Another week, another country, another talk. This time at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. A guest lecture and then dinner. Dinner was in a lovely modern restaurant in the castle! Quite a hike up there, but worth the exertion. I had a salad and then some sort of grilled fish, which they serve (as do the Croats) with swiss chard and potatoes. Yum. The complementary nibbles were amazing too—delicious but artery-clogging pieces of pork crackling fried until crisp and eaten with bread. This is not a part of the world that is friendly to vegetarians. It is sausage land. I’ve eaten a lot of sausages: hot, cold, smoked, unsmoked, dry, juicy—you name it.
I want to say a word about Euro breakfasts too. At these smallish hotels I’ve been staying in you get breakfast. And this is not your English fry-up. Nor is it the French half baguette or croissant and jam. And let’s not even mention some pitiful offerings at modest North American lodgings—I’ve seen fake “juice” and stale muffins or dry wonderbread and coffee that is undrinkable. No, this is a generous meal, self-serve, but eaten at a table with tablecloth and simple but elegant dishes and cutlery. On offer this morning at the Hotel Pri Mraku was the following: all manner of breads, buns and croissants, cold platters with salad vegetables, cheeses, hams and other cold cuts, boiled eggs, scrambled eggs and ham, mushrooms sauted with onions and (I think) cheese, bacon (cut in thick slabs), cereals, cake, yogurts, fresh fruits both whole and cut up in a fruit salad. Okay the coffee came out of a machine, but it was good. This is the way to start a day. This is a way to say to your guest, welcome.
I’m off to explore the town for a few hours before the train takes me back to Zagreb. This visiting professor gig is sweet!
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