Rathausplatz, Vienna, Austria

Summer in Vienna. Rathausplatz Open-Air-Kino festival.


Matthew Walker - working for IBM in Dubai, providing Telecoms customers (primarily wireless) in Middle East, Egypt and Pakistan the service and network assurance solutions that they've always wanted. Born and raised in New Mills near Manchester. Fan of Manchester City FC. University of Glamorgan graduate, worked as a landscape gardener while studying - housewives services not included :), later he worked for Aircom, a start up in Dubai and recently joined IBM in Tivoli Netcool and Vallent division. Golf handicap 22, latest book 1776. With millions in minutes and pounds he would have a big estate in UK with agriculture and forestry and would definitely do more sailing. This photo was actually taken in Kaktus Bar in Vienna. One of many places to go, when Rathausplatz closes down at midnight.


Rathausplatz festival offers a variety of international cuisines. A must try.


A very big screen, summer night and new year's concert with Zubin Mehta.

Cantina Mexicana, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Cantina Mexicana - a very good Mexican place in a very good location in Ljubljana. Near and around are popular bars and restaurants, such as AS and Cutty Sark. A recommendation.


Danilo Kozoderc - owner of Vizor brand, consulting and moderating workshops at corporate customers in order to help them find innovative and open learning solutions. He grew up and lives in Race-Fram near Maribor. The surname Kozoderc is pretty unique and its origin is from around there where he lives. He used to teach at high school, was running Mladinski ceh a.k.a Youth Guild, helped create Nefix and now runs Vizor. He has a small son and used to be an avid skavt (scouting). His recent book was Seven day weekend by Brazilian Ricardo Semler. Whit unlimited tie and money he would get back to helping all sorts of people in their career aspirations, helping them to find hat they really want and where do they really want to go. Angel's Cookies. "But when you look - look WIDE; and even when you think you are looking wide - LOOK WIDER STILL" by Robert Baden-Powell.

Caffe alle porte, Izola, Slovenia

Caffe alle porte. On a very good location in Izola on Slovenian coast. Coffee, tea and art gallery.

Mitja Andlovec - While working for Sandoz (division of Novartis) and making sure that their IT systems and solutions comply to their high quality standards, he is also engaged on investment opportunities, such as real estate and stock exchange market. Born in Trbovlje, raised in Litija, lives in Ljubljana and loves to go to his home away from home in Izola. His grandfather was used to cool his forearm in cold stream on really hot days, while working with hay - the so called hay days. FRI graduate, during study worked as a tour guide for Collegium, had a small part in Slovenian privatisation story and then went on to work in IT related jobs at Lek and Sandoz. Loves hiking, travelling and whitewater kayaking. When younger he was practicing athletics till Chernobyl disaster (all outdoor activities stopped for a while, causing him to drop that line of sport). Lately a lot of efforts were put into building his vacation home in Izola from scratch, not leaving him enough time to read, but despite all odds he managed to read and be fascinated by Alamut written by Vladimir Bartol. A true recommendation.As he will achieve monetary freedom heights, his neophilia will crystallize, pushing him in forever new ways of creating value and excitement, while helping to improve people's lives. One day he will lose his virginity in Sir Richard Branson's way. "Nothing is real, everything is allowed."

Martina Kaplja - working in Hypo Group Alpe Adria back office, making sure that all promises of front office colleagues are frictionless fulfilled. Born in Ljubljana, raised in Litija, and now lives in Ljubljana (with Mitja). Her father is a passionate hunter, who turned to protecting and raising wild animals. A long way from hunting groundhogs. Turistica graduate, grew up to be the back office expert. Everybody needs a good back office support. EF, Bojan Pozar and now Hypo, have all benefited from her back office skills. For years she used to walk 10 km almost every day to her school and back. She discovered the secrets of oriental dance with help of Anita Sobar. The Celestine Prophecy was just one of the books that got her interested in the other side. She's about to talk to her angels soon. One day she will have her own counseling practice. For couples and kids and also extending the counseling business with retreat-type hotel destinations.


Next to Caffe alle porte is the open market in Izola. Tomato anyone?

Parlament Pub, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Parlament pub is near Parliament (National Assembly) in Ljubljana. Frequently visited by students from nearby high school named after famous Slovenian architect Joze Plecnik.

(Sašo) Saso Bezek - co-managing sales of IBM System x servers in Slovenia. He grew up in Metlika next to Mozetic family that created DonDon and Tvojih Pet Minut brands in Slovenia. He always wanted to be at the seaside and so he decided to study there at Gea College and is now on post-graduate at FDS - co-funded by Peter Jambrek, former member of Constitutional Court of Slovenia. Saso worked for Avis in Koper and upon his return to Ljubljana he landed job at IBM via Adecco. Sea and Sarajevo are his biggest passions and he is reading Sophie's world right now. One day he will build the biggest skyscraper in Sarajevo, even bigger than Avaz Twist Tower that is being built right now. He has a lot of friends in Sarajevo and might end up there - having a hi-end tech stuff stores.

