PARIS

For my only real summer holiday I went to Paris, to visit Fady, who I met in London. At first I didn't really like this city. It seemed in a way dirty, old... I don't know, I just didn't like it. Plus, the underground trains are sooooo old (some of them at least; oh, there is network in the metro! hehh...how funny). And (comparing to London) people weren't that friendly, polite. They didn't offer their help with my luggage ;), and 1 guy actually gave me the evil eye for not stepping off the curb (to the street) soon enough?! That was weird! :P But then..walking around it, realizing it's rather small, and cute...I started to like it better.

Now, I'm going to tell you what you should see if you have one week of time ;).
- Paris streets, houses with balconies

- Sacre Coeur + Montmartre
(went here with Slovenian friend Mateja, who went to Paris (and back) exactly the same time as me! :) And we found out about this just 2 days before our flight, heh)

 cimetiere Montmartre; not really a famous sight, but we didn't have anything to do...so we walked around a bit :)

 

Église de la Sainte-Trinité, Opera, Galeries Lafayette, Louvre

- the Louvre, Musée du Louvre

In Paris almost everything, well...a lot of museums, etc are admission free if you are under 26. Grrr... ;). Anyway, the Louvre is huge!! It has 3 floors + the ground floor. So, after 1.5 hours of wandering around and seeing just 1/2 of one floor I decided to just look for the "famous" objects. And even this took me almost another 2 hours! 

 

Seated Scribe, Statue of Ramesses II, Medieval Moat, The Winged Victory of Samothrace, The Wedding Feast at Cana, The consecration of the Emperor Napoleon I, Mona Lisa, Aphrodite ("Venus de Milo")...; isn't that mummy of a cat cute? ;)

- Jardin des Tuileries

Love this area!! :))) And those iron chairs! So great :)

- boat trip on the Seine river

Nice :). 

Eiffel tower, Notre Dame Cathedral, and the building that was the model for the White house (the White house is 7-times bigger than this one)

- Disneyland Paris
Last time I was there, there was just one theme park and I got the impression that Disneyland is more for kids. But now there are 2 parks. And the second one has more interesting attractions :). Of course, there are still carnivals.

 

- Pere Lachaise Cemetery; Cimetière du Père Lachaise

The largest cemetery in the city of Paris. It's said to be the world's most-visited cemetery. A cemetery, where a lot of famous people are buried (e.g. Honore de Balzac, Vincenzo Bellini, Federic Chopin, C. S. Hahnemann, Jean de La Fountaine, Moliere, Jim Morrison, Edith Piaf, Marcel Proust, Oscar Wilde). They actually have maps showing where the graves are. It's kind of a weird feeling walking around the cemetery with a map in your hands. But it's a nice cemetery with a lot of trees...

There was something really weird. People were giving kisses to Oscar Wilde's tomb! And now I've read in the paper that they had cleaned it (because the lipstick was bad for the tomb) and they'd put glass all around it.. Well, when I was there, it was still full of kisses.

- Parc des Buttes Chaumont
A park where you can lie on the grass and get some rest.. Nice view, too.

- Place St Michel (with the fountain that looks the same as the Trevi fountain in Rome), the Sorbonne, Pantheon, Paris plages (sandy beaches)...

- Cite des Sciences et de l'Industrie; + La Geode
Really interesting!! Science museum, with interactive exhibitions.... There was also a (temporary, I think) exhibition called Health Games, a circuit exhibition which measured your well-being. There were some questionnaires, health questions, pictures of healthy and unhealthy body parts (you had to pick the sick one), math questions, physical tests... A lot. There was a polygon where you could try to open doors, drive on different slopes, grounds.. with a wheelchair. Not easy.
La Geode is a giant "ball", that's actually a cinema! :) There are screens all around you...

- Jardin du Luxembourg
With the iron chairs again :)). But you can't walk or lie on the grass.. :(.
While I was there, enjoying the sunny weather, doing nothing...all of the sudden I heard music. There was a festival of Caribbean music! Perfect for that sunny day :)

- Arc de Triomphe + Champs-Elysees; blinking Eiffel tower

C'est tout ;).

Well, actually not quite :). Some music videos featuring Paris (if you want to see even more of it): 1, 2 (not really that much of Paris in this one), 3.

Beautiful Slovenia

Because of all the studying (I know it might sound like I was kidding...but I'm not...really! :)) I only had time for 1 day trips, but they were nice :).

Veliki Draški vrh, 2243 m
A peak with a great view from the top. And there was still snow in the middle of the summer.

