Ljubljana, Slovenia August 2- 8 - Part 1

 

We waited at the train station for 1 1/2 hours, on purpose.  We didn’t know how much trouble we would have getting to the station or how easy it would be to get the right train.  The ticket guy was very bothered by my questions.

Waiting for the train turned out to be wonderful.  We met Matt, who lives in Slovenia and spent 9 months cooking in Las Vegas and 3 years chef-ing in London.  It was wonderful to hear his view of his country.  While we talked, a very red haired older lady joined us while she waited for her train.  First, it was surprising that this little station had so many trains.  Secondly, she is a hoot.  She told us that she comes into town on this train all the time and that the conductor is from Sweden and not used to the heat in Pula, so whenever he felt overwhelmed by the heat, he would cancel the train and tell the passengers to get off and take a bus.  Today she lucked out and the train took her home.

Our little 3 car train was made of 6 people compartments and we spent most of the 3 1/2 hour trip talking to Matt and to the lady in the next compartment who spoke no English and we had a great time with Matt translating.  I am sure if this lady spoke English we would now be best buddies.  We were helping Matt figure out where to meet a woman and what kinds of food would sell the best where and tons of other unrelated stuff.  It sure made the trip go quickly.  It was sad to say goodbye.

So we did arrive in Ljubljana, Slovenia.  We walked to our hotel, only having to ask directions twice.  Beautiful place.  Came up, by elevator, to our room and      wow.  Huge, cool and wired internet.  What else could we want.  In case you missed it in the heading, instead of the 2 nights we booked we are still here on the 7th and are finally leaving tomorrow.  Why…..because we love it.  Not just the hotel but the town.

Much of the town was designed by one architect, Joze Plecnik, who just loved columns.  In addition, there are lots of examples of art Nouveau. 

      There was a big earthquake here and one of the only buildings that was not damaged, was this corner triangular building.  When the owners realized that there was money available to fix damaged buildings, they put up scaffolding and got their share and used it to add art nouveau designs.

This is the university library and also the equivalent of the library of congress in the US, with every book published in Slovenia.  This building was designed by Plecnik, but the columns are on the inside.        

The town is just full of lovely sights.  Of course there is a castle on the center hill

 

                                                                           

A river runs through the old town and there are many bridges across it. 

 

   the dragon bridge 

                                        

They even have their version of the locks of love.  Pledge your love and make it eternal by putting a lock on this bridge and throwing the key into the river.  Notice on the second picture that some people are hedging their bets and used a combination lock.