Slovenian beauty overlooked

I loved Alison Shore’s article about Croatia [“Still the One,” May 4]. I did want to add one important observation: She was so close to Lake Bled, in Slovenia, that it’s too bad she didn’t take a short side trip to view one of the most beautiful places in the whole world. Maybe next time.

Kevin Connolly

San Clemente

Regarding Peter Rutenbeg’s letter about ATM use in Europe [May 4]: Because my credit cards all charge a 3% or more fee for foreign transactions, I have always gone “all cash” in Europe, using Bank of America’s reciprocal banks as stated in Rutenberg’s letter. But now, much to my chagrin, B of A charges 3% on all cash withdrawals at those same banks, plus $5 per transaction if using an off-brand bank.

This spring I used a Capitol One credit card that does not charge foreign transaction fees; thus I now go “all credit” except for small expenditures.

It’s getting difficult to keep track of these pesky charges. Will there soon be a fee to deposit money?

Carol Clark

Los Feliz

Train travel in days past

I guess I was one of those hippies who took the Ecuadorean train in the early 1990s [“Connecting Worlds,” by Larry Bleiberg, April 27]. What a different experience than the one he described in the article. I sat on the roof — exhilarating and scary — and my fellow passengers were not wealthy European tourists but local farmers. My “seatmate” was a pig that kept licking my knee.

When we hit the tunnels, those of us on the roof had to lie flat, while those who were hanging out of the doors had to squeeze into the compartments.

There were few formal stops; travelers just jumped on and off the slow-moving train. Local children grabbed on at the beginning of their village to sell coconut water, banana chips, etc., then dropped off as the train ventured out of their little towns.

At one point — it must have been part of the Devil’s Nose — we all had to get off the train and help push it backward to be able to continue forward.

It cost a lot less than $1,270 per person. Those were the days.

Deborah Lopez

Agoura Hills

Being the Superman aficionado he is, I’m surprised that Jim Hambrick didn’t legally change his name to either Clark Kent or Kal-El, Superman’s Krypton name [“Superman Super-fan’s Open Fortress,” by Jay Jones, May 4]. Hambrick has amassed more than 100,000 Superman collectibles, all of which are displayed in his Super Museum in none other than the real live city of Metropolis, Ill.

The city has been around since the mid-1800s and is probably the best location for such a gathering of fictional related items. Early TV “Superman” series have shown Metropolis to be in New York and L.A. It almost seems unfair to other previous Superman venues to settle for his home in Illinois despite the Metropolis namesake.

What makes it tolerable, however, is the notion that, despite being nowhere near L.A. or New York, the Man of Steel can be in either locale in the wink of an eye.

Bill Spitalnick

Newport Beach