Slovenija

   This weekend has been a whirlwind tour of the two largest cities in Slovenia! I met the Petras at the train station and we caught the 10:36 train to Maribor. The town was pretty quiet since it was Sunday afternoon (and Palm Sunday at that!) but really lovely. The region of "lower Styria" was connected to the Austrian Steiermark (Graz's state) for much of the last 300 years. We wandered around the beautiful old town and enjoyed the riverfront park, espresso in the town square, and linner at a Serbian restaurant near the water. 

   At 6:00 we caught our next train to Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. We walked through the dusky old town and crashed at a hostel just long enough to re-charge for another day of exploring. The city is about the same size as Graz but has a different feel. The parts of the town are so different- there are pockets of counter-culture graffiti art, Venitian style bridges, Art Nouveau decorated buildings... all overlooked by a medieval castle. It is a real hybrid of old and new, urban and natural. There are huge green parks and a central market bigger than Graz's. To the north you can see the last of the alps. (click read more...)

The Dragon Bridge

   First impressions of Slovenia: Beautiful! Natural beauty in its mountains and rivers, so much ancient and recent history documented in buildings, memorials, and artwork spread throughout the cities. The people were so friendly- we were standing on a corner looking at our maps, trying to figure out where our hostel was, and someone just walking down the street stopped to offer directions. As a bonus, everything was less expensive than in Austria- Kava (espresso) for €1,20 instead fo €1,80!

   Something that definitely made the trip: my travel buddies were even better than I could have hoped for. Both are from the Czech republic and study at Karl Franzens Universität in Graz. The Petra from the northeast CzR is the one I went home with in February and to Vienna with a few weekends ago - I told her that by the end of Easter break she will be completely sick of travelling with me! The other Petra is from Prague, and we met on the Weinstraßenfahrt. The three of us got on famously, traveled at about the same pace, had similar interests, and spent most of the weekend laughing with each other. We had a great time communicating with our mash-up of Czenglish (Czech/English) and German, although it was great to be travelling with Petra (from Prague) because she is studying Slovenian (already conversational in Polish, Ukrainian, English, and majoring in German).

All in all, a really wonderful weekend. Pictures are in the Photo Gallery. Tomorrow off to Salzburg!