Slovenia. A country that has been on my bucket list for a few years now but has always gotten bumped down a notch by someplace else. Not this time. This time we had a four day weekend, sunshine and warm weather in the forecast and the need for a relaxing family weekend since B has been traveling nonstop (even over the weekends).
The girls and I set off on Friday afternoon as soon as school let out. And so did the rest of Munich.
What should have been a 4 1/2 hour drive turned into 8 hours when traffic piled up just getting out of the city. It took us 4 hours to go 100 km (60 miles)! But we made it, just before midnight, and fell right into bed.
The next morning we had a few hours to kill before B flew in so the girls and I went exploring, promising B that we would not do all of the sightseeing without him.
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| The first thing they found was this great chart - it had all the places we have lived as a family: USA (Stinkerbell is pointing to it) and strangely right above that was Chile and above Chile was Czechia. MadHatter is pointing at Germany. |
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| And since it was 10 am we had to stop for ice cream :) Beto would be proud of us... |
We were headed over to the City Museum, which I had read was a great place for kids. Along the way, we passed a few sights but as promised, waited for B to explore them...
The City Museum is housed in the Auersperg Palace and houses 4500 years of history, including a portion of the Roman road that remains in the basement. To add to the fun for the kids, the museum provides a story about two lost frogs, Lubje and Ana, who need to be found by looking for a series of clues, answering questions and collecting stamps that are located in each room of the museum. The girls were very excited to get started and happily found each and every clue...
On the second floor of the museum, there was a temporary exhibit showing how the industry had evolved in Slovenia over the past millennia. The girls loved going back in time and the typewriter (not an electric one even) was a huge hit.
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| We even got to write a new slogan for a 1920's laundry detergent. Ours is on top. |
Back out in the sunshine, we headed back to the tri-bridge to meet up with B and have some lunch. Along the way, we stopped to take some pictures...
Dragons are everywhere, and I mean everywhere. They are on the coat of arms, bridges, in stores, on top of the castle. They even have an entire Bridge named the Dragon Bridge. But why? The tale dates back to the very founding of the city. The Greek mythological hero Jason and his band of followers, the Argonauts, stole the golden fleece from King Aetes and fled with it all the way to the Ljubljanica River. At a large lake, they stopped to take their boat apart so they could transport the pieces to the Adriatic Sea to continue their journey. Legend has it that there was a dragon living in the lake, Jason slayed the dragon, freeing the people of their fears and it is now the symbol of the city. The girls and I had a great time searching the city to find them...
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| The Triple Bridge. A symbol of Ljubljana. The original bridge linked traffic between Europe and the Balkans. To prevent congestion, two pedestrian bridges were added on each side. Lunch eaten, we headed off to tour the castle. We passed through the Colonnade... |
We took the funicular to the top - the walk would have been lovely, but we were trying to make our tour and didn't have the time.
The tour took us through the history of the castle and its prisoners. Including live actors that acted out the scenes that got them imprisoned and how they were flogged, put on display or even escaped, the tour was a new one for us and kept us all intrigued.
After the tour, we climbed the winding staircase to the lookout at the top of the tower and enjoyed an incredible 360 view of the city.
Back down in city center, we toured the Ljubljana Cathedral...
The afternoon was winding down and when B told me about this place he found touting itself as, "The World of Gin & Tonics," I quickly headed downstairs and out to the back terrace to settle myself in for a drink.
Dinner and a bit of playtime down, we hit up the gelato stand (again)
Crossed the Butcher's Bridge with its love locks...
And caught a ride on the back of this dragon back to the hotel...only kidding, but that would have been ok with the girls...
