SLOVENIA (7/10) - A short detour only to Ptuj

This short detour to Ptuj, which is located a little over half an hour by train from Maribor and has a provincial and quaint charm, was a small interlude for me. As someone who feels connected to rivers throughout their life, I was particularly impressed by the mighty Drava River flowing past this place. However, I had already explored the city by this morning and returned to Maribor by train at noon on this Monday.

However, during this train ride, I was forced to observe something strangely surreal. In the rear part of the light green carriage dating back to the Tito era, the only other passenger besides myself got up from their seat and began to walk through the car. It was an extraordinarily tall, very slim, and quite attractive young lady who couldn't have been more than 20 years old. She quickly changed her seat and, looking somewhat agitated, drew the dark blue curtain closed at her new window seat. The lady wore a straw hat with a considerable diameter and a giant pair of sunglasses that almost covered her entire face. She then immediately jumped up again, took another seat, and pulled the dark blue curtain eagerly across the window. This repeated several times, in intervals of perhaps 30 seconds to a maximum of two minutes. The lady became more and more agitated each time she changed seats and drew the curtains. Before long, the train was almost completely dark, and from my seat, it was the last opportunity to look out of the window. I wondered if the tall, slim, very attractive young lady would now sit next to me and completely darken the passenger compartment of the train. While trying to look at the landscape of the Dravsko polje, the Drau Field in German, passing by outside, I pondered. Idiots, mind you, might have wished for this strange scenario to happen at this point. In any case, the scene felt eerie to me, and I was relieved when the train finally stopped in Maribor. I got off and let the extraordinarily tall, very slim, and quite attractive young lady disappear into the shadow realm of my travel memories.