Unexpected Ljubljana (July 7-10)

Mary and I found ourselves in this enchanted land that we still can't spell after missing a train and a subsequent plane up to London. (Our orignial plan was to spend 1 night in Zagreb, wake up at 5AM to catch a 6 AM train to Ljubljana, to arrive at 9AM, to catch a 45 minute bus ride to the airport to catch our noon flight, but we were stopped when our 6AM train was 2 hours late, and we managed to get on the wrong train, heading in the wrong direction, that did not make its first stop for 45 minutes!!! Needless to say, we missed our flight and limped back to Zagreb. The train conductors were nice enough to not charge us extra for our mistake. We met a pleasant middle aged woman who was commuting to work in Zagreb. She was kind enough to share here experiences of the Croatian war for Independce from 1990-1994. A hefty change fee and 3 days later we were able to fly out of Ljubljana back up to London. Ljubljana was an unexpected surpise. A beautiful train ride from Zagreb, Croatia to Ljubljana, Slovenia included view of the mountains and forrests, as the train followed a river valley. We found a simple, sterile Hosteling International to stay in. 2 lazy days included internet cafes, a beautiful city park and cozy cafes to catch the 3rd place and final game of the world cup with food that was delicious and much cheaper than western Europe.