Ljoving Ljubljana

Yes, it's that city I can never spell or pronounce properly, but it's been great fun here in Ljubljana and I'm ljoving it. I stopped off here and spent the night in a town centre hotel to break my long journey, up for the Interactive Computer Aided Learning Conference in Villach, Austria. The bus ride into town from the airport is absolutely stunning, with miles of swaying golden cornfields, high sloping Alpine cottages and the ubiquitous purple mountains in the distance - and with the sun shining and the temperature a balmy 26 degrees, I am in heaven.

My hotel is modern, and I have a 'premium' room - which means the drinks are complimentary, and I have my own balcony overlooking the river, with an excellent view of Ljubljana castle. I enjoy a relaxing shower and change - it's so nice to get out of my travel clothes after 15 hours of bus, taxi, bus, plane, queues for immigration and passport control, being shoved, pushed and half-throttled by the silver brigade as I try to retrieve my bag from the carousel. (What is the name for worrying about whether your luggage has arrived with you? 'Baggonising'), and then finally another bus before reaching my destination. I don't bother trying to purchase a train ticket for tomorrow. That can be done in the morning. In my hotel room I have flawless, fast internet access and I catch up with about 70 e-mails and delete more than half because they're spam. Deep joy.

Time to venture out. A slow, gentle stroll down to the river and a few stops to sample the local fayre are a great start to the evening. The Union beer is very nice, and the food is great too. I choose steak and potato done Slovenian style, complete with red peppers and other stuff I can't even begin to identify. But it looks great and tastes great too. Ljubljana appears to be quite a 'young' city - most of those who emerged as the night fell were twenty-somethings, and many of them were speeding around on bicycles, and descending in hordes to drink the city dry. Cycling drunks? Just keep your wits about you as you cross the street...

There is plenty of live music, and as someone with rock in the blood, I am drawn inexhorably, wherever I find myself, to the places where the music makes yer ears bleed. I find a live rock stage right in the middle of the town to finish of the evening in style.

I don't know the name of the band, who were obviously Slovenian, but this three-piece were clearly fans of Jimi Hendrix, and stylishly performed - nay replicated, many of his old tracks, including Purple Haze, Foxy Lady, Hey Joe and All Along the Watchtower. The small crowd were very appreciative, even though most of them culd have been no more than 25 years old. Great stuff and a nice way to pass an hour in a foreign city, and so, with my ears ringing, I slope off to find my hotel and prepare for the Alpine train ride in the morning...