More Slovenian neighbours

Adam McRae, the winner of StormIt challenge (more pictures and comments)

"Alright, and so concludes my quick jaunt out of the country to see the neighbors of Slovenia. I wish I had longer to spend, but I've got to get a handle on the Slovene life before Jocelyn gets here so I can pretend I'm her local tour guide.

Vienna was nice, and in the day I spent walking around, I think I saw the right buildings and absorbed a little bit of the scene. The train ride in was simple enough even though the south train station is currently demolished and we arrived at an alternate one. A short trip on the S-bahn and the U-bahn and I was at the hostel. I alwayd like to comment on a city's metro system and contrast it with toronto's. In this case, with posted arrival times for trains, simple ticket machines, even the older Vienna system is miles ahead of poor Toronto. Also, the honour system ticket purchasing is a nice touch if you decide to spend your last euro on a beer instead of your ride hone.

Next on the rapid tour is Bratislava, Slovakia. Just a 7.70 euro and 1.5 hour bus ride away. It seemed cool, but I had to get out of there asap because I had just found out about a festival in Budapest and wanted to make it there for the first day. Other than the staff at the hostel (who were nice, mind you) my only interaction with a slovakian person went like this
shop lady: 'djshhso fiscsiahf skxudkakd skifbsjuffb *pause* chicken sandwich?'
Me: 'uhhh, sure, ok I'll take it'

Bus ride to Budapest is only a 2.5 hours away. And this was certainly the highlight of the trip so far. A walk from the hostel to the HÉV station, and 1200 forints later, I am at the Sziget festival. Apparetly one of the biggest in Europe. I would say it's the European equivalent of lollapalooza. It is on a island in the Danube outside of the city, and it a 5 day super fest with camping and music all day long. There weren't even any acts that I was dying to see, but it was still a great time. Dj Shadow, Peaches, The Hives, Bad Religion. And a smattering of Hungarian bands. All good fun. I befriended some drunk teenagers (or, they befriended me) they seemed to love my 'canadianness' and the rest of the night was full of inferjections whenever someone needed to show another Canadian fact that they know, and the constant reminder 'we are not gypsies, don't worry.' cool kids all 'round, but they'd didn't seem to be doing too well in the female department. Oh well. I took out way to many forints at the ATM because I didn't know the exchange rate, so I was being a high roller. Buying these kids beers (which they thought was amazing, and asserted again that they were not gypsies). They showed me a well-known Hungarian punk band (I forget/can't pronounce the name), which rounded out the night nicely.

It was late getting back, and I still have all these forints. Weak.

By now I've taken all the main routes which people enter Slovenia from the EU. It's more connected than I first thought. It was nice to see the Slovenia railway symbol on the train waiting at Deli station in Budapest. It also turned out to be cheaper to buy a return ticket to Slovenia than a one-way, so I now should find someone to give this free ticket to.  I chose Murska Sobota because i would arrive here with the sun still a little in the sky, but also because I have it underlined on my tourist map from the STB people. I am staying at the hostel shown on the STB website, and I am really the only tourist. I meet a guy, Leon, who has just started in the Slovenia army and is renting a room here at the so he can attend training during the week. He is from here originally, and so I go out with him and his friends. They tell me that there is a meteor shower tonight, we go to the park and chat, drink Strongbow, smoke cigarettes, and catch the occasional shooting star. Eventually we go for a walk so they can show me some landmarks as well as the regular nightime cast of characters of Murska Sobota. In a town of 16000, it is not diffcult to know who the regulars are.

There was supposed to be breakfast downstairs, but I think I stayed up too late and slept in past the time. My own fault. So I promised I would update more frequently... there is no Internet here, so it will have to wait. I think it is time for a walk to see things in the daytime light."