Bill's Blog

Ljubljana

Ljubljana is the biggest city in one of the smallest countries in Europe, Slovenia. The city of 200,000 residents is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. We booked in for a week, which was a few days too many. We rented a flat in the best location in the city, on the city's original main street. This street and most of the most iconic streets in the city are paved with stones and are for pedestrians only. We paid a bit more for the location, but the apartment was near perfect for us. The only snaffu was during our first two days when we had pretty disfunctional internet service. It is better now but still not up to an acceptable speed.

So, we spent the first few days wandering the streets and squares of the city. Several years ago they started banning traffic on many of the small streets in the city center. We are living on the old main street of the city, Mestni, and there is only bicycle and pedestrian traffic. Much of the archetecture comes from the work of Joze Plecnik. My favorite pieces of his work are the triple bridge, the city market and the river embankments near the triple bridge.

One day we made our way to the high point of the city, the city castle. The climb was very difficult as we are no longer spring chickens. From the ramparts we found some beautiful views of the city. Check out our slide show.

That same day we ate in very nice little restaurant whose name translates into the Second Violin. We sat at a table with strangers. First was two students from England, both were Twainese. They were just finishing up their degrees. One was moving back to Taiwan and the other not. When they were finished and we were still eating, Federico Del Vecchio and his parents asked if they could share our table. Federico is an Italian art student at university here in Ljubljana. He has studied and worked the world over. He told us this is the first time in 15 years his parents had been able to visit him where he was studying. We had a lovely conversation. Betty loves seeing the building and chuches and I love the conversations. We have both been getting what we like. I've got to say, I love that English has become the international language. Just about all travelers speak English. And huge portions of the world population between the ages of 12 and 60 speak English. And when you talk to those people you can learn so much.

On Thursday we traveled to the town of Bled, a nice little town on the shore of lovely little lake. In the lake is a small island where there is a large church. The lake has path along the shore that is a bit more than two miles around. About one-third the way round we stopped for coffee and a pastry. Here we met the local sparrows as they flew by and looked for food at our feet and on the table. At the adjoining table sat a half-dozen young mothers with four-month old children. They had initially met in a Facebook group and now they meet regulary for mutual support. We sat down with them to find out about the support system for Slovenian mothers. First, their healthcare and the births were taken care by the Slovenian government. One month before birth they begin a one-year maternity leave. During the first three months they are paid 100% of the normal wages and for the nine-months after that 90% of the normal pay. After one year of leave, they usually return to their jobs. Through the government they can get infant child care for about $230 USD per month. This is the sort of capitalism we need in the USA.

As we walked around the lake we met many fisherpeople, something we rarely see in Europe. Lake Bled has a reputation for have very large carp, up to 70 pounds. Most of the anglers were from Italy. When I finally got to taking a photo of two fisherman, they were from the Czech Republic. The other thing I learned from them is that the fishing license for foreigners lasting three days is $165 USD. They must be super dedicated fishermen.

From Michael Moore's documentary, "Where to Invade Next," we learned that university tuition is free in Slovenia. From three different students we verified that all undergraduate university students pay no tuition. By all I mean EVERYONE, including Americans. This happens in a country of two million people.

Today we are getting ready to leave on Saturday for Trieste. The stay has been quite pleasant, except for the irritation of a very unstable internet connection. This is a VERY beautiful city with good and friendly people.

Fountain at Center of Mestni Square

Posted by bill at October 7, 2016 05:34 AM