Flying from Tel Aviv

Europe from the air. My first view of the Alps, jagged and snow capped. Plate tectonics plus erosion are powerful indeed. I have no idea where I am and the clouds obscure the view, but at least I had a moment’s view. I’ve been in the air or, at least, on the plane for nearly four hours. I must have slept for two of those hours. My schedule is to land in Frankfurt at 9:15 local time, which is 10:15 Tel Aviv time. I’m in Frankfurt for an hour and fifteen minutes. I guess I’ll get to see yet another interior of an airport, and perhaps a little tarmac, too. Then it is an hour and twenty-minute hop (gate to gate) to Ljubljana (that’s loob-lee-YAWN-ah) where I’ll actually be able to leave the airport. In fact, I’ll have an entire week, including today, to explore Ljubljana and the surrounding country.

What’s a Ljubljana? It is the capital of Slovenia, which is a former province of Yugoslavia. In fact, Slovenia is the first province of Yugoslavia to break free of that federation and the only one to do so without having to put up much of a fight. It also was the western-most province of Yugoslavia and I am told the most modern and Western as well. This is the only country that lies due east of Italy, by land, and, along with Italy, forms the southern border of Austria. Ljubljana itself is some distance further west than Vienna.

Oddly, Ljubljana and Slovenia will be the first European cities I will visit (ignoring my moments in the Frankfurt airport), this being my first trip to Europe and, also, my first trip across the Atlantic from the U.S.A. Why Slovenia? Science! I am visiting a Biophysicist/Phage Ecologist who works at the University of Ljubljana, who I have been collaborating with since this past June on a theoretical paper on the evolution of bacteriophage latent period (the amount of time a virus of a bacterium takes to completely infect and then destroy a bacterium). This should be fun!

Germany on the ground. Ultramodern land of beer.(before 10:00 am!), trees, and very small bathrooms. OK, admittedly the last statement is based on a sample size of n=1, but still it is almost shocking to walk through the door from a cavernous airport terminal to what is essentially a four-person “airplane” rest room. Everybody apologizing to each other and getting out of each other’s way, all in multiple languages. And the Frankfort airport is at least as confusing an airport as I’ve ever been in (and in a week I’ll be back for a second try). Wow!

But the view from the air on our approach to Frankfurt was amazing. The countryside is divvied up into hamlets with discrete boundaries – no grossly excessive (e.g., normal American) suburban sprawl here – surrounded by cropland, surrounded by forests. Imagine that, a place where one can live near a forest without having to first purchase 300 acres and then waiting 60 years. Yes, I’m going to enjoy Germany. It’s just too bad I’ll only be here for a little over one-half hour.

Flying from Frankfurt

So this is interesting. Here I sit in an Adria Airways Airbus A320 as perhaps the only monolingual English speaker on the airplane. And what is worse, I don’t even know what language is spoken in Slovenia. So much for taking my brother’s advice and learning a few phrases of the language before arriving. Now would be a good moment to have a “Slovenian” phrase book to read as we make our hop over to Ljubljana. At least my language capabilities are limited to English rather than something totally obscure. This should be fun (I naively think as I buckle my belt and await takeoff). (P.S., the in-flight magazine was made for me with an intro to the country, in English! The native tongue of Slovenia is “Slovene”)

Here are some Slovenia facts: Half of the country is forested (what a concept!), there are a whopping 47 kilometers of coastline (that’s about 30 miles). The population of the entire country is 2 million. “The Slovene cuisine is unique.” Goody!

My first Slovenian meal is served on the plane. OK, it was airplane food, but it wasn’t too bad (as a person who normally tends to avoid excessive sugar, salt, and fat in my diet, I actually find airplane food to be remarkable if not necessarily great and, of course, to be avoided under different circumstances). Anyway, it would appear that for the coming week I will be abandoning all pretexts of vegetarianism. P.S., the desert tasted like Drake “Yodels.” I haven’t had one of those in so long that I can’t believe that I can even remember their name. And, oh yes, it’s “Sparkling water,” not seltzer, not club soda, and certainly not carbonated water (though “water with bubbles in it” works in a pinch).

