10.30.21

Today I finally didn’t have to woke up to an early alarm or board a train first thing in the morning! I only slept in until 9, but so much better than waking up at 5! I had the free hostel breakfast with some people from Germany, then headed out to downtown Ljubljana.

The weather has been pretty sucky here. The forecast said sunny and 60s this weekend, but it has been freezing and foggy!

I walked around some shops in the morning and got some chocolate and honey and a flower necklace. There were so many cute shops and things but they were either so expensive or hard to pack, so I mostly window shopped. I also went to a large public market where there were so many fresh produce vendors and I got some fruits! I also visited a LGBTQ+ temporary exhibit with some pretty cool art.

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I sat down in a cafe and had a coffee and chocolate/apple strudel (not the best thing I’ve had) and tried ti make a game plan for the rest of the day. Ljubljana, while beautiful, is a little limited on daily activities. Definitely a big shift from places I had been in the past like Vienna and Berlin.

I walked around some more and stumbled upon a 45 minute boat cruise down the Ljubljana river and figured why not. It was alright.

I then walked back to the hostel to put away the things I had bought, drink some tea, and get some warmer clothes. I did a little more shopping in the afternoon, then took the funicular train up to the Ljubljana castle. It was very beautiful and the panoramic views of the city were amazing, but while I was walking around the castle looking at all the families and tourist groups and couples I began to feel pretty lonely and exhausted of feeling like a single tourist. I walked through some exhibits but couldn’t be bothered to really engage in the information, so I headed back to the town after only about an hour in the castle.

I decided to watch a movie as a distraction, so I went to the cinema and watched “the gig is up” which is a documentary about how big companies like Uber and Lyft are manipulating and taking advantage of their “independent” workers. The movie was alright, kinda boring to me honestly.

I then treated myself to my favorite food for dinner- a Turkish falafel plate and then had a freezing walk home in the fog.

When I got back to my hostel, I briefly met two roommates from Venice. I also met a roommate from Greece and we instantly began a very deep, very substantial conversation about nationality, ethnicity, patriotism, and so much more. It was a very enriching discussion and i loved hearing and bouncing off of the perspective of someone who has grown up in a place/culture so different from my own! It definitely opened my eyes to a lot of things I hadn’t considered or thought of.

I then packed up my things, as this is my last night in this hostel, and went to bed.