Day 6

Well, I've been in the city and I must say it's really beautiful. I woke up today at 9:00 and enjoyed a huge breakfast here at the hostel, and then I went into the city (walking, the hostel is very close to the centre, and the centre is very close to... well... everything. The first thing I wanted to do was climb the hill in the middle of Ljubljana that houses an old castle (The castle itself turned out not to be very exciting, but the walk up was) In the centre there were a lot of tourists, altough not comparable to Paris for example... but when I walked towards the small paths that lead up the hill I was alone, because all the tourists take the automatic train ride up, but some instinct told me that I'd rather walk. It was certainly the right decision. It took some time to find the paths, it's start located in a really beautiful area. I started walking up a very steep path, that, when I saw a car drive by (!! this path was steeper then a red ski slope !!), it turned out to be a road. Slovenians drive everywhere, and like Italians, they park everywhere. Sidewalks are not made for pedestrians, they function merely as a place for cars to place their fore half on if not the complete car. Maybe it's common there for 8 year olds to offer valet parking for everybody...

Back to the hill, when the road ended I sat down on a bench for 5 minutes when suddenly a cat started petting me (yes, the cat petted me) so I spent 10 minutes or so with only that cat, no other people, beautiful houses, trees everywhere except in front of the magnificant view of the city I had there. I walked on and a small trail led through forest like grounds, still all alone. And it was completely silent - the city centre just 200 meters under me and in front of me and I could not hear any of the sounds a city has to offer.

After half an hour I reached the castle and swiftly left again on the other side of the hill, because one of the trains had just arrived with loads of Italians and Japanese, to accompany the Italians and Japanese that were already there. So after another 2 hours of walking I ended up in the centre again and got me a coca cola and a kebap for in total 1,50 euro. When I finished it I got on a bus to see where it would bring me, and as it appeared it couldn't drive for more than 10 minutes without leaving the city. In 15 minutes I found myself on the farm lands, and walked across the street to catch the bus back, sort of had a conversation with a Slovenian, French, Moroccan and Lybian guy (I still don't know what he was)

I'm in the hostel again now, just to relax for an hour or two and read my book. It's so seriously hot in the city you couldn't walk for more than 3 hours. This is abnormal for Slovenia, where the normal maximum temprature is about 24 celsius in the summer.. it's 30 now. I think in another 15 minutes I'll go back into the city to see what more it has to offer me, it really seems like there is nothing else, just a few musea. However, it is really a beautiful city.

Tomorrow I'm going to Zagreb to stay there for just a day, and I think after that I'll be going to Budapest. You'll all hear from me again,

Byron.

PS: It has come to my attention that maybe, perhaps this text should offend Italians and Japanese, let all Japanese and Italians know that I absolutely don't intend to offend you... I'm merely joking. Altough Italians do really have a parking problem... I definitely don't want to offend any of you (if any reading this weblog) If I have then please... accept my apologies!