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We're having trouble uploading pictures tonight, so I'll summarize the past few days until we get them.
Wed. Oct. 6: This was our last day in Vienna. We walked to the Votive church and went inside. It's a great gothic church, but only around 150 years old. Inside, they had a vending machine that sold postcards, but we didn't get any. Next we wanted to find the Kapuziner church. We looked all over for it and found it hiding behind some other buildings. It was supposed to have a crypt underneath full of royal tombs. We went inside the church and it was ok, but kind of small and plain compared to the others we've been seeing. We found the entrance to the crypt next door and saw that it was 5 Euros to enter, and a little crowded, so we decided to skip it. Finally we went to St. Peter's church, the one we have a picture of from before, with the copper dome. It's beautiful inside, covered with gold and paintings. They were starting a Mass right after we got in, so we just stood at the back for a short time and left. After that, we took 2 subway rides to get back to the train station. Our guidebook said the railroad between Vienna and Leoben was very scenic, so we went to Leoben. There were some great views of mountains and little villages in the valleys. The clouds touched the tops of the mountains and they were covered in fall foliage. We had a long wait in Leoben, so I got out and walked around. It has a lot of pretty buildings. We took an 11:30 pm train to Ljubljana, Slovenia. That's ok, I've never heard of it either.
Thurs. Oct. 7: We got to Ljubljana at 6:30 am. It was cold and dark. It got lighter as the sun came up (as usually happens) and at around 8:30 we went exploring. It's the capital city of Slovenia. The first sights we saw were a bunch of run-down, graffittied buildings. We were about ready to leave. Then we stumbled into old town, which is full of nice, historic buildings. There are still a lot of restorations in progress. We walked through an outdoor market where they were selling produce. We got lost and couldn't find the way back to the train station, but eventually did. We took a 1:30 train to Postojna. It's famous for its cave, and that's where we've been staying. The train ride there was also full of nice mountain views. We checked into our hotel and got some groceries from a supermarket.
Fri. Oct. 8: I found out the nectarines I bought for breakfast weren't ripe. I guess I'll lug them around until they ripen. We walked around the town a little, but it's almost all houses. We also walked to the cave area after it closed, as a sneak preview of things to come.
Sat. Oct. 9: We bought 2 tickets for the Predjama castle and the Postojna cave. We did the castle first. A bus took us there along small, rural roads. The castle is really a nice sight; it's built into the side of a cliff and incorporates a cave into its structure. The original castle was from around 1300 and it was enlarged until the late 1500s. It's pretty plain inside, but that's how it was originally I guess. We did see the dungeon and torture chamber, and we went in to the cave portion too. Next we took the bus back to the Postojna cave. We got in for the 2:00 tour. So did a lot of other people. It was pretty crowded, which cut back on the enjoyment a little, but we both really liked it. A little train took us halfway into the cave. It went really fast and was a lot like a roller coaster. At many points the ceiling was so low you could have hit your head on it. After the ride, we grouped together for a tour in English and walked about 1 km of paths under stalactites and around stalgmites. The cave is shades of white, pink, yellow, and orange. Some parts had ribbon or curtain formations that we thought looked like bacon. It was pretty wet and things dripped on us. The cave is famous for being a habitat of the blind cave salamander, and they had one in a big tank that we looked at. After the long walk, we took another train ride back to the ouside. The whole tour lasted about an hour and 40 minutes. It was a really nice cave.
We will probably spend tomorrow in Venice.
- comments
JeanB I always found it interesting that there are so many red/orange roofs there!!!