The Js are Silent

Like elsewhere, it’s been hot here in Ljubljana. It hasn’t cracked the 35 degree Celsius mark (that’s 95 Fahrenheit), so we can’t complain too much. Lately, the days of heat are punctuated by the occasional lashings of high winds, heavy rain, and even a bit of hail. Humidity and thunderstorms are not unusual in themselves here, it’s really the severity that has been causing the damage across the country.

After a life of “boring” San Francisco Bay Area weather, it’s something else to have a front row seat to the elements from our 11^th story windows. Krista is obsessed with taking photos of clouds and rainbows.

When we renovated our apartment, we made sure to install ceiling fans in most of the rooms, as well as external shades on all of the windows. The idea is that those two things will mean we will only rarely have to turn on our mini-split A/C units, thus saving lots of energy. We’re happy to report that despite the heat, we’re not really running the A/C that often. The shades and the fans are doing their jobs of keeping this place reasonably comfortable (though occasionally we do let the A/C rip, especially when it just refuses to cool off at night when we’re trying to sleep).

Enough about the weather–here’s more about what we’ve been up to. A lot of catching up to do…

Language Intensive Completed!

In May, Rory completed the 3 month Slovene language intensive course that was like a full-time job. It’s a great course that gave him an excellent foundation and understanding of Slovene grammar and he met a great cohort of fellow learners. As expected, he is not close to fluency, it’s a tough language, chock full of rules and exceptions to the rules. He is able to have small talk with neighbors, is asking for things at shops and farmers’ market, and started going to foreign language films subtitled in Slovene. But most important, he can order beer and a bump at the pub (pivo in žlico burbona, prosim)!

Given that we did this move right after Rory left the CPUC, and then he soon started the 5-day a week language course, he actually did not feel retired until May 24, the last day of class. Since then, however, Rory has had quite a break and started enjoying some extra downtime. But never one to be idle for too long, he has been doing a bit of networking – looking for some part time energy policy consulting to keep him busy.

Lake Bled

As a birthday surprise, Krista teamed up with her family for a long weekend away at a nice hotel on Lake Bled. Bled is a beautiful alpine lake and resort town that is one of Slovenia’s most visited spots. We stayed at the very nice Triglav Hotel, which has been around since 1906 and has Wes Anderson “Grand Budapest Hotel” kind of vibes. It’s also on the less busy side of the lake.

There was a massive rowing competition happening while we were there, which attracted rowers mostly from around Europe. I think we did hear there were Australians involved as well. It was a nice way to spend the weekend right after the language course ended–we did some hiking, rode “summer toboggans” down a steep hill, and of course enjoyed the food and drink.

We traveled to Bled by train–there are several a day that go from Ljubljana to a station that is practically at the front door of our hotel. It’s a beautiful ride, and a great way to travel. Awesome scenery. The picture below is the train station–also Wes Anderson-ish.

Venice Biennale

When we were asked by our good friends Steve and Denise to join them in Venice for the Biennale, we of course said yes. The trip was just 3 hours from Ljubljana. Steve just retired from being a nurse, and they left their Portland home to tour around Europe one day before we did. You can read all about their travels (along with their standard poodle Coco) at their blog “Calculating Route.” They are far more prolific than we are, and given that they’re nomadically wandering around Europe, there’s a lot more variety to their travels.

As for the Biennale, we were pleasantly surprised to find that it’s quite affordable–we had always had this image of it being only for the art insiders. It’s actually a huge art fair that costs about the same as going to a museum, and is spread over many sites throughout Venice. It alternates between art and architecture every other year–this year was architecture. A big theme was building with climate adaptation and social justice in mind, especially in the developing world. The displays were sometimes over-the-top, sometimes esoteric, and sometimes just practical. And then of course, there’s Venice itself, which is beautiful, mysterious, and in some parts packed with tourists. Luckily our apartment was a bit out of the tourist fray and close to the Arsenale exhibition space.

Here are some favorite photos:

Chile’s Pavilion – voted most likely to be in Middle Earth. Super ethereal

Commissioned Works

Houseguests

We have had the pleasure of hosting a few people, which is easy to do with 2 guest bedrooms (hint, hint!). In May, we welcomed Amanda and Will. Amanda is the niece of Pete, one of my bosses from the CPUC. Amanda and Will were recently married, and for their honeymoon decided to bike from Barcelona to Zagreb, spending a week or so going through Slovenia. Will owns a bike shop in Massachusetts, so they were bike touring pros. And absolutely lovely guests!

In June, we had Joy Morgenstern, her wife Amy, and their daughter Indigo come for a visit. A stop off on their two-month long European tour. Rory worked with Joy at the CPUC–she was the cost effectiveness wizard, in-house energy policy trainer, and all around smart person. Joy is also recently retired (seems there’s a theme going on here!). Amy is on sabbatical from her job and Indigo is a wunderkind taking it all in. We had a blast hosting this trio!

Other Stuff to Note…

Just a few other things we’ve been up to. We saw a lot of great music at Ljubljana’s “Druga Godba” festival, including Raul Refree, Sudan Archives, and Viexu Farke Toure. We’ve been sampling Slovenia’s spa towns, which are affordable and relaxing places to swim, sit in pools and saunas, and get massages. They’re mostly all supplied with natural thermal waters. And then we’ve been figuring out the good trails for hiking and good roads for cycling. Last week we went on a ride to the small and beautiful medieval town of Skofja Loka, about 25 km north of Ljubljana. Photos below.

Most importantly, Chester got a new bed and he loves it! Goodbye to the old cardboard album box, hello new bed! (which happens to look a lot like what Mork came down to earth in on Mork and Mindy. Okay, dating ourselves big time here!)

Upcoming…

We have a lot of fun things planned going through the end of the year and the beginning of 2024. We’ll be taking advantage of a series of films they’re showing in the courtyard of Ljubljana Castle, ending with the Ljubljana premiere of Asteroid City (again, Wes Anderson is name dropped). We’ll be spending a couple of days at Slovenia’s oldest spa near the city of Novo Mesto. We’ll be cashing in my retirement present from my colleagues, which is a long weekend farm stay in the Julian Alps. We’ll be seeing a very rare live appearance by Brian Eno in Berlin in October. We’ll do a “friends and family” tour around Europe in November, with stops in England, Amsterdam, Hannover, along with “Le Guess Who” music festival in Utrecht.

And finally we’ll be going on a long trip to the West Coast at the end of the year and into January. We are really looking forward to catching up with family, friends, and colleagues during these trips, meeting new folks, and having some new adventures along the way.