Swan Song

Hello Swan

Today we hopped on a train to the nearby town of Bled for a little day trip. There are two train stations in Bled, one that is more centrally located but less frequently visited and another that has many trains but requires a bus ride into town. We opted for the station that is more frequently visited and upon arrival headed to the bus stop across the street to wait. The next bus wasn’t for 20 minutes and there were two other tourists waiting with us for the next bus. A taxi driver approached us and told us he would take us to town for €2 each and we all agreed. While heading to town I chatted with the driver and he asked when we were heading back to London (none of us are English). I told him I didn’t know where I was headed next and asked him for some suggestions and he wrote down three other cities in Slovenia that he thought I might like.

Once in Bled we headed towards the Lake, the most obvious attraction in town besides the mountains. We walked along the lake snapping pictures like paparazzi of the mountains, the lake, boats and the wild life. There were lots of ducks and a couple swans. I was playing with the ducks chasing after them and trying to catch them and then I was telling the Aussie’s about how evil and dangerous swans can be. I tried to convince the Aussies to chase a swan and see what would happen but they wouldn’t do it. Finally I approached three swans very apprehensively and one of them started to walk towards me, so I backed up. A more accurate description would probably be that I screamed like a girl and ran behind the Aussies for protection. I kept approaching them to see what they would do, but I was really scared and when the largest of the three swans started to make angry sounds at me, I decided that I should leave them alone and we walked on.

We climbed the enormous hill up to the castle in hopes of getting a panoramic view of the city but the castle was blocking the really good views. To enter the castle was €7, something none of us wanted to pay. I tried to see if we could go to the restaurant inside the castle without paying the entrance fee but they didn’t allow that and we never did get to see the good view from the other side. I talked with a guy back at my hostel later that night and learned that there is a way to crawl around the back side and get the great view without paying for it. In Bled I bought some more delicious street chestnuts and writing about it makes me wish I had some now.

I spent the entire night trying to figure out where next to go. The Aussies are headed to Budapest, where I have already been, leaving me to make my own decisions. The problem is that I need to find both good train times and reasonably priced accommodation in the town once I get there. After mixing and mashing for several hours I was able to come up with the plan that I posted Tuesday morning.

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11_09_09 Bled small