Salzburg and Bled

Well, my next day in Salzburg was pretty uneventful. I had three things I wanted to do: See the trick fountains, go to the top of the castle, and see the Glockenspiel. None of those things really happened.

I started off the day getting some food from the grocery store, and ran into some guys with fraternity letters on, so I knew that they were from the states. We talked for a while and then they decided to join me to get food from the market. They had already been to the top of the castle that day, so I asked if they wanted to see the trick fountains. It appeared generally close on the map so we headed out there. Unfortunately we found that the icon on the map was an arrow pointing 4km off of the map. We had already walked a ways to the icon, so we decided to forget the whole idea anyways.

I decided that I was going to get something to eat and then take a nap before I tackled the castle, and once I woke up I felt a little too tired to go all the way up there, so I took a walk to find the Glockenspiel to see if I could gather enough energy. I walked around trying to find it, but I didn't exactly know what it looked like and there were a million different clocks all throughout the city, so trying to find which one was the right one was a difficult task, especially when they were all ringing at once and echoing all over the city. But I think I found it. Also, they have temporarily commercialized the crap out of Salzburg for the EuroCup, so it took away from a lot of the beauty.

I never did muster up the energy to get to the top (I think they closed it regardless). I retired back to the hostel and ate dinner and watched the Sound of Music, which ran continuously all day...

The next day I began my voyage into Bled, Slovenia, which is supposed to be gorgeous. It rained all the way there, so I didn't have a great feeling about it. I almost missed my stop and jumped off the train while it was moving, so that was a little scary. Some guys at the station were laughing at me because it was so close. About that - the Slovenian people are the nicest I have met so far. The guys that were laughing asked me about my trip and wished me a good time, while the lady at the ticket desk gave me her cell phone to call the hostel to pick me up. A lady in the grocery store even left the store to point me to the nearest ATM...

An old guy in a van came to pick me up, and he seemed really helpful and experienced in the English language. Unfortunately neither of these things turned out to be true. He pick up some other guests from the lake after getting me, and we all headed back to the hostel to eat some homemade Slovenian food prepared by his wife. The hostel was a big house, and he lived in one half while we lived in the other. The basement was the kitchen, lounge and dining room for the guests.

The first night we had seven - two Americans, an Australian couple, two Australian sisters and myself. We had a good time just eating and talking into the night.

The next day I decided to go to Bled Lake and Vintgar Gorge with the American girls. They had both graduated college a year or two ago, and one of them was on a seven month trip. The gorge was really amazing. The water was a beautiful green color, and there were a lot of waterfalls and cool little areas to check out while you walked across a wooden walkway stretching down the entire gorge.

After the gorge, we walked through a small town to get to the lake itself, and got to see some everyday Slovenian neighborhoods and villages. The hike also included a stop off at Bled Castle, which overlooks the lake on a craggy peak. Apparently there are a lot of things you can't do here.

When we got to the lake, we got some lunch and then started the 6km journey around the lake. We took our time, and Katie even decided to go swimming for a while. The lake is fed by hot springs, so the water was surprisingly warm. I also got attacked by a swam while sitting on the dock. There's a great picture of it but it wasn't taken with my camera so I don't have it yet.

After we finished our walk around the lake we got picked up by the old man (named Damien) and headed back to our hostel for dinner. I really think that Damien is going senile, as the night before he got into a big argument with the sisters (Lisa and Jenny) because he charged them for nine beers when they only had had three. The hostel also advertised free internet, and it never worked for the entirety being there. He pretty much would answer you with "is no problem" whenever you asked to get it fixed, so we never really got anywhere with that. "Is OK" was also a big part of his vocab. A lot of times he would just hum like three little notes out loud and then look around like he was confused, and then find something to do. There was one time when I was about two minutes late for the shuttle and he got upset and told the girls to get me. When I came down and got in the car, he just stood outside for about three minutes scratching his head and looking around. Quite a character.

I would have a picture of him, but I ran into some serious crap the next day. I decided to spend the day at Lake Bonhinj, which is a larger, but more serene lake. When I got off the bus, it was pouring rain. I walked to the tourist info placed and asked the guy if there were any good hikes, and he said that the hike around the lake was about 3km. I decided that it was doable in the rain (which had slightly subsided) so I put my camera and cell phone in one of the deep pockets to keep dry and headed off.

The first part of the walk was really nice. The fog drifted down onto the pines and it made for some really good scenery. I didn't know this at first, but the lake is really narrow and curvy, and it seemed like I had been walking way more than 3km when I found out from a couple that it was actually 8 miles around. This was a bit discouraging because I was beginning to get really wet, and I had really had enough of hiking around in the rain. I was right near the half way point when I decided to take a look at my camera and see if it was dry. Unfortunately it wasn't. I started freaking out because I was at least a forty minutes from a dry place and had no where dry to put it. I grabbed my cellphone to look for the time and found out that it had also been drenched, and was now off with no chance of coming back on.

This is when I got a little upset.

I walked as fast as I could to the rest area, where I just made a bus back to Bled. I didn't care about the rest of the hike or how much it cost - my camera was in jeopardy. I got back to bled and found a dry place to dry it off, and then bought a bag of rice to stick them both in (its a trick I read on the internet for drying off electronics). It was still pouring rain and the shuttle didnt come back until 6, so I spent a good hour just sitting under an umbrella until I got too annoyed and called Damien to pick me up.

"I am busy now but is a no problem. I come for you now at bus station."

So I hurried to the bus station and waited, and waited and waited: until six (two hours later). When he pulled up I asked him what happened to four o´clock.

"I was in Jevenica and it was far from here. Is a no problem"

Actually it WAS a problem, but I only had one night and trying to argue would have been pointless. When I got back all I wanted was a hot shower, but the water had not been working in my bathroom for 2 days. Every time I would ask him we would tell me to "wait a ten minutes and is OK". When I returned to the hostel and the hot water ran out in thirty seconds, I wrapped a towel around me and went straight down to the girls shower, who had hot water. Luckily I was able to relax and warm up after a pretty crappy day. When I told him about it, he said he would "look into it soon, is OK?".

Because we are far from the train station, I couldn't take the early train out to Zagreb in order to get to Dubrovnik in time, so now I have to take the night train tonight and push all my reservations a day forward. If I was at another hostel, I could've nabbed the 7 AM train and had no problem. He dropped me off today at the train station and now I am in the capital (Ljubljana - pronounced Loob-lana) writing this. Its been raining all day and I'm not about to have a repeat of yesterday.

With the camera and cell phone: Both of them kind of worked this morning. They didn't short out and break permanently, so I decided two more days of the rice bag should fix them completely. The screen is pretty foggy right now so I hope I don't have a repeat of last year... At least my photos are safe.

Well, Ive got to go. Still cant find a place to upload photos...I'm trying.