STEBO'S BLOG

Panonska Jezera Stanislav woke up very early and headed to the Panonska Jezera to swim. He texted me later and I joined him around 10:30. I just hung out taking pictures and enjoying the sun. Later I ordered a Tuzlansko and just enjoyed "being". With a beer Sometime around 13:00 we headed to a restaurant within the confines of the swimming area and I was treated to šopksa salata, cucumbers and chips as well as a nice cold beer and two rakijas! Lunch Later we walked to bar New

Bus to Tuzla The tiny bus from Avis arrived, I could tell it was originally French by all the ext inside. The bus passed by the power station in Tulza then I saw the sign for Tuzla/Тузла. The bus dropped us at the bus station where I ordered a taxi to Kapija. I was just into my first beer when i got a message from Stanislav to go to the rental place which was just around the corner. Kapija Tuzla While I waited for Stanislav to come down, a loud drunk lady with serval bottles

Eggs made with love I was up for breakfast at 07:30. and there was a beautiful spread of ajvar, Balkan white cheese, Dutch Cheese, blue cheese, olives, hard boiled eggs and all. The lady greeted me in Bosnian and offered to prepare fried eggs "pola živa" or half alive (runny) so I went with it. A few minutes later she emerged with two perfectly fried eggs sprinkled with parsley. As part of breakfast I had fake orange juice "cedevita" and coffee and finished off mixing the whi

The plane On the flight I felt emotional as I was returning to Bosnia. I could even see Lukavac from the air as it had cleared up but the earlier part of the journey I completely missed out on the Alps. I spoke to the people next to me, they loved in Germany. All the time I was admiring a large Bosnian flag which was hanging in the cabin, the passengers erupted when Bosnia had scored and the pilots announced it. Proud Bosnian We landed in Tuzla, nobody applauded, but I was ho

Cappuccino at Du Commerce I had booked a late check out at my hotel in Weert so after breakfast I hung around for a bit then posted my postcards in the city. I grabbed a coffee at Du Commerce and was earlier than expected for my trip to Maastricht. Maastricht Station I was initially thinking of going to Visé in Belgium, just across the border only 16 minutes from Maastricht. I had just missed a train which meant hanging around for 30 minutes for the next one. Upon considering

Delft It was a work day, so I set up and out-of-office and then realised I had forgotten to bring any of my many SD cards for my camera! This meant that the first action of this long weekend was to buy a brand new SD card a 64 GB card costing 48 euros. Delft I decided that since it had been a long time since my last visit to Weert, a disrespectful 3 years I decided to buy gifts for Serge and Amandine. I bought a slab of hand made chocolate with a Vermeer painting on it and a

The journey After midnight I was woken up by a German guard "Ausweis Bitte" so I gladly produced my Irish passport which he examined throughly flicking through all my stamps. He asked where I was going and I said "Schiedam" and he asked again but after repeating "Schiedam" twice Is said Amsterdam and he seemed much calmer. The train We were also joined by a very big German guy and our knees kept clashing. I tried desperately to sleep and as I noticed someone sleeping on then

Saying goodbye I rose at 08:00 and went down to a large round table where Max the Syrian American and some others were already seated. I helped myself to some Czech anti-hangover garlic soup - highly recommended! Then the usual scrambled eggs and fried mixed vegetables and various cheeses and breads. Brno Station I went back to my room to rest a bit before packing up and going to the reception where young Max and Syrian Max still had their language badges on, we just hung aro

Not all polyglots wear capes Hungover from the wine tasting, I still wanted to go to the Gaeilge table, which meant missing a second presentation from Richard Simcott. But I did proudly make it to the Gaeilge table. We had Anna from Poland, Marcel from Brazil, Heiner from Germany and a Chinese guy who was live streaming our talk all the way to Japan! We lasted 30 minutes before we ran out of things to say and I moved to the Serbian/Bosnian/Croatian tabel but also left that ta

Fitglots Being hungover, I was late for breakfast but it turned out to be a very good idea as we pushed together two tables and more and more of "us" just joined in and we talked about the good the bad and the strange during the gathering. Adrian #Fitglot #Gayglot I made my way to the university, which was about a km away and joined the German table again. I was speaking to a Polish man with C level and a Polish woman with B level german I was struggling with my Rotterdam lev

