Culinary Olympics

I am sure you all know that the next summer Olympic Games will take place in London 2012. But do you know that the next culinary Olympics will take place in Erfurt Germany in October 2008? Yes they will and Slovenia will be participating as well. One of the members of the Slovene National Culinary Olympic team is Igor Jagodic, head chef at Grand Hotel Toplice. Yesterday, the whole team gathered together in our hotel to prepare for the last time publicly the menu with which they will compete in Germany. They will compete in the so called Category R: Restaurant of nations, where each team has to prepare a 3 course menu for 110 people. They are judged by different criteria: mise en place and cleanliness of preparation, correct professional preparation, arrangement and presentation and taste: Attached are some photos of the team and of their masterpieces. I wish them all the best of luck and since I tested the menu myself, I think they have great chances of winning a medal!

Gregor got married!

I have the most wonderful news: Gregor Dežman, our receptionist got married to his beloved Andreja this Saturday. Attached is their photo and I must admit they both look gorgeous. The best of luck and sincere congratulations to both Mrs. and Mr. Dežman! May you be happy together forever!

Table Decorations

Flowers and candles on tables do sound quite normal, don't they? But have you ever seen live gold fish as table decoration? Well, it seems that this is the latest fashion with florists and it happened on one of the wedding dinners we hosted in Grand Hotel Toplice this summer. I have attached a photo in case you still do not believe it. It looks fabulous doesn't it? I also attached some more classical arrangements which are luckily still preferred by most guests. I have nothing against gold fish, please believe me, it is just that I was thinking what comes next. What if somebody decides to have live snakes or spiders on the tables? Where is the limit? In case you were wondering what happened to all the fish (12 in total) after the dinner, let me say that the guests were given plastic bags filled with water and took them home.

Bled Strategic Forum

Between August 31 and September 1st 2008 Bled was once again hosting Bled Strategic Forum. This year’s topic was Energy and Climate Change: Si.nergy for the Future. In addition to several VIPs that Grand Hotel Toplice had the privilege to accommodate in the hotel, we also prepared a gala dinner for 380 guests. Main speaker was Dr. Asha-Rose Migiro, Deputy Secretary General of United Nations. Once again, a job was extremely well done by our staff. Attached are some photos of the preparations for the dinner as well as the dinner itself. Planning and preparation for such events take weeks. In the beginning, several meetings with the event organizers are necessary in order to establish their needs and wishes. After that careful planning is required within the house, regarding staff, working arrangements, purchase of materials etc.

Flags

Have you ever wondered why some hotels have flags displayed above the entrance? Well I certainly have, but never really got the answer. I imagined all thoughts of thinks, for example, that they represent a tribute to the countries from which the guests come from. Maybe it is a sign for people passing by telling them that we are an international hotel. Maybe if a person would see his home country flag, it would make him feel more welcome. Maybe it is just a decoration. I really don’t know and would appreciate very much if someone could tell me. Anyhow, at Grand Hotel Toplice, we have exactly 28 flags above the front door as you can see on the photo. Since our guests come from a lot more then 28 countries, it makes it impossible to cover them all. Questions often arise regarding why this flag and not that flag. This year we bought new flags and Mateja and I had to decide which flags to buy. (Remember that we were limited to 28.) We decided to go with the EU and Slovene flags first. Next on the list were neighboring countries (Italy, Austria, Croatia, Hungary), then all the countries where majority of guests come from (UK, USA, Germany, ….) and then there was a problem. For the very last place, we actually did not decide by ourselves, since His Excellency Mr. A.M. suggested it. Which one was the last one? Let me just hint that the country has a very long name and the flag is very different from the others.

Web site in Russian language

We have another novelty on our web site and I am extremely happy about this. Our web pages have been translated into Russian language available under http://www.hotel-toplice.com/ru-index.html. We now have a web site available in five different languages! That is something I was really looking forward to. I am extremely partial when it comes to Russian language, since I consider it to be one of the most beautiful languages in the world. I especially like the softness of it. Since the number of guests from Russia in our hotel is constantly increasing, I do hope that they will find this addition helpful. добро пожаловать!

Novelty on the web site

I am glad to be able to announce that there is a novelty on our web site. A wonderful photo gallery has been added, showing not only the present images of the hotel, but also historical pictures, some more then 100 years old. Special features are two virtual panorama tours, one from the balcony on the 5th floor and one of the main hotel lounge. Please go to: http://www.hotel-toplice.com/ photo gallery.