 

Soline, Salt-pans

We were really lucky to get the chance to go to Sečoveljske soline and harvest salt from salt evaporation ponds. In these artificially made ponds sea water evaporates, leaving the salt behind. On the bottom of the ponds is so-called petola, a special bio-sediment, microbial mat that prevents the mixing of the sea mud with crystallised salt and also prevents some undesired ions (iron, manganese) from incorporating into the salt crystals. Petola is a really thin mat, so when you harvest salt you have to be very careful not to hurt it, because it takes a long time to grow again. To walk on it you have to wear special shoes. :) But even after just 1.5h of working there you realize that this is not an easy job. Good for your feet though :).

 

Kostanjevica na Krki

 

Pišece

 

Iški vintgar

by bicycle :)

Gorenjci near Adlešiči

Jezero Jezero v Jezeru ;) (a lake "Lake" in the village "Lake")

 

sončnice, ki so se obračale stran od sonca??

Mesečev zaliv

I couldn't believe that this beach is in Slovenia ;). Really nice...I just wish the water was a bit cleaner too. And it was even too warm!! 

Slikarije ;)

During the summer I got the opportunity to participate in (=watch) a professional photo shoot. It was interesting to find out how much work and time it takes to make a professional photo. They were shooting in a really photogenic place :). Although sometimes I was a bit afraid that the ceiling will collapse...:P

And later on I was able to watch a fashion show as well :).

 

And now, what happens if you have to study the whole (whole!!) summer with just a 2-week pause in between? Well, some tend to go craaaaazyyyyy....:P. Of course I'm one of those people. Oh, for the witch mask (they needed a volunteer at film make-up class - something like that) I was wearing false nose and chin, false eyebrows and wax under them...and a whole lot of white colour. And a wig of course. Plus, they told me not to brush my teeth for 3 weeks ;). I looked pretty scary! :D

Dogodki v poletni Ljubljani :)

Yep, there's a lot going on in Ljubljana as well (not just London..); especially during the summer. :)

Tek trojk, "the run of the triplets" ;)

 

Gentleman's concert. Great energy!! :)

Ana Desetnica, street theatre festival

Ljubljana Jazz Festival

 

Mahlerjeva simfonija tisočev, Mahler's "Symphony of a Thousand". There were more than 1000 musicians performing this symphony. :). And there was press from all over the world!

 

Ciganska noč :)

another great concert!! Šukar + Mahala Rai Banda

some more gipsy/flamenkish music: 1, 2 (love this one!), 3

Noči v stari Ljubljani (Nights in Ljubljana Old Town)

There was this guy from Vietnam (Tran Quang Hai) that played on spoons! Just on spoons!! :) He was producing incredible sounds + he had a great band with him (playing other instruments)

 

Rock concert: The Wombats, Editors...

There has been sports events as well...

 

And so, Ljubljana became Hollywood ;)

Brač

End of April, beginning of May we went cycling to Croatian island of Brač. :)

Bol, famous for its beautiful popular beach Zlatni rat (~ "Golden cape").

 

Pustinja Blaca = Blaca hermitage/monastery + hiding place for submarines

Vidova gora, with 778 m the highest peak of the Adriatic (just the islands); and I cycled to the top :))

Milna (I think..) village

All in all...really beautiful island :)).

Last 2 Weeks As Erasmus

Once upon a time...(heheh)
Judit and I went to a wok class, where we learnt how to prepare a Prawn toast. Seems tricky, eh? ;) Well, it actually wasn't that simple. We had to chop almost all the ingredients, but doing that we got to use professional knives. And it was much easier! And faster... And more fun :). Plus, the end results was even edible!

 

Later on that evening I went to watch a football match. Because "my" team, Tottenham (I was living in that area), was playing. Against Real Madrid. :). And I saw how the British cheer. It's actually really easy. They just kept repeating "Tottenham, Tottenham, Toooo....tteeeeennn.....haaaammm...". And when it was 4-0 for Real the started with "You will not win us 5-0....ha ha ha...". And they really didn't. :)

 London by night

The next day I was enjoying the sun in our backyard. It was really nice. Sunny, warm..(and it was the beginning of April!). But in the end I over exaggerated a bit and got sunburned! In London!!?!?! ;)