Chilling I was well rested, and headed down for breakfast then straight off to the university where I joined the language ice-breaker. We had to change seats every 3 minutes to find a new conversation partner. Of the many people there was a woman from New Zealand and a man from Mali, both of whom spoke to me in French. Euskara After the ice-breaker I went to the presentation on Euskara which was given in Italian. This is a language which has long interested me fore many reaso

I was ready! I was up bright and early and enjoyed the breakfast buffet. I decided for some reason to take absolutely all of my camera gear and my rucksack, so two rucksacks to the university for the gathering! The Croatian/Bosnian/Serbian Table I was a bit early as the talks and language table started at 09:00, so I just hung around the garden meeting people, I loved that. I made my way to the Turkish language table then the Serbian/Bosnian/Croatian table then I went back in

Cold breakfast I actually woke up too early, but I forced myself to sleep again until around 08:00. I returned to Fat Cat for breakfast, I ordered orange juice and cappuccino and a smoked salmon eggs Benedict which arrived very late and cold, but the gave me a free cappuccino and orange juice and even offered me "bucks fizz" but it was too early for alcohol. Praha Station I returned to my accommodation and read my book for a while before checking out and walking to the stat

Scenery close to the Czech border None of us got much sleep on the train. By the time we arrived in Berlin at 06:00 everyone was fully awake. The sun had come up and it was already getting hot. We continued down south where we entered Dresden and I remembered a previous trip I had with Stanislav where we went to Berlin and Dresden too. When we left Dresden the scenery started to get very spectacular and everyone forgot their lack of sleep and basked in the beauty of the stunn

The Departure Board in Rotterdam CS It was already 30°C and I was sore from gardening on Sunday. The weeds had pretty much taken over and it was a good workout. I’d invited my colleague Wilbrand over for some beers afterwards so I was also a bit hungover. My train was scheduled for 21:21 but I felt like I could do nothing all day. Waiting.... I cleaned up the house and had some lovely Austrian cheese with some bread and did some last minute packing. I had bought some food it

Entrance to the park I got up at around 11:00 and was presented with a lovely scrambled egg and toast. After a couple of coffees, we bundled into the car: me, Sara, Neil, Izzy, Oscar, and the two dogs in the back. The Welsh border is only a couple of kilometers away, and the street signs turned bilingual, and now the mountains came into clear view. Fantastic scenery By the time we reached Aber Falls, the sun was already setting. As we parked the car and stopped, the dogs went

Old and New Together in Manchester We all woke up very late. We had some gorgeous fancy cheese toasties with Brie, and a taxi was ordered to whisk us off to Chester railway station. Sara had pre-ordered rail tickets to Manchester. Christmas Market The train was a local Welsh train. We alighted at Manchester Piccadilly and went for a wander through a small Christmas market and onwards to a food hall. Big wheel I skipped the drink as I was not feeling great and ordered a large

Breakfast We had lovely poached eggs for breakfast with avocado and toast. The smell of fresh coffee wafted through the house. The entrance to the old city Today's plan was to do a walking tour of Chester. It was the afternoon as we walked back towards the city centre. Just as we came to the ancient city entrance, Neil's parents called as they were on their way by bus and were almost there. City walls We all walked the perimeter of the city on top of the old Roman walls, pass

Canal walk Saint Stephen's Day is always a bit of an anticlimax. After breakfast, Sara brought Ivy down south, and I stayed behind with Neil in an eerily quiet house. Later, we took a long walk around Chester with the dogs, Cyril and Rosy, taking in some nice canal scenes. Neil and his Guinness In the evening, we walked to the city center to find an old-style "Ye Olde" English pub. Our first choice was closed, but Neil found us another pub, which was also very old judging by

Breakfast Table I woke up to lots of activity, dogs barking and excited kids running around in pajamas, kitchen activities and Alexa's voice interjecting in all the chaos. Presents were shared and opened, and Sara served breakfast in the conservatory. Opening presents The living room was full of brightly wrapped gifts as the first guests arrived, Mike and Glynnis, Neil's parents. Cyril was sent to his cage as one of the guests was a dog. Cyril, complete with the cage, was put