Veseli december brez snega?!?

Ja takole zgleda prava zima. In tale fotografija je bila posneta dve leti nazaj na enem izmed slovenskih smučišč ravno ob koncu obratovanja žičnic.

Toži se mi po belem decembru ko sem zjutraj vstall iz postelje in najprej odgrnil zavese,da bi preveril ali je snežilo, koliko snega ja zapadlo, bom moral še kidati preden kam grem....
Sicer ne verjamem nikomur, ki vneto razlaga, da so letošnje tople temperature posledica učinkov tople grede, da je to čisto normalno, da se neke vrste ledena doba spreminja v vročinsko dobo, da so vsega krivi vesoljci.... Ma čisto nihče ne ve zares kaj se dogaja. Samo nekaj je res: podnebje se spreminja.
Zadnjič sem gledal zelo zanimivo oddajo na televiziji, kjer so razlagali, da jih je čudno odkritje (skozi leta voda vse manj izpareva) pripeljalo do zanimive ugotovitve: če človeštvo ne bi oddajalo v zrak toliko prašnih delcev, ki so posledica izgorevanja raznih goriv, bi imeli zdaj že do povprečno 10 stopinj višje temperature. Tako pa ti prašni delci preprečujejo, da bi učinek tople grede dosegel svoj maksimum, saj uspešno zakrivajo sončno svetlobo. In tako pridemo do zanimivega paradoksa.....če začnemo zmanjševati emisije industrijskega onesnaževanja ter začnemo uporabljati vozila na alternativni pogon, se bomo scvrli v 5 do 10 letih, ker potrebujejo toplogredni plini veliko časa preden razpadejo.

Anyway....sploh ne vem zakaj sem tako ekološko razpisal. Hotel sem samo deliti s tabo, najin bralec, tole fotko, se spominjati lepih zimskih časov in upati na najboljše.

Back to Topolšica

So ..... I have to warn our reader that my wife sometimes forget about little details that are in my opinion very important. Sometimes she would say things in her best belief that they are true, but unfortunately they are not always.

Anyway......the first thing is that we didn't really had lunch there. That happened somewhere else and it will be a subject of some future post.
The second thing and in my opinion the most important one is that Topolšica was our one of the first if not the first sauna experience and there we encountered this new species that we didn't know from before. It's called..... the Italian tourist.

Well of course we both have very good Italian friends and we even met Italian tourists at the sea, but this was different. Not just that they were loud, they put their towels on lounge chairs and they reserve them for all the time they are there....even when they go to the sauna. So you can imagine that resting area is not really big and it has approx. 10 chairs for all the people that are not using the sauna in that moment and you come there and 2 chairs are occupied and the rest are reserved with towels.
The funny thing is that we saw in other Toplice signs (mainly in Italian) saying that it's not allowed to reserve chairs in lounge area. So you will know our reader that we are not the only one who had a problem with that.

But on the other hand....Slovenes are not any better. Anyone who was at the sea with a lot of Slovenes will now that some would get up at 6 o'clock sometimes so they can find a free chair on the beach and put a towel on it.

Slovenia, Toplice Paradise

My husband, J, and I discovered that we both really enjoy health spas...I suppose, in actuality, that this, in and of itself, is not a very difficult thing to discover. I'll say that for however cultured and sophisticated we may have liked to think of ourselves as being, this was something we didn't enjoy regularly as children growing up in simple homes, and once we experienced it together and I realized it was not such a bourgeois thing after all, we discovered a treasure for our souls.

In any case, the point is that after I moved to Slovenia, and J and I began living together, it was great to find something new in each other that we could enjoy together. J especially loves saunas and I love pools. But J really showed me how to appreciate the sauna part.

I don't come from a sauna culture. Plus, I just get too freakin hot! But Slovenia is a a paradise of toplice (toplíce : hot springs pl, thermal springs; spa; watering place; to take the waters) and thus it seems that all manner of sauna, in relatively affordable and accessible circumstances, exist in tender harmony with their surroundings here. (Toplice are rather more expensive where I'm from and the beautiful ones seem to be quite far away, especially now, AND expensive: Willowstream, for example).

So, once I discovered this, well...

We started to feel like experts, slowly discovering what we love, what's better, what's missing, what could be improved... I thought how cool it would be to get paid to review health spas or wellness centers or toplice...well, as I don't think anyone is likely to offer me such a job here, I decided I might as well do it for fun.

