We are now in the land of lederhosen- Graz, Austria. Graz was once the capital of a place that included most of Austria, all of Slovenia and parts of Italy, depending on who was married to whom. We have become used to borders being decided by courts not counts, but for centuries Central Europe was divided into hundreds of entities with fluid borders. Nations came later.
A town we went through in Slovenia has been at various times been ruled by someone from Venice, Sicily, Rome, Turkey, The Vatican, Lombardy, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, France, Austro-Hungary, Italy, Nazi Germany, Yugoslavia – et al. This does not include occasional sackings by Turks, Alans, Mongols, Crusaders or Huns.
We were driven through country Croatia by our hosts, they are immensely proud to be finally Croatian, rather than Sicillian, Turkish, Yugoslav or someting else. We saw Tito’s home town and the ‘house’ he was raised in. As a wise man from Rosewood one said, ‘All humans, no matter whether they were born in a mud hut, an igloo or a gilded, marble palace really just want exactly the same thing for their children. A bigger kitchen.’ Tito sure did.
Lunch was on a farm somewere vowell-less, Krchzdch or the like. A stunning meal with every ingredient coming from within a five kilometer radius – a superb wild mushroom soup, roast veal and turkey with pasta and veges, corn bread. This was followed by a trip to a great museuem with a collection of Neanderthal artifacts and animal bones from a cave where the museum is situated – really well done.
It traced the movement of hominids out of Africa and in particular the lives of the people who lived in other caves like this one, from the Neander Valley in Germany, and other sites in France and Spain. It certainly put the tiny speck that is my 60 years on the human timeline into perspective. And it showed that real driving force for survival and evolution -the constant search for food and, of course, a better cave in which to cook your wooly rhinoceros.
Grandad Johnson was probably right about the kitchen.
Better let you go Farquar – time to go foraging for breakfast.
F C-S
The Very Excellent Adventures of the Cunnington-Smythes 
After a lunch like that, it would be toast and vegemite come dinner for me. Speaking of eating – the Cunnington-Smythes are foregrounded at my table at this moment. There is some very tasty hommus from Mitch, some of that famous black onion jam and, to maintain the Eastern European theme, some pickled red cabbage from Poland (too many food kms). [Farley, please don’t tell the Doctor about these brackets!]
What’s the verdict on Tito over there, Farley? Anyone who stuck it to the Soviets and the Germans, and kept a lid on all the ethno-national stresses of the FYR had to be one hell of a guy, sorry, bloke. I guess no one mentions his activities as a partisan. Do they?
I bet all the locals talk about our cricket season over there. There is some neat stuff happening in whatever form of the game you follow. I’m filthy that I chose not to go to the last day of the Boxing Day Test. I bicycled past the MCG on that day and assumed that the game would end with a tedious draw. Got that one wrong.
Better let myself go – the hommus and black onion jam are merging. Probably will taste fine but it looks hideous.
Love from Farquhar
Tito is still the man. His partisan days were ugly, however on the other hand our Croatian hosts didn’t say too much about Croatia’s support for the Nazis, or their seizing of the opportunity to attempt to rid Croatia of Jews, Roma and Serbs.
Their childhood under Tito was idyllic, especially compared to the 90’s and as they put it, ‘the necessary catharsis period’ of the later trials in The Hague and Zagreb. There is a growing sense of optimism in Zagreb -they would say this is still lacking in Serbia and Bosnia because of the endemic corruption and because of their failures to bring war criminals to account, in fact many now hold important positions in government.
The food has been good, I have enjoyed most things that require an admission fee but as always we have both just loved wandering in a foreign cities.
Best wishes and catch you for a Balkan feast in T’ba