Ljoving Ljife in Ljubljana

RROOOAAAAAR I AM A DRRAAAAAGGGOOON!
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On our wunderbar night train from munich, we were roughly awoken by the border control and asked for passports. Also, they handed out our complimentary hardhats, mine detectors and machetes, which every tourist gets to protect themselves in the area. (So don't worry dad!)

We arrived in Ljubljana at about 6am and, to be honest, felt a little intimidated, we didn't know which side of the tunnel (under the train tracks) to get out, so we just sat and had a coffee in the little cafe, figuring nothing else would be open. Made brazen by caffeine and bubbles (i had bubbly juice), we ran for an exit, machetes slashing the air as though we were braving the amazonian jungle (sorry little kids...). We exchanged some money and DIDN'T get ripped off! It was pretty confusing to deal with money for the last few days because it is about 239SIT for 1euro. We've thrown the canadian $ out the window...unfortunately our bank has not!

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The first night in Ljubljana we stayed in a student residence turned hostel for very cheap (well, very reasonable) and our room was like a classroom with ten mattresses on the floor!!

We spent the day walking around (with our helmets on... you never know). We went up to the castle and saw a 3D movie about the city and castle, kind of cute. then we got a stunning view from the tower.

We got lost on the way down, following a winding downhill path with crumbly walls covered in ivy, basically choosing our path based on some accordian music we could hear from somewhere! We saw some very beautiful architecture, it's like a mini prague (so they say, we still haven't been to Prague, silly us), except they have this big church that is PINK! and the reason it's pink? Because Vienna would never paint a church pink and so it would be distinctly Ljubljanian!!

thumbs up to crumbly walls and decay! WHOO!
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There is a bridge called the triple bridge- when traffic got too intense, instead of building a new one and tearing down the old one, the architect just added sides so there are three sections. I've noticed that alot lately, reusing and changing things rather than tearing things down. In frieburg, when they built a new car bridge they used the old one for bikes and pedestrians (Kelowna should take notes!!!).

Things are cheaper here, but not ridiculously so. For instance, espresso in Germany: 1.50-1.80 (unless very touristy area). Espresso here: .70-.90. And it's the same kind! So it's not quite like when people go to thailand and buy a house for 20$ but it's more reasonable than italy!!!

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We went to a couple museums but they weren't mind blowing. We were pretty tired and silly and since they were free didn't mind cruising through making fun of certain things (˝is it just me, or does every single baby jesus in this room not have hands?˝)

We also found a really cool flea market with things that would be great to buy (especially for scott's art) but who wants to backpack with a huge rusty thing? But there were old yugoslav army helmets and badges and things, which is pretty nuts.

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Our second night we stayed in prison. But don't worry, they let us keep our machetes, so when the other prisoners tried to steal our passports, we chopped off their hands!!! Actually, we stayed in a converted prison that was used by the Yugoslav army. It was taken over by artists and architects and the cells were converted into rooms, and they kept the original bars on the windows and doors!

It's a really groovy place, lots of bright colours, they havea cafe, shisha (sheeeesh) bar, meditation room, outdoor patio, free internet, and a big screen tv set up just for the world cup finals (did anyone else see that vicious penalty by the french bully? what a jerk... however, i still wanted france to win). They also have a great breakfast and comfortable beds...

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So after a few days of Ljubljana, we took a bus to Bled, aptly named for all the mines that went off while we were there.

Hahahaha!

Actually, it's a perfect living postcard- crystal clear turquoise water, surrounded by tree covered julian alps, in the middle of the lake is a tiny island with a 13th century church, on top of a cliff is a castle, and right on the edge of the lake? Our camp!! WHOOO!

We heard that the town didn't have much to offer so we spent our time at the camp, sitting on the beach, swimming in the amazing and perfect water (also, there are NO motors on the water so it's super clean!!), rowed out to the island in a swan boat to check out the church...aaahhhhh relaxation. You know, we just work so darn hard that we felt we really DESERVED a break from it all. (Okay, hands up, who wants to kill us right now??) We met a lovely british couple, Nina and Tim (though sometimes I almost called them Tima and Nim because my brain gets fuzzy in the sun!) who made me almost forgive britain for the pound stamping on the canadian dollar, making it very stressful to be there!

Lake Bled
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We spent the first night at the camp drinking wine with them and talking until the camp guy had to come and ask us to be quiet (I said, ˝Sorry, we're talking American Politics, you know how it is˝).

They invited us to a spa but we couldn't really justify spending a day's budget just on a bath, no matter how nice (we tried to, oh how we tried), but they gave us a ride to the train station and there were pictures and hugs...

Tonight we are off to croatia, machetes firmly in hand, we'll be online in about a week or so! Don't worry dad, we travel safe and never let our valuables out of our sight! (including each other...aawwwww)

view from our campground!
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'Til next time,

Sconic