Settling In

The first few days of this trip to Ljubljana are just a bit different than the first few from the last one.  Instead of stumbling around trying to get our bearings, we have been reacquainting ourselves with what we knew we would miss:  Preseren Square, the Triple Bridge, the castle, the fountains, the market, and, of course, ice cream cones.

We feel incredibly fortunate…walking down to old town the day after we arrive, it felt as though we never left.  So many of the people that had become staples in our daily lives are still here: Jure at the vegetable stand (who said, "Where have you been for one year?"), Marinka at the Mercator, Lalantha at the jewelry store, Lepa and Ana at the hair salon.  The kiddos remember so much from last time, it’s unreal.  The first day we were here, Celia looked at one of the big fountains across the river and shouted, “Daddy, we saw that mountain yesterday!”  Maybe she doesn’t really remember, but the spirit is at least there.  Unfortunately, we discovered that our good friend Mijo has moved to the coast, so we will have to take a trip there to see if we can track him down.

Plus, this is likely the only time in our lives we will live in a penthouse suite.  It’s not exactly a deluxe apartment in the sky, but it is on the fourth floor (103 steps up with no elevator) with a terrace view of the city, Tivoli Park, and the Julian Alps in the distance (see below).  It has enough space for four rug rats and a yoga master to operate and is air-conditioned, which more than makes up for its other deficiencies, as it was 35 degrees Celsius today (no need to do the conversion..it’s just hot).  We’ve been packing on the miles, so it’s nice to come back to a place that’s cool.

So, now we’re on the tail-end of jetlag, my class starts on Monday, and we’re starting to plan out the remainder of our seven weeks here.  We already have a trip to the mountains and a trip to the sea planned with our friends Petra and Rok, Mirko from Belgrade will be coming to visit in mid-July, we will go to see Mijo in Piran, and there are a couple of other places we’d like to get to.  Unfortunately, we don’t have the Renault Megane to get us around this time, so we’ll have to figure out alternatives.  Then again, that decreases the likelihood of breaking down in the middle of nowhere in Serbia.

In any event, we know this seven weeks is going to go quick.  There may not be quite as much of a novice factor this time around, and we didn’t bring the strollers along so I shouldn’t get stuck on any trains, but we’re certain it will still be an adventure.