I am excited to tell you that I went to Slovenia! Yesterday, for all of 30 minutes, with Mario Zanusso of I Clivi, when he went to buy gas. I'm ready to write the definitive American travel guide on that exotic country.
It was entering another world. One minute you're in Italy, the next -- through a now-deserted border station that looks like a beer drive-thru outside an Indian reservation -- you're getting gas for 20% cheaper in a country where they speak a language full of diacritical marks! It's like having ants on your tongue!
Slovenia's like Friuli, really, only sort of run down.
It's a wine wonderland. Their vineyards are full of international varieties. They use quaint training methods for their vines. I heard that some winemakers not only use ancient-style amphorae to vinify and store their wines, the most innovative among them are beginning to use the tin bathtubs of their forefathers (a prized possession of the rich), rain barrels and shallow ponds to lend the wine ever-greater naturalness and authenticity. It's a dizzying mixture of worlds, Old and New, of eras, Modern and Prehistoric, and of orientations, International and Village, that promises stunning new oenological developments. They use the euro too. Slovenia has it all.
I took pictures of this amazing place, staying ahead of the Secret Police every step of the way, but of course I forgot the cable that would enable me to download them. Alas, you will have to wait a long time to see them, possibly till next Monday.
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I am in Venice now. The weather continued fine yet again today -- a cloudless sky and no wind -- and the city was pretty to look at. Last time I was here, the weather was wretched for five days. We left early, headed for Rome, where it was far warmer and sunnier. No such complaints this time. Especially when I read what it's been like back home.
Another bonus was that, thanks to Ken's smarts and the Starwood Preferred Guest program, we have been given a suite at the Europa and Regina Hotel overlooking the Grand Canal for $99 a night. Bucks, not euros. You can't stay in most Holiday Inns in the States for that. A paradox in a city where a ride on the public transportation, the vaporetto, costs about 10 bucks a pop.
No wonder they give the native Venetians the sconto veneziano.
That discount amounts to about 50%, and I saw it in action tonight with
a very nice young couple, Paolo and Dana, who are studying to get their
sommelier diplomas. No wonder the city's residents have left in
droves. Mostly the very old and the very rich live here now.
And you still can't get a reliable Internet connection!
we stayed at the Europa and Regina the last time we were in Venice, lovely hotel, beautiful little place to sit out eating breakfast or having drinks in the afternoon and watch the canal and lagoon, but i promise we paid more than $99. Ken's a good guy to have around.
Posted by: Fredric Koeppel | February 15, 2008 at 10:50 AM
He kind of is.
Posted by: Terry | February 15, 2008 at 02:22 PM