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greenbagjosh · 10 months

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Sunday 3 August 2003 - Fribourg to Düdingen FR - crossing the Röstigraben at least twice - night train to Ljubljana - first visit to the former Yugoslavia - the beginning of the horrible heat dome - evening along the Ljubljanica

Sunday 3 August 2003 + Monday 4 August 2003

Good morning! Today we will spend a little time in the Suisse Romande before going to catch the night train in Zürich to Ljubljana. We spend a little time in Lausanne before going to Fribourg and Düdingen, to see what life is like on both sides of the Röstigraben. In Zürich we catch the night train that goes to Ljubljana, passing through Liechtenstein, Tirol including Innsbruck and Wörgl, Villach, Jesenice and Bled. It will be the first time that I visit the former Yugoslavia but not the last time. Hope you will enjoy today's adventure.

Guten Morgen! Heute verbringen wir ein wenig Zeit in der Westschweiz, bevor wir in Zürich den Nachtzug nach Ljubljana nehmen. Wir verbringen ein wenig Zeit in Lausanne, bevor wir nach Freiburg und Düdingen fahren, um zu sehen, wie das Leben auf beiden Seiten des Röstigrabens ist. In Zürich nehmen wir den Nachtzug, der nach Ljubljana fährt und durch Liechtenstein, Tirol inklusive Innsbruck und Wörgl, Villach, Jesenice und Bled fährt. Es wird das erste Mal sein, dass ich das ehemalige Jugoslawien besuche, aber nicht das letzte Mal. Ich hoffe, Sie werden das heutige Abenteuer genießen.

Bonjour! Aujourd'hui, nous passerons un peu de temps en Suisse romande avant d'aller prendre le train de nuit à Zürich pour Ljubljana. Nous passons un peu de temps à Lausanne avant d'aller à Fribourg et Düdingen, pour voir à quoi ressemble la vie de part et d'autre du Röstigraben. À Zürich, nous prenons le train de nuit qui va à Ljubljana, en passant par le Liechtenstein, le Tyrol, y compris Innsbruck et Wörgl, Villach, Jesenice et Bled. Ce sera la première fois que je visiterai l'ex-Yougoslavie mais pas la dernière fois. J'espère que vous apprécierez l'aventure d'aujourd'hui.

Dobro jutro! Danes bomo preživeli nekaj časa v Suisse Romande / Zahodna Švica, preden bomo ujeli nočni vlak v Zürichu za Ljubljano. Nekaj časa preživimo v Lausanni, preden gremo v Fribourg in Düdingen, da vidimo, kakšno je življenje na obeh straneh Röstigrabna. V Zürichu ujamemo nočni vlak, ki pelje proti Ljubljani, pelje čez Liechtenstein, Tirolsko vključno z Innsbruckom in Wörglom, Beljak, Jesenice in Bled. To bo prvič, da bom obiskal nekdanjo Jugoslavijo, vendar ne zadnjič. Upam, da boste uživali v današnji avanturi.

Dobro jutro! Danas ćemo provesti malo vremena u Suisse Romande / Zapadna Švicarska prije nego što u Zürichu uhvatimo noćni vlak za Ljubljanu. Provodimo malo vremena u Lausannei prije odlaska u Fribourg i Düdingen, da vidimo kakav je život s obje strane Röstigrabena. U Zürichu hvatamo noćni vlak koji vozi za Ljubljanu, prolazi kroz Lihtenštajn, Tirol uključujući Innsbruck i Wörgl, Villach, Jesenice i Bled. Bit će to prvi put da posjećujem bivšu Jugoslaviju, ali ne i zadnji put. Nadam se da ćete uživati u današnjoj avanturi.

Buongiorno! Oggi trascorreremo un po' di tempo nella Svizzera Romanda / Svizzera occidentale prima di andare a prendere il treno notturno da Zurigo per Lubiana. Trascorriamo un po' di tempo a Losanna prima di andare a Friburgo ea Düdingen, per vedere com'è la vita su entrambe le sponde del Röstigraben. A Zurigo prendiamo il treno notturno che va a Lubiana, passando per Liechtenstein, Tirolo comprese Innsbruck e Wörgl, Villach, Jesenice e Bled. Sarà la prima volta che visito l'ex Jugoslavia ma non l'ultima volta. Spero che apprezzerai l'avventura di oggi.