Slovenia

Day 2 in Slovenia. Yesterday my yet again new host picked me up at the Ljubljana airport. Customs once again was ridiculously easy to pass through. It was harder for me to repack my backpack coming off the plane. The weather, as promised, was wet, but not terribly cold. We stopped by his condo for lunch with his wife and daughter and then went to his lab where I met his colleagues. Good people, good facilities, nice building. And, yes, this is all and always ultimately about science.

We talked phage ecology and together were able to motivate forward our long-sought goal of tightening up the manuscript we’ve been working on for the past five months. He convinced me to do a fairly straightforward experiment and simulation. I think that most of the components I need to do the simulation are already in place, so I’m now excited to get working on the experiments.

Last night I watched a little of Stargate in German without the benefit of English subtitles. It’s a stupid move even without an understanding of what people are saying. Still, one can figure out a surprising amount from context, similarity to English, or just plain English used from time to time. I’m convinced that I should be watching foreign films on DVD over and over to help to get me familiarized with languages such as Hebrew. My host suggests, though, that perhaps I would be wasting my time were I to attempt to learn even a single word of Slovene. I perhaps agree with him given how long it has taken me to even pronounce Ljubljana (which, from listening, I’m now convinced has at least two legitimate pronunciations, one a contraction of the other—even the natives don’t want to take on the effort of correctly pronouncing the name of their own capital).

Ljubljana (whether Lub-lee-YAWN-ah or simply Lub-YAWN-ah) is a city of perhaps 200,000, with another 100,000 in the surrounding area. It is green and rural and nestled right up against the foothills of the Alps. From the porch of my host’s condominium we can see these foothills, steeply rising up from the plane. There are many cars, mostly Renaults (particularly the Renault R4 which was once built in Slovenia) with a very expensive BMW thrown in from time to time (and of course the ubiquitous Mercedes). The city seems prosperous, though perhaps not by U.S. standards. I like it!

Breakfast in Ljubljana

I manage to sleep nearly 12 hours last night, I guess that waking at 2:30 the previous morning had gotten to me. Even with a baby in the next room it is still much quieter here than in the city (i.e., Tel Aviv). Still, there is something very compelling as I think back to my morning walks on the beach and those amazing breakfast buffets. Oh well, Israel (I hope) is not going anywhere any time soon.

I wander into the kitchen and start up a conversation with the lady of the house (my host’s wife—I spent the night on their foldout couch). Their range is quite modern looking, though small, but unusual in that it has two gas burners on one side and two electric burners on the other. Why? Apparently the gas side is in case the electricity is interrupted. But why then not all gas? Apparently in the countryside one uses bottled gas (I assume propane) purchased in relatively small tanks so in that case one uses the electricity in case the bottle gas is interrupted (and vice versa). This is all very complicated, and it has never occurred to me that a 350 gallon propane tank could be yet another symbol of America’s enormous affluence, but there you are. Still, I have a suspicion that Slovenia exists at the upper end of middle-level world-wide levels of affluence—a country on the verge of forsaking the more important things for the sake of the twin evils of affluence and luxury. Let’s hope not.

I feel compelled to write about the bathroom incident. So, in the middle of the night nature calls and I make my way to the common bathroom (one bathroom “common” to each apartment, that is), close the door, and, apparently, lock it behind me. When done I, of course, attempt to reverse this process, but I can’t unlock the door. I turn the key, then press down on the handle and pull, but I’m still locked in. I search for a light switch, but there are none! I fiddle, attempting to open the door, almost losing the key in the process. Finally I figure out how to turn the key and open the door after systematically walking through all of the possible permutations of direction, number of twists, and handle turnings. The next morning I relate this to my host and he thinks it is hilarious (good sense of humor) and relates to me how sometime during the just-passed night he had heard a sound that he interpreted as someone fiddling with the front door, and since it was the middle of the night and he couldn’t figure out why anyone would be fiddling with the front door, he dismissed it as just his imagination. Little did he know who (what?) he now had as a house guest!

