Hotel Mons Ljubljana

... just ...

... visiting Ljubljana to move away a bit from the pubs of the riverside and go deep into Metelkova street, you will have no regrets!
At 5 in the morning, when everything is closing, a slovenian guy we met at the rock pub takes us near the bus station to eat a bürek; a sort of thick pizza made with puff pastry and filled with a variety of ingredients (cheese, meat, vegetables...). The bürek is a yugoslavian specialty that has its origin in the ottoman period ...

... itself was a little disappointing and, of course, under construction. But the views it had and the surrounding park was quite nice. On the way down we saw the Dragon Bridge (bridges are sort of a highlight in Ljubljana). The name was much more exciting than the bridge, just four dragon statues at each corner.

We also met up with a friend of ours that we met Couchsurfing in Graz. He, and everyone else ...

... environs to be had from the parapets but the tower (and apparently the best views) was off-limits due to re-construction. This hadn't deterred every primary school in Ljubljana from arranging a visit that morning so amidst the small-child chaos we beat a hasty retreat back to riverside cafe land. In the afternoon, pausing only for some more Slovenian ice-cream (it really is good), we made our way to the city bus station and caught the 4pm to Bled. 

... I asked the man behind the desk where we could buy tickets. 'Sprechen sie Deutch?' He asked me. 'No, sorry' I told him. Despite this he rattled off some directions in German, but used enough arm waving and gesticulations (he must know that language too) to convey where we needed to go. We followed the directions and found the ticket office. Closed. Bummer. We read the sign on the door which told us that the ticket office would be open one hour ...

The capital of Slovenia - a lovely little gem of a city. I was very taken by the city with its winding little streets and castle on the hill top. We got an amazing view of the city from the Castle. There is an amazing backdrop in all directions - especially if you look towards ...

... of spirituals from up front, the audience applauded us all the way to the front. "Hark I hear the harps eternal" rang out resoundingly in the cathedral space. "In bright mansions" was more heavenly than it had ever been. I caught myself looking up to the glorious painted ceiling in the middle, and choir members say they saw several audience members in a similarly prayerful pose. The silence at the end was precious, and the longest we had allowed ourselves yet. This ...

... strength for the go karting race we have on thursday. I went just over 1 week ago with 6 Slovene chicks. It was fun, but damn some of those girls were slow. Ursa was the fastest, I still kicked her **** by 10 seconds (30 second lap for me, 40 for her....over a minute for some)...muhahaha. Next time some dudes will be racing so I can humiliate them also.....hopefully. Feb 18 It was Pust Festival in Ptuj to ...

... so I guess they don't eat much, but boy can they drink. I took a bus to Lake Bled yesterday and this place is a real Bavarian town. On the way over the bus driver blared polka music. It's sort of fun!!! The lake is a little like Greenlake in that it about a 3 mile walk around it. I will finish this later, I want to upload some pic's before I start my train travels. For those that wanted my to go to Venice, I'll be there for about 10 hours today.

... but the water is warm and the atmosphere more relaxing. A balcony room in the Hotel Fiesa is a perfect way to spend a couple of days and the view is great, particularly when the girls from the local nightclub lounge like gleaming mermaids naked on the rocks. Piran is also an ideal base to explore the most popular of Slovenia´s 7,000 caves and pits. The Postojna Caves, as big a tourist attraction as Bled, is a huge 27km series of caves and tunnels with stunning ...