I had much fun the previous day in Geneva. It was my first parade since the one in August 1998, but with a bit of francophonic flavor. There was still a bit yet to visit, particularly Fribourg, which I had visited in 2001, but only to change trains. I had previously visited Neuchâtel in April 2001 as well, so there was no point in going there this time. As I did not know if Fribourg had proper lockers, I decided to place my luggage in Lausanne, where I knew there still were proper working lockers.

I had breakfast about 7:30 AM, and was ready to check out by 8:30 AM. I took the bus from the hostel to Territet station, took the westbound REV to Lausanne, and deposited my rolling suitcase. I had a look around the station. The cog rail system that I remembered from 2000 and 2001, had been shut down. This was because the local public transit company wanted to replace the cograil system with a bidirectional adhesive system using MP89-like cars. I would return in February 2012 to ride it.

After looking around the Gare CFF Lausanne, I took a train to Fribourg, which was a SBB Dosto, or double level quality train pulled by a premium electric locomotive, similar to the ones I rode in September 2000 and November 2002. It did not stop in Vevey, but went up the REV S5 and S6 routes to Puidoux VD, Moreillon VD, Palézieux, Oron, crossing into the Fribourg canton, Romont, Villars sur Glâne and Fribourg. I exited the train at Fribourg. Fribourg has a connection to the Bern S-Bahn system, which has a stop in Düdingen, which I would visit sometime later in the afternoon. I walked along Boulevard des Pérolles. As it was a Sunday, shops were closed, so I could only do "leche vitrine", or window shop. The day was fairly nice, not too warm, maybe +27 C / 80 F. I found a place to eat after walking a while. I had a lunch portion of pasta with a Cardinal beer. It tasted almost like a Feldschlösschen or an Eichhof.

After lunch, I walked back to the rail station, and boarded the S-Bahn for Düdingen. At the time, the Poya rail station was not yet built, so the next station from Fribourg CFF was across the Schiffenensee in Düdingen. The Schiffenensee was also considered the local Röstigraben, crossed by the Viaduc de Grandfey. Across the Schiffenensee, everything changed from French to German. Soon enough, the train stopped in Düdingen. I first passed through Düdingen about 11:30 AM on Sunday 10th September 2000, while going from Lausanne to Zürich, not knowing if it were in the canton of Bern, or still in Fribourg. Fribourg is mostly a French-speaking canton, but it has some communities that speak German. The Röstigraben generally does not follow cantonal boundaries. Even the Polentagraben follows the Uri-Ticino cantonal boundary, but when it comes to Graubünden, that is a different story. The canton of Wallis and to some degree also Neuchâtel, are mainly French-speaking, also with German-speaking towns closer to Bern. I did not speak with many people in Düdingen, but I suspect their dialect of German would follow that of Bern.

In Düdingen I walked sort of northeast of the SBB rail station. I walked along the Hauptstrasse to see the Saatzucht Genossenschaft Düdingen silo, where they grow agricultural seeds. Düdingen is not particularly large, but it is a notable town, in my opinion. On a Sunday there was not much going on. I decided to return to Fribourg and catch the next train to Lausanne, fetch my luggage and take the next Inter City train to Zürich. Before I did that, I went into the Kiosk store, on the Düdingen SBB station premises, and ordered myself a chocolate ice cream on a stick, I think a Magnum white chocolate. It was really good, just right for summer. When I finished that, I waited for the next S-Bahn train to Fribourg. The train to Lausanne was not quite at the station, so I looked around. I found a payphone that took not just Swiss Francs, but also Euro. Normally Swiss phones take only Francs, but the one I saw, had a blue and yellow "€" sign with the familiar twelve yellow stars.

I took the next fast train to Lausanne. It was a Dosto and travelled nonstop. At Lausanne CFF, I fetched my rolling suitcase, and walked to the platform where the next train to Zürich would leave from. I found a Dosto. I sat in the lower floor of the first class compartment for the quietness. The upper level is a bit noisier, and also has the Elvetino rail bar rolling through at times. It was a nice quiet ride to Zürich.

