Day 79-82: i feel sLOVEnia

Sunday, April 4, 2010

On Easter morning, we were allowed to sleep in a bit before waking up for the day ahead of us. After getting dressed, I went downstairs to help Mateja prepare breakfast. Sašo's mom had lent us some of her brand-new dishes that she did not have room to store at their current apartment. I unwrapped a brand-new frying pan to scramble some eggs in for us. I was shocked by how quickly the eggs cooked up! I think I getting too used to the horribly old dishes that we have to cook with in Verbs. I deemed the pan, "the magic egg pan". The eggs themselves were really tasty, as they were from the chickens that Mateja's family raises in their own yard. We were also surprised when Sašo walked in with Easter gifts from his mom. She had made us each a bag with a hand-painted hard-boiled egg, chocolate egg candies and an orange! It felt just like Easter morning!

After we finished cleaning up breakfast (which included throwing the food scraps and egg shells out the window!), we got ready to go out for the day. Although it was slightly overcast, we had planned to go hiking in the morning up Bistirca Gorge, right in Mateja's backyard! It was a really nice walk through the Slovenian hills. We walked by creeks, through fields and ascended the hill all the way to the top where we saw the gorge. We also stopped for a bit to explore the Roman quarry lodged in the hills. Further up the mount, we got a nice view of the Sum waterfall. It felt just like a typical Easter morning, as the last two I have spent climbing Stone Mountain in Atlanta for the sunrise service! It was really awesome to get outside and do some hiking in Slovenia, as the country is known for its nature and great outdoor activities and trails.

We met up with Furman, Mateja and Sašo's mutual friend, while climbing up the mountain. He was super-friendly and as Mateja had said, he spoke really good English, so it was easy to converse with him. We all stopped for awhile on the way down the mountain for a snack before heading all the way back to Sašo's house for lunch.

Mateja made us a true Slovenian feast complete with bread dumplings, frankfurters, and cabbage (compliments of Sašo's mom!). We enjoyed tasting the scrumptious food and resting for a bit after our morning hike. For dessert, Mateja had us try a Slovenian delicacy, potrotna potica, which is a layered cake that they enjoy. It was good!

After lunch, we got ready to head out again for the afternoon. Mateja had made a schedule for every day that Bali and I were in Slovenia, and she was prepared to keep us busy and show us as much of her country as she could in five days! We headed to her home where we planned to meet her family briefly and use the internet (as Bali and I had been denied proper access up to this point!).

We were excited to meet Mateja's mom, grandmother, younger sister (Nadja) and brother (Natje). Mateja's mom was so sweet and gave us all Easter gifts- a huge Milka (chocolate) bar, pens and notepads. As we were preparing to leave, Mateja's mom invited us into their kitchen for a snack. She had made a whole spread of pretzel sticks, juice, cakes and fruit. Nadja found Mateja's cat, srečko (which means "Happy" in Slovenian), who we petted and played with for a few minutes. We chatted with Mateja's mom and snacked for a bit before heading out.

Back in the car, Sašo (our chauffeur) drove us to a nearby mountain where we got out and climbed a bit to see the famous Easter flower. This is a flower that is unique to this one spot in Slovenia. It grows no where else in the world. It is almost lavender in color and appears very hairy. It was really beautiful to see on Easter morning itself!

Then we hopped back in the car and drove for a bit more to reach another area of the mountain. Mateja was super-excited when we reached our next stop, as the chocolate shoppe that she loves was actually open (despite the fact that it was Easter!). She had to translate what was in the various chocolates sold in the shoppe, as it was all in Slovenian. I picked out a few little treats including a cinnamon chocolate and a champagne chocolate. Mateja and Sašo purchased some chocolate muffins that they insisted we try while in Slovenia, as they were one of their favorites. They were, indeed, quite good!

Afterward, we visited a very old monastery and pharmacy. It was really interesting to see, as these structures were so old, but in such good condition. The pharmacy is still functioning and we enjoyed reading about the various remedies they offered for things. We also got to go inside the church next door, which was really splendid.

After visiting these sites, we hopped back in the car for our next stop, "The Cottage by the Witch". I am not exactly sure how to explain this, but it was basically a small outdoor park for children that depicted various fairytale characters. Everything was made out of recycled or natural materials, as it was all outside. We saw Adam and Eve, Cupid, Pippi Longstocking, Pinocchio, and many other fairytale characters. Some were unique stories to Slovenia, so we enjoyed listening as Mateja and Sašo told us all about these funny children's stories. Mateja and Sašo hadn't been to the park since they were about ten years old, so they really enjoyed seeing it again too! We all felt like big little kids :)

We began to descend the mountain as we headed to our final stop for the day- the Deer Ridge. Saso parked the car and we all got out to walk over to see the deer. They seemed so peaceful grazing on the hills. As we were about to head out, we heard a call. It seemed as though someone that worked at the ridge was calling the deer, something like "keekee, coco". Suddenly, all of the deer stuck their heads up and began walking towards the man that was calling them. It was really cool to see the deer listening to the voice of a human like that. They all filed over the rolling hills over to the fenced in area that the man was standing in. It was like nothing I have ever seen before!

