Tag Archives: American politics

adventure, Baden-Württemberg, trip planning

Just a quick note to check in with my travel readers…

Today, I woke up to more snow. It’s much snowier down near Stuttgart, which is where Bill and I will be headed on Wednesday. But up here, I think we got maybe a little under two inches or so. It’s bitter cold outside and still pretty cloudy. I won’t be surprised if there’s more snow or a few flurries before the sun sets.

I don’t have much travel stuff to write about today, although if I were feeling more ambitious and hopeful, I might write about some other travel related topics. For example, I could write about some of my favorite YouTube creators, who inspire me to look into fancy trips in Europe. A couple of the people I watch regularly are somewhat annoying, but they do go to some interesting places.

Lately, thanks to videos I’ve watched, I’ve been thinking I’d like to visit Finland and do a proper visit up there. I don’t really love freezing cold weather, but I do like coziness and snow… if I can be inside by a fireplace with some wine, that is. 🤣 I’d also settle for a hot tub.

It’s also hard to think about traveling when our government is so screwed up, and people are protesting, fighting, and literally dying in my homeland. It’s not lost on me that Americans aren’t all that popular right now, mainly due to the “dictator” in the White House. Listen, y’all… my disdain for him is about his shittiness as a human being, rather than conservative politics as a whole. He’s not a conservative. He’s a fascist. And he’s making things worse for EVERYONE, except maybe his billionaire “buddies”… who aren’t even his buddies.

People like that don’t really have friends, do they? They just worship money. Money is no substitute for real human connections, love, and freedom. Personally, I think the vast majority of super rich people are hollow inside. They don’t have normal relationships. They don’t live happy lives. They can’t trust people to love them, because people simply want to use them and take what they have. And so, I think they’re very lonely folks, who crave what money can’t buy for them. If you think about it, it’s pretty sad.

Bill is coming home early today, because he’s going to start his very first course at the Jung Institute. The online class he’s taking today will run for five hours. He plans to take a couple more while we’re on our visit to Waiblingen, which starts on Wednesday.

Anyway, I wish I had an interesting trip to write about today, but I don’t. However, I will soon be adding content to this blog, because during our trip to Waiblingen, we have reserved tables at two very nice restaurants, which we booked on OpenTable.de.

I’m sure there will be other places we’ll try, since we’re staying down there until Sunday. Yeah, it seems weird to stay in Waiblingen for four nights, when we could just go see the dentist in a day… but I think it will be fun to go there and hang out in our old stomping grounds. I don’t know if I’ll ever have another chance to live near Stuttgart, but it will always occupy a spot in my heart.

So… please stay tuned for my Waiblingen series, such as it will be. After that, who knows where the road will lead. I can pretty much guarantee that we will be in Switzerland again this year at some point, if we don’t have to leave the continent because of Donald Trump.

Until my next post, bis spater…

Here are a few photos I took of our cozy German house this past week… Bill made homemade scones (by Nigella Lawson) and hot tea for breakfast yesterday, along with a soft boiled egg, a little sausage, and fresh orange juice. The dogs approved!

Also, I sent off a ballot request, so I can vote in the Texas primaries. I don’t know how much good it will do, but it’s something, at least.

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Chasing lakes and waterfalls in Aus-cro-slo-aus… part eleven

Thursday morning at breakfast, Bill and I were amused by a French family who was staying at the hotel. It was an attractive mom and dad, younger than we are. They were English speakers, since that was how they communicated with the breakfast lady. After they got their breakfast, the dad and the eldest son had an animated discussion… but what was especially funny was that they were arguing about American politics. Dad played a video of Barack Obama, then described Donald Trump as a “monster”. I didn’t understand most of what they said, since I don’t speak French, but I could definitely follow the gist. It sounded like maybe the son admired Trump, while dad sees him the way Bill and I do. I giggled at the fact that we were Americans, overhearing a raucous discussion in French about American politics, while we were sitting in a breakfast room in Slovenia!

The weather was still kind of tempestuous, so we took our time before we set out again. I thought maybe we’d visit Bled Castle, but we ended up having lunch at a cute restaurant called Restavracija Central Bled in Lake Bled. I had noticed the place on our previous passes through the town. It’s open every day and doesn’t take a pause, which is always a plus. The waiter at the Central House spoke perfect English and was very friendly. I had ribs. Bill had the “Trufflelicious Burger”, which of course was not for me, because I don’t like truffles. He loved it, though, and we both loved the hand cut fried potatoes that came with our dishes. Afterwards, we split a piece of Lake Bled’s famous Cream Cake. I liked the interior of this place, too. It’s very cozy, even if the bench I was sitting on was so high up that my legs dangled.

  • The potatoes were so good… Bill liked the cole slaw.
  • It was good that we split this. It was as good as I remembered it from 2016.
  • And what do you know? The sun came out!

The restaurant was very convenient to the huge public parking lot in Bled. It was also inexpensive. I don’t know how we missed it the first time we visited. I also don’t know how we missed the huge parking lot! It’s right next to an ice arena and gym.

Then I took more photos, because Slovenia’s rugged beauty is so amazing.

I guess if I had to describe our time in Slovenia, I would call it “restful”. We rested a lot, mainly because of the weather. But sometimes, it’s not a bad thing to just enjoy the beauty of a place and do a lot of talking. Bill and I talked a lot, and just enjoyed each other’s company, as well as experiencing the magical surroundings we were in, both in Croatia and Slovenia. This time of year, it’s very quiet in Slovenia… but, as you can see, the natural beauty of the landscape lingers. I’m glad we went if only to get these photos.

I also tried really hard to capture some photos of dramatic waterfalls by the road to Lake Bohinj. There was one big waterfall that was super hard to catch on camera because it was right next to the road. I sure tried hard, though.

  • Horse bravely walking into the pond.
  • Here you can see the top of the big waterfall…
  • And sort of see the rest of it as we passed. I wish we could have stopped so I could have gotten a good picture.
  • Look carefully, behind the bushes.

By this point in the trip, I was getting kind of tired of traveling and was missing my dogs. I was especially worried about Arran, because he’s getting old and looked a bit crestfallen when we dropped them off. But I didn’t have to worry. They were doing fine.

Stay tuned for part twelve.

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