Venice and Ljubljana

My last night and day in Venice turned out to be better than I expected! At first I wasn’t too keen on the hostel/campground I was staying at because I didn’t meet anyone. Well that changed almost right after I finished updating my blog last time. I met a bunch of Americans, an Australian guy, two Norwegians, and a couple of other random people. We all hung out at the hostel bar and talked about everything from politics to stereotypes to n’importe quoi. The Norwegian guys were hilarious and all over the place and ended up throwing each other in the pool. Overall it was an excellent night.

The next day in the city it was pretty hot and I had to carry my backpack around all day, from about noon until 9:30ish. That wasn’t pleasant, but I met up with Derek, an Australian I met in Rome. I saw more of the city that I hadn’t seen during the previous day, as well as the stuff I had already seen. I want into Basilica di San Marco because it was free. It was so massive! But unfortunately you’re not allowed to take photos inside. The floor was all wavy from centuries of tidal movements underneath it. It was definitely impressive.
Also, check out this beauty right here: That’s right, a diamond-encrusted skull. How ostentatiously badass is that?


Anyways, I got in Ljubljana in the middle of the night. When I woke up a little bit later I wandered all over the city. The castle is so cool, but unfortunately the tower was closed. It’s such a pretty city; small, but pretty. And there’s a Tivoli Park! (I lov it!) I mostly just wandered around and took pictures during the day, going from one side to the other. There are several different types of buildings, from Soviet-influenced bloc style housing, to art nouveau style, to just massive structures. And there are a lot of green spaces in the city, which is nice. The temperature here was a little bit colder than in Venice, but that was a relief.

I went into one museum, the Narodni Galeriji (National Gallery), because there was a Robert Mapplethorpe exhibition going on! His work is so great, and I was happy to see that for the most part these photos were different from the ones in Florence. His photos are just incredible! And, speaking of photos, I met a Slovenian girl who took me to another photography exhibition that her friend had some photos in. It was free, which is always great, and there was free wine and snacks, which is even better! After that we made our way to Metelkova for a concert. Metelkova is an autonomous area in the city that was taken over by squatters in 1993. It used to be used by the Yugoslav National Army. Now it’s a really cool place for alternative culture and concerts, and there is even a hostel there. The concert was decent, nothing to special, but it was cool to go to a concert since I haven’t been to one in a little while. The bands played some heavy post-rock type music. And I was able to meet a bunch of Slovenians.

Today the weather hasn’t been too great, which is why I’m updating this blog in the middle of the day. I’m not sure what I’m going to end up doing, if anything. It seems like whenever I step out the rain just starts to come down more. I did manage to go back to Metelkova to take some photos of the graffiti and buildings and things. I like it there.

That’s all for now. I head to Budapest, Hungary early tomorrow morning. I have a stop over in Zagreb, Croatia as well, but it’s only an hour so I don’t think I’ll be able to see much if anything there. I’ll update again when I can!