After we finished watching the deer, we hopped back in the car, tired from a long day of climbing and sightseeing. Sašo drove us back to Slovenska Bistrica. On the way back home, Sašo and Mateja pointed out the Croation border to us. We were surprised to find out how strict the border control is, since Croatia is not an EU member. They told us that there were people actually hiding in the bushes on the other side with guns to stop anyone who tried to cross illegally. It was really interesting to see and hear about.

Back at Sašo's house, we rested for a bit before Bali began preparing supper. She had planned to make her famous pineapple rice that she has made for us several times at home in Tilburg. We helped her a bit with the cooking and enjoyed eating her delicious cooking! This was Sašo's first time eating the pineapple rice, which he really enjoyed (although he said it could use some sausage!). We enjoyed watching Mateja pick the raisins out of her rice and place them on Sašo's plate. So cute!


Exhausted, we cleaned up the dinner dishes and headed upstairs for the evening.

Monday, April 5, 2010

On our second full day in Slovenia, we woke up early and started the morning with a nice breakfast. After everyone finished getting ready, we hopped in the car and our lovely chauffeur, Sašo, drove us all the way to Ljubljana (the capital city of Slovenia). This is also the city where Mateja attends University when she is at home; she studies Journalism there.

On the way to Ljubljana, we stopped for a quick break at the Slovenian donut place, Trojane, on the highway. Mateja and Sašo were anxious for us to try this Slovenian favorite and I was also excited to see how donuts differed in Slovenian from those back home! We went inside and I was impressed by the immense size of the donuts. We each chose one and went back outside to the car. First we walked around a bit, as there was a gorgeous view of the Slovenian Alps in the background of the donut stop.

Back in the vehicle, we began to feast on our donuts while Sašo continued driving us. We arrived a bit later in Ljubljana. Its funny that everything in Slovenia is within two hours of everything else, as it is such a small country! Ljubljana is only about 1.5 hours from where Mateja lives. When we arrived, we got out of the car and began to walk around the city a bit. Mateja and Sašo, our Slovenian tour guides, pointed out some of Ljubljana's most famous buildings. We saw the parliament building, the library, and a cool old monastery called Plečnik. All the shoppes and things were closed today, as it was a public holiday (Easter Monday).

After our walking tour, we headed into La Petit Cafe, one of Mateja's favorite places to go with her schoolmates in Ljubljana. We each ordered a drink; I had the la petit coffee, which is FAR from petite! We enjoyed sipping our drinks and relaxing for awhile before we headed out of the cafe to our next stop in Ljubljana.

We walked back through the city to reach the mountain that the Ljubljana Castle is on. We walked to the top of the mountain, which gave us a really nice view of the whole city. I was mesmerized by how different this city looked from above than some of the other cities we have seen from significant height. Slovenia is definitely the most different country architecturally than the others I have been to so far. We enjoyed the view and looking around the Castle premises before descending back down the mount.

On the way down, we took a different route and happened upon a small playground on the side of the hill meant for small children. We took the opportunity to let out our inner child-selves and played for a bit on the playground. We enjoyed swinging and see-sawing with each other before continuing our descent down the mountain.

Back on level terrain, we walked through the city again to get back to the car. We passed by the three bridges, many Slovenian shoppes and even a Slovenian McDonald's! I decided that the Slovenians "really like the 'j' here". For example, the word 'horse' in Slovenian is 'konj'. Point proved :) During our walks through the city of Ljubljana, we ran into some famous people! Mateja discretely pointed out to us as we passed by a Slovenian TV host, actor and member of Parliament. Just shows how small Slovenia is! On the car ride to our next destination, we passed the Croatian border again. Bali made another funny comment, "But can't the Slovenians and Croatians meet each other in the water?". This made us all laugh as we discussed the boundaries of the border control.

We reached Bled mid-afternoon. Here we had a nice picnic lunch with the sandwich-fixings that Mateja had prepared and brought for us. We fed the crumbs from our lunch to the ducks and walked down towards the water.

Mateja, Bali and I decided to take the boat ride to Bled island, a small island in the middle of this lake area with an old Church and museum on it. It was a nice, short ride to Bled. When we reached, we were told that we had 45 minutes to look around before we needed to be back at the boat. Bali, Mateja and I went into the Museum and looked at the interesting exhibits they had displayed. There was one that depicted all the traditional wear in Slovenian. We even found the traditional dress from the region that Mateja is from! There was another exhibit that had nativity scenes made out of all kinds of different mediums. I really enjoyed that one too! After visiting the museum we wandered the island, took some pictures and pretended to hijack a boat...typical :)

My favorite part of Bled was the amazing view we had of the snow-covered Slovenian Alps, especially from the island. They truly were picturesque...words cannot describe! I was so blessed to see this amazing sight, and with such good company!

