From the Eos/N95/Eee of Simon: Tuesday 30th June

Try saying that 10 times fast, or at all to begin with.

Another morning of waking up at, no wait, 6am! Hurrah, we're getting
better. Except that Slovenia is an hour ahead of the UK, so technically
we're still awake at 5am, what gives??? This can't last much longer surely.

Breakfast at hotels can be a bit of a hit & miss affair, luckily this
one is quite good. Heading out for the day, the first stop is at the
Spar (supermarket) to pick up some water. 22 Euro cents per 1.5L bottle,
bargain! Slovenia is looking like a pretty good value country so far.
This view is further reinforced when we climb the hill overlooking the
town to have a look inside Ljubljana Castle, no entry fee! This is amazing.

Slovenia as a country seems to be gearing up a lot to try and increase
tourism. There is a lot of construction going on around tourist-type
areas and lots of new "information" presentation points around the city.
It's interesting to see it as it happens, and would be even more
interesting I think to go back and have a look again in a few years,
after their tourism industry inevitably ramps up.

After exploring the Castle, we head back down towards the town, past a
restaurant called "Vodnikov Hram", which may amuse Borat fans. I believe
"Hram" actually means "Temple" which may provide further amusement. We
pass through the fresh fruit & veg. market, where Celina attempts
several "arty" shots of produce, which don't seem to be working until I
tell her the trick is to just zoom in. Et voila!

This market is also the first time I have ever seen a milk vending
machine. It doesn't give you like a popper or a botte of milk, it
actually gives you a cup, then fills it with milk. Looking at the size
of the thing, I 'm half inclined to believe there is a cow inside that
gives you fresh milk.

Through another couple of churches, we move past the Town Hall. We then
continue south west, to find the remains of a Roman wall. Those Romans
and their walls, they got around to everywhere. It is around this time
that we spot a billboard for Harvey Norman (!), in Slovenian! A very
incongruous piece of home.

Last stop for the day is a series of Gardens, including their war
museum, where I take advantage of an opportunity to take a photo next to
one of their huge tanks. See if you can spot the difference.

Because we're in a foreign country, Celina is very into eating authentic
local cuisine. We find a "Gostilna" which is apparently a very
traditional style restaurant. I order the equivalent to a "mixed grill",
and do the brave thing by just eating whatever is on the plate (except
the sauerkraut, I hate that stuff but Celina loves it, so she has it).
After I'm finished, I ask the guy to run through what was on my plate.
As Celina suspected from the beginning, that black sausage thing, was
indeed a blood sausage, made of congealed pig's blood. Well, that's
another thing that I swore I would never eat that I can mark off!

We round out the day by just chillaxing around the Three Bridges, and
then taking some funny photos on the way home. Well, funny to me.

5633 - Milk vending machine