Back in the USSR, um, I mean Western Europe

I've made it back to western Europe, and it does feel different despite my earlier claims that Slovenia is not really eastern Europe. I was wrong -- my observations were compared with Hungary which most certainly is eastern Europe. But anyway, I am at the home for my former classmate and co-worker, Adam Leigland and his lovely wife and fellow transportation professional, Liz Berdugo. They live here in a small bedroom community near Pordenone in northern Italy. He works at the nearby US military base as a project manager/engineer and she does freelance engineering, is releasing a new line of environmentally-sustainable-fabric clothing, and is writing several novels in her "spare" time.

I slept for another 10 hours last night. Eric says there must be a study showing that constant low-grade stress, like that from traveling, causes one to need significantly more sleep. I did notice that Kaori, after 2 months of traveling alone and having to speak a foreign language all the time, was sleeping like 12 hours a night. I have been fighting a cold for almost a week, which is probably also related. There are also 2 cats in the house....

I am actually amazed that I made it. After lugging my SUB (sport utility backpack, that can roll over any terrain) to the bus station, it turned out I had misread the bus schedule and ended up catching a bus that arrived at the train station in Trieste at exactly the same time that the train for Pordenone left. Fortunately, the bus was 10 minutes early and well went swimmingly. Italy always amazes me when the trains run on time and the buses are early. I guess there are real advantages to low-expectations. They can even make you happy. Adam picked up at the train station right on time in his new SUV. Then we had a lovely dinner of salad (you don't get many veggies while traveling, so this really was a treat) on the patio. Adam had Italian class, but afterwards we all went for gelato, which was yummy and rich and not too sweet. They kept speaking to the people at the ice cream place in Italian and the people kept replying in English. Liz and Adam wondered, how do they know that we are American? (Could it be the hiking boots and fleece?)

The night before last I went to see Monster in Law, with JLo, Jane Fonda, and that guy from Alias. I laughed out loud several times, cried at the end, and left with a smile on my face but I can't really recommend it. I think JLo actually can act, and it was good to see Jane again, but there was nothing interesting or thought provoking about the story. Alas!

When you go to the movies in Slovenia, your seat is assigned with the purchase of your ticket. What I didn't understand when asked where I wanted to sit was which part of the floor plan was the front. All the seats at the back were sold, and thinking that the front is more desirable, I assumed that that was the front. So, my assigned seat was surrounded by groups of teenagers in the third row from the back -- not my preference as all. Once the theater darkened, I moved to sit completely alone in the third row from the front. Don't teenagers in the states prefer to sit in the front?

What I like about sitting at the front of the theater is that the experience is as intense as possible. I mean, I have a big TV at home, and I can lie on my couch and watch it. (I used to have it connected to the stereo, but that changed for reasons not worth going into. Speaking of which, is this paragraph or blog for that matter really worth going into?? Anyway...) So, when I go to the movies I hold my fingers up a foot or so in front of my face to make sure that the screen is significantly bigger proportionally than my TV at home. If not, I might as well have rented a movie.

Afterwards I had a glass of wine at this cafe I went to like twice a day while in Koper. It was right across from the Palace, which is the "most magnificent site in Koper", and on the town square, also in a nice building with a good sized front porch area, and very pleasant. Yesterday morning they played Stairway to Heaven in Gregorian Chanting while I drank my tea. I have nothing really to say about it, but I wanted to describe it a little.

Because of the rain and the bad weather, I don't have much of interest to report. But catch me if you can once I am back in Paris....