Grand Hotel Union Garni Ljubljana

... a meal that was as sumptuous as we could manage, and even had a bottle of champagne (Jean's idea) which made it all seem a bit more festive. After dinner we went back to the Hostel to dump our Bled stuff and get ready a bit for the New Year. At 10.30 we left Cameron and Jean to join the party that the Hostel had put on for the guests. Jess and I felt a bit old for that and the wee ones were a bit young too so we headed off into the cold cold night to soak up the atmosphere in the square ...

... the old town, just across the dragon bridge (the most famous bridge over river Ljubljana) I took a short but steep path up to the castle. After spending some time in the garden around the castle (it was a lovely garden!) I finally got in and... got disappointed! There was not much to see up there and the views from the wall and the tower were actually pretty lame. From the top of my total architectural ignorance I would say Ljubljana doesn't look like a harmonious ...

The end of a tour has special dynamics of its own. They differ with each trip depending on the particularities of the journey, but I've found that the positive and not-so-positive energies generated as the end draws near. On the positive end, people have gotten to know each other and be as comfortable with each other as family. Laughter in the back of the bus flows freely, as does the wine and conversation at dinnertime. Inside jokes take the form of lists of trivia ...

... out. When we arrived in Ljubljana around 7am, it was grey, cold and wet. As with so many of our other overnight journeys, our first stop was in a McDonalds, where we were guaranteed a clean bathroom and coffee. Something was a little out of the ordinary here though, because not only was there no bathroom, but there were no ATM's in the vicinity, and we were back in the Euro zone. So it was out into the rain we ventured, looking for a cashpoint and somewhere we ...

... ideas like a plastic aerodynamic tub with a door that one could load dirty clothes in and then submerge in the river to rotate away. Of course the laundry detergent would have to be biodegradable, but seems like river rats might buy it to trail along behind rafts. We also found an underground venue space under the castle made out of iron support beams and raw exposed rock - beautiful modernist Zen temple effect. Which of course sparked a new discussion ...

... to tell you about their alpine lakes and mountains, their cultural ties with Austria and Italy and about their incredible growth since gaining independence from Yugoslavia ten years ago. It is a perfect time to visit Slovenia. Tourism is developed but not intrusive, you can eat a three course meal and not sweat over the price and the Slovenianīs enthusiasm is contagious. We journeyed around this small country which offered so much variety it lived up to its tag as a ...