Zagreb and Slovenia; Or, Torrential Rains in Northern Yugoslavia

New blog post while I sit in the hostel common area, waiting for my night train to depart. Fatigue plus rain equals low on energy. Too bad the only train to Venice leaves at 2:30 in the morning. Seriously? It's like 4 hours away - how are there not more trains? Probably should have taken the bus - oh well. Weather should pick up in Italy, though. :)

August 4: Zagreb

Zagreb is an interesting city. I only stayed briefly, exploring the the old city around Gradec, but one thing that stood out was the nice tram system running through town. Pedestrian / vehicle interaction is very casual - trams, cars, and people weaving through the same space at low speeds.

And, of course, arriving in Zagreb was the first time I had to deal with serious inclement weather.

Good stuff in the Naive Art Museum too

Zagreb pictures

August 5: Lake Bled

I was a little sad I didn't get to see Lake Bled in full majesty - the cloud cover hid much of the mountainous surroundings. Good thing I'm going to Switzerland in a week or two.

Lake Bled pictures

August 6: Ljubljana

Ljubljana is a fun little city. Feels a lot like an Alpine village, but with Mediterranean flair. It's also a college town, which lends some extra energy. The city is filled with street cafes that don't serve food, that seem to have a constant stream of occupants nursing drinks and smoking.

The food is not too expensive but somewhat uninspiring; had myself a few bureks from street stands during the day.

Oh, and when it rains, horrible demon winds rush through the city in random directions, rendering umbrellas laughable.

Ljubljana pictures

And if you want to browse through ALL the pictures so far:

http://picasaweb.google.com/ben.g.johnson?authkey=Gv1sRgCIaA8_zdl5jMlgE

I'll repost the link periodically.