Lyoo-blee-yana

Hi folks! We've arrived safely and without incident; in fact, aside from having forgotten how crazy-making the 10 hour flight can be, our travel was perfectly smooth. 19 hours from door to door.

We flew in a 747 on the way here, which was my first time in a plane with an actual upstairs. This was made less exciting when we realized that it seemed the airline had strategically placed all families with young children in our smallish upper seating area. Erin I. managed to make friends with a small blond boy named Raul who walked into our row to say hello and inspect our water bottles. I was more in a raised-eyebrow kind of relationship with him. Speaking of our water bottles, here they are:

Erin I. bought them for us a few weeks back, but we both labeled them in this way INDEPENDENTLY of each other.

We had a brief layover at the airport in Paris, which was a welcome break from the plane. Time to check e-mail, and notice how perfectly I blended in with the furniture:

Then, a few hours later, arrived in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Flying into this small country's only airport quite reminded me of flying into Kauai, actually...except instead of tropical forest it was mountains and pine forests, scattered with little villages whose church steeples we could see from the plane. And instead of friendly local Hawaiians speaking English there was a large Arabic-speaking tourist group and definitely no Americans to be seen. (We still don't think we've seen any - definitely haven't heard them.) The airport was tiny - we walked off the plane onto the tarmac and were picked up in a tram and driven a few hundred yards to the arrival hall. No customs, a quick stop at the baggage claim carousel, and then we were out on the street. I was particularly charmed by the earnest tone of the advertisements at the airport:



Our room here at Slamic B&B is perfect. It reminds me of my freshman year dorm at UC Davis, at least the way the beds are. Our view includes charming old roofs AND geraniums:

We got some advice about where to catch the World Cup semifinal and headed out to dinner after a 2 hour (much needed) nap. Despite how I roll my eyes when other people take excited pictures of their food while at restaurants, here's our meal:

Erin ordered traditional Slovenian buckwheat porridge with mushrooms. It was good, but, um, it was a LOT of buckwheat. Mine is pork medallions, mushrooms, potatoes and peppers. Also pictured is the worst glass of rose I've ever had. For reals. At least it was only $1.50.

Our view of the match, until a rude man came and stood right where that beer is. We couldn't figure out who the crowd was cheering for - I think in the end they were just cheering when anything exciting happened.

We strolled home after dinner along the river through the town center. Groups of people were gathered everywhere watching the game as it neared its end. One of the main bridges had the game projected right underneath so we stopped there to watch the end and then hear the jubilant cries of the Spanish fans on both sides of the river.

We're back in our room now; it's been a long day. I'm blogging, of course, but I thought I'd also share what Erin I. is doing. See you tomorrow!