6/4/23
Day 11
Ljubljana
Hello everyone and welcome back! Thank you for taking some time out of your day to read about my life and our adventures. I appreciate hearing from you guys and am glad that you are enjoying the journey.
We survived our outing last night, at the expense of sleeping in very late. Today was a sort of half day, seeing as we got started around 1:30pm. It was not a total loss because it was raining during the morning, by the time we got out of the house it was nice outside.
Our agenda for today was to get some good food, check out Ljubljanski Grad (Ljubljana Castle), and then see where the night takes us. We set out to old town in hopes of finding something to eat.
We got side tracked by two different stores, one a thrift shop and the other a half gift shop/half local grocery store. Nathan was strongly considering getting a trench coat in an attempt to blend in with the locals (no locals wear trench coats). Luke and I were checking out some shirts that were conveniently contained in their own bag. Smart move by the store, targeting tourists. I might go back to get one in the morning :3
We decided that we wanted to try some Chinese food that was near old town. The reviews were great and the food looked even better.Â
As we were turning onto the restaurants street, Aydan started to get excited and jump around. The restaurant on the other side of the street had tables outside with red and white checkered table cloths. For 11 days Aydan had been talking about how we MUST eat at a restaurant with red and white checkered table cloths. The entrance to the Chinese restaurant was just a few feet past the table cloth restaurant. Luke said let’s check out the Chinese restaurant and then we can decide. We walked up, the gates were chained shut. Closed. Apparently lots of places are closed all day on Sunday’s.Â
The decision was made for us. Fate made its move. Aydan’s dream was becoming reality. The inside of the restaurant was beautiful and had the iconic red and white checkered table cloths.
As for the food… Well let’s just say my friend Aydan is a genius at choosing where to eat. It was verrrrry good. Nathan and I got a big plate of meat with some bread and rice. You may think that is a scoop of vanilla ice cream on our plate. We thought the same.. you were wrong.. we were wrong.. It was butter. Lots and lots of butter. Aydan and Luke shared a soup and grilled vegetable plate.
With our bellies very full we headed off to the castle. There is a funicular, basically a gondola, on the back of the mountain that takes you strait into the bottom of the castle. We hopped on and began to explore the castle. We saw the courtyard, armory, church, underground penitentiary, and a great view of the city. There was more to the castle but it was either closed or you had to purchase a ticket.Â
Interesting fact, the penitentiary was used during WW1 to hold Italian Prisoners of war. It was a very interesting display they had. It talked about how POW that had special talents or skills were allowed to say in the castle. They had photos of Italian POW bands, artists, dancers, broom makers, actors, and more.
We walked back down the mountain during sunset and decided to go back to that gelato place for the third time. It’s that good. Their razzberry might be the best thing I have had this whole trip. Nathan Luke and I got cones, Aydan wanted to try a different place. We ate our cones and walked along the river. We finished our cones and Aydan found his spot for gelato. Nathan, Luke and I didn’t want Aydan to feel left out by eating gelato by himself, that would be wrong. Our hands were tied, nothing we could do about it, we got seconds. We walked until we found a spot to hang out and enjoy. We people watched for a while and then made our way back to our Airbnb. It was a chill night and we got ready to head out for Budapest tomorrow morning.