We grabbed a cup of coffee and hopped back in the car to our next stop on 'Tour de Slovenia'. Sašo drove us this time to another lake/mountain area nearby called Bohnij. Here we unpacked the car and spread out a blanket on the hillside by the lake. The sun began to peak out from behind the clouds where it had been hiding all day. We were super happy for the added warmth and laid out on our blanket to enjoy the sun! The scenery here was literally breathtaking as well! Bali and I napped for a bit, while Sašo and Mateja walked down to the lakeside. We also got to witness one of their "fights" which was in reality just Mateja beating up Sašo :)

After a nice nap on the hillside, we packed up our things and headed for the next leg of the day's journey through Slovenia. We were headed to meet up with Polona for coffee at her home, but stopped for some supper first. We went to this yummy pizza place, Nekropolis, that Mateja and Sašo knew of for a cheap and yummy bite of dinner. After dinner, we went over to Polona's where we met her sister and enjoyed coffee. Polona's sister had made a Slovenian specialty for us, sirovi struklji. This is a cottage cheese filled dumpling covered in sugar. It was pretty good! Bali and I used the internet at Polona's to check our Italian train times for part III of our trip before we said our good-byes for the evening and headed back to Slovenska Bistrica.


Tuesday, April 6, 2010

We woke early on Tuesday for our big day in Maribor. Mateja had arranged for her friend Mitja to drive us to the city (about half an hour away) since Sašo had to work that day. We arrived quite early for the big event of the day- going to listen to the Dalai Lama address Maribor! To kill time, we went into several shoppes in Maribor, including H&M, and New Yorker. We each bought some things before heading to a nearby cafe that Mateja really likes to go for a cup of coffee or tea called čajek. It was really good! I had coffee and a croissant, while Bali and Mateja ordered this special spring tea that smelled AMAZING!

Afterward, we left and went to get some errands done. We went to the ATM so Bali and I could replenish our euro and then to the train station to purchase our tickets for Italy. The people at the train station told us that we should just wait until we  got to Italy to buy the tickets, as they would not go up in price. On our way walking back to meet Mitja, we stopped by the tourist information center to see a bit more about what Slovenia has to offer. Then we met Mitja and headed over to the Dalai Lama's speech!

It was really an awesome thing to hear and see the Dali Lama for the first time in Slovenia! While I do not agree with everything that he says and stands for, I enjoyed listening to his words of wisdom and took some things from his address. Mateja had explained to us beforehand that he is really  interested in addressing and communicating his knowledge to young people, and that this speech was especially for youth and young adults. We listened carefully, as the Dali Lama spoke in English and a translator relayed his words in Slovenian. One of the points that I really found interesting from his talk was when he said that women really need to play a bigger role in leadership, due to their better understanding of emotion. As a woman's college attendee, this excited me :)

We left his speech tired and hungry and headed back into Maribor city centre for a bit. We were supposed to go to the spa that evening, but instead of trying to rush to get there and back, we just decided to hang out in Maribor until Sašo got off work to pick us up so that we could see more of the city and enjoy it! We were pretty hungry after the long lecture, so Mateja took us to this delicous little Serbian restaurant where we had a nice lunch of these filled stick pastries. They were super cheap and totally delicious! We feasted on ones filled with spinach, cheese and minced meat. After lunch we headed to the Maribor public library to use the internet on the computers so that I could register for classes back at Agnes Scott as it was my assigned day to do so for the Fall 2010 semester. I got all registered and we headed to another one of Mateja's favorite places in Maribor, Ilich, where we each had a massive dish of icecream. I tried 'cookies' along with Mateja. It was super yummy!

Next we headed to the water to catch a glimpse of the river and the vineyard. We walked alongside the water and got to see the oldest vine, Stara Trta, in the world, which is conveniently located in Maribor. It was really neat! Apparently the wine made from this 400-year old vine is super expensive as it only produces like 20 bottles of wine per year!

As it was nearing time to meet Sašo, we headed across the bridge to the large indoor shopping mall where we looked around for a bit and went into a grocery store to buy some food for the next day. We went to several nice shoppes before meeting up with Sašo and heading back to Slovenska Bistrica.

Back at Sašo's house, we heated up some leftovers for supper and relaxed a bit. Later on in the evening, Furman (who we had met Sunday morning) and Petra (Mateja's female cousin) came over for a bit. We enjoyed their company  over some drinks. We all sat upstairs in the cozy space on the other side of the room that Bali and I were sharing. Sašo poured me a glass of Slovenian wine and Bali and I split a chocolate muffin from our trip on Monday. We all chatted for a bit and I showed everyone the pictures that Bali and I had taken so far on our trip on the giant TV. We also made plans with Furman for the next morning to go to Piran, as he would drive us there.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

On our final day in Slovenia (sadness!!), we woke up early to get ready to go to the COAST! We were super excited to hop in the car with Furman and drive down to the Adriatic Sea coast at Piran. Itty bitty Slovenia is proud to boast its 46km (about 28.5 miles) of coast, and we were happy to explore it for the day. It was so nice to back at the beach! Our first stop in Piran was the bus station where we checked the time for the afternoon bus to Trieste, Italy, as Bali and I would be taking that in the afternoon to get to our next destination. Afterwards, we hopped back in the car and drove to the coast to park.