A very good Greek sandwich from Tvojih Pet Minut brand - it all started in Metlika ...

Kratochwill, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Kratochwill - beer brand and a chain of pubs and restaurants. There are three of them in Ljubljana. This one is near the railway station.

Matej Merljak - currently a graduate student at FE, PR for EESTEC and also engaged in a lot of other extracurricular activities. Born in Gorica, grew up in Bilje in Renče. Renče is famous for off-road enthusiasm. According to Google that is :). Families by the name Merljak also have a part of town named afte them. Matej is a co-founder of MladiPodjetnik.si and Niteo and worked with Mogenas and Datalab. He is very close to an up and coming music producing group Avalonspirit - they have really interesting music and I recommend you take a test drive on their site. Many celebs connected themselves to Avalonspirit on MySpace, among them: Enya, Bras Pitt, Sting, Rihanna, Madonna, etc. Matej's reading is done mostly online - Blogs, Newsletters, RSS Feeds. He used to be an active athlete, specializing in sprint running (60m, 100m), and avid extreme in line skater, table tennis player and he still plays chess. He knows Peter Lamut. When he will have a lot, he would give a lot. To people. He's mission is Nokia like: Connecting people.

Chicken salad with melon.

Food in Kratochwill looks and is pretty good, but if you manage to take your eyes off the plate, you might see other spoils of life - such as good looking Slovenian female by passers :)

LunaPark Grad Kodeljevo, Ljubljana, Slovenia

LunaPark is an innovative restaurant/catering business with a good website. Located in Grad Kodeljevo castle. The use of the word castle is not fully justified, I believe.

(Andraž) Andraz Tori - CTO of Zemanta, using Machine Learning in content creation, discovery and delivery. The URL links that you can see throughout this blog are manually created by the author, but Zemanta's technology can help you automate a significant part of this process. Slovenian IJS institute (E8 department) is working in a similar field. Getting and using EU funds is important nowadays. Born and raised in Ljubljana, his roots go to Zasavje region where band Orlek comes from. All three Tories in the band are related to Andraz, but none of them belongs to UK Tories :) Orlek is pretty much a local Slovenian band, but they did visit the far out Pakistan once - and Andraz of course joined them. A FRI graduate, was a HP Research intern, founder of Kiberpipa, long time editor and lead of popular TV show on technology - R&R. Likes to travel with a cause (such as a conference, concert, ...) and plays badminton. He disliked The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana and liked Baudolino - both by Umberto Eco. Pizza is pizza, Google is biased and Blaz Fortuna is a person to meet.

"The last duel" is a special drink they serve you in LunaPark. We did not try it.

Namaste, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Namaste is a very nice and so far the only Indian restaurant in Ljubljana. You can get Indian food also in restaurant Okarina in Bled and there's another Indian place in Maribor. Namaste is owned and managed by a Slovenian-Indian couple. The lady boss might be featured on this blog in the near future.

We had very good masala chai, staple thali lunch and finished with a very good sweet. Food was really good and very authentic - confirmed by Gregor Tavcar himself, as he has seen a lot of India so far.

Gregor Tavcar (Tavčar) - traveller by nature and traveller by profession with his Char brand. Born and raised in Gorica, with family roots in Cerkljansko - region around Cerkno. Not related to Ivan Tavčar, who was a very famous Slovenian writer. Gregor graduated at EF (post-graduate degree still pending). While studying he has done a lot of different kind of jobs among them swimming&skiing instructor, waiter, tourist guide for Collegium and marketing position at Premisa. Lately he decided to focus his efforts solely on travelling profession. His non paying pleasures are mountain biking&downhill, kayak, even more travel, football and occasionally some good electronic music dance party. No water, no moon by Osho was the latest book he read. When time&money will allow him, he will be engaged in direct community help&development in some remote places outside Europe. He has a table full of proverbs (copied or invented) such as: "No matter how slow, as long as it is moving.", "Life's a stage: you come, see and go. Everyone on his own stage.") His biggest accomplishment so far is achieving his professional independence with his own work and brand. VoipDiscount is on many occasions cheaper than Skype.

Very interesting wooden box in which the bill was brought in. Makes you wanna tip :)

Hombre, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Hombre - a popular pub and pizzeria near Gerbiceva student lodge.

