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RECIEVED JUNE 26, 2002
Yooo !! Mes Amis,
I hope you are all well. I am writing to you from Sticna where I just met Gregor. He offered me to spend a few days here and with considering the beauty of the place, I only could accept.
Here are some chosen extracts of the diary I like to keep as often as possible. I transmit it to you here without modifications nor corrections.
Sunday June 23rd, 2002 in the evening; It is 1 a.m.
It is the end of the week-end and also the end of very good times in Ljubljana. Today, all I did was wander in the streets with classical music. The master of Tia, a 3-month old female Dalmatian I met on the shore of the Ljubljanica offered me a lemonade at his house, with his friends. He is really very nice and curious, and we had a good chat. In the evening, we drank joyfully with Marko and Peter. It is their only day off. Here, pints of beer are drunk like lemonade! Tough!
They started a conversation in Slovene, about their country Slovenia they liked to see as a leader of Yugoslavia back in the days. Now Slovenia will have to get used to be the last, very last country in the UE, in 2004.
He! Peter! Don t fall asleep and pass it around! Said Marko. As you see, young people are the same in Pau and in Ljubljana.
I hope joining the UE will not change this surprisingly tranquil city too much:. Here, there are no bad boys, no one with unfriendly looks, or very few. No ??? every 30 feet. Here you can take advantage of everything without anyone taking advantage of you.
I already look forward to coming back here in a few months, earlier or later?? Ljubljana is my idea of a city. Beautiful and easy to live (max. 300,000 inhabitants!), with a very uncommon charm. A city at human scale where the human being is respected! Come and visit, you will not regret it.
I was hoping to wake up early tomorrow in order to walk in the fresh temperatures of the morning but considering the late hour, it is going to be difficult. And there is this lager beverage
Monday, June 24th
Just like I expected I could not leave until 9 a.m. and it starts in quite a bad manner as the pain in my ??? Comes back: My shoe is hurting my tendon and I will have to cope with it.
Peter, one of the two roommates that welcomed me had warned me: You should not leave today, the forecast announces 36 Celsius and violent thunderstorms in the evening. I left, still, and he was right! I rarely experienced such an intense heat. The tree in the main square of this village will be my oasis between 12 noon and 3 p.m. I start napping and this lady shows up with a Lasko beer and a chilled fruit juice. I first thought it was a mirage, then a miracle! I leave her the beer and enjoy the fruit juice!
Today, distances seem shorter to me, however my pace is not up to it. I cripple a little occasionally. I move ahead and enter the forest. The road becomes steep and is not concrete anymore. Still, I believe I am in the right direction even is there is no one around! Actually, a deer crosses the path ten meters from me, just like if I didn t exist!
The weather worsens. I need to get somewhere, and get there fast. The map indicates there is a camping site in Visna Gora but for now I see nothing: Neither a camping, nor a village. I get ther finally. A camping? No way! Or maybe yes, 10 years ago! Now it has become the parking lot for the swimming pool.
It is 10 p.m. and I am ??? The waitress of the pool cafe of Visna Gora.
I stay at the swimming pool cafe, she offers me to drink something, makes me some sandwiches, offers me an ice cream! She is very pretty as well! Vesna. And here I am charming her in order for her you find me, at worst a garage or something similar so I do not have to sleep under my tent.
The storm that was announced is here: Terrifying with ??? And wind. I am tired. I walked about 30 km and I look forward to go to bed. Another day I will not forget nor regret.
Tuesday, June 25 in a bed! In Gregor s family home in Stica.
The floor was hard in the construction site of the fire station of Vicjna Gora. I admit I would have preferred another sleeping arrangement, less virtuous! Too bad.
Waking up was hard, too, at 5:20 a.m. with a session of terrible thunder. This storm was following the one of last night. It stayed 3 hours on top of my location. Here there are no doors or windows. There are not even walls but there is a roof and I keep dry and this is the most important. The storm is like a great show and I am in the V.I.P section.
The rains lasts all morning and I stay where I am. I finished my breakfast and it is not even time for lunch yet that a bird approaches and stands on my knee! He is not afraid. I offer him some bread, he devours it and PFFF! Flies away.
I seriously consider coming back to the cafe by the swimming pool, 1- it s on my way, 2- there are some toilets and...
The place is empty and the waitress is not the same person. Still, I stay; I am not in a rush. My objective for the day is Sticna, only 10 km away. Out there is a Sistercian monastery of the 11th century.
Then comes a friend of Vesna with her sister who is a French teacher in Novo Mesto! The poor sister, I speak to her for one hour. It feels so good to be able to express whatever you want to say and being understood. Therefore, I give little attention to the world cup semi finals that are broadcasted on their small TV.
Vesna arrives, we chat a little and then I leave again. I could have looked at her eyes for about another hundred hours, but
My walk is not very gracious but feel surprisingly light. I feel more motivated than ever.
I arrive confident to the monastery : I was told I should possibly get food and shelter there.
Ne! Say the receptionist monk (who did not understand a word of my new language: franco-sloveno-mano! Then I remember the name of Gregor that Simona mentioned last night at the swimming pool cafe, telling me he was a guide for the museum of the monastery. Then, everything got better for me: The monk happily guides me through the rooms of the monastery in order to get to Gregor. He is very friendly and speaks currently English. He gives me a tour of the site. It is fascinating: Here is kept the first manuscript in official Slovene language, from the 13th century. I tell him about my trip. He loves it! He invites me to his home, offers me a room, a bathroom, a kitchen!