Furman doesn't like to pay more than necessary, so we skipped the rip-off parking garage and took the cheaper route by parking behind some overgrowth on a hill facing the coast. From here, we had a great view of the water below us and a nice area from which to enjoy our picnic feast that Mateja had brought along for lunch. Furman surprised us by pulling a small table and chair from the back of his car...wow! We enjoyed the view and the food before packing up and heading down to the water.

As it was still rather chilly, we were not much into actually getting into the water. Rather, we walked along the coastline and enjoyed the view of the Italian coast on the other side. It was funny to think that in just a few short hours, Bali and I would be on the other side...in ITALY! But for now, we were enjoying the Slovenian coast! We walked through the small town of Piran. It looked more like Italy to me than Slovenia, I guess because it is so close by. It is also a rather touristy part of Slovenia, but it was still REALLY nice!

I was surprised by the beach here. It was much different than the beaches I am used to at home in Florida. This was not a sandy beach. Instead, it was a rocky beach, which was a first for me to experience. I really like it though! A much different feel. Mateja and I were brave enough to take off our shoes and climb out onto the rocks to stick our toes in the water. Yikes! It was cold!

After enjoying our day in Piran soaking up the sun and admiring the coast, it was time to head back to the bus station and say good-bye. We thanked Furman for driving us so far and spending the day with us. We hugged Mateja good-bye, knowing that we would see her again in just a few days back in Tilburg. They drove off to meet some friends that evening in Ljubljana, while Bali and I waited for our bus to Trieste. We had a bit of time to kill, so we walked over to the indoor shopping center for a bit and got a snack for later.

Finally we got on the bus to Trieste. I busted out the Italian To-Go language guide that I had printed and began to brush up on my Italian, while Bali rested her eyes. About an hour later, we were in Trieste, Italy! We disembarked the bus and wandered around trying to find the train station. It was on the other side of the bus terminal, so we found it rather quickly and purchased tickets for the next train to Mestre (the mainland near Venice). We waited for a bit at the Trieste station before boarding the train to Mestre. It was a nice train journey through Italy. When we reached Mestre, we got off and had to figure out how to navigate the buses to get to our hotel. We had a quick bite of dinner and boarded the bus to take us to our hotel.

After a bit of searching, we found our hotel. It was super-cheap, but impressive for the price we paid! We were thankful at this point in the trip to have our own room (and bathroom!) where we could spread  out and rest! The man at the reception desk was super friendly, and although they had no tourist information and no wifi or internet, he was helpful in giving us some basic information to start our day off in Italy. We were bummed that we could not use a computer to check out some things to do in Venice, but glad that we were where we were supposed to be. We ended up calling it an early night and getting some rest for our first full day in Venice in the morning.

I really enjoyed Slovenia! I think it was my favorite part of the trip. It was so fun to stay with good friends, learn so much about another culture, and explore a totally new area to me! Sašo and Mateja were so good to us and we were so appreciative to them for hosting us and planning the whole trip around Slovenia for us. They showed us so much of their country and shared so much with us about their way of life. They also taught us quite a bit of Slovenian: Zxivjo (hello), Hvala (thank-you), Adijo (good-bye), and Me Veseli (nice to meet you). Plus we got acquainted with č, ž, š, my new favorite letters :)

I will never forget the time I spent in this small chicken-shaped country, and plan to return sometime in the future to visit Mateja (and explore some more!).

Day 76-78: Vienna, Austria

So I am still playing blog-catch-up, but I am starting to make process. I will now embark on relaying my Easter break journeys (what do you know, its April again!?!). Just to give you the behind-the-scenes facts in a nutshell, my friend Bali (Singapore) and I had been planning this [AWESOME] excursion since about the first week in February. We were invited by our dear friend, Mateja (Slovenia), to visit her at some point during our stay in Europe, so we planned our trip around this.

In the next few entries, I will share my reflections on this amazing 12-day trip! We went first to Austria for three days, then spent about five days in Slovenia and four in Italy. It sounds like a lot (and it was!), but I hope you will enjoy reading and looking at the pics! Here goes :)

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Our trip began very early this morning. Bali and I had arranged to meet at 4:30AM to make a quick breakfast  before heading to catch our first train. I arrived drowsy and a few minutes late to Bali's flat to find no one in the kitchen (a huge surprise at this hour of the morning!). I dug my phone out of my strategically-packed backpack and gave Bali a quick call, which turned out to be a wake up call! She came to the door, still half-asleep and let me in. I made us some toastis while she got ready and finished packing.