Matej Golob - head of development at Datalab and ... is not me (the author of this Blog). Born in Maribor in 1976 like me, but is not me. Studied Computer Science like me, but is not me. Quite some similarities. His brother dr.Izidor Golob is working at FERI faculty in Maribor, but for Matej FERI remains an open chapter. He worked for Bavaria Woltex Company (there he was introduced to Apple Mac), Alarix, EPI Spectrum and now Datalab. Matej has two daughters and one son, likes cycling on Pohorje and does not like particularly reading books other than the technical he needs for his job.

Empty terrace. Too hot.

Sushimama, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Sushimama - the only sushi place in Ljubljana, according to my knowledge and according to Sushiref website.

Rudi Leskosek (Leskošek) - until August 1st still working for S&T Slovenia as presales and IT architect in IT security and IT management area. Then he will move to Australia. As an Australian citizen. Born and raised Velenje and till his Australian adventure lived in Ljubljana. Franc Leskosek (not related to Rudi) was a famous communist in socialist Yugoslavia. Ales Leskosek (also not related to Rudi) is CEO of Comparex Slovenia. Rudi graduated at FRI, worked for Gambit, GlaxoSmithKline, Jerovsek, IUS software and now S&T. He's crazy about scuba diving and his next dive will be somewhere in Micronesia (Salomon Islands?) to see underwater volcano. Would go very deep, but would not go very high (wouldn't even try thinking of skydiving). He also likes making and enjoying his own sushi. When younger he's spent a great deal of time on skateboard with skateboard 6 Pack Cukur - "Brez Veleja Ni Zivleja!". A book he remembers is Necromancer. He would have his own Pacific with Flora and Fauna. Did you know it takes 10-12 years to be able to cook proper rice for sushi.

Sushimama interior. Immaculate. Just as it is supposed to be.

Spicy tuna. I am not the expert, but Rudi is and supposedly it is very, very good. Recommendations for Sushimama!

Bi-Ko-Fe, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Bi-Ko-Fe - a bit bohemian place in the centre of Ljubljana, liked by students and tourists.

Toni Golob - working for Jaka&I, growing sales of industrial lightning products in eastern part of Slovenia. Born in Celje, raised in Prebold, lives in Braslovce. After a little on and off with faculty study, he working for Baumax, Grafolit and now Jaka&I. He also did some high-altitude works (Industrial Alpinism) due to his free climbing skills and passion. He's a member of Ljubjana Matica climbing club. He has climbed many walls so far, among them Hotecnik, Osp and others. Bouldering is one specific sort of climbing on a single rock. Likes to travel - once went to Portugal and after heavy partying with 2 Finns ended in Lisbona with 130 EU left and no ticket to come home. MTB, downhill and paragliding are also his sports. Paklenica is a free climbing heaven in Croatia near Zadar. Onsight / Flash / Redpoint and Freepoint - one needs to be a free climber to know the meaning of that. One day he will climb every wall and go to every corner, place, river, lake, mountain, beach and any other piece of this magnificent earth of ours.

Slightly more innovative than toast.

Portal, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Lado Rot - traveler and author. Born and raised in Ljubljana , now lives in a house in Iski Vintgar. Graduated at FSD, worked as a tourist guide and article writer. He used to be an actor and loves horseback riding. His latest achievement is his multi-senses book Matahari Oko Dneva (The Eye Of The Day) that you can order via email oko.dneva@gmail.com Interestingly enough as he was travelling and writing this book he did not read at all. Back in the days when he was reading more, Carlos Castaneda was his favourite author. With all the resources in the world he would try to preserve and maybe even recreate the native, unsoiled tribes of the world. The Village movie. "Back to nature!"


Lado did not like the original picture from our Blog lunch in Gostisce Portal, so I replaced it with another one. Smoking kills!


Matahari - Oko Dneva - Lado's new book. Click.

Gostisce Portal in Ljubljana. A pretty popular place also convenient for bigger events.

Cacao, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Cacao is an ice cream terrace in the center of Ljubljana.


They serve very good ice cream and fruit cups, but their best feature is the location, of course.


Iztok Sumak (Šumak) - working for IBM, providing relationship, guidance and help to IBM SW VADs (Distributors) in South East Area region. Born in Maribor, grew up in Ljutomer and then moved back to Maribor. The old Sumak family from Ljutomer was a pretty big one. His grandfather started his own business as an egg dealer that eventually led him to have customers all over Europe - on top of that he managed to get all his children to university. Graduated at FERI, started working for Simt as a student (selling computer screen filters), later for Lancom and now IBM. When younger he enjoyed playing valley ball, windsurfing (back then made by Imgrad in Ljutomer), shooting air gun and playing piano and classic guitar. Today he has 4 kids - 3 sons and a girl - loves biking and skiing on Pohorje and shooting quality photos with his old Minolta x700, newer Canon D30 and a Mamiya camera. He's a member of Fotoklub Maribor and his latest book was On photography by Susan Sontag. More time = more biking. "Let's laugh, tomorrow might be worse" in Murphy's Law sense :)

Ancient postman and his bicycle ... still alive in Ljubljana.

