Part 2 - Ljubljana

After last night's nasty travels, we slept until about 10am. Well, we actually slept until about 6am and then every fifteen minutes between the chimes of the church bells just outside out window! So I rolled out of bed and went to Mass next door. The church was about ten metres from the front door of the presbytery. I had the impression that the church was huge, but when I stept inside I realised that it was tiny - about 60 seats. It was my first Mass in Slovenian - it was beautiful. After Mass, the priest stood outside greeting everyone. I introduced myself as one of the two people who had stayed in his house last night. He was very happy to meet me. It is amazing how each time we meet people in the Emmanuel Community, we feel as though we are family!

We were very happy to hear that our friend Dominic Cudmore was also in Ljubljana for the retreat. Dom is an Australian consecrated brother in the Emmanuel Community who is living in Belgium at the moment. We used to live with him in Sydney and we haven't seen each other in years. He was able to give us a tour of the Old Town, with Peter who is a seminarian. It was a very entertaining tour, and what they didn't know, they made up.




Wags, Dom and Peter



Dom told us that the city has a unique rubbish removal system. People take their rubbish to bins down the street. They separate the rubbish into the different types of recycling, swipe their personal card, then deposit the rubbish into the appropriate bin. The removal of the rubbish takes place under ground. I am pretty sure that this is fact, and not one of Dom's inventions!!! It sure beats putting your rubbish out once a week for the truck to collect it. It's infinitely better than in Rome where you take your rubbish down the street to the over-filled stinky bins on the side of the road. The rubbish isn't collected often enough, so people just pile it on the footpath or road.



Underground rubbish and recycling

The Old Town of Ljubljana is so pretty. It isn't too busy and over-crowded, the buildings are beautiful, the people are friendly. It has such a great atmosphere.



Outdoor restaurants

We noticed that the Slovenians are really taken with art. Especially with Plečnik who was an architect who died in 1957. He was responsible for much of the design of the city, which was his hometown. His cause for Canonisation is underway.

One thing that we noticed is that there are statues and sculptures of heads all over the place. It's really quite nifty!


The second biggest head I've ever seen

While we were walking down the street, we saw some teenage boys sitting on a bench drinking. It was the most shocking thing I had ever seen. They were drinking straight from the bottle. But, it wasn't beer or spirits. It was milk! Later we realised why. There was a milk vending machine. Kev couldn't resist so he put some money in. Music started playing. It was so bizzare. Now, because Kev's Slovenian isn't perfect, he didn't realise that you are supposed to purchase the bottle first, from the case on the right. So milk started pouring out. The people gathering around were laughing. One lady came over to help. Luckily, we found a 'stop' button and pressed it. So Kev bought a bottle then tried again. It was great. We haven't had such nice milk in ages. In Italy, most people use long-life milk, but we try and find the fresh stuff. But it just doesn't taste that great. This, on the other hand was absolutely delicious!




Milk vending machine


An udder lady had to help

Kev getting milk straight from the source....almost!

After this, we looked for a place to have a beer. Our criteria were: it had to be outside; not have an english name; and have comfortable seats. We passed many bars, but none of them met our requirements....until we got to the Skeleton Bar. So we sat down here and got to work. Afterwards we found out that it was quite well known. The best part of all was the toilets. I asked the waitress where they were, and she told me to go inside and down the stairs. It was really dark inside, after coming in from the bright sun. I made my way down the winding stone stairs by holding on to the wall. There was a glass case in one of the walls with a skeleton in it. I got to the bottom but it only led to a long dark corridor with a bar at the end of it. I asked the lady where the toilets were, and she told me that I had passed them. I should turn back towards the stairs. I said that there was nothing between the stairs and here. She informed me that I need to go back to the bookcase and push it. I did as instructed. I got to the bookcase and gave it a push. It was a secret door that led to the toilets! I was so eager to get back to the others to tell them.

While we were sitting at our table outside, we saw some people that we knew walking by. It was three of the young people we had shared the cabin with on the train the night before. So they joined us for a drink. It reminded me of one of the benifits of travelling like a poor youth - you meet so many people. It just doesn't happen when you travel in style.

By this time it was getting late, so our cell-mates (I mean, our cabin-mates) had to leave. We joined up with Matjaz and went out for dinner. We found a nice Mexican restaurant on the river-front. As we were eating we could hear some beautiful music. It was a boat on the river with some singers and musicians playing traditional music. They were just going up and down the river to entertain people. How nice is that!

After our pancakes with nutella, strawberries and cream, we headed back to the presbytery.

What a great day!!