So Americans don't like Soccer

As its World Cup year I thought I'd tell a little story from the competition back in 2006 when I was in America for the final.
I'd watched England go out to Portugal in a earlier round while I was in St Louis when Loony Rooney got sent off because of a cheating Winker but was in Chicago for the final.

I had decided to watch Italy versus France in my favorite Irish Pub "Fado".

As a soccer fan I just can't be neutral so I decided I was going to support Italy in the final and thought it would not be right to wear my England shirt. So when I got up in the morning I choose rather than wear a National shirt I would wear my Club colours the uniform of the mighty whites.

Now kick off was not while 1pm Chicago time so I decided to go for a walk up Michigan Avenue for some last minute shopping (well coffee and cake) during the morning and make my way to Fado's for about 12noon. To my amazement for the first time in the US I was seeing as many Soccer Shirts as Baseball shirts (even more surprising was that the White Sox were entertaining Boston Red Sox that day).

Eventually I made my way to Fado's and when I got there I was shocked there was a line of people 50metres long waiting to get in. As I made my way to the back of the queue assuming they were waiting to open I remember passing a group wearing them Red (Manchester) shirts who seemed to glare at my White Gods top (we never did get on with them from over the hills) I was also surprised at the number of French supporters waving their flags.

Once in the queue it became apparent that it wasn't moving very quick so a girl in front of me went to find out what the problem was. She came back and said the pub was packed and it was one out one in. Now I realised most people will be in the pub to watch the final so wouldn't be moving so we had no chance, Fado's was closed due to crowd congestion.

So I moved on to "Rock Bottom" one block away to find the same problem a great long line of people trying to get in to watch the match.

I moved south a couple of blocks where I knew a sports bar "Mother Hubbards", now this is a baseball bar so I had my doubts. However they do have a lot of televisions and I thought they may show the match on one of the smaller screens, you can only ask.

When I opened the door I was amazed it was packed, the soccer was on, Italian and French flags (plus others) were everywhere. Luckily there was a spare seat at the bar and I ended up next to another Englishman from Oxford (not everyones perfect).

The atmosphere throughout the match was fantastic with a mix of all nationalities including many Americans totally absorbed.

The staff who were not expecting this turned out worked their socks off keeping everyone supplied with food and drink (they were totally undermanned), extra time and penalties must have killed them. The girl working the bar on her own was smashing still managing a smile despite running around like an headless chicken, Baseball was never like this.

Anyway the match is now history with Italy winning the shoot out and Zidane becoming the first uniformed Frenchman to win a fight since Napolean with his stupid headbut, what a idiot, must be related to Rooney I remember thinking.

From what I saw America is slowly starting to realise this is the world game and a sporting nation like them needs to get serious about it (3 billlion people world wide can't be wrong). Lets face it playing a World series against yourself is a Joke.

Kos

Not long to my next adventure as I've booked to go to Kos with Solos in June for a week.

Its actually the 2nd week of one of their possible two week breaks (great idea to have the option) so when i arrive a lot of the rest of the group will already know each other.

I'll probably be "Billy No Mates".

Don't know much about the Island so if anyone has been I'd appreciate advice on what to see and do ?

Slovenia Mountains & Coast

Well I'm just back from a week in Slovenia with Just You another new destination for me. The fact it was a two centre holiday appealed to me, half the week in the mountains and the rest at the coast. I've done touring holidays which are hectic and beach holidays which can be too laid back for me, so this looked ideal.

Slovenia is a small country with a population of around 2 million but the scenary is stunning as you will see from some of my photos.

The holiday started really the night before at heathrow when three of us (Elaine, Sue and myself)through the Just You forum arranged to meet up in the Three Magpies for a meal. Two other members of the forum not on the holiday (Sally & Cindy) who live nearby joned us which made for a great evening. Of course most of the conversation involved the many Just You holidays we had been on.

The following morning we met the rest of our group plus Mark our tour manager who apparently in a previous life was a Gary Barlow impersonator, still we've all got embarrasing things in our past. He was good and had lots of knowledge about the area.
Our group was the smallest I've been with, only 16 of us, 5 men and 11 ladies but that was good because some recent trips i've been on had over 40 and in my opinion that is too big.

