Slovenija~Monday Marvels

I was so happy that I didn’t have any jet lag the first few days, but it definitely caught up with me last night!  I woke up at 1:30 and could NOT go back to sleep for the life of me.  It’s so interesting to me that my mind was able to convince my body to be on Slovene time for a few days and how powerful the thought of suggestion is.  Just b/c the sun was up & my brain told my body to be awake b/c of what my eyes were seeing, then it was.  But, that can’t last forever and my body took back over and said, “no, I want to go back to my regular schedule and I’m used to getting up at a certain time and that is what I’ve been programmed to do.”  Anyways, just an interesting thought. 

I tried watching TV for a little while but I only had 18 stations and most of them were in German.  I was SHOCKED to find that 7 of the 18 stations were showing full on frontal nudity pornography!  I know it’s Europe and that it was 3:30 in the morning, but it disgusted me that it was just there on regular TV!  I quickly turned the TV off and tried reading for a while.  That still didn’t help me sleep, so I got up at 4:15 and went and used the computer in the lobby of the hotel for 30 minutes.  I was finally able to fall asleep at 5:30 and woke up at 9:30!

When I finally did get up, I went and had some breakfast.  They have such good bread and meat and cheeses! I love Europe!  Then I decided to go and take a walk around the city.  I kept being drawn to these cool old doors.  The sign about this one said 1775!!!  It just makes me wonder what life was like for the people back then and how many thousands of people have walked through these doors over the centuries.  What stories would these doors tell if they could talk?  So cool!

This is probably the most famous statue in Slovenija.  It’s right in the center of town and is a statue of France Preseren, who is kind of like the Shakespeare of Slovenija.  You can read more about it HERE.

Across the square on a building on Wolfova cesta, he is facing his true love, Julija.  Romantic, huh?

I am just enamored with all of the cobblestone streets, benches to sit and relax on, architecture and personality that the streets of Ljubljana offer.  How can anyone look at this type of scene and not want to live here?

I also walked over to the market and loved all of the flower stands they had set up between the church and another building.  It just makes my heart so happy!

Tall and majestic church steeples rising over the tops of red roofs supported by columns!

This was a little drinking fountain I found just off to the side of a busy street.  I wonder how many people walk by this and don’t even notice it’s there?  I especially liked it b/c it has a dragon on it, which is kind of the symbol of Ljubljana.

This alleyway is just breathtaking to me.  Look at the cobblestones, the intricate design in the light sticking out from the side of the building, the red leaves of the overhang near the river.  AH!  I just can’t get enough!

A lamp post w/ the church in the background and the castle on the hill above that.

Spectacular!

Another old door…this one is from 1826!

The river with the three bridges, pink church, pharmacy, etc.  Can you imagine getting to see this every single day?  I did for 8 months when I was a missionary.

I LOVED this picture b/c of how old the white building is.  You think it’s old but then notice that there are even older parts of it peeking through.  I love the mix of really old, kind of old, and new buildings and architecture in Slovenija.  What type of history and amazing things has this building seen in  its lifetime?

More fascinating designs & architecture.

Isn’t this so pretty with the red fall leaves in contrast to the peach color of the walls and the green roof?

I just HAD to get a picture of the new Kebapci’s right next to McDonald’s in the middle of town.  However, I still prefer the original one on Trubarjeva cesta!

I just love the bold statement this building makes.  It stands out and has such a wild pattern with expressive colors.

After all that walking, I worked up an appetite and stopped at this place right across the street from where the Elder’s used to live and we would go there all the time.  I got some burek (kind of like phylo dough filled with meat) and some apple flavored Za Life water.  This brought back so many fun mission memories.  I just sat on a bench in center and ate my food and people watched.  I love to just watch people walking by and wonder what their lives are like and where they are going.  There was this one CRAZY man that stood in the middle of center and just started yelling all sorts of weird stuff at the top of his lungs.  A policeman even came over and talked to him for a minute and wrote him a ticket, but that didn’t stop him!

After eating, I didn’t feel like I had explored enough of the city, so I went for another walk w/ my camera around my neck.  I found this AWESOME alleyway w/ this cool mural painted on the side of it.

Isn’t this the cutest little bike ever?  The sign above it says “Ribja Ulica” which is “Fish Street” since it’s right by the river.  Wouldn’t it be fun to ride this bike to the market on a Saturday morning to get fresh vegetables and put them in the basket on the front?

I think this might be my favorite old door b/c of the color, the intricate detail on the door and above it, and how it’s a door within a door.

This is such a Slovene fall time smell that I remember…chestnuts roasting on an open fire.  They have these little green shacks all over the city w/ guys roasting chestnuts in front of the shacks.  They sell them for about 2 Euros in little white paper cones.

I went back to the hotel and rested for a little bit while I waited for Majda to get off of work at 3:00.  She came to my hotel room and we just sat and talked for a while.  I gave her this long sleeved shirt that Dad had sent with me to give away.  I thought it was fitting since she’s a nurse, and she seemed to like it.

