Dobra dan (Slovenian 'good afternoon'),

Most people haven't heard of Slovenia (or they confuse it with Slovakia), let alone their hard-to-pronounce capital city of Ljubljana, but this richest and smallest of the former Yugoslav republics is well worth a visit. Ljubljana (Slovenian for 'Beloved') easily belongs on my list of world's most beautiful cities. It's kind of a reduced version of Prague (my choice for most beautiful city) without the hoards of tourists. It has a lot of nooks and crannies to explore, willow-lined canals and pedestrian paths to stroll and trendy little cafes in which to hang out. It has the feel of a youthful place, with 25,000 students at the university near the center of the old city.

Coffee is richer and tastier here in Europe than in America. I always look forward to visit Europe for some of its simpler pleasures. They do breads and pastries better than we do also, and their beer has always been great, although American micro-brews are now nearly as good. Prices are cheaper in Slovenia. A $3.00 coffee in Switzerland is just 70 cents here.

I've told people that for practical reasons when I travel overseas I loosen my dietary restrictions, and instead of being a strict vegan, I will consume dairy products and perhaps fish (though still no meat). My time is too restrictive to go hunting down places with vegetarian options, and besides ... I'm on vacation! What actually happens is kind of a reverse-Lent, and I often give in to full-blown indulgence, sampling every cheese-covered product and ice-cream flavor of which I've deprived myself for so long.

I spent my birthday (April Fools Day) in the home town of my great (or is it my great, great) grandfather Fredolin Luchsinger and great, great grandmother Elsbet Marti. Glarus, Switzerland is in a jaw-droppingly beautiful place set in a glacial-carved U-shaped valley closely surrounded on all sides by steep avalanche-prone rock faces 9,000 feet in elevation (though the town itself is relatively safe from disaster). In each direction that I turned, I had to gasp! I'm not sure what caused my great, great grandparents to leave such a spectacular place for the plains of Minnesota. It makes me wonder how smart they were, or perhaps they were just compelled by the lure of adventure. Did they get to Minnesota and say 'Whoopee!!! ... This is THE PLACE to be!!!!'? Locals tell me that many people left in the late 1800s for economic reasons, but perhaps there was more to it than that. Today, there are 13 Luchsingers and 37 Martis in the Glarus phone book, perhaps distant relatives.

Liechtenstein is also a pretty little country, 14 miles long by three miles wide, that I nearly crossed on foot in one afternoon. This trip is partly an effort to pick up on all the silly little countries I've missed on previous European trips -- places such as Liechtenstein, Slovenia, San Marino and perhaps Andorra -- in my quixotic and pointless quest to reach 100 countries, a nice round number to achieve before going back to revisit some places I may prefer to spend time. I'm at 94 now. Europe is an easier place to chalk up countries fast without having to endure the risks of rough-and-tumble travel in the lesser-developed parts of the world -- though it may seem a little like cheating after having been in more challenging places. Perhaps, I'm starting to feel a little too old for that shit, although I suspect that after a brief respite I'll be back for more. Those kinds of places are still very fascinating to me.

The keyboards are a little strange here, most notably with the y and z in opposite positions from U.S. keyboards. I'm writing from a hip little student cybercafe in Ljubjana where the internet time is free, but people are waiting behind me ... so I better go. Besides, there's more here to be seen and my time is brief. I'll head south tonight into Italy.

Happy springtime,
Nas vidanya (Slovenian 'goodbye'),
Dean