Around Slovenia in 80 Seconds

August 16, 2006 12:51 AM

Piddle Around Slovenia.The country's tourist board has released this online game, allowing players to virtually wander around the tiny Alpine country, visiting popular sites while chatting with others.
posted by Ljubljana (26 comments total)

I understand Slovenia is just beautiful, with many lovely lakes and rivers. In the interests of keeping it so, you might wish to reconsider your lead-in verb?
posted by rob511 at 1:20 AM on August 16, 2006

I knew I should've gone with my first choice, diddle.
posted by Ljubljana at 1:32 AM on August 16, 2006

dobry ootro !
posted by sgt.serenity at 1:49 AM on August 16, 2006

{:-0
posted by rob511 at 1:52 AM on August 16, 2006

Ah memories! Slovenia is indeed a cool place!
posted by TwoWordReview at 2:12 AM on August 16, 2006

Piddling is a perfectly acceptable word for wasting one's time. I suppose you could be wasting your time urinating as well.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 3:28 AM on August 16, 2006

Piddle, eh?
posted by thirteenkiller at 4:06 AM on August 16, 2006

Hey not to sort of divert from this thread - but I am headed to Slovenia in the end of September and just posted and Ask MeFi question soliciting advice. Those of you whom have been to Slovenia or are there at the moment, I'd love it if you would take a look.
posted by JPD at 4:22 AM on August 16, 2006

Are the Slovenes nicer than the Croats ? or did they go to the same charm school ?
posted by sgt.serenity at 4:36 AM on August 16, 2006

Piddle.

Diddle.

Hmm.

(bing!)

Piddledy Diddledy.
Lovely Slovenia --
mountainous Country and
hiker's resort.

Well known to all for its
biodiversity.
The biggest problem is
street signs aren't short.
posted by eriko at 5:02 AM on August 16, 2006

But does the tourist board have a guide to public toilets in Slovenia? That is the question.
posted by asok at 5:14 AM on August 16, 2006

That's Dobro jutro in Slovene, sarge.

Are the Slovenes nicer than the Croats ?

Yes, according to the pro-Serb, anti-Croat Rebecca West, in her bigoted but brilliantly written Black Lamb and Grey Falcon (p. 601):

The Slovenes are a sensible and unexcitable people who had had better opportunities than their compatriots to live at peace. Much of the trouble between the Croats and the Serbs had arisen because their language was identical and Serb officials could be sent to administer Croat territory. But the Slovene tongue differs greatly from Serbo-Croat, and the Slovenes had been left to govern themselves in peace. It is only fair to the Serbs to recognize that the Slovenes are not of the same oppositionist temperament as the Croats and therefore can be trusted with self-government.

The two peoples had very different histories; the Slovenes became part of the Frankish kingdom in the eighth century and were absorbed into the Habsburg Empire in the fourteenth, never having an independent political entity of their own, whereas the Croats established an independent state in the tenth century and became part of the Hungarian kingdom in the eleventh (the Croats claimed it was an arrangement between equal partners, and though the Hungarians didn't agree, they maintained a degree of autonomy within Hungary, and the Croatian assembly of notables had considerable authority). Eventually Hungary became part of the Habsburg Empire, but the Slovenes and Croats had little to do with each other (and the Slovenes living in Dalmatia, under Italian control, still less).
posted by languagehat at 7:08 AM on August 16, 2006

My wife and I are going for ten days in just about six weeks. We're getting a little tired of people here (Canada) saying, "Where?" Although we have sort of made a habit of visiting places not on people's tourist radar. Last year, we spent a week in Uruguay ("Where?"). Our rationale is that we get so little vacation (ten days a year!) that we need to visit small places that we can see in a week to ten days.

By the way, we're going to be there during Slovenia's soccer match against Luxembourg, a qualifier for the Euro 2008 tournament. Any idea where we'd get tickets in advance? Or do you think we could just roll up to the stadium in Celje on the day of the match?
posted by jmcnally at 8:22 AM on August 16, 2006

Unfriendly Slovenes - 746 results

Unfriendly Croats - 14,000 results.

also sprach google.

/derail.
posted by sgt.serenity at 8:47 AM on August 16, 2006

That was awesome. I want to go to Slovenia now.
posted by Hal Mumkin at 9:12 AM on August 16, 2006

Awesome and fun, I was thinking of heading there in October, mighty useful.
posted by Meaney at 9:54 AM on August 16, 2006

The Slovenians are, indeed, that rare thing in Central Europe: A peaceful, industrious cultured, eminently musical people, who have been an asset to the world wherever they have settled. (This sets them apart from most Central and Eastern Europeans, whose high cultural achievements are matched by low brutality in other spheres.)
Now, please enjoy the Slovenian sounds of Cleveland-style Polka Music, here at the Cleveland-style Polka Hall of Fame, website. As the site will tell you...
The Cleveland-style polka has its roots in Slovenian folk music, but the influence of American musicians has given it universal appeal and popularity. Just as English and Irish music has evolved into country music, the polka represents the music of central Europe.
Their gift shop is your one-stop shop for all Slovenian-American (Vadnal, Yankovic, Pecon, etc.) polka product. And never, never ever listen to Polish-style polka, which is rubbish.
posted by Faze at 10:23 AM on August 16, 2006

Ljubljana is sweet and delicious.
It's friendly, shiny, modern, and filled with hot perky girls in skimpy clothing (assuming you visit during the warmer months). Let me expand on the "friendly" part-- it's a helluva lot friendlier than, for example, Prague or Budapest, and about as friendly as Krakow. Bouncers are overjoyed to learn you're from America; blonde lissome med students-cum-aerobics instructors are flattered that you have found their country; shave-headed young Buddhists sit down beside you and silently convey rapport.

Its bus system is excellent (though lacking air conditioning...)

Of course, these recollections date back before the Iraq fiasco, so who knows how friendly it is now...

Time to pull out the Canadian Maple Leaf shoulder patch.
posted by 9fritz9 at 10:31 AM on August 16, 2006

And never, never ever listen to Polish-style polka, which is rubbish.

I don't know why it's even called polka, since it's of Czech origin; the OED says "it has been suggested that polka was a corruption of Czech pulka half, ‘a characteristic feature being its short half steps’."
posted by languagehat at 10:32 AM on August 16, 2006

I second 9fritz9's post. Krakow is friendly, but the babushka quotient is much lower in Ljubljana -- and the hot'n'perky meter is at, like, 11.

(Standard political correctness disclaimer applies.)
posted by turducken at 11:35 AM on August 16, 2006

After seeing that freaky movie "hostel" you won't see me piddling anywhere close to Slovenia.
posted by jacob hauser at 12:17 PM on August 16, 2006

After seeing that freaky movie "hostel" you won't see me piddling anywhere close to Slovenia.


Slovenia is fine...it's Slovakia you wanna stay away from...
posted by giantfist at 1:02 PM on August 16, 2006

right , so we're all going to krakow.
posted by sgt.serenity at 3:13 PM on August 16, 2006

unfriendly scots - 201,000

unfriendly australlians - 411,000

unfriendly americans - 857,000


Unfriendly English - 2,020,000
posted by sgt.serenity at 4:22 PM on August 16, 2006

Maybe it's because you spelt "Australians" wrong (even though you didn't in the google search, but let me have my fun, dammit!).
posted by liquorice at 5:14 PM on August 16, 2006

That WAS NOT fun. Just a bunch of guys asking me for anal and webcam. I guess I'm a stick in the mud, but I'm feeling rather insulted.
posted by WaterSprite at 7:10 PM on August 17, 2006