We decided to go for a walk at Tivoli park, so we headed through center towards the park.  We noticed this guy near one of the cafes outside making palacinke (crepes) with nutella.  We decided to stop and get one, and I’m so glad we did (b/c I didn’t see him there again the rest of the trip).  He poured the batter on these big circle plates and then used this little tool to spread the batter around evenly.  It reminded me of the big rakes they use to smooth out the dirt on baseball fields.  It was fun to watch him make them.

Majda got bananas in hers and it was a good little treat, especially since he makes them to go.  We took ours and ate them on the way to Tivoli.

I remember trying to contact (talking to random people about the Church) in Tivoli as a missionary.  It was nice this time to not feel pressure to talk to people or not to feel guilty for not talking to someone.  I have always thought Tivoli Park was beautiful and something special.  This big house (which is now a museum) is so pretty w/ the manicured lawn and flowerbeds.  Definitely one of my favorite places in Ljubljana.

When I said I wanted to go on a walk in Tivoli, I thought we were going to be walking on the paths just down at the bottom of the park.  Majda took me up this little hill, and the view was just stunning.

I thought that was the extent of our walk and that we were going to go back down, but Majda had other plans.  She said she goes walking in these hills everyday for at least an hour.  I’m not in very good shape, so I told her we had to stay on the easy and low incline trails.  It was so calm and peaceful in the woods and was a little fall treat to hear the leaves crunching under our feet as we walked.

I wanted to turn back on one of the hills, b/c my legs were killing me but Majda said there was something cool she wanted to show me just a little further up ahead.  I have to admit it was worth the walk to see this…a place where they practice ski jumps.  It was interesting to see them ski jumping w/out any snow.  They land on this plastic-type green stuff.

These kids would just go flying through the air like it was no big thing.  It made me wonder how do you even practice your first few jumps?  That has got to be super scary.  We watched them for about 30 minutes and only saw two people biff the landing.  I was impressed…

…especially since these kids seemed to be about 10-12 years old!  To the untrained eye, they did incredible, but when they would land they would be visibly disappointed.  At one point, a little little kid landed and went off into the grass and we heard him say in Slovene, “Ow!  My butt!”  LOL!  Majda and I got a good laugh out of that one.

I could have stayed all night and watch them practice, but the sun was going to go down soon and we still had to walk back, so we left.  We came to a fork in the trail and Majda asked if I wanted to go back down or go to the top.  I asked her how much further it was to the top and she said, “not very far” so even though I was DYING I decided to be adventurous and could hear Dad’s voice in my head saying that if he were there he would go to the top, so I did.  However, the top was NOT close, it was NOT easy to walk up, and I was NOT going to make it.  At one point, Majda had to get behind me and push me up!
 We finally made it to the top and there was this really cute pink church.  To add insult to injury there was a group of old people up there stretching!  They had made it up there just fine w/ no problems and here I am a 30 year old “healthy” person and those hills killed me.  Also, at one point during the walk a pregnant woman whizzed right by me!  Majda kept saying she thought I would be able to handle it b/c I’m young and healthy but I told her we don’t have hills like this in Texas and I never go walking outside b/c it’s too humid and there are too many bugs.

It was one of those experiences where I would never want to do it again, but it’s a funny story and one that I will not forget anytime soon.  Going down wasn’t quite as bad as going up, but it sure did a number on my knees!  At the bottom of the trail was a little gostilna and I thought these flowers in the window were so beautiful.  They also had the windows open so you could hear the clatter of dishes inside and smell the good food and hear people talking and laughing.

By the time we got done, it was nighttime and dark outside.  We walked back to center and Majda took the bus home. After burning off all the calories from my nutella palicinke, I was hungry so I walked straight to Kebapci’s and got my first kebap of the trip.  I’m shocked that it took me 2 days in the country to finally get one.  But it was worth the wait and I was happy that it tasted as good as I remembered.

After sitting and enjoying my meal, I was thirsty and wanted some Multi Sola, which was my favorite drink as a missionary.  It was late and the small stores in town were already closed.  I stopped and asked a policeman if he knew of any big grocery stores that were still open.  He told me where one was, and luckily it was just 2 streets over so I walked there and got the biggest Multi Sola I could find.  It was so refreshing and good!  I was disappointed and shocked that when I was checking out there were naked women on the cover of a bunch of the magazines at the check out aisle!  I was so embarrassed and wanted to turn the magazines around.  I can’t imagine how much more embarrassed I would have felt if I was at the store w/ my brothers or Dad or even Autumn!  YUCK!

Anyways, I came home and showered b/c I felt so sweaty and nasty and my body ached all over.  I watched Speed on TV since it was the only thing in English and then went and used the computer in the hotel lobby ($1 Euro for 15 minutes) to email Mom about my day.  I am going to be so sore in the morning…I hope I can still walk.