A day to myself. I miss this. For more than a week now I've spent my days with friends or people I've met along the way.
A whole day to myself.
I start my morning ritual: shower, eat breakfast, and circle things on the map I'd like to see. Here in Ljubljana it doesn't look like there's that much to see. A town hall here, a church there, a couple bridges, and a castle. I circle everything I can imagine would be remotely worth a visit or a photograph. Then I set off, but first things first: I've got to reserve a spot on a train to Rome tomorrow. I figured out the route to the train station and had no problem finding it, but on the way to the station I had something unexpected happen. I fell in love. Not just once, but again and again. The women here are beautiful. I couldn't say the same about the woman who worked at the train station, but she did succeed in reserving me a trip to Rome tomorrow. I'll be doing a train-bus-train combo.
With that out of the way I started walking around town, weaving my way through the streets on the way to the castle. I saw musicians, beautiful buildings, a street market, and thoughtfully constructed bridges on the way to the castle. Along the way I decided to stop into a church to look at the interior. Upon landing in Europe I've noticed that churches are always more ornately decorated and built than anything else. St. Nicholas's church in Ljubljana was no exception. It might be the most beautiful of all the churches I've seen so far. Towering pulpits, grand architecture, and beautiful brass doors. It's spectacular.
I keep walking and I finally find one of the walkways up to the castle. Steps, steep hills, and more steps wind their way up narrow alleyways and paths covered in trees. It's a beautiful hike. The castle is nothing spectacular, but the views! The castle is perched so high upon a hill that its views span for miles. The city is a beautiful sight from above, red roofs and church spires set against the towering alps in the distance. I'm amazed, and when I go out for a run in a few hours I will climb the grueling steps with the view as a reward.
I walk around the castle a bit then walked down the steps and hills towards the dot on my map marked "Roman Wall."
Might as well see what it is.
Turns out that the "Roman Wall" really is a Roman wall dating back to 14 AD. It used to border a city in those times. The wall is beautifully preserved and I go trigger-happy with my camera.
Why are there not more people here? Not just at this wall, but visiting this city. It's absolutely striking.
Back at the hostel I watched a couple olympic games then dressed to go for a run. Eventually I head off into the heat and up to the castle on the steps a couple times. Forty-five minutes later I was back at the hostel I cleaned up, left my stuff in my room, the Turquoise Room, and head upstairs to use the computers. On Facebook I had received an angry message from a young Italian guy asking me, no telling me, that I had stolen his group's phones and IDs back in Berlin. Apparently he thinks I am the only one who could have done it, which is obviously not true at all. He also claims to have my name and passport number. At first I don't believe that the hostel would give out that information, but how did he find me on Facebook?
This doesn't seem right.
After replying to him and explaining how poor his logic is, I head out to dinner with the Aussie trio. They had spent the day at a nearby lake. Fried calamari was a cheap item on the menu, but the price didn't reflect the taste. It was amazing.
Slovenia has a tiny coast. Is this common here?
After dinner Liam went back to the hostel to rest up since he hadn't been feeling good, but Emma and Nicole came with me to the bar crawl. Apparently it was mostly for PhD students, but there were a few people from our hostel as well. We mingled a bit, and at the second bar things got wild.
Karaoke!
By the time we reached this bar we had formed a small group. We dominated the karaoke since few others volunteered to sing. A few of us did songs solo. I sang 'Johnny B. Goode.' The girls sang 'I Feel Like A Woman.' The men sang 'Wonderwall.' Good times were had by all. Everyone cheered and clapped.
After a few more bars we eventually landed in a club called Cirkus. The place was a madhouse.
I have no idea how I'm going to survive Ibiza in a couple days.
Everyone in my hostel headed home rather early, but I stayed out. Late. Eventually I called it a night and walked back to the hostel.
I can't wait to sleep.
I enter the pin number at the front door. (We have to enter a code at the door after 9:30 since all the hostel employees go home by then.) I walk upstairs ready to fall asleep, turn the corner to walk to the Turquoise Room, and there's a big sign on the door.
"MACKLIN"
What could this be?
"We have a situation! My colleague gave you a wrong bed in a wrong dorm! So we prepared a bed for you in the LIME ROOM which is on the 1st floor (right next to where you were staying). We moved your stuff from the locker and locked it in the locker of the LIME room (#113). Please, forgive us our mistake, we are really sorry for this inconvenience! -Vila Veselova"
Below the note they had taped the key to my new locker.
What good is a locker going to do me if you publicly announce my locker number and leave the key sitting out? This is mental.
With no employee to complain to, I stumbled into the new room and tried to find my empty bed. I tried the key in the corresponding locker to make sure I had the right bed, then looked through my bag to make sure I still had my passport and valuables.
So much for security. And what's up with these hostels today?
I find the things I'm looking for and lock my locker. I pull on the door to make sure it's locked, as I always do when I leave my things in them. It opens.
You have got to be kidding me.
The lock is broken. Not only did the staff leave the key out for anyone to use, but they hadn't even checked to see if the locker was locked after they put my stuff in it.
Idiots.
Seeing no other alternative to my predicament, I put all my most valuable things into my day pack and snuggled up with it in bed.