We left London in glorious sunshine only to arrive in Zagreb (yes we flew to Croatia) to heavy rain although fortunately this was the only rain we saw. The transfer to our first hotel in the mountains took around 3 hours and I'll add on our return it was 4 hours which i believe is far too long. A bit of research i've found out direct flights from Manchester, Stanstead, Luton, Gatwick & Heathrow are available to Ljubljana if you are prepaired to use the likes of Easyjet, Slovenian airlines and Wizz. Surely this is preferable for a flight which takes a little over 2 hours, long transfers are a pain.

We arrived at our first hotel the Ribno to find it very isolated in a forest but only a 10 to 15 minute drive from Lake Bled, it was very scenic and i was lucky to get a decent room with a balcony, but some in our group were not so lucky. One complaint is the bathrooms were very small, in fact reckon it would be possible to do the three S's at the same time.
The food wasn't as hot as it should have been but that wasn't helped by sharing the dining room with a coach full of South Koreans who seemed to not know how to put the lids back on. They were also a education to watch at breakfast, think they thought they had to get everthing in one go and that you couldn't go up again, many of them attempted to carry two plates, coffee, fruit juice which resulted in numerous things been dropped.
We had one long table for our group but most times at breckie it was just me and the Korean entertainment as rest of our gang were not early starters. That was surprising because most hit the sack earlier than me and it was dissapointing the bar closed at 10pm although could still get a beer by seeing reception.

First morning we visited Lake Bled which I must say is stunning although not as big as I expected (should really do my homework), probably 3 to 4 km around. We took a boat trip to the little island with the church on it, most of us climbed the 99 steps to the top. When i said boat ride a bloke (mr grumpy) rowed us across as motor boats are not allowed I believe.

Afterwards we went up to the castle for some stunning views.

Bled itself is nice with some lovely cafes which of course we checked out, they are renowned for their cakes so it would have been rude not to indulge.

The next day it was a visit to another Lake and small town Bohinj which was again very scenic, this time it was a electric boat that took us to the other end of this larger lake and a walk in the woods to a first world war cemetary which was good exercise. On the way back most of our group got dropped off in Bled, some walked around the lake but the lazy among us (guilty as charged) caught the tourist train.












Next day it was our transfer to the coast and to Portroz (port of roses). Our tour manager Mark arranged a 3 hour stop in Ljubljana which i really enjoyed, its a beautiful place. Some of the group got the funicular up to the castle (Martin walked up) while others including myself checked out the market then had a lovely lunch at one of the many restaurants along the river.






Our hotel in Portroz was good but again dissapointed with a bar that closed at 10pm, this time couldn't get a drink. The hotel had a swimming pool but i didn't get chance to try it out. Portroz itself is a nice place but don't expect a beach because there isn't one. Looks plenty to do but as we were very early in the year (season starts end of May) it was very quiet.

It was another boat ride in the morning to the "Salt Pans" described on the Just You website as a highlight of the trip, lets just say the "jury is out" on that one. Following our educational tour of the salt it was back on the boat to Piran a beautiful fishing town (The Whitby of Slovenia is my best description). Enjoyed it a lot and four of us walked back (Peter, Annette, Gillian & myself) and enjoyed a excellent lunch in St Berdardinho.

Next day it was the trip to the Postonya Caves which are fascinating although thought it a long drive just to vistit the caves and think something else could have been included. Believe in the past on the Croatia trip the Horse stud farm was included. Still its something not to be missed.

Our final day was scheduled to be a trip to a Winery but there wasn't enough interest, lets face it many of us regular travellers have done wine tasting in numerous countries and at £60 didn't look great value.
Mark arranged as an alternative a trip over to the border into Italy to the port of Trieste which was much bigger than I expected, was a good trip and in my opinion should become part of the holiday. While there we visited the castle and its gardens, plus a City tour followed by enough free time.

Actually our last night was Friday an the only time the hotel bar stayed open with live music on (would have preffered Mark doing Gary Barlow), sadly we had to be up early for the long transfer to the Airport.

Got to mention the cake shop over the road from our Portroz hotel, coffee and cakes not to be missed as holiday calories dont count.

Then of course there was Marks quiz and confessions game which got everyone involved, in fact was a nice group of people that got on well.

Its a good holiday and a country worth visiting but the transfers need sorting and would be much better in season especially at Portroz.