We were supposed to leave shortly after 5AM to go down to the train station, as we had to walk. Since we were leaving so early, we could not take the train from Tilburg West (the station closest to campus). Rather, we had to walk all the way to Tilburg Central Station, about a 20-minute walk. As we were running late, we did not end up leaving Bali's flat until about 5:25AM. At this point, we were kind of flustered and began hurrying towards the station. Bali attempted to flag down a taxi to ensure that we would get there on time, with no luck. So we ended up jogging/running most of the way with our 8kg backpacks on our backs. Needless to say, it was a crazy trip to the train station, but very amusing to look back on!

We ended up arriving at the station about ten minutes early (whew!) so we rested and waited for our train. Finally, we boarded the train and were on our way to Nimegen. This is a city in the Netherlands right on the German border. We took the train here and were in town about an hour before our van was to leave to shuttle us to the Dusseldorf/Weeze airport in Germany. We waited inside a hotel lobby right next to the van stop and ate our toastis. We then hopped on the small 8-passenger van that took us to Weeze. Finally, we arrived at the Weeze airport, got through security, and just about passed out from fatigue while we waited to board our flight!


We flew from Weeze (Germany) to Bratislava (Slovakia). The plane ride was rather uneventful, as we slept most of the time, until the very end. As we arrived a few minutes early, the plane played the funniest announcement upon landing. On RyanAir flights, they play this trumpet tune that says "Another RyanAir flight on time. 90% of RyanAir flights arrive at their destination on time...". Its really quite funny! This was my first RyanAir flight, so it kind of took me by surprise and gave us both great amusement!

After disembarking the plane, Bali and I made our way through the airport to find the bus stop. On our way, we stopped for a quick snack: a croissant and some fresh-squeezed OJ.  We waited for quite a bit at the bus stop, as the bus was running late. However, we enjoyed the warmth of the sun, a nice change from the Tilburg weather! Finally, we boarded the bus which took us to the main train station in Vienna. It was a bit of a journey, but it was nice to see some countryside.

Finally in Austria, we now had to figure out how to maneuver ourselves amongst the Austrian public transit. First, we hopped on the metro, after buying a two-day unlimited metro travel pass. We took the metro to Kagran station, from where we had to take a tram to get to the Gudurwara Sahib (the Sikh place of worship that we were to stay at). Alas, we were somewhere, although the true adventure was only about to begin!

We arrived at the Gudurwara Sahib tired and worn out from our already long day of traveling. Honestly, all I wanted was a nice long nap! However, we still had to arrange our accommodations for the evening, as we had not yet spoken to the leaders of the Gudurwara Sahib about whether we could stay or not. Bali pulled out her Punjabi and spoke with the uncle that we thought was the head of the Gudurwara Sahib. He told us that since the Gudurwara Sahib was still undergoing construction and renovation, they were not currently housing travelers in the building. We were surprised to hear this, but the man also told us to wait until the lead Sikh came so that we could speak with him about accommodations for the night.

So, we went inside and made ourselves comfy. Bali said a quick prayer out of reverence for the place of worship. We met this adorable girl that turned out to be the daughter of the lead Sikh who we were waiting on. She followed us around the Gudurwara Sahib and helped make sure that we were situated. She was really sweet! In fact, everyone at the Gudurwara Sahib was really hospitable. They offered us coffee and tea and even welcomed us to join them for supper.

We ended up waiting at the Gudurwara Sahib for a total of five hours until the lead Sikh finally came. They all went upstairs and said prayers for awhile after dinner while Bali and I mapped out our plan of action for our next few days in Vienna. Afterwards, we were bored and so we snuck into the kitchen to help this one younger Indian man about our age that was making roti in the kitchen. We watched for a bit and then began helping him form the roti. It was super-fun! I was cooking legit Indian food! And it turned out really yummy too :)

We still were unsure as to where we would be staying for the evening, even though everyone had been assuring us all afternoon that the Sikh would find some place for us. We finally met him and Bali spoke real sweet to him in Punjabi. He was nice and offered us a place for the night with a Sikh family. We graciously accepted the offer and rode home with him and another Sikh. We were dropped off at the family's home and shown to our shared bedroom. We were so thankful for a place to rest our heads for the night! We quickly showered and hit the bed after such a long day!


Friday, April 2, 2010

The next morning, we woke up bright and early to get ready and hit Vienna! We thanked the family for their hospitality before heading out for the day. We walked to the nearby metro station, where we each bought a quick cappuccino to wake us up! Then we boarded the metro to head to Schronbrunn Castle. We took it past the usual stop for the castle, as Bali had read that going one stop further gives you a nicer view of the Castle after getting off the metro. So we did and walked through the gardens before we came upon the backside of the castle. We got there super early, so it was nice and quiet! We walked inside and purchased tickets for the day. Then we went out front of the castle and ate our breakfast that we had packed- roti!