I finished relating the above story and then sat down to breakfast. I’m offered a white paste in a jar and am told that it is “hot”. I can’t read a word on the jar so guess that a white, refrigerated paste that is “hot” could only be horse radish, and I’m right (amazing). I gaze across the table and spy the milk (which I don’t drink) but am intrigued by the large “1.6” on the side. Huh? Could that be the percentage milk fat? Yes it is. Apparently they buy their milk in 3.2, 1.6, or 0.5 milk-fat percentages. Remarkable.

A short hike in the rain

On Saturday, my first full day in Slovenia, we went on a short hike outside of Ljubljana. This turned into a touch more adventure than we had bargained for. The hike was up and about a series of waterfalls tumbling down off of a local hill. Of particular relevance is that it has been raining in Slovenia fairly steadily for about three weeks. And, it being November, the leaves on the trees are all more or less down on the ground. This meant that the waterfalls were spectacular while our footing was less so. We set off up the trail in the rain.

The falls were indeed quite wonderful but there was so much water that it was difficult for me to tell what was falls and what was merely stream between falls. By the time we had reached the third falls (of five) I simply had no idea that we had already passed two. Thus, when my host asked whether I wanted to go on to see the fourth and fifth falls I, of course, immediately said yes. As it turned out, falls 1-3 were relatively easy to bag while falls 4-5 would be earned. The going was very steep and slippery. This ranged from picking hand and foot holds on rock otherwise covered with leaves and mud (with a long slide promised if we picked unwisely), to steep stairs, ladders, and just plain rock with metal hand and foot holds. I figured, given the slippery conditions, that these short climbs were pushing me about 8/10th of the way to what I was capable of going. And then we came to the bridge.

We had already crossed the stream on several bridges, each of which was little more than a few lashed-together logs, with cable railings. This next bridge was the same but for three caveats. One was that one of the cable handholds was broken. The second was that the logs were impossibly slippery so that one had to wedge one’s feet between them to gain any grip at all. Three was that the bridge was at the top of falls number four, which were perhaps fifty to one-hundred feet high and flowing mightily.

My host made it across and then it was my turn. Slowly I shuffled, trying to make sure that I had secured each step before committing to the next. Half way across I felt a surge of adrenaline, but I did my best to avoid the growing fear and panic. I couldn’t see how my freaking out at this particularly moment would in any way improve the situation. So I shuffled on, finally to the other side. Perhaps 20 feet in all. Very mucho crazy stuff, and nothing like taking a warm, sunny stroll on a Mediterranean beach.

Falls number five were also impressive and the bridge beneath them not nearly as hazardous, at least had it existed. Unfortunately, it had been washed away in, I assume, one of their many recent storms. This meant that we either turned around (to face the slippery bridge over falls number four again—No way!) or find an alternative route across. I chose jumping from rock to rock but only ended up with thoroughly wet shoes. My host learned from my mistakes and removed his shoes and waded across. The water was cold, fast, and abundant, though not even up to our knees. We were wet, proud, but not quite cold to the bone. In other words, we took this opportunity to rejoice in a job well done.

We took an alternative route down that was fairly flat and easy, but we still slipped a number of times on the mud and leaves and were even attacked by a dog. Very exciting stuff. If this is what Slovenia is all about, I like it. In fact, there is a trail in Slovenia that goes from hill (to mountain) to hill (kind of like the U.S. Appalachian trail) for nearly 1000 kilometers. I like this country.

