Slovenija

    I was a bit apprehensive of the night train to Ljubljana, Slovenia, but everything turned out to be fine - I even had a 6 person cabin to myself.  The girl in the cabin next door, however, was freaking out and about to have a breakdown.  She was all bent out of shape because she didn't know which bed was hers, even though she had the cabin to herself too.  Being the only other person to speak English on the train, she came to me whenever anything happened.  Naturally, I locked my door and closed the curtains.

    I arrived in Ljubljana at 6 AM and my couch surfing host, Feri Hajós, was there waiting for me and we went to his flat just 10 minutes away. Feri will be reading this blog, but I don't need to alter anything that I would have posted - this dude put me up for 3 nights, took me around the city, showed me the best local cuisine and restaurants, and was a really good hang. The first day we just walked around in the rain and saw the major sites downtown. Ljubljana is a city of 300,000 people, a beautiful downtown with castle, river, and churches, and has a lot of beautiful architecture by Jože Plečnik. Lunch is the biggest meal of the day here, so we grabbed a slammin local meal and went back to his flat to relax. After exploring town, we played video games, watched ridiculous Bollywood clips, and saw the Avengers. Not bad.

Ljubljana's river

I don't even know what this was, but it was good.

In front of Dragon Bridge, by Plečnik

Ljubljana had tons of graffiti - trains, buildings, ground, everything.

    The next day I took a day trip to Bled, Slovenia, only 40 minutes away by train.  This place was incredible: perfect weather, beautiful mountains and lake, church island in the center, and a huge castle overlooking it all.  I rented a bike to go around the lake and just went slow to enjoy myself.  The castle had a small museum in it that was really lame, but the outside courtyard and views were unreal.  On the island, there are 99 steps leading up to the church, and it's a tradition for couples who get married there for the groom to carry the bride up all 99 steps in complete silence.  At the castle, which would be a killer spot for a wedding reception, I overheard an American guy say, "my daughter wants a destination wedding, and I'm trying to get here to pick Bled.  Not many people will want to come to Slovenia for a wedding!"  Typical father of the bride.  

Castle and a different church

Church island and castle

Overview of lake

Bled Castle

    For my last full day in Ljubljana, Feri and I took his bikes and went along a beautiful bike trail that follows what used to be a giant barbed wire fence, put in place by Fascist Italy during WWII.  We visited a church outside of town, went up to the castle that overlooks the city, and took the rest of the day slow.  At night, we went to a food trailer that Feri went to a lot on college: Hot'Horse.  First time eating a horse burger, and it was actually really, really good.  I'm really, really glad I stayed with Feri.  I got to see so much more of the city than I would have on my own, and enjoyed each part more too.  

Church designed by Plečnik

Feri in front of a manion's lawns

Late night horseburger stop

    But, as Jay-Z once said, it's on to the next one.  In the morning, I said goodbye to Feri and took a train to Piran, Slovenia, another beautiful Slovenian town, this time on the Adriatic coast.  I spent the rest of the day walking around, drinking coffe, eating ice cream, being a tourist, and watching the sunset.  I planned on going to Pula, Croatia, but the train and bus system to get to and from there seems like a pain (sorry Feri!).  So I guess my next stop will be Zagreb, Croatia!  But then again, Venice is only 2 or 3 hours away from Piran... who knows.

Piran town center

Overlooking the town center

At the tip of the peninsula, you have a 300 degree view of the ocean

    I've blogged a lot about things I've done lately, but not much about what it's been like.  The last few days in Kathmandu, Nepal were the lowest point of this trip - I was tired, sick, and quite lonely.  Like Paul said though, "when I am weak, then I am strong," and God really showed up in those times.  It was one of the furthest, but hardest, steps I've taken towards that godly solitude I had talked up months before, and it was good.  Like I said, it was really hard, but it was even more good.  And it's not like it's a one time struggle.  Every few days or so, I either think, "what the hell am I doing..." or "this would be better if I was sharing it with somebody..."  While I was in Bled, with all the romantic traditions and churches and couples walking around the lake, I sat on a bench, eating pizza by myself, and just thought, "man, screw. this."  I had a good laugh at that, and you have to take it all in stride; but still, it's hard to forget that I'm alone.  

    On the train back from Bled, I met an American couple that had been traveling Europe for 6 weeks.  I sat and talked with them, and they mentioned they went to a cat museum in Amsterdam.  Let that sink in.  A cat museum.  So I said, "there's no way in hell you could get me to go to that.  I hate cats."  This girl looked like she might've had a heart murmur when I said that, but I wasn't shook and I wasn't going to back down.  I hate cats.  I don't know if they forgot, or maybe the concept was lost to them, but they proceeded to talk about her half dozen cats for the rest of the train ride, until I got off.  I don't know how long they talked about cats after I left, but I know how much more of it I wanted to listen to.  All that to say, there are worse things than being alone, and it's things like that (rather, it's people like her) that make you thankful for your situation.