Suza

We arrived on Saturday, late afternoon. We were not in a big hurry due to black-out dates on our ski passes. To our surprise night was unusually warm, over 5C, sky was full of stars, not a single cloud to be seen. Apartment we booked is on a Nevada side of Heavenly, it is small two bedroom place, perfectly fitting Tahoe style. Little wooden chairs, American style fireplace, all-you-can-possibly-need in the kitchen. You just move in and continue with your life…right where you stopped when you left your home.
Sunday was also black-out day so we decided to visit the beautiful Tahoe Zephyr Cove, eat manila clams at the same name restaurant and go beck for the most beautiful sun-set on the face of the Earth. Here at Tahoe Lake this kind of sun-sets are not exceptions, rather they rule!
Lake Tahoe, being the one of the worlds most beautiful alpine lake, with its crystal clear blue waters surrounded with snowy mountains and greasy valleys attracts around 3 million people each year. We represent one in a 3 million people that are coming over and over again to this serene beauty.

And now about global warming and how serious it is getting. Last year skiers at Tahoe have already experienced it. What it means when half of the diamonds are closed due to lack of snow…in the past lifts are not working because of heavy snow fall and winter storms…for past two years lifts are not working because there is no snow! Snow is likely gone from the lower elevation resorts but there is still some skiing going on at Heavenly, Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows. At NorthStar lots of the slopes are closed but major lifts are still open. Donner Ski Resort is closed for the second year in a row.
And this is the current situation on Stagecoach Heavenly this morning so you be the judge!

People are calling and asking me: should we take our swimming gear to Tahoe and is it worth coming.!? For all the beauty Lake Tahoe provides it is definitely worth coming. Skiing season might not be the best, but there are many other things to do here…stop by for a glass of vine with me!
Today is Monday. My family, very ambitiously left to go skiing, living me home alone! Desperate housewife with no job and no future. And here I am all by myself, when other people are earning their daily bread, sitting on my but in a nice Tahoe apartment doing what!?!?! You tell me! Drinking coffee, that's what I'll do. Read some funny blogs, try to write one myself and than make a lunch for hungry skiers. Is this carpe diem? Will see! If I end it with the nice glass of vine it definitely will be!!! Cheers!

My hometown! It is. The city where I was born, finished my elementary, middle and the high school. Those streets that I passed by thousand times, those smells that were different throughout all four distinct seasons. The one I remember the most was a smell of fall and rain. Colorful leaves and wild chestnuts... Man baking chestnuts on the street and selling them for five dinars...Those were the times. My first love … he he that was Platonic ...- of course it was! He did not even want to have a glance at me (aren’t all true loves unhappy... that’s what I used to think when I was 8). Of course he did not look at me - I was as skinny as a stick, with the crooked teeth and funny clothes that were hanging, in shoes that were way too big and therefore making me walk like a duck... Yes that was me.... But this story is not about me, it is about my hometown.
Varazdin got his name in 1181, documented by Croatian and Hungarian King Bella III. At that time city consisted of feudal fortress with a prefect living in the castle, and settlement of craftsmen and merchants, living around the castle (that is today called ‘Old City’). In 1220 Varazdin was the first Croatian city that got its status as a free and royal city and thanks to this acknowledgement and its geostrategic advantages, by the 15th century Varazdin had become a mercantile, handicraft, social, administrative and communication centre of Croatia. In 1523 Varazdin got its Town Hall (today one of the oldest Town Halls in Europe), finished in late Baroque style, that has been used for the same purpose up to the present day. In 18th century Varazdin was in his peak of social, political, economical and cultural development. At that time Varazdin was center of Croatian Parliament and has become Croatia’s capital city. The luxury and glory of baroque Varazdin come to an end on April 25, 1776 by a sudden fire destroying two thirds of the city. Despite the great efforts of the city administration and people themselves to restore what has been lost in big fire, Royal Council left Varazdin and moved to Zagreb, today’s capital of Croatia. Although, the fire almost destroyed the city, in next few decades, Varazdin was renovated and new manufacturing and handicrafts shops were started with the new textile, food and timber processing industry rapidly developing.
Today, Varazdin is centre of the theatrical and musical life of Croatia and the biggest baroque gem in the country. The city itself is a museum, with his proud and beautiful romanesque, gothic or renaissance style bell-towers, sculptures, luxurious baroque churches, antique shops and galleries and one of the most beautiful graveyards in the Europe. It is not without solid evidence that Varazdin is compared to one of the grandest European cities and today caring the name ‘Little Vienna’.

“Varazdin is my measure and my model: I am looking for a place that is still at the level of petrol lamp. A place pervaded by noble silence and natural patina. Where you can see the roots grown into the walls of houses, hear the rustling of dry grass blades, see the houses that breathe in hazy distance and low sun rays on objects on the table...” Miljenko Stancic (Painter)