Shopping and dining outside of Ljubljana

The flip side of Slovenia is also fascinating. I’ll call it America-like but without grocery bagging upon check out, no waiter tipping in restaurants, and very strange accents. After drying off we went shopping at a local grocery store. This turned out to be an ultra-modern, multi-acre, super-duper market, complete, inside, with mini stores (e.g., a bank, a fashion joint, a pizza place with live music—weirdly accented Abba). Clearly Slovenes do not lack for American-style convenience shopping. It’s actually a little sad, but I guess that there is no stopping materialism.

That evening we dined on Slovene food (soup, noodles, and grilled squid for me—poor little mollusks!), which was very good, though not too different from “American” food. We even drank Slovene wine and Slovene beer, which were also pretty darn good. On the down side, I was-during this week-plus trip through Israel and now Slovenia-finally reaching the point where I was spending more money than I was receiving. Bummer! But I guess the spending of money is a price one sometimes must pay to see the world…

The Alps

The following morning it stopped raining! Slovenia: California-East with smaller cars, funny “accents” and only 30 miles of coastline? Perhaps. Regardless, it was now time for a road trip. We all packed into a tiny car (but, hey, I like tiny cars) and set off towards the mountains. This involved heading north from Ljubljana for about an hour of driving on the four-lane highway, or perhaps two hours on the older two-laner that paralleled the highway. This was wonderful, agrarian, traditional countryside complete with modern conveniences for us weanies. Food, gas, places to sleep… what more could one possibly want?

What a day. Northwestern Slovenia is nestled up against the Italian Alps, which are to the west, and the Austrian Alps, which are to the north. Basically Northwestern Slovenia is a slice of the Southern Alps. Gorgeous alpine valleys and craggy, mostly snow-capped peaks. We visited a series of ski jumps, one of which we climbed to the top. Driving back we visited Bled, a city on a lake complete with a castle on a cliff, a church on an island, and a Harley Davidson Motorcycle dealership. Later than evening, beyond Bled, we ate dinner at the top of a long drive, high in the hills, overlooking a place called Skofia Laka (which is pronounced ShKo’fia La’ka) while getting wonderfully tipsy on the house wine. Then we toured through the 17th century town of Skofia Laka. And all along the way, as we approached town, we took in an amazing, rural, alpine landscape.

As we drove along, with the help of my hosts, I spent some time attempting to pronounce the place-name signs. Much to my hosts’ delight and amazement I’ve decided that Slovene is a fairly easy and fun language, at least to pronounce. It seems to be a combination of Slavic and Latin. Many of my Spanish pronunciations are dead on Slovene (so long as I try to sound more Slavic than Arabic). Though with the caveat that I’ve never actually visited the rest of Europe, let me at least venture to conclude that this is a fairly amazing place, with ready access to Italy and Austria if the Slovene Alps aren’t sufficient to hold one’s interest. Next time, should it be winter, I’ll be going skiing too! So, what more could one ask for? Cold weather in the winter but not too cold, the Alps, very American-like but not disgustingly so, a low density of people, not much traffic, a fun language, and even 30 miles of coast on the Adriatic.

Setting out on my own

It’s a little after one in the afternoon. The sun is shining brightly over my left shoulder. I’ve let my hair down rather than don my hat. The sky is blue. I’m perhaps 100 kilometers from Ljubljana. Lot’s of wrong turns on the way down, driving through thick, green woods, small towns, and, yet again, amazing countryside. The “hills” in Vermont one would call mountains. The roads wind through towns, barely missing (by centimeters) houses that must be centuries old. The traffic is light. I only come close to getting into three accidents, each my own fault. I need to be more careful.

I’m sitting at an outdoor table in a café in Piran, Slovenia. No ice coffee (Bummer!) but I’m drinking the suggested “white coffee” instead. Soon I will need to wean myself back off of this stuff (Bummer again!). In front of me, heading to the horizon, is a very flat Mediterranean sea (well, Adriatic actually; the Golfo di Trieste to be even more exact). This is just a hop, skip, and a jump from Venice. It’s a little on the warm side this November 29, perhaps the low 70’s. Have I mentioned that the sun is shining and the sky is blue? Do I really have to leave this place? Tragedy! Oh, yes, lest I forget, the water is sparkling, clear, and still warm enough to swim in, which I hope to try doing later this afternoon.

