Again, the lack of vowels doesn’t stop Slovenians from having a crack at writing the name of a town, in this case Trieste. In fact Trst is the correct spelling according to Slovenes. We went to Trieste and Kopor today.
Trieste is the capital of Antarctica, and I don’t think any of us got a handle on the place. Kopor is the port for Slovenia and Austria (and Hungary and Southern Poland). It is far wealthier, warmer and interesting than Trieste. Great place, so much more interesting than its Italian neighbour.
In fact the best thing about Trieste, by far, is the way Slovenians spell it. Or Australians try to say it.
Apart from that – pretty shit really
The Very Excellent Adventures of the Cunnington-Smythes 
Srečno novo leto to the Cunnington-Smythes and their chaperones!
My late, dear friend, Winnie, mentioned Trieste in one of his speeches – something to do with an iron curtain. Preposterous, of course, but, just in case, any sign of it amongst all those consonants, snow and wind?
Am thoroughly enjoying your tales, snaps and hope that the battalion of followers is doing likewise.
Is “shit” one of those Slovenian rarities possessing a vowel? What is its translation in English?
Heading south next week to Melbourne. The Asian Cup is on and I have been lucky enough to pick up one of the scarce 30,000 free tickets for the Qatar v UAE match. Apart from that, there will be cycling, coffee, theatre, the casino, swimming in the Yarra and time with my dear niece, Marie, her hubbie, Brent, and little one, Isabella. Also, I can’t wait to start reading Pele’s new book, wait for it, ‘Why Soccer Matters’. Note the middle word! I rest my case.
Cheerio from the sub-tropics.
I remain, as always
Your faithful friend and servant
Farquhar B.L.Y.G.
If an Iron Curtain did come down from Stettin to Trieste, it may have been an attempt to keep out the cold? Trieste was FREEZING and had the Bora in full voice, Kopor 25km down the road from Trieste was wind free and positively balmy by comparison.
It is interesting having spent time in two countries that were part of somewhere else until recently – Roman, Habsburg, Austro-Hungarian, Yugoslavian. Both times we’ve listened to a guide, they’ve mentioned, with some passion, the first time their native language has been spoken in their own parliamentary assemblies.
Australians are the colonisers, so we can’t really ever understand how much has been taken away from Indigenous Australians by us – language, culture, religion, etc , etc, etc.
At least this gives me some insight to the effect colonisation has on the sense of identity – albeit from the perspective of a parallel culture – the Slovenes and Croats