CROATIA BABY!

I haven't updated everyone on my European holiday as the Brit's would say it, so I will give one now. After Vienna, Jake and I traveled to Ljubljana Slovenia and stayed there for a day and a half. We stayed in the most posh, and artsy hostel ever. It was really eccentric and very fancy for hostels. In every room was an artistic wall with different drawings in every square hole. The bed was high up and you needed to climb stairs in order to get to bed. This hostel is known for its artsy feel to it. There was a live band that played in the restaurant the first night we stayed there. Hostelers could even pay a small fee to take a painting class. Hosteling in Ljubljana was it's own adventure in it self.

Ljubljana is one of the youngest cities that I have ever been to. One in every five citizens of the city is a college student. Ljubljana is about the size Eugene or Corvallis, Oregon. Population wise, Slovenia is only home to two million people. Ljubljana is a fun town with lots of jazz and live music clubs scattered around the city. It is also nicknamed "the dragon city" because a Greek Prince named Jason stole a gold fleece from King Aites, and therefore resulting himself and his followers to flee from the town of Argonauts. They sailed the Black Sea up the Danube, from the Danube into the Sava, and from the Sava to Ljublijana. Jason encountered a terrible monster "the dragon," which he fought and slew in order for him and his followers to inhabit the town. This is the reason for the nickname.

Jake and I trekked up to visit the castle where Jason slewwed the monster and toured around it. The view was absolutely gorgeous from the top. It overlooks the entire city. We also ate local Slovenian food which is delicious, just like Czech food was. I had a chilli with susuage in it. We also went through the fresh market, toured and walked around the entire city and took lovely photos.

Then we headed on a train to go to Croatia. This was supposed to be an easy train ride, but as we have learned about Croatia it was anything but that! After a train, a bus, a train and finally a bus again, we arrived in Zagreb, Croatia's capital. Zagreb is nothing worth talking about sadly, however other parts of Croatia are. All we wanted to do was get to the beach and be done with traveling. By that point we both we're exhausted and did not feel like walking around a foreign city with all of our bags to only have to catch a night train later that evening. We walked around for an hour and then decided that we had enough of that. We decided to sit in a hot, smelly and gross bus station for hours to await our 11-hour departure to Dubrovnik, Croatia.

Finally 11-hours later we arrived at 5:45 a.m. There are no hostels in Dubrovnik instead people rent out private rooms or private apartments to tourists. We went on hostel world.com and found good reviews, and even a stellar price with this man named Anton. He is such a sweet person. We picked us up finally after waiting two hours in the station. He bought us orange sweet nectar juice and was willing to drive us up to the fort, which the Serbian Army attacked. The fort was really neat because it gave a vast history of the Croatian-Serbian War that lasted till 1991. Croatia did not gain independence till 1992 and the war lasted three years. The Dubnovik citizens of 200 defeated the Serbian Army. The view from the fort looked down onto the city, and the vast islands around it. It was a gorgeous view indeed and a beautiful photo of Jake and I despite our apparent gross smelly clothes and bodies.

From there we stayed close and explored a bit. We spent three hours on a beach called Victoria off the Mediterian Sea with an absolutely beautiful view. It was one of the few sandy beaches on the island.

Then we spent the next three days touring different islands. The first island that we toured, Jake and I accidentally ended up going to the nude beach. It actually was a very unique and good experience, despite the old naked men. We just tried not to look in their direction. The nude beach was so awesome because of the excellent cliffs surrounding the beach, which were nice for jumping off of. We jumped off quite a bit and took photos of us jumping in. We met a nice English and very naked couple willing to have massive conversations with us and take our photos as well. It was a lovely and unique experience indeed. I had fun!

Then we went to this island called Mjlet that had the oldest National Park on it in all of Croatia. Needing a break from the direct sun, Jake and I hiked all around the park. We did not realize just how massive this park was. We saw an Monastery that was built in the 12th century and we saw two beautiful lakes. We had a bit more of an adventure when Jake decided that we needed to walk back on the other side of the park which is only assessible by swimming over, 20 meters so about the length of the pool. Usually that would not be a problem at all since Jake and I love to swim and all however, this time it would be challenging. For one either of us had our fancy chacos, which would have been the perfect shoe to have on this hike secondly there were sea urchains all over the rocks and bottom of the shallow water which would hurt mightly if we were to step on one and lastly we had a backpack full of our stuff including electronics like a camera and that could not get wet. We then had a great time of trying to figure out how in the world we would be able to get our stuff to the other side without getting it wet. Jake decided he would egg beater his backpack over without the electronics in it and I took a video of him trying to get across. It was quite entertaining and quite nerve racking at the same time. I then had to egg beater my way over to the other side and hold my camera and water in both of my hands above my head. Getting passed the sea urchains was the hardest part, but we both found success! Jake rented a car and then we cruised the rest of the island by car and let the wind take our hair.