We headed back inside the castle to take the tour of the rooms available to see. It was a really interesting castle. We walked through about thirty rooms that had been lived in by royalty back in the day. Schonbrunn was the summer home of Maria Teresa during her time. All of the rooms were elegantly furnished and elaborately decorated. Each one was unique and featured magnificent art. We spent well over an hour meandering through the rooms and enjoying the audio tour in English.

After our tour of the Palace, we went outside to the Eastermarkt that was taking place in front of the castle. It was nice and we enjoyed looking at all of the hand-made crafts and things. We then headed inside for the apple strudel demonstration that was part of our ticket package. I guess this apple studel is quite popular in Vienna. It was fun to see the guy make it. He was rolling and tossing the dough like it was pizza crust! It was crazy!

We took a short break for some lunch before heading to the maze (in which I did not get lost, thanks to the oodles of people all walking in the same direction!) and the Palace gardens. It was a gorgeous day so it felt really nice to be outside and enjoy all of the nature of the Palace. We then ascended the high hill to the Gloriette, another famous structure hidden behind the Palace. It was a bit of a hike up the hill, but totally worth it! We had a great view of the city of Vienna from the top of the mount. We chilled for a bit at the top, before beginning our next adventure.

 We left Schonbrunn and headed for the Meidling Train Station where we planned to buy our train tickets for the following afternoon to Maribor. We were shocked that the tickets ended up being 42-euro, when we had anticipated 20-euro tickets; we had waited to long to buy them, so the price had gone up. After getting our tickets situated, we headed to the Mac's across the street where we got a light afternoon snack and made use of the free Wifi. Bali's mother was unhappy that we were not staying at the Gudurwara Sahib and that we were staying with a family, so she had requested that we find a hostel for the night. We used the internet to find a hostel that had an opening for two and called them. We had a room!

After taking care of all our business, we turned to retail therapy to relax ourselves a bit! We went around in this small shopping district around the McDonald's where we went in several Austrian stores including Bippa and Billa. We made a few purchases before taking the metro to the Nasch Markt nearby. Everything was closing up as it was nearing five o'clock, but we enjoyed walking through it and made a mental note to come back the next morning.

Fatigued from all of our walking, we began our trip back for the day. First we took the metro again to Kagran. Here we had a bite of dinner- kebabs! I swear, Bali and I could live on kebabs on trips and be totally happy :) We ate at the metro station before taking the bus to the Sikh's house nearby. We explained to them that we were heading to Maribor earlier than we had thought (which was a lie) and that we would not need a place to stay that evening. We gathered our things and headed back to the bus. We took the metro again to the area that our hostel was in. When we got off, we had to walk a ways to the hostel, but we finally arrived! We were pleasantly surprised at the hostel to discover that we had a four-person room all to ourselves! Lucky us :)

We rested for a few minutes and freshened up. We had planned to go to the tower nearby in which we could take an elevator all the way to the top for a cup of coffee and a nice view of the city, but it was nearing eleven, and we decided that we did not have enough time to get there and back. So we decided to go to Backbone, an Irish Pub nearby that we had passed on the way to the hostel. We chilled there for a bit. I sipped on a delicious glass of Viennese white wine, while Bali had a nice cappuccino. It was a relaxing end to our crazy day. We headed back to the hostel for the evening to get some good rest for our final day in Vienna.

Saturday, April 3, 2010

We got up early (again!) and headed to breakfast at the hostel, as it was included! They had typical hostel breakfast food, and we enjoyed bread, cheese, nutella and coffee before heading out for another long day. We checked out of the hostel and hopped on the metro to Prater, the small theme park in Vienna. We got there really early, so we bummed around until the park opened (at 10AM). We climbed a tree outside the park and took some crazy pictures.

We were going to Prater to ride the Reisenrad, a gigantic ferris wheel that is a symbol of the city of Vienna. It was first erected in 1897 and rebuilt in 1945, as it had been destroyed by fire. It was something I had been told to do by friends, as it offers a great view of the city from the top. And we had magnificent weather (once again!) so we had a splendid view of the whole city. I really liked riding the Reisenrad, as it was something really unique and significant to Vienna...plus, I love ferris wheels!

After our ferris wheel ride, we took the metro back to the more "toursity" area of the city. Bali and I have refused to call ourselves tourists, as we try to avoid the t-shirt wearing, camera-clicking mobs at all costs. We instead consider ourselves "visitors of the city" and try to fit in more with the locals. So we took an alternative route and walked through some quieter streets towards the Danube River. We came across a beautiful Mexican-architecture church, which we went inside to see. Then we walked right to the river's edge. We enjoyed the view of the river for a few minutes before heading towards another Viennese specialty that Bali had researched- the Ankruhr clock.

