EnRoute

Jaime, Rob, and I woke up and ate breakfast at 7am, in time for Jaime’s early departure to Croatia.

Breakfast was included with the hostel, and it was delicious. We had two eggs, bacon, and two rolls, the best free breakfast I’ve had so far in Europe.

After breakfast, Jaime left and Rob and I planned out our day. Around 11, Rob and I walked down to the train station, missed the first two trains by minutes, and finally caught a train out to Lake Bled to do some mountain biking. Lake Bled is a resort area outside of Ljubljana known for its beautiful mountains, forests, and lake. In the center of the lake is a small island with a church on it, and on the surrounding lakeshore are small beaches and parks. On one side of the lake, atop a large cliff face sits a castle. Rob and I spent the day biking around the lakeside eating cheese and drinking wine. Overall, it was a great day. We slept on the train back into Ljubljana and got some food in town. There was a giant orchestra/choir concert in one of Ljubljana’s town squares. Rob and I ate pizza on the side of the square and watched this amazing concert for free. Ljubljana offered so many free performances around town in the couple of days that we were there. It was incredible to see what the city provided to its citizens on a regular basis. I feel like concerts and ballets in the town center like that wouldn’t happen in the United States. We watch the concert for awhile then returned to the hostel to get some sleep that night.

Back at the hostel, I skyped with my grandparents and found out that I will not be going to Japan this September. I was disappointed. Its been a lifelong dream of mine to travel to Japan, but I understand how strenuous a trip like that would be on my grandparents, and I hope that we can go on a trip perhaps closer to their home in Boston instead. I assured them that it was fine, and that I understood how much of an undertaking the trip would have been.