Ljubljana (Loob yana), Slovenia

After a quick 2 and a half hour train ride I have arrived in Ljubljana. The train ride was the most beautiful one I have had so far. I got to Ljubljana around noon. By the time I check in and did my laundry, I didn't have much time to spend in the city today. I just wandered around. I did go to the tourist center and they have a 3 day tourist past for only 35 euros which gets you in to most museums, unlimited use of the buses or trams, and some discounts on other things in the city. Seems like a pretty good deal since I am a museum madwoman these days. I did learn that the dragaon is the symbol of Ljubljana. This picture is from the Dragaon Bridge. It is no puff the magic dragon, this thing is scary looking. It's teeth are crazy!

For only being in Slovenia for half a day, I have noticed that things are quite different here. Slovenia, like Croatia, Bosnia and Hercegovina, and Serbia, was also once a part of Yugoslavia. Slovenia was the first of those countries to declare independence in 1991. That was quickly followed by a 10 day with the Yugoslavian Army. Hopefully, tomorrow I will visit the Slovenian History museum and have a better sense of that. They speak a version of the same language but there are a lot more differences than their was between Serbian and Croatian. I feel like I was just getting comfortable with some basic in Croatian and now a lot of those basics are different. :( Slovenia is also a member of the European Union so they use the Euro and there are a lot of construction projects going on with signs that say it was funded by the European Union. Slovenia is a small country and very close to both Italy and Austria. I think their location sheltered them from the war in Yugoslavia in the 1990's. One of the people I met in Dubrovnik told me that Slovenia got help from other European countries during their 10 day war with the Yugoslavian Army but European countriees were much slower to help Croatia.

Ljubljana is a small city and it has a small city feel to it. People ride bikes everywhere and a lot of the streets are for pedestrians only. There is a river that runs right through the center of the city and people kayak down it. The city is surrounded by mountains in the distance, the Alps on one side and I'm not sure what is on the other side. People seem more "outdoorsie"...I know that is not a word, but you get what I mean. "Do sutra"...until tomorrow!