So, from time to time, I will feature reviews of toplice we have been to.

Starting with:
My first Slovene toplice experience, Terme Topolšica

Topolšica is located in the Štajarska region of Slovenia, basically between Ljubljana and Maribor, being 80kn northeast from Ljubljana and 75 km southwest of Maribor and very close to Velenje. From either direction, you are mainly on the motorway, so you can easily get there within an hour and a half.

The town itself is quite cute, and you can find accommodation quite easily, whether you prefer a bead and breakfast or a fancy hotel (well, I haven't stayed at any of the hotels, etc. as we only went as a day trip, but they seem quite lovely and on the way you can see many signs advertising rooms (sobe) for rent or apartments(apartmani).

Although it may not be the most glamorous of health spas in Slovenia, it is definitely worth a visit as the surroundings are beautiful and relaxing. Also, I believe it is one of the best deals as far as spas go in Slovenia. Like many of the spas here, you also have the option of getting a daily pass, or a 3-hour pass. Often, particularly regarding the sauna, 3 hours is enough. There is also the option of getting lunch included in the price. We did this one time, and it wasn't too bad. In any case, since we were there for the whole day, it was nice not to worry about when and where to have lunch. I can't recall what the lunch options were when we were there, but I know that we were both able to choose something we liked.

There isn't much on their website detailing the sauna area, and there isn't a huge selection of saunas to choose from. The decor isn't exactly inspired either, but it is relaxing and not as crowded as some of the other spas are. There is an area with comfortable, cushioned lounge chairs to relax in between saunas and of course a water cooler to refresh yourself with.

Overall, I give the sauna park and the water park at Topolšica *** out of 5.

Divine Revelations

I always thought if I ever had a band someday, that I would call it Divine Revelation... why? I guess cause to me music is divine...truly...such a beautiful thing, such a typically human, or better yet, such a completely, utterly, truly human, thing...yet so otherworldly and somehow beyond human (when you think of some of our poorer qualities)... make music, not war...don't fight, dance!

And revelation because it is such a revelation, a revelation of our souls in pure form if we could really truly see them...thus the people who create music, shall I say 'good' music are divine revelators...

and perhaps, in addition to all the above mentioned, it is also an inherent desire in most of us, and perhaps in this case, my case, a desire to be all-powerful in some way, to be a superhero, bringing relief, joy, sympathy, empathy, understanding, energy to the people of the world...

like a really good dj. any really good dj is a mood master, able to turn us into happy puppets, we give ourselves over to the dj. Make us dance! Make us feel like everything is lovely and perfect and groovy! Even if your body is getting tired, a good dj can make dancing your heart out the only option. Somehow, your feet refuse to get off the dancefloor.

Yes, a good name for a band...

Not that I ever did have band...at least, not yet. J (first smiley- will try not to make a habbit of it)

Anyway, have been contemplating writing a blog for some time now...but have been hesitant and unsure of the question words...you know them...who, what, when, where, why and how....we like to ask ourselves these questions at two points mainly in our lives...when we are afraid and insecure and looking for excuses not to do it and when we finally find the balls to go for it and now have to think of a game plan...

Anyway, I digress...AGAIN...oops.

So, my husband says tonight, again, when are you going to write your blog?

I don't know (thinking, yes, yes, I would love to but I haven found my balls yet...geez!)

Have you thought of a name yet?

No...well, yes of course I have thought about it, but couldn't think of anything....

He says...you should call it something cool, different...like cider door...

Hmmm?

You know, the most beautiful word in English?

I don't know what the most beautiful word in English is.

(Why don't I know the most beautiful word in English?)

Remember Donnie Darko...cider door...

Hmm..I don't think that was it..

I go check on the net.

Cellar door...most beautiful word in English...

I like that...yes...maybe

Hmmm...maybe divine revelations through a cellar door?

Too long...

He likes divine revelations, too. But a bombardment of question words attack and I wonder... how am I to tie in my blog with a divine revelation?

I believe in souls. I belive the soul is a divine entitiy. So, If I reveal pieces of my thoughts, pieces of my soul, then that should prettty much cover it...and I hope that some of the other aspects of divine and revelation will eventually come through, too.