Ljubljana, Slovenia! Day one--Train Ride!

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Wednesday was a Czech holiday, so my friend Mark and I planned a last minute trip to Slovenia and Croatia! We planned a round trip ticket from Prague to Slovenia via train (11 hrs) and decided when we got to Ljubljana we'd buy round trip tickets from Slovenia to Zagreb, Croatia... It was an interesting trip to say the least!

Our train left Wednesday morning at 7:30am, so we left the Kolej at around 6:45. The trams were slow so we barely made our train... off to a great start! Our connecting train was in Salsburg, Austria. We got off the train there for a bit to rest our legs after six hours on the train! Salsburg is absolutely beautiful. It has the nicest scenery that I have ever seen... I almost wish I went there instead of Vienna. Alps surround it and the rolling hills with quaint houses are just amazing. I caught myself singing "The Sound of Music" in my head a little bit! Please don't judge me :)

When we got back on the train, we sat with a few guys from various places. We ended up talking to this man named Mario who was born in Libya (his parents were geologists), moved to the states, and lived in Germany and Croatia. His mom is Croatian and his dad is Belgian.. Talk about loss for identity!? We talked about politics, traveling, and life in general. He was a very interesting guy.. He dressed nice, he was clean cut, and pretty good looking for an older guy. He owns his own company with branches in California, Croatia, and soon to be Germany.. At the time he was on his way back to Zagreb, Croatia where he lives four months out of the year. At the end of the trip, he gave us his business card and told us to text him so he could show us around the city.

Mark and I finally made it to Ljubljana after eleven hours on the train! We took out the directions to our hostel and made our way to the center square. Ljubljana is beautiful at night because they light up the buildings, bridges and even the water! Check out the pictures! We settled into our hostel, put our sheets on, cleaned up after our loong ride and went to a traditional Slovenian restaurant.

Our server was wearing a ridiculous traditional costume. The restaurant was kind of like a log cabin inside. It reminded me of the Pats Peak Ski lodge in NH! Our server handed us our menus and we were surprised to see entrees such as roasted field rabbit, stewed wild bore, stag fillet, and Bull's testicle. Fortunately, they also had steak fillet, which is what I ordered (I know boring). But Mark was break enough to order the mixed grill plate with wild bore, venison, and stag. He throughly enjoyed it and I feel as though I experienced it vicariously through watching him eat it haha :)

After dinner, we explored the small city a little bit and strolled down the side streets. It was a Wednesday night, so it was not so hopping, but it was beautiful. We went back to the hostel around ten and went to bed because the next morning we were waking up at six!

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