Piazza, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Pizzeria Piazza in Ljubljana - not much about it on the web - I guess they are focusing on their core business, which is making very good pizzas. Anyway, it is one of the most popular pizzerias in Ljubljana and so we came here again.


Rok Hudoklin - CEO and owner of Domex - the biggest part of their business is distribution of Netgear products. His goal is to remain independent and achieve high growth through frictionless operations and widening array of products. Rok was actually born in Houston and has American citizenship, but was raised and lives now in Lubljana, with most of his roots being in Dolenjska region (Lower Carniola). His FOV study is still an open chapter and the debate around finishing it is also open :) He worked for Repro and Avtera, mostly in distribution related jobs such as support and product management. Finally he took over his family business (Domex) that used to sell toys and turned it around into technology distribution company. Sea (Croatian coastline) is his greatest passion - sailing (has a skipper licence) and lately also windsurfing. He doesn't really read that much, but one of more memorable books that he read was Life is beautiful by Roberto Benigni. His AllMoneyAllTimeInTheWorld scenario he would do simple stuff: hobbies, traveling and helping humans, if for some reason they got stuck somewhere they don't want to be. Favourite proverb: "Work brings freedom", but not in the 1940s sense of it. Voice 2.0 is coming. Web Voice. Voice Web. Gizmo project. TelMe. Fring.

Zerjavcek, Trzin, Slovenia

Zerjavcek (Žerjavček) is a brand new higher class restaurant in Trzin business district (IOC), owned and operated by Biring.


Julija Herle - co-manager of printing family business Herle and a very connected lady. Born in Ljubljana, spent big part of her childhood in Motnik, now lives in Ljubljana and spends a lot of her time in Visnje and Susak. Herle family goes all the way back to a Bartolomeus Herle who lived in France around 1550. (Somebody did a lot of research here) Graduated at EF, where she also finished M.Sc. and is now on her way to Ph.D degree. She's always been working for Herle company, but has also been very active in other areas such as Rotary Club Ljubljana Tivoli, Association of Female Managers (FAM), meditation, NLP, belly dance and she cannot not live without skiing and sailing (last one with Aeson, a boat from Dutch Slovenian couple Piet and Jelka). Her last book was My Grandfathers Blessings by Rachel Naomi Remen. One day she will devote a big part of her time to igniting sparks in the eyes of people in need - in retirement homes and hospitals. "Per aspera ad astra."

Žerjavček is the name of a marsh tulip (Fritillaria meleagris) that grows in Trzin area and is also featured on Trzin's coat-of-arms. Soothing Buddha Bar music in a very pleasant interior.

Pod lipo, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Pod lipo is a very popular, old (since 1820), traditional restaurant in downtown Ljubljana. Used to be (and probably stills is) also a popular students hang out.


(Primož) Primoz Veber, is a very good cook at your service. Can arrange catering events for you, cook at your place or bring everything with him to parties of all sizes. He likes to eat very good. Very much. Due to enthusiastic eating the picture is blurred:) Steak was order medium rare, but was served well done. Not good. His family name used to be Weber a couple of generations ago. Biljana Weber is General Manager of IBM Slovenia, but they are not related. Primoz was born and raised in Ljubljana, where he also lives now, but will soon move to an ultra-low energy passive house just outside of Ljubljana which he started building with help of Arhem company. He was always in catering/restaurant business, cooking for hotels Lev, Austrotel (now Astral) and Mons and restaurants Julija, Evropa and Rotovz. He was also chef in many places and then he decided to have his own catering/cooking business. He 4 years old son and 2 years old daughter. He's an avid bicyclist, plays Tarok Klub PIK Trebnje, a member of Tarok Zveza Slovenija, used to play a lot of basketball and valley ball when younger. One of his last books was Lipa zalenela je by Bogdan Novak - a saga based on a true story. Sagas are supposed to be pretty realistic. With financial freedom, he would still do a lot of cooking and catering, because he loves it, but on top of it he would go on RAAM - The World's Toughest Bike Race (This year's race was won by Slovenian Jure Robic!). He would also visit and eat at all top culinary places around the world (such as Gordon Ramsay's that he already visited), but with his own restaurant he would not try to go for Michelin 3 stars.


"Pod lipo" means "Under linden tree". And there is a big linden tree outside, giving a nice shade in the summer. On July 10th it was so cold that ...


... everybody was inside, enjoying old-fashioned interior.