Soaked again

Saturday's post said we were soaked in history. Sunday, we were simply soaked. It rained harder than this PNW dweller had seen in a long time... ALL DAY! But we're from Seattle, right? Not to be deterred by a little - torrential downpour. Both of us were glad we sprayed our shoes with waterproofing before we left. But still, one can only take so much. We chanced another museum, and it was a good decision. The City Museum of Lujubljana had everything from Roman ruins to the present.
 We attempted to walk across the city afterward, but then decided we were being foolish and went back to the room and took a nap! Sunday night we met our tour companions, took an orientation walk with them and then all went to dinner. So far, seems like a nice group.

 Today, Monday, we all went on a tour of the city with our guide, a Ljubljana naitve, who like most people here, speaks beautiful English.
In the afternoon, we were on our own and packed in quite a bit. Walking through Old Town, visiting a Serbian Orthodox Church and walking past the American Embassy - NO PHOTOS!! We went to the top of the Skyscraper (13 stories) and then up to the Castle for even better views of the entire city.

 My favorite Ljubljana sign:

I think we're going to a Thai restaurant tonight so we can maybe get a vegetable ( ! ) and then tomorrow we leave Ljubljana for Lake Bled in the Julian Alps. Here we go!

Today was pretty much soaked in history. Of course, it's hard to be in Europe without that happening. We started off the day visiting the big market in Old Town. Beautiful displays - everything from fruit and flowers to eggs, meat, cheeses and one booth where a knot of middle aged men were standing around apparently having an early morning glass of sherry! It was both indoors and out and great people watching as we sipped a cappucino. at a sidewalk table.

Our museum of the day was a bit of a disappointment, but was enlivened by the car show being held in its courtyard.

As we left, we spotted some incredible graffitti and other strange art in the next block. Walking over to take a look, it turned out to be a hostel next to a courtyard literaly covered in some of the most beautiful graffitti I have ever seen - and mosaics and sculpture and railings made of old metal headboards -it was a
riot of color and creativity. A young man from New Zealand told us there was live music there and was a place where young people came to party. Wild!

Walking back we heard drums and trumpets, so had to see what was going on. Down the promenade by the river came a procession of medieval lords and ladies, knights and musicians. We have no idea what the occasion was, but it was impressive. They were apparently from Italy, if we deciphered their banners correctly.

 Traditional dinner of goulash tonight. Had to do it. Followed by gelato, of course!

Slovenian SWAT team?

Hits and misses

As with any traavel, you win some and you lose some. But somethow it all seems to come out right at the end. And that was the case today.
Hit:  we both got all our stuff into the carry on bags. Yeah!
 Miss:  we had to check the bags anyway! We had misread the weight limit and were each over by 5 lbs. They were serious about it. Walked around with a little portable scale. The silver lining to that is, we probably packed less stuff thinking it was going to be carry-on and both bags made it all the way to Ljubljana.
Hit: the plane left on time and arrived earrly.
Miss: the 2nd plane was delayed and we  were late leaing Frankfurt.
Hit: A man was waiting at the airport with our names on one of those little signs (haven't you ALWAYS wanted to be greeted like that?)
Miss:  It was Friday afternoon traffic in Ljubljana. Clogged to a standstandstill. But we got a great SLOW tour of Ljubljana.

Hit: Pizza in Slovenia for my birthday dinner! It was a special one featuring truffles and sour cream. And we began the afternoon with cream cake from a foodie market. No misses here.
Going to bed finally. I think we've been up for 36 hours or so.

Arriving in Slovenia. That's me in red.

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 Creme cake from the outdoor market - yum!

 Pizza and beer for my birthday dinner!

Country #1

Landed safely in Frankfurt Germany.  3 hour layover until next flight. But as a special treat. I got frisked by a frau. Did I ever! It was extremely friendly. I think it was my watch thru the metal detector. More later.

Here is a map of our planned itinerary for the first two weeks. We will be in Ljubljana a couple of days early to get over jet lag - hopefully!

We leave Thursday!!

Think it will fit?

We're going to go all carry-on. Trying to fit over a month's worth of gear into a carry on and a crossbody backpack... well, it's adventure number 1!

Final Plans

I think we might be all set! Everything's the same, except that we decided Prague was worth a week, too. So, now we have an apartment all lined up for Prague as well as Vienna. A week in each city should give us a chance to really get to know each one. That leaves about 3 days at the end for whatever we feel like doing. It always seems like someone we meet along the way recommends something we MUST do, and there's never any time.

Spontaneity! A concept both of us planners are having a little trouble with...