Tired-out

(Ljubljana)

Another day in the old Soviet Bloc showing that history and culture outlives government. After needed sleep and a reversal of roles (kids wanting parents to get up rather than the other way around) we journeyed of to a one month old museum of ethnicity that, for some reason reviewed the culture of other European countries as well as Slovenia. It was a very nice, new museum with interesting and eclectic exhibits with our family about the only people there. There seems to be a lot of money for things like that here and it is obvious that the country is trying very hard. The ornate and colorful buildings around the river plus the castle on the hill makes the physical plant of the city a hidden treasure that I think won't last long-it should be a major tourist stop in the near future. The only downside is that there is a lot of graffiti-not sure what that is a sign of but if this city wants to become a tourist place, they need to get it under control.
Getting around is easy and even more anti-car-half the very wide side walk is marked off for bicycles and there is little traffic and little bitty cars-most familiar brands but unseen models. There are a number of better looking alternatives to the very ugly but useful Honda Element. After the museum we went to an open air market to get some vegetables to buy for supper tonight that Pam and Jeremiah are now cooking. Some of the hostel rats are being attracted by the smell, which is fine because we brought way too much for ourselves and its nice to share for Christmas. After the market we went to the castle on top of the hill. We waited at a bus stop for a while and then discovered that the buses weren't running so we took a taxi up. The castle was amazing and had a lot of restoration-someone had been doing a job of keeping the castle in good repair. We decided to walk down from the castle which was successful and no one got hurt (we discovered a lot of ice patches on the way down, which was spooky for old people not needing injury so early into a trip). We bought some more food for tonight on the way back but have noticed throughout our stay here that stores have odd hours and that people don't work too long of hours.
So far the weather has cooperated and no snow or rain or wind-just cold that is tolerable. Tomorrow is Bled, a city about an hour away towards some incredible looking Alps that we can see in the distance and then to Zagreb followed by Sarajevo.