So.. in case youre frightened right now - here they spell the name of the country Slovenija... a particular souvenir was written with the S somewhat obscured, leading Simon to belive it actually said "Love Ninja". Im not sure it acurately describes the country, but I like it! To get on with the story, this country is BEAUTIFUL!! Very very story book, fairytale castles, mountains, rivers, gorgeous little villages, and crazy motorways! The centre of Ljubljana is gorgeous - a river lined with beautiful old buildings, bars, cafes, restaurants and ice-cream stands, so as you can imagine, it has been [View Full Entry]

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Wow, today was a lot of fun. I headed back towards Trieste, Italy (but stayed in Slovenia) to an underground cave system called Skocjan. It was huge. In America only Mammoth Caves and Carlsbad Caverns are larger. The tour was about an hour and a half through 2 separate caves areas. One was the silent cave and the other was the murmuring cave because it has a river flowing through it. I'm telling you, the caves were absolutely huge. I bought the book on them they were so impressive. I took a couple pictures although we weren't really supposed to and [View Full Entry]

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Today I went to Lake Bled, a beautiful lake up by the Julian Alps. It was a bit of a challenge finding the right freeway, but with the help of a nice lady out to walk her dog, I was pointed in the right direction. The guidebook said to follow the signs for Bled, which would have been easy if there were any. Here, the signs pointed to another town. It would be like looking for a sign to Vancouver, BC while in Portland; you would have to follow the signs to Olympia and Seattle and then there would be signs [View Full Entry]

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I am once again at a hotel with internet access through the hotel computer, so no pictures again. If I find an internet bar, I will see what I can do. Driving up here from Firenze was actually very easy. I only made one wrong turn, exiting the autostrade, but I was able to fix it quickly and easily. Trying to figure out where I need to go while driving with the flow of traffic was exciting in itself. I stopped in Trieste for coffee. To celebrate, I had 2 cappuccinos. 1 to drink and the other to wear on my [View Full Entry]

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Nuestro viaje a Bled fue como meternos en un cuento de niños. La gran nevada que cayó convirtió el paisaje el algo mágico e indescriptible. [View Full Entry]

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We finally made it to the capital city! We spent the day in this wonderful Art Nouveau Eastern European city. Hope you enjoy the pictures. They speak for themselves… Note: We have included some fashion pic’s … don’t be surprised if we reappear with skinny jeans, black biker boots and henna dyed hair ;) [View Full Entry]

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As always, we started the day out with breakfast at the hotel. After breakfast we boarded the bus, bound for various sites in the Alpine region. Lorie wasn’t feeling well, so she stayed in Bled. Our first stop was Skofja Loka, Slovenia’s oldest city. We strolled along 800 year old streets, layered with cobblestones. After reaching the highest point in the city, we toured the museum and castle. Portions of the castles have been restored through the years, most notably by Joze Plecknik, Slovenia’s most important Architect. We continued our tour by stopping at the Elan Factory outlet. We shopped briefly [View Full Entry]

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We had a relaxing day in Bled today - no bus trips! After breakfast and a morning of blogging, our day began with hiking around the lake and up to St. Martin’s Church. After searching out the path to the “Grad” or Castle, we hiked up the windy, steep path (about 1K). Wildflowers were blooming all along the trail. Castle Bled is the oldest castle in Slovenia. Once we got to the castle, we found that the castle interior and museum were closed but that the printing room and wine cellar were open. The printing room housed a replica of the [View Full Entry]

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“Dober dan!” Hello! After having breakfast at Hotel Bled, we headed out for the day. The tour today includes a trip into the Kras Region, near the Italian border, a little east of the area where we toured yesterday. This region of Slovenia is the World’s original “karst” area and is where the term karrst topography originated. The area is riddled with limestone outcroppings and sinkholes and an extensive underground lake and cavern system. The fist stop was in Lipica. Founded in 1580, this is the site of the original stud-farm for Lippazan stallions. A classical riding school was founded after [View Full Entry]

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The day began with breakfast at the hotel. Then, we headed on a 3 hour bus ride for the Slovenia Coast. We met our tour guide for the week, Jon. We headed south for Piran, a beautiful fishing village and vacation destination. The small village hosts 20 Catholic churches, dedicated to various saints. Piran was home to the composer, Guiseppe Tartini, whose statues welcomed us in Piran Square. We walked up small winding alleys, past hanging houses to see the view from the prominent Church of St. George. The original church building was constructed in the 3rd century. In the 14th [View Full Entry]

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