... we congregated into language groups... the English group had over 150 people... outnumbered by the Japanese... and the Germans also put up a good showing... for the 3 PM tour, there were probably 500 people in a congo line shuffling through the cave. We saw caves that were quite spectacular... stalactites and stalagmites aplenty... columns and veils and cathedrals... the works. Shuffling along in a queue was a little off putting... but otherwise, a great experience. Then blackness... utter blackness. All the lights went off.... and there we were 2.5 klms underground wondering what to do next. Joye knew what to do... she gripped my arm with vice strength and started to move forward. I suggested that 2.5 klms was too far to walk in utter blackness and that we should wait for an electrician to sort out the problem. No sooner than I offered such advice... the lights came on again. "Whose idea of a joke was that ", we asked. We trudged another 0.5 klms... starting to relax once more... and guess what??? the lights went off again... Joye seized my arm again... this time more gently... the tourniquet on the blood circulation was not complete this time. Again, after a couple of minutes, the lights came back on. We suspect the first blackout was a fuse failing on the prime system... causing the reserve system to kick in... followed by a replacement of the fuse... and a switch back to the main system. All in all, Joye was not amused.
Slovenia appears quite prosperous... roads are excellent... houses are bigger and better maintained... life looks more relaxed. We knew we had exited the Balkans when we saw our first Aldi store. We didn't need any provisions... but couldn't help ourselves.. .. we stopped for a short period of retail therapy.
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