Hello, Off Topic
So, I'm back from my holiday - have enjoyed a relaxing week in Cro_watia.

How have you all been, my fluffy darlings? What have I missed this last week?
(LongJohnBaldry, Tue 5 May 2009, 10:01, 8 replies, latest was 16 years ago)

So, how was it there?
When I was there, lots of buildings and streets had shell-holes in 'em.
They tidied the place up a bit now?
( Cawl, Tue 5 May 2009, 10:07, Reply)

Yeah what like!? Do tell...
Nice towns? Nice people? Nice weather? I've been eyeing up a trip to Eastern Europe for a while. Kind of narrowed it down slightly to a toss-up between Budapest and Prague.
( whenanimalsattackhumans clad in global hypercolour, Tue 5 May 2009, 10:20, Reply)

It was gorgeous
Though still full of shell holes. It's particularly evident when you walk round the walls of the old town and see builders everywhere repairing bits of the towers and suchlike. Similarly, I walked all the way up to the fort at the top of Mount Srd only to find a load of builders and a JCB at the top, working away to rectify the bomb damage.

But of course, it was only 15 years ago that the shelling finally stopped, and understandably, they're still very bitter about it. (For example, the final frame in the Maritime Museum doesn't really sum up Croatia's former shipping prowess, it just roundly condemns the Serbians for destroying it.) It was the first time I'd really seen a city that freshly out of a war, and it did seem odd to think that most of that damage was done during my lifetime.

EDIT: @Dirty - it's a lovely place, and I really enjoy the relaxed Mediterranean (well, Adriatic) lifestyle. The people are generally smashing, and I think they're mostly very grateful for the tourism (if nothing else, it's another two fingers up at the Serbians). They're also very flattered if you attempt to speak Croatian to them.

Though if you're going to go, you might want to give it a little while for the exchange rate to improve - alcohol isn't all that cheap out there, and I think that was made worse for me slightly by the weak pound.
(LongJohnBaldry, Tue 5 May 2009, 10:29, Reply)

A bunch of mates and I
Did a long weekend in Ljubljana a while back, it was fantastic. Quite apart from being cheap, beautiful and interesting, it's a university town and the primary means of student transport is either cycling or rollerblading. So it's full of perfectly toned arses.
( The Light in Chains don't touch the Pope's boner, Tue 5 May 2009, 10:34, Reply)

Ah well
Shouldn't be a problem - I won't be interested in alcohol ever ever again. Lousy stuff.

Well I say that now but next week may be very different!

How's the food out there? I have a somewhat unfair guessumption that the food out there will be minging. How was the accomodation?
( whenanimalsattackhumans clad in global hypercolour, Tue 5 May 2009, 10:37, Reply)

I've been to Romania several times
The food there is on the whole more repulsive than you can possible imagine.

In Transylvania I had easily the worst plate of food I have ever had the misfortune to encounter - a small bowl filled with a kind of gruel, swimming in oil, with a disc of unidentifiable gristly grey meat sitting on top of it. It smelled awful and tasted worse.
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Tue 5 May 2009, 10:43, Reply)

I've been to Romania
and I must say the food I had was pretty good. I must admit, I did stay in the capital though.
(Ethelred is watching cheese grow, Tue 5 May 2009, 13:42, Reply)

The food in Dubrovnik was pretty good...
I may have fallen foul of the exchange rate again, as some things did seem rather expensive. My hotel was pretty reasonably priced, though, even if its breakfast buffet was a tad dubious.

Perhaps I should attempt a retrospective diary of my exciting week. (Though that may simply serve to prove to me what a boring person I am...)
(LongJohnBaldry, Tue 5 May 2009, 14:12, Reply)