In Honor of National Accordion Month: the Accordion Man of Preseren Square

June is National Accordion Month. It is the time to celebrate that melodious but most maligned of musical instruments. The accordion sounds like a portable organ, with the amplification being supplied by the muscle of the accordionist, whose continual squeezing of the squeezebox forces out those dulcet tones.

And who better to bring out in honor of National Accordion Month but the Accordion Man of Preseren Square in Ljubljana, Slovenia. On a trip to the Slovene capital back in September 2014, the Accordion Man was out there in the most central square in downtown Ljubljana, entertaining the crowds for coins thrown in his accordion case, in the late morning when we met up with our walking tour guide. Then, several hours later, after a leisurely dinner along the waters of the Ljubljanica River that meanders through town, well after dark, the Accordion Man was still squeezing out the dulcet tones in Preseren Square. The Accordion Man truly is the hardest working man in show business. (Well, Slovenian show business at least.)

Happy National Accordion Month from the Accordion Man of Preseren Square.

Phot-o' the Day: Busker with Accordion and Chihuahua; Lisbon, Portugal

The photo of the day is from outside the Torre de Belém, in the Belém neighborhood at the western edge of the city of Lisbon, Portugal.  From September 2017.

On that trip to Lisbon, I saw multiple people -- three constituting "multiple" -- busking in the city with (a) an accordion and (b) a chihuahua.  Never a shih-tzu.  Never a Doberman.  Always a chihuahua.  Apparently, in Portuguese culture, the squeezebox and the chihuahua go together like bourbon and ginger ale.  Or, to give it a more Portuguese spin, octopus and fado.  Or pasteis de Belém and life itself.

Vacation Lyonnaise Deux: Back to Lyon

Outside the Basilica of Notre Dame

One day in Lyon was not enough.  So we headed back to Lyon for the other non-game day in Saint-Etienne.

First stop:  the end of the other funicular line.  The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière, Lyon's own Notre Dame.

Outside the church on the entrance-side is a statue of Pope John Paul II, the Great, who visited here in 1984.

Let's walk around to the other side, shall we?

That is the Tour Metallique, which was built to look like the "third floor" of the Eiffel Tower.  It's now a TV transmitter, visible throughout Lyon.

As is the Basilica Notre Dame, which is on a hillside overlooking the city.  A steep hillside, hence the funicular.  You can walk it from Vieux Lyon, but why when there is a funicular?

The view are awesome.

And it was crowded at the viewpoint.

The interior was typical European old church magnificent:

Interestingly, the votive candles only came in three colors, blue, white and red.  Trez French.

Artsy shot of a lone priest at prayer.  This is a church, after all.

More votive candles in the tri-color colors:

This is the crypt area, below the main church.

And this is a giant tapestry, depicting the sites within France on the Road to Santiago de Compostela in Galicia Spain.
 

Then it was down the funicular to Vieux Lyon to check out the interior of Saint-Jean:

This is from the "treasury" section off to the side of the church:

Technically this next one counts as an artsy self-portrait, since I'm reflecting in the glass:

More from the Saint Jean interior:

They had this way-cool astronomical clock inside, too:

Another angle:

Time to go exploring Vieux Lyon.  Yesterday it had been packed with Northern Ireland football fans.  Today it was lousy with fans of Romania and Albania, who were playing at Lyon's Stade Olympique at 9:00PM this night,

Notre Dame visible from the square outside Saint Jean.

Notre Dame and the Tour Metallique visible from this bridge over the Saone River, going from Vieux Lyon to Presqu'Ile.  Presqu'Ile was the "modern" section of Lyon about 100-150 years ago.

A motorboat on the Saone.  Seemed a bit cold for me for this, but I'm not the one in the boat.

Another view of Notre Dame and the Tour Metallique.  I keep trying to take the definitive picture of this view.  It may require a helicopter.

Another attempt:

Back in the Vieux Lyon, we came upon a band playing marching band versions of disco hits from the 1970s.

This was K.C. & The Sunshine Band's "Shake Your Booty," which works well with brass.

This was a view toward Presqu'Ile:

And this meant it was time for supper.  Dinner was at Les Ventres Jaunes, the Yellow Windows:

Note the yellow awning.  Distinctive.

Dinner was delicious.  It was Lyon:

Always order the selections from the prix-fie menu when in France.  The appetizer, or entree, as they say in France, was a selection of chatcuterie.  Deli meats.

The main course was a snail souffle.  Hey, it's France!

And dessert was the chocolate mousse.

The inside of Les Ventres Jaunes was packed, once the skies opened up and it was pouring rain.

An even more excellent meal in the food capital of France.

Ljubljana at Night

Dragon on the Dragon Bridge

The sun was getting low, so it was time to look for a place to eat some supper. Wandering around, we saw some interesting looking buildings that were not part of the Old City core.

Cafe side entrance to the Grand Hotel Union Ljubljana 

Miklosiceva cesta 6 

Miklosiceva cesta 8

Miklosiceva cesta street view

Fountain outside the Grand Hotel Union Ljubljana

The horses in this fountain look like something done by the Colombian artist Botero
(the one who does all the fat people and animals)

We also went inside the Franciscan Church in Preseren Square:

Inside the Franciscan Church

The church was beautiful and ornate. While unlocked, the lights were off, so photographing inside was difficult. So let's eat. We went to the Zlata Ribica on Cankarjevo nabrezje, a pedestrian only street on the castle side of the Ljubljanica River.

I had the Ljubljana Schnitzel

Sister had the seafood pasta, with giant sea creatures in it still wearing their shells

From there, we wandered the core of the Old Town by dark.

Triple Bridge at night

When we got back to Preseren Square, the man who was playing the accordion in the square when we started our tour at 11:00 a.m. was still in the square, nine hours later, squeezing the squeezebox.

Man with accordion in Preseren Sqaure

Playing the accordion is hard work. You have to squeeze the bellows while playing a keyboard and pushing buttons without looking. Squeezing the bellows had got to be exhausting all by itself. Anfd the guy never seemed to even take a bathroom break. Forget James Brown. Accordion Man truly is the Hardest Working Man in Show Business.