In Zürich, I would have at least an hour layover until the train would be ready to board. I had my reservation with me. I would be sleeping in the lowest bunk of a three person car. The train would go through, but not stop everywhere, southwest of the Lake Zürich, Pfäffikon SZ, Ziegelbrücke, Sargans, Schaan FL, Feldkirch, Bludenz, Innsbruck, Wörgl, Salzburg, Zell am See, Villach, Rosenbach, Jesenice and finally Ljubljana, and then on to Zagreb. I walked with my rolling suitcase to the bridge to Central and the north end of Niederdorferstrasse where the bottom station of the Polybahn to ETH Zürich is located. I had a look at the Limmat south to Bellevue and Lake Zürich, but did not walk there at that time. From 8th to 11th August, I would spend more time in Zürich, so I decided to not take too much time, and to be ready for the train to leave.

At the rail station, the train had arrived about 7:30 PM local time. I found my car, and showed the reservation to the conductor. He showed me to my compartment, and I was on the lower bunk. He took my ticket and passport, and he said he would return it after we cleared Slovenian customs. He would also put entry and exit stamps as appropriate. The compartment had three people on a three bunk bed setup. There was a sink in the room. The toilet would be down the hall. Meals were not included, so it was a good thing that I had some food before boarding, and I also had leftover bottles of grapefruit soda and similar. I was not so interested in carrying around much beer. The train left about 8:30 PM.

After the train left at 8:30 PM, it went on its route on the south end of the St. Galler Oberland mountains, crossed the Rhine at Buchs into Liechtenstein at Schaan, just north of Vaduz, then through Feldkirch, Bludenz, Innsbruck, Wörgl, Salzburg, Villach and Rosenbach. Much of the night, the train was moving about 75 mph or 120 km/h at most. Sleeping was kind of like I was lying down but being pulled in one direction. It felt similar to when I went on 11th November 2002, from Hamburg Hbf to Zürich HB, arriving on 12th November.

About 6 AM, the train pulled into Villach, in the Bundesland of Kärnten. The sun had risen sometime while we passed through Spittel an der Drau. This would be the only time I would be awake to see Austria that year. This would be a major stopping station for the train. Some people would exit the train, some would board it. The train would make one last stop in Austria, at Rosenbach. I received a stamp in my passport before departing for Slovenia. About 8 AM, the train would be in Jesenice, Slovenia. At Jesenice, the customs officials checked passports, and gave me an entry stamp. This was my first entry into Yugoslavia. The train went on to Ljubljana through really nice countryside, including Bled and Kranj.

About 9 AM, the train arrived in Ljubljana, at Glavni Stanica. In 2003, in Slovenia, although it had ascended to the European Union, it was neither a user of the Euro, nor was it part of the Schengen Agreement. Instead, Slovenia used the Tolar, which was about 110 Tolar to the US Dollar. I had to withdraw some money to be able to buy basic items. I think the highest valued money I had was a 1,000 Tolar bill. There did not seem to be any subdivisions of the Tolar that I was aware of, no coins under 5 Tolar were used. In 2008, Slovenia started using the Euro. In 2022, Croatia followed suit, using the Euro and being part of the Schengen Agreement.

At the station, I found the bus station, and bought myself a bus pass for the entire day, which would give me unlimited bus rides all around the city. The youth hostel was not particularly far away, it was called Dijaski Dom Tabor, along Kotnikova Ulica. It did not seem too far to walk from the station, but by the time I walked all the way, I was very tired. The hostel had its familiar blue on white Hostelling International logo, and the door had "Dijaski Dom Tabor" on the top. I checked into the hostel, and my room was ready. My room was a double room but no one other than myself was booked for that room for the two days I would stay. I took a shower and changed clothes in the private bathroom, then I was ready to take the bus into town.

The traffic lights in Slovenia are not particularly special. They are mostly large head signals, about 12 inches or 300 mm per head. At the time, they performed R-RY-G-Y similar to Switzerland and Germany, but there was a period of three flashes of green before going yellow. I doubt that in 2023 that the signals do that anymore, but merely do the same sequence as Germany. To get to downtown, I had to walk to Komenskega ulica, and board the bus at the 3 Illirska ulica bus stop. I went as far west on the bus as Tivolska Cesta and south into the city. Eventually I ended up about 3 PM that day in the cathedral square at Cankarjevo nabrezje. That is the old town and major shopping center for Ljubljana. The castle is high on the hill nearby. It was neat to see the canal containing the Ljubljanica river. I would visit there later that evening.