Let's see someone try and pry this bag from my Kung-Fu grip.
A whole day to myself.
I start my morning ritual: shower, eat breakfast, and circle things on the map I'd like to see. Here in Ljubljana it doesn't look like there's that much to see. A town hall here, a church there, a couple bridges, and a castle. I circle everything I can imagine would be remotely worth a visit or a photograph. Then I set off, but first things first: I've got to reserve a spot on a train to Rome tomorrow. I figured out the route to the train station and had no problem finding it, but on the way to the station I had something unexpected happen. I fell in love. Not just once, but again and again. The women here are beautiful. I couldn't say the same about the woman who worked at the train station, but she did succeed in reserving me a trip to Rome tomorrow. I'll be doing a train-bus-train combo.
With that out of the way I started walking around town, weaving my way through the streets on the way to the castle. I saw musicians, beautiful buildings, a street market, and thoughtfully constructed bridges on the way to the castle. Along the way I decided to stop into a church to look at the interior. Upon landing in Europe I've noticed that churches are always more ornately decorated and built than anything else. St. Nicholas's church in Ljubljana was no exception. It might be the most beautiful of all the churches I've seen so far. Towering pulpits, grand architecture, and beautiful brass doors. It's spectacular.
I keep walking and I finally find one of the walkways up to the castle. Steps, steep hills, and more steps wind their way up narrow alleyways and paths covered in trees. It's a beautiful hike. The castle is nothing spectacular, but the views! The castle is perched so high upon a hill that its views span for miles. The city is a beautiful sight from above, red roofs and church spires set against the towering alps in the distance. I'm amazed, and when I go out for a run in a few hours I will climb the grueling steps with the view as a reward.
I walk around the castle a bit then walked down the steps and hills towards the dot on my map marked "Roman Wall."
Might as well see what it is.
Turns out that the "Roman Wall" really is a Roman wall dating back to 14 AD. It used to border a city in those times. The wall is beautifully preserved and I go trigger-happy with my camera.
Why are there not more people here? Not just at this wall, but visiting this city. It's absolutely striking.
Back at the hostel I watched a couple olympic games then dressed to go for a run. Eventually I head off into the heat and up to the castle on the steps a couple times. Forty-five minutes later I was back at the hostel I cleaned up, left my stuff in my room, the Turquoise Room, and head upstairs to use the computers. On Facebook I had received an angry message from a young Italian guy asking me, no telling me, that I had stolen his group's phones and IDs back in Berlin. Apparently he thinks I am the only one who could have done it, which is obviously not true at all. He also claims to have my name and passport number. At first I don't believe that the hostel would give out that information, but how did he find me on Facebook?
This doesn't seem right.
After replying to him and explaining how poor his logic is, I head out to dinner with the Aussie trio. They had spent the day at a nearby lake. Fried calamari was a cheap item on the menu, but the price didn't reflect the taste. It was amazing.
Slovenia has a tiny coast. Is this common here?
After dinner Liam went back to the hostel to rest up since he hadn't been feeling good, but Emma and Nicole came with me to the bar crawl. Apparently it was mostly for PhD students, but there were a few people from our hostel as well. We mingled a bit, and at the second bar things got wild.
Karaoke!
By the time we reached this bar we had formed a small group. We dominated the karaoke since few others volunteered to sing. A few of us did songs solo. I sang 'Johnny B. Goode.' The girls sang 'I Feel Like A Woman.' The men sang 'Wonderwall.' Good times were had by all. Everyone cheered and clapped.
After a few more bars we eventually landed in a club called Cirkus. The place was a madhouse.
I have no idea how I'm going to survive Ibiza in a couple days.
Everyone in my hostel headed home rather early, but I stayed out. Late. Eventually I called it a night and walked back to the hostel.
I can't wait to sleep.
I enter the pin number at the front door. (We have to enter a code at the door after 9:30 since all the hostel employees go home by then.) I walk upstairs ready to fall asleep, turn the corner to walk to the Turquoise Room, and there's a big sign on the door.
"MACKLIN"
What could this be?
"We have a situation! My colleague gave you a wrong bed in a wrong dorm! So we prepared a bed for you in the LIME ROOM which is on the 1st floor (right next to where you were staying). We moved your stuff from the locker and locked it in the locker of the LIME room (#113). Please, forgive us our mistake, we are really sorry for this inconvenience! -Vila Veselova"
Below the note they had taped the key to my new locker.
What good is a locker going to do me if you publicly announce my locker number and leave the key sitting out? This is mental.
With no employee to complain to, I stumbled into the new room and tried to find my empty bed. I tried the key in the corresponding locker to make sure I had the right bed, then looked through my bag to make sure I still had my passport and valuables.
So much for security. And what's up with these hostels today?
I find the things I'm looking for and lock my locker. I pull on the door to make sure it's locked, as I always do when I leave my things in them. It opens.
You have got to be kidding me.
The lock is broken. Not only did the staff leave the key out for anyone to use, but they hadn't even checked to see if the locker was locked after they put my stuff in it.
Idiots.
Seeing no other alternative to my predicament, I put all my most valuable things into my day pack and snuggled up with it in bed.
Let's see someone try and pry this bag from my Kung-Fu grip.
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