Ljubljana, Slovenia !

Only a two hour train ride west from Zagreb is Ljubljana, capital of Slovenia.



We took a 7am train and arrived in Ljubljana just after 9am to make sure we got a full day of sightseeing in. We headed down to the river where there was an antique market going on and lots of artists were also displaying their stuff.

We sat at a cafe' and had some toastie type sandwiches. Kelly had one with vegetables and a local mystery meat that turned out to resemble prosciutto (after all slovenia is next to Italy).

My ham & cheesey sandwich was served on focaccia bread with a horseradish sauce..yum.

Kelly was all fired up to go up the looming mountain to see the castle...I soon found out why.

Yet another funicular railway. Kelly is obsessed with them. It can't be the excitement of them, because they dont go fast and the ride is pretty short. Yes it is up a hill, and you do get a nice view. No for Kelly, the wordsmith, its the actual word "Funicular"...she must have said it 300 times over the course of the weekend. She would look at me and just say "Fuh-nick-you-lerrrrrr". A bus would go by and she would say, "Thats not Fuh-nick-you-ler".

above, Happy Kelly with her Funicular Railway in the background. To pose for this picture, Kelly ran ahead and cut somebody off to get the good spot for the picture. The other person turned out to be a priest. ooops.

So once we got up to the castle we were surprised to find that the mountaintop castle has been completely overhauled and modernized. Lots of new glass and fancy architecture blended in with the old.

We decided we liked it as a place to live, but not so much as a touristy kind of place. Took away a lot of the castle charm..but it was very well done.

Once we were finished at the castle we decided to walk down along the scenic route. We had a pleasant stroll down the mountain and back into the city. (Me: This is a nice walk huh? Kelly: Funicular, Me: Are you going to be saying funicular all day again? Kelly: Funicular)

As most of you already know, besides reading and saying funny words, Kelly's favorite past time is touching things she isnt supposed to. There have been several international incidents, reaching across clearly marked barriers to touch ancient Egyptian artifacts when no one was looking at the British Museum in London, popping into a guard shack in Copenhagen until one of the Royal Guards yelled at her, and trying to steal a piece of the ruins at the Forum in Rome....to name a few.

Kelly just has to touch everything. On Saturday, we had noticed the plant "Lambs Ear" at several gardens in Zagreb...later that night in the hotel, Kelly unloaded several leaves of Lambs Ear from her pocket ! What the ! Her justification "its so soft, i like it. wanna feel ?"

That's why when we came across this, she didn't know what to do.

This shop has what appears to be a hole in the window so you can grab a bar of soap ? Now, not being able to read Slovenian, we didnt know what to make of it. Kelly of course walked up and thrust her arm through the window and started rummaging about like it was her stuff.

As is her nature, it made her nervous and happy at the same time. Watching the puzzled look on her face made me laugh the entire time.

After completely canvassing the old city, we headed a bit out of town to check out the Roman ruins. Ljubljana started out as a Roman setlement called Emona around 14 AD. It was pretty much destroyed by Attilla and the Huns in 452. All that remains is the old wall and some entrances to the city. Still very impressive.

The last must see site for us was Metelkova, an autonomous social center located on the site of the former Yugoslavian army barracks. The Celica hostel, where you stay in former prison cells, is famous as the place where the Metelkova movement started when it was squatted in 1993.

The area looks somewhat like Christiania in Copenhagen, without the positive hippie vibe and the gardens. It just feels like a dirty drug zone. We didn't stick around. (click on our Denmark link on the menu up top to see our trip to Christiania)

We had a 4pm train headed back to Vienna, so we had just enough time to get some lunch. Our destination was HotHorse.

Unfortunately they were closed, so no Horse Burger for me. We had Chinese food instead which came with 1 Euro glasses of wine ! Nasty wine...but wine all the same.

Na zdravje !