Last time I talked about how happy I was, how joyous it is to be in Salzburg, etc. etc. etc. Well, that lasted about a weekend and was over. My mind decided to lead itself into a mild depression on Tuesday, and although I wasn't ever sure if it was due to the weather, impending week of Ferien, aka holiday, or simply just a hormonal response to my over-joyed attitude, it has since then bounced back. I am back to a normal state of mind.
I had my last day of work on Thursday (woohoo), and am very excited to have a break. It's not that kids are bad people (only some of them), it's just that they exhaust you. Even if I work 1 hour, I am mildly exhausted from putting all my energy into entertainment. You want learning to be fun, and useful. They are the ones who have to sit there for 30 hours a week, so you might as well do something to keep their attention, right?
So Friday night came and went, I was invited to Nora and Lars' to have some DELICIOUS risotto. They are the absolute best. Every time I feel some terrible pangs of loneliness or the desire for a hot meal that doesn't involve eating in my apartment/bed alone, they are kind enough to invite me over. Also, they are just awesomely intelligent, beautiful, wonderful people.
In any case, Saturday rolled around and I made it out the door on time to meet up with the Linz group to head down to Slovenia. Of course, I thought they had bought my ticket (why? I have NO IDEA. A moment of temporary insanity), which was not the case, so I ended up running to the other side of the bahnsteigs (where they trains come in, I don't know this word in English), attempting frantically to buy the ticket to Ljubljana, which was of course IMPOSSIBLE, so I bought my ticket to Villach and prayed that I would be able to get my ticket on the train from them.
Luckily I made it back to the bahnsteig the train was leaving from and we found a place in the very back so we didn't have to switch trains when we reached Villach. I unfortunately had to buy a ticket from Salzburg to Villach, Villach to the Slovenian border, Jesenice, and then another ticket to Ljubljana. Three tickets for one journey, and while this seemed simple enough, it wouldn't be any sort of eastern european adventure if there weren't any sort of traveling conundrums.
When we arrived to Jesenice, the train stopped. We sat and sat and sat and sat. We started hearing whispers that the train was not in fact going to go to Ljubljana, that it was stuck, that they would wait for hours there, that they would blow the train up (okay, the last one not really, but the other two are real). Finally when the representative from the Slovenian train line came back we found out that we would have to switch to a bus to get to Ljubljana. This rings many bells (i.e. read back to the post about Prague and that travel fun!), but luckily this was not at night so things seemed less scary. Or so I thought.
After waiting about 15 minutes and watching 3 buses go by, we started noticing funny things about the town of Jesenice. Although it was a Saturday (i.e. things should still be open), there was NOT a store open in sight. There were no people on the streets. There were no people entering or leaving the train station except for those part of our group. Luckily we didn't have to stare too long about the oddness around us, and we were shuffled into a bus that was completely full. A baby that sat about 3 rows in front of us was an interesting addition to the stuffy, overloaded bus, as it made sounds I've never heard a baby make before. First it would screech like a pterodactyl, then almost cry, and end with a series of fart noises made by mouth. After about 45 minutes on this bus (because according to the locals, it takes 45 minutes to get ANYWHERE in Slovenia) we came to another bus stop. At this point, we were told to get out of the bus to find a train to get to Ljubljana (of course this was all done in slovenian, which is juuuuust impossible to understand). Luckily we just followed the people, and made it to Ljubljana alright. We even made a friend on the train! His name was Ossi, he was from Finland. He was traveling alone so I don't think he actually liked us but didn't want to sit by himself. At least we are mildly amusing enough to spend those last 45 minutes in the train. See, 45 minutes? What did I tell you.
We arrived into Ljubljana around 4:00 and walked to our hostel. Once again, we noticed that there was HARDLY ANYONE on the streets anywhere, I don't think there was a single person we passed on the way to the hostel. The hostel itself, called Vila Veselova, was on the oustkirts of the downtown. It was 5-10 minutes to walk into town, and was a great location. We (Tasha, William and myself) got put into an 8 person room, which while it did not lend itself to lots of sleep, or quality sleep, it did allow us to stay cheaply. We dropped our stuff, and decided to go exploring, and ended up eating at this "Mexican" place called Cantina. Let me tell you, while the flavors were those of home, what impressed us the most was the PORTION SIZES! Holy buckets, Slovenians do not mess around. I ordered fajitas, because normally in Salzburg, I can eat a whole portion of fajitas. In Slovenia, however, it looked like I had barely made a dent into what I'd eaten. Luckily, the sizes didn't affect the prices, and even though I couldn't finish what I had by ANY means, it was well worth it!
After dinner, we all needed a walk and decided to explore Ljubljana by night. The rain clouds were looming and a bit of a wind started to pick up, and I realized that while Ljubljana is incredibly beautiful, there is some sort of creepy side to it as well. There are lots of things reminding the people of communism, solemn pieces of art, and simply how the city is. You feel as if a lot has happened there, without necessarily knowing what did happen. I do have to say though...the city embraces its creepiness, and I found it almost endearing. The lack of people, the unending graffiti and presence of skeletons everywhere made for an interesting first night.
The Graffiti
Real Slovenia
Back of the Market Place
We ended up going to a vinothek that offered some GREAT WINE! And when I say great, I mean great. It was only €2,60 for a glass of Cabernet Franc, which to be honest, has to be one of the best wines that I have tried since I've arrived to Europe. It was a slovenian wine, too! Love supporting the local economy.
William and I enjoying our Cabernet Franc
Of course, after running into Ossi (our Finnish friend from the day before) after we had begun digesting our pizza, we decided we needed to go back to the Wine bar to have some more of that delicious wine we had before, and while we were there we discovered that you see the same people every day in Ljubljana. We knew the whole town after we finished our bottle (and a glass extra each), and all the waiters and waitresses (quote of the day after asking the waiter what his name was, he responded, "My name is Borat, but everyone just calls me Bobby." Priceless.) We decided to head back to the hostel for the evening after filling ourselves up with delicious wine, cheese, olives, pizza, and coffee. What a day.
We ended the evening with a little "Slovenija ima Talent", aka Slovenia's got talent, and Pride and Prejudice. The beauty of Slovenia is that they literally dub nothing, which is such a joy because everything is dubbed in Austria. Literally everything.
All in all, we had a great trip. I loved traveling with who I traveled, and we were all on the same page as far as energy, things we wanted to do, expectations, etc.. It was very relaxed, and I don't think that I've laughed so much in a very long time.
Partners in crime
It is nice to travel with midwesterners too...I don't have to explain my humor, I don't have to over exert myself to adapt to another way of seeing the world, and being able to banter with people is juuuuuust a sigh of relief. I enjoy intelligent conversation and subtlety, of knowing when one is joking and knowing when one is not, and I found that both Tasha and William are incredibly interesting and stimulating people, and that in itself, was the greatest joy of all. Just hanging with others that I don't get to see very often, and enjoying the company of fun people is all I can ask for.
Plus all my slovenian boyfriends. But that is a story for later.
Love and hugs from an exhausted Maija
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