The town of Piran is a port with steep hills descending into the sea and numerous streets, turns, and tunnels through buildings. It seems to be an old city, at least by American standards. People are strolling along the walk next to the sea. Time to join them.

Later that evening, having failed to find a place to swim, I’m crossing the border into Italy at Trieste. My second impression of Italy is “Gee this place is crowded!” My first impression was of how easy it was to cross the border into it. My third impression was “Where the heck am I now?” and how do I find the road to Venice? Southwest, I figured, and with the sun still shining, barely, this meant heading off into the sunset.

Link to my first trip to Italy

Returning to Ljubljana

Finally he relents. Its taken only about one-half hour but feels like a third of the day. He explains to me that car documents are very important. I thank him though point out (fool that I am) that it was he, not I, who couldnt find the (bloomin) proper document (in other words, I said, Sí then paused, then pointed at the document case). Then I said, Gratsi, Gratsi! I would have added, Prego, Prego! but by then I figured that I had already pushed my luck far enough. Suddenly I was driving in the Slovene Alps. Halleluiah!

Here is the rest of the story

The guard at the Slovenian crossing was only too happy to see an American tourist visiting his country. I imagine that not too many American tourists enter Slovenia by this route. We waves me through with a big smile.

Slovenia at this point isnt too different from North-Eastern Italy. Instead there is a gradual change from North-Central Italy to Eastern Italy. Apparently this part of Italy was once part of Slovenia. So once in Slovenia things were not too different. However, here it was wetter and much more in the middle of the Alps than it was further west. It was also much quainter, quieter, prettier, and less-densely populated. At the same time, the country seemed to be hard at work to identify and update any problems with their infrastructure. The result is an impressive mix of modern functionality without modern excesses. Thus, the roads are narrow, but well paved, with newish guard rails where newish guard rails are appropriate, but still a good dose of natural selection against drivers that shouldnt be behind the wheel. The stores take credit cards, may carry cell phones, and the cars are all well maintained. This is a country that is going places, and I just might survive this trip.

On the way back to Ljubljana, but with a twist, almost. Rather than taking a direct route, I instead pick a road that transects their national monument found in the northwest corner of the country. These are the Slovene alps and this park includes Slovenias tallest mountain. The road across the park goes straight up, into the mountains one harrowing switch back at a time. Emphasis must be on keeping my small car on the tight road while avoiding oncoming traffic (thankfully few in number). Across the valley is a triangular peak that periodically blocks the afternoon sun, dropping off to the west. I pass one car on a turn (he going down, me heading up). The car stops midturn and just sits there, a wild-eyed look on the drivers face. I have no idea what the problem is and dont intend to also stop my car in the middle of the road. Perhaps the driver had looked ahead because moments later, after I had parked my car at the top of the pass, a large step van comes careening up from the western side of the road, and then, without pausing, goes careening down the other side. Was this a short cut, he saving time, or was he delivering on the mountain itself? Either way, Im glad I was parked when he passed me.

At the top of the pass, with mountains still steeply rising to the south and to the north, towering over the pass, there sits a multistoried alpine house/restaurant/Im not sure what else, seemingly closed. Down the other side was greener, less bleak, less intense. Darker, too, since the sun was now shining only on the other side of the mountain. Though mostly paved with asphalt, the turns retained a presumably grippier small cobble stone, done in a pattern similar to that seen in Ljubljana. Meanwhile there are more roadside businesses on the way down. No time to stop. Ive an appointment in Ljubljana at 7:00.

