Lovely weather

It rained all of yesterday so I made friends with an Aussie girl and we walked in the park in the rain to a contemporary history museum and then wiled away the rest of the afternoon and evening in various Ljubljanian cafes, chatting with each other and locals. Today Im going to see about some caves.

Ljubljana

I made it to Ljubljana.... I got here late last night, and since the hostel I wanted to stay at was booked I figured I would just stay at the cheaper university dorms near the train station since I got in so late I was just going to sleep anyway. I quite accidenatly fell in with some Belgians while searcihng for this hostel and we ended up and some other university dorms farther away. I was so tired by this point and was given a room in the last dorm, up 5 flights of stairs but when I got there there was no free bed! I went back to the reception full of righteous indignation. It's imposible, said the man at reception, pointing to the computer screen. AS if computers never made a mistake! WEll, it worked out all right for me in the end because I got my own room for the dorm price, 9 €, and I slept like a baby. I checked out this morning, the Belians were grumbling about their room and wanting to go somewhere else too, and made the long walk to the city center in the rain, finding refuge along the way in a local cafe where the elderly were having their morning pivas and slivovicas. Now I am in the Alibi hostel, which is more expensive but much cosier and freindlier. I would rather stay in a nicer, central place and spend less on food or something. If its still raining I'll go see the musuem of contemporary history, if not jsut wnader around the town. I am dissatisfied with LP, I just had a look at some one's Rick Steves and it has a lot more on the hitory of the place. Of course Rick Steves hasm't got a Eastern Europe guide book... I suppose it is economy of space going hand in hand with economy of information.

I was a little disappointed with Pula. I think it was nice to be able to spend some time on the beacha nd swimming... I miraculously escaped sunburn by prolific application of sunscreen which has now made my skin break out, but that is nothing new... It was nice that the hostel was right on the beach but annoying to be 2 miles away from town. And the water was nice but the beach was full of rather sharp rocks. I suppose for better beaches one must go further south in Croatia, but Pula was on the way. Bulgaria, I think will be nicer and cheaper. The buses only ran half an hour and was quite expensive as far as buses go. About $2. So I ended up walking most of the time in the heat. There wasnćt much to see or do, onlz the amphitheatre, which was nice but not THAT nice. One fo my finnish freinds expressed surpise that as a histoian I wasnćt more imporessed by this really old building. I explained that I find places where events of historical significance took place much more interesting than stuff that is just old. I'm not an archilogist!

Anyway I really like Ljubljana so far and I think I will want to stay longer than I will be able to... I should have been in this region 5 years ago! I must get to Romania where things are affordable. I am tired of eating salami sandwiches and pasta with tomato sauce.

spell check isn't working. sorry for your pain. At least I am making an effort to use the y key instead of z.

Pula

Pula is nice but there isnćt much to do. I have been hanging out with two Finnish girls. Thez are going to Ljubljana tomorrow but I am going today.

Under the Istrian Sun

I made it to Pula, deciding to trust my luck, as I said in my last post, but not being very trustful. I was so paranoid that I would get off at the wrong local bus stop or that there wouldn't be space at the hostel. I didn't and there was. The hostel is right on the beach. It didn't take me long to get reacquainted with my old friend the Adriatic. Its so salty that you can float for hours with zero effort. I wonder if anyone has ever drowned by falling asleep while floating in the Adriatic.

En Route

I'm going to Pula today. I shelled out tons of money to send and email to a hostel and wcheck to see if they responded, but they haven't. I considered going to Ljubljana becasue I'm not sure of a spot, but decided to risk it. There are always the old ladies at the train station, maybe I will meet someone to split the cost of a room with, and I could really use a few days at the beach. Venice has been really nice, but it's very hot and unlike Bakersfield there is not air conditioning everywhere. Plus you have to walk. Anyway I am taking the train/bus because it's much cheaper and I get to see Trieste.

Hi Bye

internet in venice is ridiculously expensive... like almost everything else. itàs very nice here, though.

Pictures!

I worked really hard and paid a lot of money for internet in order to upload all of my (good) photos to facebook (since yahoo photos has gone kaput). It took so long. I hate to think how long it will take me to do the rest two months from now! Here are links:

Krakow

Gdansk

Warsaw

Lviv

London