Surprises in Slovenia

Day one in Ljublana, Slovenia was in many ways just like any other city I come into after a long train ride. I was tired and travel sore. Why does sitting on your ass for six hours make me tired and irritable? I don't know either.

But all was not bad as I found my youth hostel rather quickly. It was named Hostel Celica (translation: Hostel Cell) and was a former military prison. From the outside, it looked like a graphiti art convention. More on my 'cell' lodgings later. My lodgings consisted of a 12 bunk dorm room where all the beds were laying randomly on the floor--just put your stuff on one and that is the way you claim it. This is what you get when one asks for cheapest available. After doing so I went down to the 'Oriental bar'. It was oriental in the fact that everyone sat on cushions on the floor. Very international I thought. None of the tables were free so I sat down with someone seated by himself. His name was Babakay and was from Nigeria. He working and going to school in Ljubljana. He worked as a DJ for one of the clubs down there and, like alot of other locals, hung out at the Hostel due to the cheap beer and drinks served there. After that I went and explored the town a little but didn't get very far due to the rain and blowing wind. Had some dinner of cheese soup and a veal cutlet. The hostel had a party there for some strange reason. Turns out Slovenians prefer to party more on the weekdays (the day being Tuesday) than weekends. There rarely go out on Saturday nights.

I tried to mingle but it was hopeless. Try approaching a foreign people in a language most dont grasp very well and the conversations tend to be awkward. And then they just ignore you and go back to their own friends. Well one rejection was enough for me that day so I went up to hit the bed early--it is in the attic of the place, where the kitchen was too. Upon going past the kitchen I heard three people speaking english, which after the broken conversation I just had downstairs, sounded like music to the ears. I introduced myself to them and found out the two girls were from Norway and the one guy was from Austria. The two girls were down in Ljubljana (pronounced lube-yana) to do a floral internship for two weeks. The Austrian was there for a two week course on how to speak slovenian--caused he lived on the slovenia/austrian border and wanted to interact more with the locals. So I got to know them pretty well and we bullshitted until about midnight and then went to bed. They had there work at 8 in the morning and I had a castle to storm.

Castle Ljubljana, like most castles in the cities, was the main tourist attraction in Ljubljana. So I took the hike up there in the early morning and it was of course raining. That wasn't too bad though as it afforded me a castle all to myself. So I scaled the turret, took some pics, watched a 3d video on the castle and the town, and I was off on another adventure.

Went to the local farmers market, where horseburger seems to be the main attraction. I couldn't eat it though. I like horses. I like riding horses. I cant bring myself to eat something I see as a pet. Which is why pigs will never be a pet of mine. So I bought a bunch of nuts and dried fruit, hailed a bus, and took the hour ride to Lake Bled.

Lake Bled is small village located in th valley of two mountain regions. It is very picturesue. It even has a small island in the tiny lake that some christians thought it would be good to put a church on. This takes up the whole size of the island. So I hiked the 6 kilometer trail along the lake, took a video, pictures of some ducks, and was on my way back to Ljubljana. My feet were so wet on the bus, I took off my shoes and smelled up the whole bus--but my feet got dry and the locals got angry and I received plenty of dirty looks. Dry feet are worth it.

Back in town, I found a Doner Kebab to have a quick bite. These are turkish stands more ubiquitous than McDonalds (and cheaper) that serve all kinds of wraps and sandwiches they can throw that shaved slices of browned pillar of meat on. What is that stuff anyway? Wait, maybe I dont want to know--probably horse.

Back in the hostel I ordered a beer and started watching a sport called handball that is very big over here. It was Slovenia against Germany and the slavs were losing. I seen a long haired brunette girl giving me a couple of sidelong glances at me (probably cause my feet still smell) so I go over and introduce myself and ask if she watches these crazy sports. She says no, but is very talkative nevertheless. Turns out she (her name was Katsica) is the cultural attache and sculptor of the Hostel Celica and ends up giving me a tour of the entire grounds. Here is the web address of some of the pics.(http://www.burger.si/Ljubljana/VR3/Celica/uvod.htm)
Every cell had an artist come in and redesign it in their own representation and she showed me all the rooms that were free. She also show me the dungeons and solitary confinement (which is not on the regular tour) which I must say is pretty damn spooky. The artists had to drill through the wall to get to the dungeons as the military had holed it up to hide evidence of the attrocities that had been done there in WWII. I took some pics of them. Well Katsica had to run and about the time she did, the Norwegians, there slav coworkers, and BabaKay and some of his nigerian friends all showed up so I invited both groups to my lonely table and I once again had a party of like five nationalities--Norwegians, Slavs, Nigerians, a Serbian, and me.

I had finally warmed up to the slavs and they even bought everyone a round. They were telling me the secrets of slav women. It turns out that if you start talking to them and they dont bring up a boyfriend in the first five minutes, that means they have an interest in you. It was explained to me that this should give you incentive to be 'more aggressive' as they still will be quite shy and act aloof. If after an hour they still don't bring up a boyfriend, you are still in and can safely cudgel their head and bring them back to your cave.

So after that great piece of advice, I learned one more very important lesson. It was brought about by the lone serbian. I had seen him sitting alone at a table and invited him over. He didnt know english but he knew slav. so to speak with him I used of the Slavanians at the table. But he was quiet and didnt say too much anyway. After about 30 minutes sitting with us he takes out a little canister, pours himself a couple of coke lines, rolls up a euro and offers all a snort or two. Interesting I think, but I dont really give it much thought. This was not so with my other guests. They all left about five minutes afterward after telling the bartenders what the serb was doing. At first I think this is a little overreaction until I learn why. Turns out, you gat hard jail time for drug use AND for being associated with a drug user in Slovenia. Uh-huh. BabaKay tells me this afterward everyone leaves. Well, at that moment I think it is well time to move on to the next country of Croatia. So the next morning I pack up my stuff, take a morning trip to see the famous caves of Southern Slovenia and then head across the border before I end up in some military dungeon.

The caves were pretty cool by the way. They are so deep and long, you have to take a roller coaster type train for 2-3 kilometers into the mountain. If you stand, your head gets cut off. I think this is just safety nonsense. But no its absolutely true --the train moves so fast and the tunnels cut so low that if you were over 6'5 sitting you better be alert and duck in a few places. It added to the adventure. Along with 6-10 foot stactites above, that if they broke off, you're done. While underneath them they politely tell you that earthquakes hit here every couple of years.

So now I am in Zagreb, Croatia. The currency is Kunos, and you get about nine kunos to every dollar. I can't wait to hit the coast in a couple of days--warmer weather abounds there--about 50 degree days are the average.

Some Videos for you to enjoy:

http://www.mosteal.com/video/lakebled.wmv

http://www.mosteal.com/video/cave.wmv

Pics have to wait--I am being kicked of the internet cafe.