Ljubljana Slovenia

I've spent the last few days here in Ljubljana, Slovenia at an AirBnB apartment and I couldn't be happier as to my host Vesna and the apartment's location.  The apartment is located about a 10 minute walk from the bus/train station, a 5 minute walk to the coffee bars and restaurants and a 25 minute walk to downtown Ljubljana..

Vesna is wonderful.  She was a flight attendant for many years with Adria Airlines (the national airline of Slovenia), and since retiring, now teaches Croatian.  She was originally from Croatia but has lived in Slovenia for 40 years.   She is very kind and ensures that I am fed well mostly with ingredients taken straight from her garden (even though feeding me was not part of the AirBNB agreement :).  It's been fun to spend time learning about the history of this area and talking with someone who has a different political perspective with regards to events in Crimea and other global hot-spots.

Ljubljana is wonderful city, reminding me of Copenhagen (without the bicycles).  A river flows through the center of town and there are many restaurants and bars on both sides.  On my first evening here I walked up to the castle, which is on a hill overlooking the city, and enjoyed the wonderful views.   You can walk in and around the castle for free which is unlike many castles I've visited.  The only negative of the evening was my curry chicken meal at an Indian restaurant  - it was truly horrible (even the beer!).   The chicken was thigh meat rather than breast meat (and probably other parts - it was hard to tell), the sauce was thin and lacking of flavor, and the rice was poorly cooked.  It was nasty.  I know I am probably spoiled after eating at the wonderful Indian restaurants in the UK, but even my meals at the Indian restaurants in my prairie hometown of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada were 100 times better.

The first night I arrived in Ljubljana was the night of the final game for the European basketball championship with the teams being Slovenia and Serbia.  As I walking home from my nasty meal, the bars were packed as the game was  just starting.  There was also a large TV screen in the center square with a corresponding large crowd watching the game.  It was a bit of a surreal setting with the game on the big screen and the castle lit up on the hill behind it.  I did not stay in the square to watch the game, but did watch it on the TV at the apartment.  It was a great game but, man was it rough - those Serbs did not mess around when a Slovine player attempted to drive the lane!  After the game, I could hear all the cheers from the bars as well as many, many gunshots.   People here definitely love their basketball (and obviously guns)

The next two days were pretty much nothing but a constant downpour of rain.  I did venture out the second day (getting soaked), and managed to find a great little pub that had local beer on tap.  After 3 different IPA's (including a cask 10%), I hit on more bar on the way home and then called it a night.

Today is a big day.  More later.