From a Stern magazine report on the Czech Republic, a.k.a. Slovenia. Click for full version.

Novala forwarded me this Stern travel report, which she got from her friend Dietmar.

I opened it, read the first few lines, quietly turned off my computer, and did this.

In case you don’t speak German, this masterpiece of ignorance by Eva-Maria Schnurr is a story about Czech spas that begins with the line:

"It’s not only the landscape that is varied in little Slovenia. The wellness possibilities range from thalassotherapy to rock massages."

It then goes on to describe Czech spas in Karlovy Vary and Mariánské LáznÄ›. (The latter appears, incorrectly, as "Mariánské Láznùe." I’ve never been there myself, but this newfangled device called Google is really great for finding out this kind of stuff.)

But let’s pause for a moment and reflect on this because, honestly now, it’s one thing to confuse Slovenia and Slovakia and quite another to confuse Slovenia with the Czech Republic. Who in the world makes that mistake?

Answer: Stern. In fact, the magazine has already proven its commitment to excellence vis-a-vis Slovenia with this bodacious map from last year, which misspells four out of 12 Slovenian cities. (Five if you count the missing diacritic on Portorož.)

For those of you counting at home, that’s two strikes for Stern. I’m curious to see what number three will be.

(Thanks again to Dietmar and Novala!)

UPDATE: Shortly after this post appeared, Stern fixed its mistake. There’s a screenshot of the original here.