At the bottom I finally stop for food (recall that I have been on the roadstarting in Venicesince approximately 7:00 that morning). Though it had been my intention to have eaten many on this trip, I purchased my first baguette and cheese at the bottom of the mountain. This is breakfast and lunch rolled into one. It is about 3:40 (12 hours after I had gone to sleep the night before). I need to get to Bled, Slovenia, before 5:00.

The drive is fast. I reach Bled in time. The store is open. I buy two souvenirs (when last in Bled it was Sunday so I was only able to admire them through the store window). Then it is on to Ljubljana, which I reach at 5:00. Now I want to visit a book store, buy gas, then return the rental car. I have three maps of Ljubljana so search for a street sign to orient myself. The sun has set so my only sense of direction comes from knowing the direction I came from.

The traffic is fast and chaotic. I cant see any street signs. I drive and drive but nothing. I take a chance that I know where I am but just get more lost. I drive around and around, hoping to also spot a gas station. By 6:00 (an hour after entering Ljubljana) I still have no idea where I am. I spot a gas station and fuel up. Soon, finally, I spot a landmark that is on the map. I actually know exactly where I am, on the map at least. I follow a path that should return me to the rental agency and nothing! I cant retrace my steps with all of the one-way streets, no U-turns, and traffic.

I spot a building (for the third time) that should have been on the map, but isnt. I decide to concentrate in this area on finding a street sign. I drive around and around this block. I park the car and get out. Still, no street sign. No landmarks that are on the map! I give up and leave to try elsewhere. I need to either find the rental place by 7:00 and give my host a call, or simply find a landmark near a public phone from which to call (the relevance of owning a cell phone becomes ever clearer). I randomly drive and turn this way and that, becoming as aggressive as the locals now that I have no concern about where I am heading. 6:50. Time to simply find a public phone. I park the car. Look around for a phone and then spy the car rental agency, right in front of me. Two hours of diligent searching and I find it by accident. Amazing!

Of course, I had trouble finding my host by phone. 45 minutes later, as Im about to give up, there he is, standing in front of me (this seems to be a theme, and it only gets worse). They arrived at 7:00 to pick me up, but somehow we had missed each other. He suggests dinner so we head off towards the restaurant. We walk 100 yards and we come upon road construction that looks familiar. It is the spot I earlier had parked to search for a street sign. I look up and there is the landmark building that should have been on the map but wasnt. I look behind me and see the block that I had circled at least five times while desperately looking for a street signmy default circle till I found one, a randomly selected quarter of Ljubljana. And there, in plain site was, not a street sign, but the rental agency!!!! That evening I ate like a king, drank like a lush, slept like a baby.

The next day I flew out of Slovenia and, suddenly, there I was in the airport in Frankfurt, Germany. Im surrounded by North-American accents. What a change. Returning to a land where everyone speaks English. What a concept.

Return trips are always boring and at best uneventful. This so far is no exception. I have two long layovers, one in Frankfurt and the other in Toronto. Still, it takes me only one day to return to Ohio, starting at about 7:00 AM from the airport in Ljubljana and arriving at our door in Ohio the same evening. What a trip. Cant wait to return (cant wait even more to take my first shower in days). For those of you who are into money, the total trip has cost me, out of pocket, less than $200, with most of that money spent during the last two days. Thanks to everyone for your support, especially Asher and the Stopars. Best to all of you. See you soon.

Addendum, I thought he was back from Europe! There was a decided lag between my return from Europe and my finishing sending off e-mails recounting the trip. At times my e-mails were so immediate, with me sending from internet cafes as events were unfolding. But thanks to an absence of internet access in both Frankfurt and Toronto, it was not until after I returned, indeed sometime after, that I sent off my last few e-mails. Thinking that I was still writing from Europe, some months later, by boss went into a panic. Whos covering Abedons classes? Well, Abedon was, and drawing the reader in, blurring the line between story and reality, I suppose is what writing is supposed to do.