About 3 PM I was starting to feel a bit of heat stroke. I think it was a mistake to book a very cheap room at the hostel, particularly in that part of Europe. I had to go back to the hostel and take a nap. This was kind of like the 20th/21st June 1998 when I was in Salzburg, it was a particularly hot weekend. In 2003 on the other hand, there would be about five days of hot weather, which would not let up until I went on to Munich, after visiting Zürich.

I left the hostel about 6 PM when the weather cooled down a bit. I took the bus into town, across the Mesarki Most across the Ljubljanica. I walked around the Giril Metodov Trg to find a nice place. I found one restaurant with an interesting menu. Sadly I only remember the beef tongues with dijon mustard that I had as an appetizer. I don't think I had the cevabcici. At the restaurant, there was a guitar player playing live. One song I remember him playing, was "Pandajero" by Cantoma. I did not know that song at the time, and it would not be until November that year, that I would actually hear it on the radio. Somewhere I still have that recording on an audio cassette.

After supper, I did a bit more walking around the Preseren monument and eastward along the Ljubljanica. The sun had set about 9:30 PM, so the weather was a bit more comfortable. The youth hostel was not too far that I could not walk there on foot. When I was back in the youth hostel, I took my radio and recorded a few hours of Slovene radio. Slovene radio at the time contained international music, including some songs from Italy, but mostly English.

Please join me tomorrow, when I check out the timetables for Milan via Venice, have an encounter with the local Jehova's Witnesses trying to sell me a copy of "Vatchtover" [sic], take the train to Zagreb, ride the tram across town, find a place to eat pizza, return to Trg Republika, take the train back to Ljubljana about sundown, and sleep until 1 AM. Hope you will join me then. Good night!

Bitte kommen Sie morgen zu mir, wenn ich mir die Fahrpläne für Mailand über Venedig anschaue, eine Begegnung mit den örtlichen Zeugen Jehovas habe, die mir ein Exemplar von „Vatchtover“ [sic] verkaufen wollen, mit dem Zug nach Zagreb fahre, mit der Straßenbahn quer durch die Stadt fahre, Suchen Sie sich einen Ort zum Pizzaessen, kehren Sie zum Trg Republika zurück, nehmen Sie gegen Sonnenuntergang den Zug zurück nach Ljubljana und schlafen Sie bis 1 Uhr morgens. Ich hoffe, Sie kommen dann zu mir. Gute Nacht!

S'il vous plaît, rejoignez-moi demain, quand je vérifierai les horaires de Milan via Venise, que j'aurai une rencontre avec les Témoins de Jéhovah locaux essayant de me vendre une copie de "Vatchtover" [sic], que je prendrai le train pour Zagreb, que je prendrai le tram à travers la ville, trouvez un endroit pour manger une pizza, retournez à Trg Republika, prenez le train pour Ljubljana vers le coucher du soleil et dormez jusqu'à 1 h du matin. J'espère que vous me rejoindrez alors. Bonne nuit!

Prosim, pridruži se mi jutri, ko bom preverjal vozne rede za Milano prek Benetk, se srečal z lokalnimi Jehovovimi pričami, ki mi poskušajo prodati izvod "Vatchtover" [sic], šel z vlakom v Zagreb, se vozil s tramvajem čez mesto, najti pico, se vrniti na Trg republike, se z vlakom vrniti v Ljubljano pred sončnim zahodom in spati do 1. ure zjutraj. Upam, da se mi boš takrat pridružil. Lahko noč!

Molim te, pridruži mi se sutra, kada budem provjeravao vozni red za Milano preko Venecije, susreo se s lokalnim Jehovinim svjedocima koji mi pokušavaju prodati primjerak "Vatchtovera" [sic], išao vlakom za Zagreb, vozio se tramvajem preko grada, naći mjesto za pojesti pizzu, vratiti se na Trg Republike, sjesti vlakom natrag u Ljubljanu oko zalaska sunca i spavati do 1 ujutro. Nadam se da ćeš mi se tada pridružiti. Laku noć!

Per favore, unisciti a me domani, quando controllo gli orari per Milano via Venezia, incontra i Testimoni di Geova locali che cercano di vendermi una copia di "Vatchtover" [sic], prendi il treno per Zagabria, attraversa la città in tram, trova un posto dove mangiare la pizza, torna a Trg Republika, prendi il treno per Lubiana verso il tramonto e dormi fino all'una di notte. Spero che ti unirai a me allora. Buona notte!

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