It was an early rise today.  Breakfast at 7:15 so we could get to our 8:25 train.  The train ride was only a couple of hours from Ljubilana, Slovenia to Zagreb,  Croatia.  We stopped at the border on the tracks and customs came on to check our passports.  I think my passport has never been checked so thorougly.  I did get a train customs stamp : )  It's my first!  Once we arrived in Zagreb we headed straight to our hotel- which was right across the street from the train station. It was great that I ddidn't have to schlep my nice big american size suitcase far : )  Then we had lunch at a great place.  Everyone's food was outrageous (see below).  Then we walked around to get a layout of the city.  Museums and the such are closed today (Monday) so we will see them tomorrow.  The pictures below are from lunch and our walking around.

Soup anyone?  They serve your soup in a big ol' pot.  Mine was tomato.

Lunch for 4.....yes really!

Some important Croatian guy ; )

In the horseshoe park

World Cup anyone?

Cathedral

Another church, with a decorative tiled roof.

Some paintings from inside a Serbian Orthodox Church

Today was a pretty laid back day with a couple of stops and then a drive through the Alps back to Ljubljana.  The car had to be returned and then we are taking the train to Zagreb early in the morning.

From our hotel in Italy it was only about 7 km to the Kobarid WWI Museum in Slovenia.  It had a short movie for us to see and then we wandered through the exhibits to see and read about the events from WWI that happened in the area.  It was not a large museum but it had great descriptions and some really interesting things to see. ( For more info see:  http://www.kobariski-muzej.si/eng/ ).  Then we went up to see a chapel to commemorate the men who died.  After that we went to The Kluze Fortress.   It has some information (much of which was said at the museum).  It was erected as a control post.  It was a little hard to picture it from it's glory days and it only provided a little new information.  After lunch we continued our trip back to Ljubljana through the curvy roads of the Alps- up, down and all around.  Glad I wasn't the one driving!  : )

No pictures allowed in the exhibits but these were in the lobby:  markers for fallen soldiers.

 The chapel atop a hill.

A painting in the chapel- it shows a solider protecting his comrade in the snowy Alps w/all he has- a stone.

Kluze Fortress

 

A revolving watch tower.

A cast iron shield in the wall.  A cannon could stick out to fire at the enemies.

Can you see the metal steps?  Look hard.  They're in the middle.  Yikes!

Well, today was not such a great day.  A traveler's bad dream.  A picture takers WORST nightmare. My camera WON'T TURN ON!  One minute I'm taking pictures then next it goes black and I can't turn it on.  I know the battery was not full but it shouldn't have been dead.  At the hotel I charge it to make sure.  Nothing. Nada. Zilch.  Looking online it suggested to get a new battery- maybe these are fried from being charged soooo much.  Fingers crossed this is the case.  The other alternative is not so great- something wrong with the shutter that will take a few hundred dollars to fix and that ain't gonna happen. So in the next couple of days when I'm in a city again, I'll see if I can find a new battery and I'll try it out.  I can't complain too much (ok I'm done now) because I AM in Europe for 6 weeks, I can use my iPhone to take pictures and I'm going to ask a friend to bring over another friend's camera for the last leg of my trip.  Breathe.......it's ok......not the end of the world.

So today we visited 2 small Italian towns to see if they would be good stops on a future group trip.  A couple of interesting things but not sure if they're stop worthy.  The first stop was in Udine.  We saw the duomo (very ornate w/marble and lots of side chapels).  Then we went up to the castle that houses paintings and items showing the history of the area.  A few interesting things but nothing was in English so it was hard to follow along.  Then we went to a really small art museum with paintings from a local artist (not a lot to see and what there was, was just so so).  Overall cute town and not touristy at all (which is a plus) but not a whole lot to occupy our time.  The next town was Cividale.  We saw a church, a good museum of archeology and a chapel.  One of the best things was watching the fire fighter demonstrations they had in one of the squares.

So below, my iPhone pictures.  They're not so great, but they'll have to do for now.

Look what they did to an old fire truck- beer on tap!

Cividale was founded by Julius Ceasar.

Oh, and 2 dinner pictures.  I wish I would have gotten the pictures of the appetizer they gave us.  SO GOOD.  Sage leaves lightly breaded and friend.  Oh, my goodness were they good!! The pictures I have: One of something tasty, one of something not so tasty.  You'll see what I mean : )

Yummy cheese ravioli- don't they look like hearts? :)

A little sip of limochello for dessert.  Not my cup of tea. Yuck-a-roo!!

Catching up for 2 days so lots of writing- sorry!

Yesterday was a busy day and ended late after seeing the opera "Land of Smiles" so there was no time for blogging (I did rest in the afternoon but I was trying to get rid of a headache so that took precedence over blogging).  The scenery and costumes were great and I had a write up of what the opera was about (thank you Art).

 Yesterday we started our day by taking the public bus up to a walkway above the city.  It was supposed to have outstanding view of Trieste below.  It did have a few picture worthy spots but they came at the end.  Nevertheless it was a nice morning walk with a breeze.  After lunch we headed to the other side of town by bus to see a concentration camp.  I think the audio guide said there were only 3 camps in Italy and this was one of them.  It was an old rice factory that was turned into a camp.  It held political prisoners or military personal and a few Jewish people (most held here were not because of religious reasons but instead political reasons).  The prisoners were held here before being sent to another camp or they were killed.  It was the only camp in Italy with a crematorium.  It's estimated that between 3,000-5,000 people were killed.  The Nazis tried to destroy the camp by blowing up the crematorium before it was discovered.  Then there was a fire in the 60's that destroyed more of it.  I thought the audio guide gave a lot of good information.  I find that visiting these camps helps to give me a history to what happened.  I hope that it serves as a reminder to the past so that we can make sure not to allow it to happen in the future- although there are things happening today fueled by hate so we still have a long way to go.

Today we drove into Slovenia and went through a couple of caves that date back 3 million years!! Both were a little different but had HUGE stalactites and stalagmites and curtains.  Considering they only grown 2 mm. a year it's AMAZING.  Truly one of nature's masterpieces!  The pictures aren't the best- we were only allowed to take them at the end (as a rule follower I did just that but MANY disregard that rule, which was so annoying).  The 2nd cave had a great walkway that was lit (it took 10 years to built).  It would have been a GREAT picture.  The 2nd cave also had 400+ stairs, thank you very much.  Most were down but some were up.  I made it- red faced and huffing and puffing- but I made it (like I had a choice?)   : )     We also saw a castle from the 9th century that was built into a cave in the rocks.  It's been added to over the years so now it sticks out.  The guide books said the inside was a dud, so we skipped it.

View down on Trieste, Italy

A local

We could see the castle Miramare from the day before

Walking to the bus......so pretty

A Serbian church along the way (love the golden mosaics adoring it- see below)

Risiera di San Sabba- the concentration camp (at the old rice factory)

A modern statue created to represent the smokestake from the crematorium.

The cells where some prisoners were held- 6 to a room w/ a bunk bed in it.

Notice the doors that remain from the different floors that used be there.

Ready for the opera!

Cave time!  How low can you go?  Apparently VERY low!!

Red faced, sweaty and hair pulled back to prove my successfulness!

The castle in the cave (obviously we did this before the 2nd cave)  :)