Adventures with Phil: Finale
Trip Start
Jan 06, 2006
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78
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Trip End
Sep 02, 2008
Ljubljana,
Slovenia
Sunday, November 12, 2006
At least we caught the bus without incident: a group of four other travelers were confused by the local transportation system and tried to pay for their bus ride with rail tickets. That didn't work out for them. At the end of the day I cajoled a free ride back to Ljubljana with some smooth talking and a dearth of small change.
Bled, anyhow, came recommended by my Nana, who saw it a few years ago. She was rowed around in a little boat by a member of the Slovenian Olympic Rowing Team. I didn't have that privilege, but I did see their training site where a billboard boasted of all the medals they have one since Slovenian independence.
Lake Bled is surrounded by low, tree covered hills. The water was still and all sorts of people were making their Sunday afternoon walks around the lake. It would be nice to jog around. We had a nice quiet walk. The birds chirped infrequently. The water was clear and we could see debris at the bottom. Every so often a visitor who rowed out to the little church rang its bell, which made a soft echo around the lake. I liked it.
Despite the distance between us, dear reader, I can hear you groaning about the direction of this narrative already, even though I am only a few paragraphs in. Narrating beautiful idyllic scenes is not my strong point and besides it is dull to write and even more dull to read, so I usually leave them out. I am just worried that this entry will be too short and bring down my average words per entry count. Okay, now I'll tell you what happened to Phil.
It wasn't until quite a while later that I saw Phil awake. When we left to go out to Lake Bled, he had made it upstairs and was lying fully clothed on his bed. After we returned, I approached him while he was using the internet to ask how he felt.
"Terrible," he told me, "did I get beat up?"
"No," I replied.
"I have bruises all over my body."
"You fell down an awful lot last night."
"How come?"
His memory was pretty vacant as to what happened after he and Oloush finished their shot competition. I filled him in and I told him everything that happened, right up 'til I left him in the bathroom. He reflected a moment.
"I think I have a problem."
"Well, you made it upstairs, at least."
"Not until around ten o'clock."
"What did you do in the meantime then?" I had to ask him.
"I fell asleep."
"Where?"
"Where you left me."
It was a rough night.