We knew we had reached the clock, as there were swarms of tourists there waiting for the clock to chime noon. It is special to see the clock at noon, because at that time, all of the characters pass through one by one in a parade, so you get to see all 12 characters that represent each hour. The figures are all Austrian historical people, like Maria Teresa and Joseph Ferdinand. It was a really neat thing to see!

Afterwards, we went to a nearby Strock, an Austrian bakery that is everywhere in Vienna. Here we tried sachertorte, an Austrian specialty! Its kind of like a chocolate cake with an apricot jam inside. It was pretty good, but really sweet! We split a piece and rested for a bit before heading out again to see a bit more of the city. We walked up the street to see St. Stephens Cathedral, although we did not go inside. Fed up with the massive crowds of tourists, we hopped on the metro again to head back to the market we had gone to the evening before. I must say, Bali and I became quite good at navigating the Vienna metro. Its a really easy and convenient system, so that made it easy on us! We arrived at the market and looked around for some good deals. We each bought a little token of remembrance from Vienna. I bought a hand-made Easter egg, which I had wanted to find while in Vienna.

We hurried back through the market to get back to the hostel where we had stored our luggage for the day. We picked up our things and headed to the Meidling Train Station. We got a quick bite of lunch in the station before boarding our train to Maribor. We were pleasantly surprised to get our own cabin on the train. We had plenty of room to spread our things out and enjoy the two-hour train ride through the Austrian Alps. We were told the day before when we purchased our tickets that we would have to get off in Graz, Austria and board a bus for the rest of the journey to Maribor. This was actually not complicated at all, and we enjoyed our bus ride, as well as train journey to Maribor. The bus dropped us off in front of Maribor (Slovenia) train station. Here, we attempted to get some hot coco (from a vending machine that was out of hot coco mix) while we waited for our dear friend Mateja to arrive with her boyfriend Saso. They were to pick us up at the train station, and we would all go out for a nice dinner in Maribor to celebrate our arrival in Slovenia.

Bali and I had already discussed the massive hug that we intended to give Mateja upon meeting up with them. And that we did! We were also pleasantly surprised to find Mateja's good friend, Polona in the car with Mateja and Saso. Bali and I had met Polona when she came to visit Mateja earlier in the semester at Tilburg. It was so good to be with friends and have the pressure taken off of Bali and I to navigate!

Saso drove us to this great little Cuban restaurant, Cantante, where we had some delicious (and inexpensive) Cuban food! We enjoyed our food and each other's company as we caught up about the last few weeks of our lives. Polona was so sweet; she had gotten Bali and I each a gift to welcome us to Slovenia. She gave us each tourist information all about Slovenia, including some of the places that we would visit in the next few days. I saved the wrapping paper, as she had wrapped the gifts in Slovenian newspaper! After dinner, we each enjoyed a fancy cocktail (drinks are CHEAP in Slovenia!) before heading out.

After dinner,  we dropped Polona off at her car parked nearby in Maribor and went to Illy to meet up with some of Mateja's and Saso's friends for drinks. Saso was meant to pick up our tickets for the Dalai lama on Tuesday from a friend  that had purchased them for us. It was nice to meet so many of their friends and speak English to them!

At this point, we were pretty exhausted, so we stayed for just a bit before heading home for the night to Saso's house in Slovenska Bistrica. We stayed in his parent's home that is still in the process of being built. Since it is not finished, his parents do not live here yet, so we had the whole house to ourselves! Bali and I gave Mateja and Saso the gifts that we had purchased for them as a thank you for their incredible hospitality in hosting us. We chatted for a bit and got acquainted with the house before hitting the sack for the evening.

Day 70: Paris, France

Friday, March 26, 2010

This morning, Ashley and Cyntia and I woke up super-early for our 12-hour day trip to Paris. We had had a big slumber party in Christine's  living room the night before, since Christine's friend was staying in the spare bedroom. We quickly got ready and Christine graciously drove us to the train station about 6:30AM! We were so thankful we did not have to walk, even though its only about ten minutes from her house. After we had checked our train times and Cyntia had gotten her tickets arranged, we stopped by the train station kiosk and got some French pastries for breakfast. Taking Ashley's suggestion, I had pain au chocolat and hot chocolate....best breakfast ever! I must admit, the French definitely have a way with pastries (and food in general!).

After our two-hour train trek to Paris, we were happy to finally arrive at the Paris Gare de Lyon station and hop the Paris Metro. We had some minor issues buying tickets for the metro, and I experienced my first encounter with a rude French woman who was aggravated because we were taking too much time to buy our tickets. I was thankful we had Ashley there, not only to speak French and sort things out, but to guide us through the metro. She says its not that complicated, but I don't think I would ever be able to figure it out on my own!