The London Latin Music Festival :)
Yasmin Levi + Melingo; they were really great!! :D I almost liked Melingo better, although it was actually Yasmin's concert. But he had this energy that made you smile all the time :). Well, actually, now that I think about it, she had it as well! Anyway, it was more than 3 hours of great music :))
[I was really happy that it was a long concert, because I was a bit late (just 15mins, but didn't even have a ticket for the concert yet) ;). The concert started at 7.30 (I think) and I was still at home at 7!! Plus, I had to top up my Oyster... Take 2 buses just to get to the tube. So I decided I won't take the 2nd bus (although it was there, at the bus stop, but the queue was too long for me to wait ;)). I figured, it's just one bus stop. I can walk (=run). Hmm...and because I'm me, I went off the bus a bit too soon, so I ended up running 3 bus stops! But still I came to the tube station before the bus did! Wow, I guess these buses are really slow. And I was running like crazy!!! And then I was running from the tube to the Barbican centre as well, but still, I was late :(. At least I had some exercise ;). ]
Yasmin; Melingo
Later on that night we went to Ronnie Scott's for some relaxing jazz :). Awwwww.... :) I love watching these artists play, because you can see that they are having so much fun.

Ojos de Brujo + Depedro; again a concert where you can't help yourself but to enjoy. Seriously...aaaaa!! :) And when Ojos were playing everybody stood up and started dancing - in front of their chairs! + these concerts are really not expensive...around 10 pounds. Wish we had something like that in Slovenia as well...
(pretty bad picture, but still you can see people dancing...some of them even on the stage..)
Ojos de Brujo; Depedro

Because the sunny weather continued Roni and I decided to go to the Regent's park, and from there to Little Venice :).

 

 

Warwick avenue, "famous" because of Duffy's song

Southbank with Judit

 

British Museum again..:). You can always find something interesting there.

Andrea had her day off, so we decided to go to Royal Academy of Arts. But when we got there, we found out that you have to pay for almost every exhibition, so we were a bit disappointed :(. However, we were really lucky to find work of a special artist on the floor (just in front of the entrance). Ben Wilson is a chewing gum artist! He paints miniature pictures on pieces of discarded chewing gum.

And then we did something I wanted to do for a long time. We rode the bus. The Routemaster! :) It's a part of London public transport so you don't even have to pay extra. How great is that! :)

 

On my last Saturday in London (for some time at least), I was a film star ;). Roni asked me to and I sad yes. It was fun. And now, what have I learned from it....hmmm...when I'm asked to mumble, I can just use my normal voice :), and that I walk funny if there's a slope. Yaaay... ;)

The next day we went to watch Mini London Marathon. Interesting...and a lot of people wears costumes! It must be difficult to run in them.. [Later on, already in Slovenia, I watched a really funny movie, that gets serious when it has to...I don't remember ever hearing so many people laugh in the cinema. And for so long! Anyway there's London marathon as well, so it reminded me of this one...]

 Primrose Hill

Camden

Ritzy cinema. So lovely! ;) Went there on my last day in London with Judit and Andrea.

Then it was the day to leave. I was shocked when I saw 2 relatively small suitcases, in which I had to fit all my luggage that I had 7 months to accumulate! Uff... But I did it :). Managed to get everything to the airport as well, though it wasn't easy (20 kg of "big" luggage, well, 20.1 kg to be exact; and 25 of hand luggage!! Thought I would die on the way there... And had a massive muscle pain 2 days later..;) ). At the airport I of course firstly had to write the postcards...Then they checked my hand luggage. Imagine 25 kg of things. It was a lot. A LOT!! And that guy went through everything! Everything!! And he was so sloooooowwwww!!!! Still, I wasn't nervous... Although on the boarding pass it said that the gates close at 10 past something (don't remember). The baggage screener finally finished at 15 past. And then it took me 10 minutes to stuff everything back inside. But not everything fit. Great :). So I had more clothes in my hands... And I had the whole conversation already prepared in my head, if they asked me about it. It would go like this: "Why do you have so many clothes?" "It's really cold in Slovenia." "Huh, really??" "Yep, it's in Russia. It's obvious. We have almost the same flag." "Oh, yeah...Slovenia!!" ;) But no one asked me anything. I came there a bit more than 5 minutes before scheduled take off. It was a bit stressfull. :P

They thought that 20 kg suitcase was heavy?? ;) + all my bracelets on my hand...so I didn't have excess luggage :).

Get ready!

Well....I'm still here :). It's not exactly tomorrow since my last post...unless you read it yesterday? Hehh. Now, I've got really a lot of things to post about, so I hope you are ready! Some pictures may seem old and almost irrelevant but I think I will post them anyway. :P  Yikes, still have some even from my London times.. Wow, this really seems ages ago!
Ok, here it goes...

Oh, while you wait you can listen to this amazing radio. :)