We dine together of a few vegetable and good Slovene bread (Here, there is ONLY good bread!) and he takes me to the communal youth center for his theatre rehearsal. He has been in theatre for 10 years and here I am participating to their warm up. It is fascinating! I have a lot of fun. Their director is a very famous young woman. Their troop is actually one of the best in the country (top 5 out of 280 at the last festival of Ljubljana). It s great for me to be here while I expected to be secluded for 24 hours. Everyone is very friendly with me, and shows a lot of interest in my project, too. It is a pleasure to answer all their questions.
Miha, a friend of Gregor offered to drive me tomorrow to the top of their hill from where you are supposed to have a great view on the valley. OK, I will stay here 24 hours or more, because I really feel good here and I am not really in a hurry. So why not enjoy it? I admit at this pace I will take long to get to Romania but actually I think I don t care arriving anywhere: Every mile allows me to meet people more and more charming, welcoming and interesting! So to hell the sport challenge, maps, watches etc.
From now on I plan to move ahead with my FEELINGS! And it feels GOOD!
So, as you understand, Gregor has a computer and a web connection. The 2000 inhabitant village we are in has no similar equipment. Once again I thank luck for having guided me to Sticna. I give you all 1,000,000,000 kisses and hope you will find the time to read this, and most of all find an interest in reading it and share my adventure!
A tres bientot
Amour et Paix,
Roman
PS: a big HRVALA !! (thanks in slovene...) to my sister who transmits the news, translates them in English and created this great website:
http://www.awfp.faithweb.com
RECEIVED JUNE 16TH
Yo ! mes AMIS!
Dear Friends,
I am in Lubljana. I hope everything is OK with you. Well, I am fine.
Let us recap the last week:
I leave Trieste Tuesday morning, a nightmare to leave the city, and head to the border, Slovenia, EAST. I walk 20 km and arrive at the very last Italian grocery store, try to get friendly with the 80-year-old owner but this is pointless: I will spend my first night outdoors under my tent, in the woods.
The day was filled with doubts and questions but and few answers. The day after, I cross the border, and there with my passport I am required to present a credit card. Do you get that?
Then I enter the Slovenia countryside: Magnificent, huge, covered with forests and giant Christmas trees, filled with smells and wild strawberries.
I arrive in Llirska Bistrica after 32 km. Really tired but happy. I ask a retired man in his garden for water. Himself, Elio, and his spouse Majda will be my two first FRIENDS.
There I drink some fruit juices, I eat the best eggs in the world, and try to tell my story in some sort of italo-ispano-anglo-franco-mano-slovene.! And get a taste of their life: Rural, hard, but beautiful! First authentic shared moments.
Thursday, my feet hurt! Blisters, etc. And therefore, I slow down the pace. The Church is closed, this is too bad, so I eat in its shade. I ask for water and I am invited to join the group. I drink the best coffee in my life (no lies!) and I am asked about my life. I say that I come from the area of Lourdes, they love it! One of the two apples they gave me was spoiled, and they give me a third one. I nap in the shade of the outdoor restrooms. It feels good!
Then, there is this 60-year-old lady. She speaks good English because she knows Australia. I am not really thirsty but I share her warm Coke. She seems lonely. Her kids are grown up now. When I arrived, she was praying in front of her personal altar, placed like many other by the road. I spend a moment with her and then leave. At the time of departure, she kissed me goodbye.
I did not sleep very well on Friday, 100 meters away from a very noisy road. I was in the garden of a vacation house. The neighbors were kind and they let me stay there for the night. However, they were not very interested. The father offered me a good, fresh, Slovenia beer. It is very hot these days: 35 celcius every day. I drank the beer in half at once.
(I learned it from my father).
The road is pretty and leads me to Postojna. There I finally find a camping site, and therefore a shower. I get there hitch hicking (only 4 km) because my feet said: STOP!
The place is gorgeous: Shady, in the heart of the forest.
I get to meet a couple from Belgium. He is a cop, she is retired. They speak a very funny French. Together, we visit a gigantic cave: 20km of underground galleries in a small train, with rooms big like gymnasiums, 50 meter ceilings! GREAT! What a joy to be in the center of the earth.
We get back to the camping site and there I decide to get lighter: My bag with food and water was more that 20kg! This is too much for my shoulders. And do I really need a pair of gloves and a polar coat?
I prepare a bag that my friends will mail when they get back home. Actually, I do not trust the post office here.
Finally, my blisters and tiredness will make me get a ride with a German guy from the campsite to Lubljana, from where I am writing to you my friends.
I am planning to stay here all week end and rest a lot in order to be in top shape to embrace this 26th year, apparently placed under the sign of adventure.
So this is the message I prepared for you at the camp site before I started looking for an internet access. But here you have to know that nothing is really normal: This town is the capital, but still it is so small. People from Pau, just imagine it is not even bigger than your city! Others, come and visit Pau in order to get an idea ;)
It was impossible to find a computer in the whole city! I asked help to a young man, and he just invited me to his home! Really Cool! Without him, I could not send this message! By the way, forgive me for giving so many details, but you know the fact of being alone has many pros, but the major drawback is that you want to share all those moments. Even though I think about ALL of you very often, I feel like telling you all that I see and experience, all that I did there.
But I may not have the occasion to do it very often considering the poor condition of the computer network here in Slovenia.
In any case, be sure that if there are still some difficult moments, I have no more doubt and I know now that I love what I am doing and I am proud if it!
ENORMES BISES A TOUS ET A TRES BIENTOT,
PeAcE and LoVe
Roman ( en Slovene...)
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