Welcome to the West - Can I Go Back Now?

Ljubljana is gorgeous and Venice is beautiful, but give me decrepit, crumbling, post-communist apartment buildings any day of the week and I will be as happy as a pig in mud. As soon as I reached Slovenia, the backpackers and tourists increased exponentially (hardly the case in Albania). Of course, Venice is even worse, despite the fact that tourist season technically has not begun yet. Although both of these cities are beautiful and carry much historical value, they don't have a lot of personality, having had it stamped out by all of their visitors.

While the Slovenes are ethnically Slavic, they are culturally German: clean, organized and occupied by the Hapsburgs for centuries, Ljubljana is full of pretty canals, short walking bridges and more Baroque style architecture (enough already!), but it's simply not that interesting. My dorm-mates at my hostel - a couple of girls from Alabama said they thought Ljubljana was very Eastern European looking and I almost laughed. Their comment was especially funny, since they are architecture students in Rome. I wanted to suggest they should choose a different profession, since they were floundering in their own field.

I arrived in Venice this afternoon, and it is just as spectacular as I had always imagined, not nearly as dirty as Rome or Naples (which I found degoutant, as the French say). Even so, after wandering for a few hours down the narrow cobbletsone streets, over tiny canals and by historic Cathedrals and monuments, I feel like I'm done. In fact, I am going to visit Florence on Thursday for the day, before my night train to Budapest. I suspect this is the closest I will be to Firenze for a very long time and I should seize the opportunity.

Anyway, although it is nice to be in the West in some ways, primarily the convenience of Western luxuries like hot water and a standing shower, the crowds and expense gets old quickly. I am very much looking forward to my trips to the Baltics and the Caucases in June, and trying to enjoy what little time I have left here.