Slovenia When we were planning our trip, Patrick suggested we go to Slovenia. Ashamedly I had to look on a map to find out where it was. What I'm wondering now is how Europe has kept this little gem such a secret. Sure Slovenia is quiet a popular tourist destination, but it's doesn't seem to make many peoples top 5 places they want to go in their lives. It should. Slovenia was amazing, up there with Switzerland in terms of natural beauty and friendly locals. They could probably work on the punctuality of their public transport but I guess you can't have everything. Duncan and I met up with a group of friends from London in Ljubljana. The first highlight of the trip was having a normal conversation with people that didn't start with 'So where are you from', 'Where have you just come from' or 'Where are you headed next'. The second highlight was our second nights accommodation in Lipica on a horse stud................ a real hotel. With our own real room (to ourselves) with a real double bed (not bunk beads) and our own bathroom (not shared with 50 others). The space, the privacy......Aaaaahhhh the luxury. The third highlight was Bled. Bled is a beautiful little town in the north of the country. Check it out on Google Earth (or wait for our photos). It is also the adventure sport capital of Slovenia and one of the cheapest places to partake in crazy activities in Europe. Our crazy activity of choice? Canyoning. Take 1 canyon, throw in a river with a series of waterfalls, pools of water (some not so big), some abseiling equipment, 1 wet suite and 1 helmet and you've got hours of freezing cold (and sometimes painful) entertainment. Basically it involves donning said wet suite and helmet then launching yourself down above mentioned waterfalls into pools of 6 degree water at the bottom. You fight for breath as you surface, drag yourself out of the pool...... to do it again. Where the water is a little shallow you abseil down. The pain enters when you don't get your take off quiet right and bounce off rocks on the way down (I think Jenny's bum is still recovering). Quiet possibly one of the funnest (if not coldest) things we've done. Next time we want to go in summer to partake in some of the tamer water based activities on offer in what I'd call the Bicheno of Europe. After a bit of R&R and one of the best massages I've had we boarded the train for Munich and our second pilgramage to Oktoberfest.......