weekend to meet up with Melissa in the Julian Alps. Melissa has decided teaching in Belgrade isn't her cup of tea, so is leaving on the 19th. In the meantime, she has been travelling throughout Bosnia and Croatia, and then met up with us in Slovenia. To get to Lake Bled (our homebase for the weekend), we jumped on an overnight train Friday after school. Somehow we ended up in first class (I assume it is because they looked at us and thought we deserved it), so our sleeping accommodations were fantastic. Comfy beds, a nice rocking train and cold medicine made for an incredible night's sleep. We arrived in Ljubljana early Sat. morning and headed straight for the mountains. Boy do I miss mountains.
Jamie, Ethan and I could barely contain ourselves as we checked into our room and immediately set out for some exploring of Vintgar Gorge. This super steep canyon has crystal Green waters and some killer rapids. Unfortunately, they are pretty log jammed, so I won't be kayaking them anytime soon. We walked along the boardwalk through the river canyon and then decided to go a bit off the beaten track. Long past the time we should have met Melissa, and 10 km from town, we realized that no one picks up hitchhikers in Slovenia--or maybe just not those who look like riff-raff like we do.
After meeting up with Melissa, we decided to explore Lake Bled. The lake has a castle on one side, an Island Church in the middle, and is absolutely stunning. Unfortunately, they do not rent out paddle boats at night. We were 
somewhat sad to not be able to row out to the island, until we stumbled upon a boat on a dock. Some kind Slovenian had left it with oars all set up and untied. We decided to go on a covert mission to the island (yep, we are molding the minds of future leaders). Either the owner didn't mind us using his boat, or he didn't notice, but we left it back on his dock after our nighttime adventure.
Sunday was another beautiful day so we set out for Triglav National Park. Hiking in the mountains definitely did the soul some good--I didn't realize how much I miss the mountains! The slopes were steep, and I can't wait to go back. Perhaps next time, we will take advantage of the mountain huts for a backpacking trip.
We arrived back in Ljubljana at 9 Sunday night in time to catch an overnight train back to Belgrade. Of course, the train was an hour late, so we headed straight to school, still stinking in our hiking clothes... I am ready for my next weekend adventure!
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