Our first stop in Paris was a metro station in the French Quarter. We got out of the metro station and promptly saw Ashley's good friend, Gaby, from the Kemper Scholar's Program. Ashley and Gaby spent last summer together in Chicago living together and working on individual internships in the area. Gaby is studying in Rome, Italy this semester and was in Paris for three days during the same time we were planning on coming. Ashley and I had planned to meet up with her while we were there. Gaby was there with two of her friends from Italy, Kim and Liz. We all introduced ourselves and began to talk about what we wanted to do for the day.

Since eating crepes was on everyone's agenda, our first stop was the amazing crepe place next door to the hostel that the girls were staying at in the French Quarter. It was called Crocodile, and Ashley had been there many times already when she was in Paris for a week in January, so she knew that the crepes were reasonable and delicious. We all feasted on crepes and chatted; Gaby, Liz and Kim told us all about Italy, which Ashley, Cyntia and I  were all thankful for, as we were all planning on visiting Italy in the following weeks. I had a gruyere cheese crepe at Crocodiles....YUM! I was able to use my newly acquired French skills to understand the man when he told me that my crepe cost trois euros...three!!

After finishing our crepes, we hit the metro again and took it to Pont Neuf. This is where our morning boat tour was leaving from. The cruise, recommended by my French friend Christophe from Tilburg, took us up the Seine River to see all the highlights of Paris. Although the weather was a bit less than desirable, we were all thankful that we had the opportunity to take this cruise. It was so great seeing everything from the water! And we got tons of pictures, despite the rain!

After the cruise, we began our walking tour of Paris, led by none other than Ashley herself! As I mentioned earlier, she spent a whole week in Paris when she first arrived in Europe in January, so she was pretty familiar with the city. And, as an Art History major, she knew a lot of facts and details about the various structures and buildings in Paris, so she was able to relay those to us. Before we got too far into our tour, we stopped for lunch at a petit corner cafe. I had a croque monsiuer, an interesting sandwich warmed with ham inside and cheese all over the top....delish! After enjoying our outdoor lunch, we headed to Notre Dame Cathedral, which was nearby. We were all astounded by the magnificent structure and awed by the interior of the cathedral. Ashley explained to us about the architecture of the building and the rose stained glass windows.

After viewing the Cathedral, we headed down another rue (street!) and did a bit of shopping...mostly postcards and other Paris paraphernalia. A bit further down the street, we stopped for crepes. Ashley and I split a Nutella and banana crepe. Utter deliciousness! We walked by, but unfortunately could not go in, Sainte-Chapelle and the Conciergerie (where Ashley informed us that Marie Antoinette was imprisoned). It was great to see all these historical structures!

We crossed over the Seine and began walking in the other direction. We walked through the Tuileries from the Louvre, then took the Champs Elysees from Place de la Concorde to l'Arc de Triomphe. While this was a super-long walk, it was totally worth it! We could not go inside the Louvre, as it would have taken hours to get inside the massive museum, but we marveled at it from outside and took lots of crazy pics in front of it! The weather had been pretty good up to this point. After we got off the boat cruise, it had grown sunny and pleasant, but as we walked away from the Louvre, we got a little surprise....HAIL! We burst out our umbrellas and scurried to the small Arc in front of us and huddled underneath for cover while we waited out the hailstorm. It did not last long, thankfully!

Once the hail subsided, we continued walking. We walked through the Luxembourg Gardens to the Obelisk that Napoleon stole from Egpyt, through a rockin' shopping district (complete with a massive Louis Vuitton!), all the way up to the Arc de Triomphe. I was impressed by its magnificence and immense height! We could not go underneath or climb it, as there was some kind of military funeral thing going on. The police would not even allow us to cross the street to get closer to it!

It was nearing 5 o'clock, so we decided to make a quick break for the Eiffel Tower and catch a bite of dinner. We took the metro to the Eiffel Tower stop. I was so excited to see the famous structure up close! We got tons of pictures with it, from every angle! At this point in the day, we were all pretty fatigued from constant go-go-go, so we decided to head back towards the hostel area and have some supper.

Ashley took us to a Brasserie near Oops! (the hostel the girls were staying at) where we had a lovely French dinner...a great end to a spectacular day of sightseeing! I had a delicious French omelette, along with a nice glass of rose wine. We all split a French cheese plate, as Ashley wanted her friends to try some of the deliciousness that is French cheese!

After dinner we said our parting good-byes. It had been a long, but great day! Ashley, Cyntia and I headed back to the metro to go to the Gare Lyon, while the others decided that they would go back to the Eiffel Tower to see it at night. We arrived early at the train station and bummed around for a bit before boarding the train back to Besancon. During the two-hour ride home, we mostly slept, as we were all super tired!

I really enjoyed Paris! Perhaps not as magnificent as I had anticipated, but I think a lot of that had to do with the crazy weather. However, we got to see and do a lot, and we had really nice company! I hope to go back to Paris some day (perhaps when I know a bit more French) and see and do some more things that we did not have a chance to do. Til that day, I have my own miniature Eiffel Tower to remember this wonderful city by!