Finally connected in Ljubljana. Re read today's happenings - Sep 24, 2006

Finally on our departure day, we are able to enter our daily summaries. As you will read, we have tried several times to connect with the Internet but have been unsuccessful. Although we have, theoretically, Internet access in our apartment, we have not been able to make it work even with the help of the rental agent people. We suspect that it has something to do with BellSouth or our Norton Security System. Nevertheless, here are our words and photos of what we wrote each night.

So, here it is beginning Sept. 24:

Our flight from Stansted was scheduled to depart Sunday at 1 PM. The man at the Hertz desk said it was a two-hour drive from where we were in Surrey and that there was a lot of congestion getting into the airport. With this information, plus morning rain and not knowing the 'lay of the land' in circumventing London to get there, we left about 7:30 AM. As it turned out we were there by 9 AM to turn in the car and had to wait to check in for our flight because we were so early. There was absolutely no congestion getting into Stansted and it was by far the least crazy of the airports we have encountered on this trip.

Again, we were flying Easy Jet with no seat assignments. Needless to say, getting there that early, we were in Section A for boarding, which allowed us to be in the first group to cross the tarmac so we had our choice of seats. Bob got the desired window seat so he could follow our trail but it was cloudy most of the way until we crossed the Alps from Austria. As we started our descent into Ljubljana the weather cleared and the mountains of northern Slovenia and the valleys below were magnificent.

Some of you have never heard of Ljubljana and wondered why in the world we decided to visit! Two years ago when we were in Austria we were driving down the motorway and saw a sign for Ljubljana. Hmmm wonder what it looks like??? With that wonderment, we started to investigate Ljubljana and Slovenia. (We have even learned how to spell it!!) In case you didn't know, Slovenia used to be part of the former Yugoslavia "at a national referendum held on Dec. 23, 1990, the people of Slovenia voted for independence and sovereignty, and on June 25, 1991 the Republic of Slovenia proclaimed it's independence".

"Ljubljana's geographical position has governed it's colorful past. Settlements grew up in the region more than five thousand years ago. At the time of Roman hegemony, from the 1st Century BC to the 5th Century AD, the settlement on the sight of present day Ljubljana was called Emona. Ljubljana is first mentioned in written sources somewhere between the years 1112 and 1125, it's historical rise beginning in the 13th Century when it became the capitol of the province of Carniola. In 1335 it came under Hapsburg rule. From the end of the middle ages onwards the town gradually assumed the role of the Slovene cultural capitol."

We heard it was beautiful and were enamored with its location, just south of Austria and Hungary and only a few miles east of Venice, Italy. As a new member to the European Union we thought it would be a good idea to visit before too many tourists and too much westernization - so that's our story and we're sticking to it.

The limousine driver from our rental agency was waiting when we came out of customs to drive us and another family into the city. It was a beautiful sunny day and we noted how neat, clean and orderly everything was. We were dropped at our apartment about 5:30 PM and the rental agent was waiting for us with the keys. We are on the fourth floor, five floors from the ground here in Europe. We found the apartment on the Internet and it was cheaper than local hotels. We have a kitchen, small living area, good-sized bedroom and bathroom, very small washing machine and no steps to climb! The rental agent gave us some recommendations for dinner so we headed out to survey our neighborhood and find a restaurant. Since it was Sunday night, the two restaurants we walked to were both closed and the area was like a dead downtown in many American cities, so we walked toward the river and found things more alive. We found a lovely restaurant along the riverfront and sat outside - the thing to do here. Bob had venison and I had a seafood plate of calamari and prawns in a great sauce that I sopped up with the bread in the basket. When we finished dinner it was dark. We joked about not being able to find our apartment, as we had only been there a few minutes before heading out the door. Not to worry - Bob's mental honing device kicked in, taking us down a few dark isolated streets until we found the gate into our apartment's courtyard. Having had a long day, we both slept well during our first night in Slovenia. We noted how quiet it was in comparison to Rome! Instead of street sounds and noisy restaurants, we heard church bells in the distance. Of course, Rome has 2 ½ million Italians and tourists while Ljubljana has only about 300,000 people.

If you want a quick look at Ljubljana, check this out.

City of Ljubljana Tourism