Today has been the hottest thus far and it was hard to lay on a beach for a while without getting crisp red. We took our last ferry ride to the last island we wanted to explore while in Croatia and it happened to have the only sandy beach on it. It was so bloody hot today that we had to buy an umbrella and lounge chair just to survive and have a bit of shade. Today was the day that I managed to get sunburn of course it was the last day. Jake and I swam around a portion of the island and saw all of the beautiful sailboats that were docked there.

I was totally exhausted and therefore done with this entry! We are headed to Milan tomorrow via ferry. Only ten more days till I am back. It has been great traveling with my brother and I am totally happy I decided to come. We have bonded and gotten along quite well.

Till next time-tat tat

Biking our way around Vienna!

Renting bikes turned out to be quite the good idea because we saw so much of Vienna today. We probably saw most of Vienna pedaling our way around the city. One thing I really like about this city is entire lanes devoted to bikes, and pedestrians. Austrians are so fit because most people ride bikes, or walk everywhere do to these devoted lanes. I wish more cities in America had devoted, and very exclusive bike lanes. We biked all around this little island along the Donaukan River again strictly devoted to bikers and walkers. The whole loop is 21 kilometers long and absolutely gorgeous. It felt like we were int he country, yet we were still in the heart of the city. We saw people swimming in the river, as well as wind surfing and kiteboarding. Literally this city never stops be active! After that we road into the city centre and saw the Parliment building and Vienna University. We got a bit lost causing us to see a lot more of the city on the wheels of our bikes, which was nice. Jake and I road bikes for a good 5.5 hours! We cannot say that we biked around Europe, but we can say we biked around Vienna.

I am so tired today after our biking adventure. Tomorrow we are going to see the Palace, and Parliment building and then we hop on a train to Slovenia. Good night and good day!

Prague and Vienna!

My Prague or Praha adventure as it is written in Czech finished off well. My brother and I went to the Prague Castle and he gave me a tour. His knowledge of Prague is impressive after he completed Czech History while studying aboard. The view of the city was absolutely gorgeous and totally worth the walk. We toured around the castle town and Jake continued to enhance my knowledge of the area. We also went out to dinner for traditional Czech food, which is delicious. The thought of eating the potato soup right now is making my mouth water.  Jake and I shared a half portion of the duck and we each had a beer. I love Czech beer especially Budweiser. To finish my time in Prague, we ate dinner with Jake's Australian friend Nick and went out one last time to Terminex, a gay bar. Terminex offers great dancing and amazing people! We went out with a few of Jake's friends and took some awesome photos of us at the bar. Jake's friend Mike bought us sparkling wine for his last night and I had a blast with his Russian girlfriend. We decided to have a photo shoot at the bar! 

Today we took the four hour train ride to Vienna, Austria. The ride featured vast landscapes, and beautiful country sides. I love how green Austria is! As I was sitting in the train, I noticed wind creating a lot of energy all throughout the country side of Austria. In Vienna everyone rides bikes, uses metros or trains.  It is so nice to see a country so devoted towards clean energy. People really care about their health here and it is awesome to see.  I am throughly enjoying my time thus far in Vienna. 

Jake and I are staying at a hostel famous not just in Austria, but in Europe as well. It was a bit difficult for us to find the hostel when we first arrived because we do not know any German. Jake has a friend that lives in Vienna and we met up with him for a bit to eat and a coffee. His sister lives in Salt Lake and I look forward to meeting her when I head back. John is fluent in three different languages and works in Slovakia as a real estate agent. He is pretty cool and I enjoyed meeting him. 

Tomorrow is a busy day, we are renting bikes and sight seeing. Vienna has such a homey feel to it and I am excited to explore it.