Croatia and Slovenia: Good Times with Great Friends!

June 10th to 16th
Part I

Reunion time!
To pick up where I left off in my last blog entry...

(First off, I apologize for not writing this sooner. I must admit, I have gotten lazy when it comes to writing. I am kinda tired of writing a blog on my little iPod. Oh well... Could be worse! So now, time for Croatia and Slovenia...)

Simon (who studied in Iceland with me) and David (Simon's friend who came to visit Simon in Iceland) and Nusa (Simon's girlfriend) all met us at the train station. I was sooo excited to see the guys again since I hadn't seen them in over a year!! I hadn't met Nusa yet, so it was great to finally meet her too after hearing about her for the past year and a half. Once hugs and introductions were exchanged we hopped in the car and went to the island of Krk (and yes, that is how it is spelled! It's not abbreviated. I don't know about any of you other English speakers, but I found it weird to wrap my head around the fact that there are no vowels in the name.) David's family has a summerhouse there, so the five of us and four others were spending the weekend there.

When we got to the house, the other guys were already there, so more introductions were made and drinks poured. It was a pretty calm evening, sitting outside, just having some drinks and socializing.

The next day we all headed to the beach. It wasn't nearly so hot as in Greece, which I thought was fantastic! Such a nice break from the heat. We spent the afternoon at the water, and in the evening went back to the house for supper.

For supper, Simon had brought some stuff to BBQ, and he had also bought a little camping grill to use. However, having never used this grill, it seemed none of the guys (who were going to do the BBQing since it is a man's job and all) really knew how to work it. (It was basically just a base pan with a grill above and you used briskets for heat.) How many men does it take to figure out how to get the BBQ going? Too many. The guys all decided that they basically needed a bonfire going in this BBQ grill, so next thing we know they are all loading branches onto it, building up the fire, while us three girls sat there going "This will be interesting... Think it will be a bit too big of a fire..." but we didn't want to interfere with the men doing their job so we just sat back and watched (and laughed). So now that there was this bonfire going in the grill, we had to wait for it to die down to put the briskets in. The guys put some in, and then since they figured they were not heating up fast enough, one of them dumped more on. Silly boys. Finally, the briskets started turning white, and being impatient, we decided to start cooking. Not trusting the men so much anymore, though, us women decided it was probably best that we take matters into our own hands. So the three of us and Simon (we let him stick around) finished the BBQing. Realizing we didn't have bread for dinner, Gasper (Gasper, I apologize for the most-likely incorrect spelling of your name as I have no idea how to spell it and lack proper Slovenian punctuation marks on my iPod. Same for the spelling of your name Nusa and it's lack of proper punctuation!) decided to try making tortillas to cook on the grill. However, they were not working out quite as he planned, so he ended up wrapping the dough around some sausages like a sort of wiener-wrap. Pretty smart... And hilarious to watch them making them. Finally, time to eat. And it was all delicious!

That evening, we went into the town of Krk (we were in a different town on the island) so the group of us wandered around and stopped for a drink. Then back to the summerhouse where the fun began! Put nine people in a summerhouse who are all out for a good weekend and the next thing you know the drinking games begin! Always a fun time!

On Sunday morning, everyone packed up. The four others headed back to Slovenia, and Simon, Nusa, David, Meghan and I took our time. We stopped in one town on the island for ice cream and then headed off the island to another town in Croatia where we stopped for a bite to eat. Later that afternoon we arrived in Ljubljana, and they quickly showed us around downtown before we had to drop David off at home. The rest of the night was spent at Simon and Nusa's dorm, where we had some dinner and did some laundry.

On Monday, Simon took Meghan and I to Bled, which is a little village along a lake that is absolutely gorgeous! It was such a quaint little place to visit. You can walk around the lake to enjoy the view, and if you would like to rent a boat you can head to the little island in the middle where you find a church. So we strolled around the lake and then stopped to try a type of cream cake that is very well known from the area. And I understand why it was so well known - it was delicious! From there, we carried on to Bohinj, another area with a lake that was very close to Bled. This area was really nice to visit as it was very similar to Bled, but not quite as developed. It is protected now so that people cannot build new buildings and buildings must remain in a certain style of design, which makes it have a much more relaxed feel. We paused here for a snack and to enjoy the scenery.

After enjoying the beauty of Bohinj, we headed back in to Ljubljana, stopping to see the Brdo Castle as we went, which is used for various political purposes. Once back in Ljubljana, we packed an overnight bag and took off for Krsko, a town very near to Simon's village. Along the way, Simon made a stop at Otocec, a little island in a river where it is very popular to get married. It was so cute! I told the others that we had to find me a husband A.S.A.P. so that I could quickly get married there before we moved on to our next city! Unfortunately, I didn't find anyone, so I guess I will just have to go back one day. I'm not complaining!

After showing us the town of Krsko, Simon took us to his parents' house, where we were staying for the night. He grew up in Jelse, which is a little village of about 100 people (if I remember correctly) and is in the southeast part of the country. (It is actually closer for him to go to Zagreb in Croatia than to Ljubljana.) It was really cool to get to see this area as it was a little flatter than the Alpine region that we had visited the day before when we went to Bohinj and Bled. So we met his parents, who don't speak English so we couldn't really talk to them, and I got to see his sister again, whom I had met when she came to visit Simon in Iceland last year. And we just spent the rest of the evening (of which there wasn't much left) relaxing at his parents home.