Thank you Tom, I have been waiting for the rest of your report. My husband and I will now be going to Croatia in May.

nannibray, we used Andrew at Gemut as the broker on this. He was very helpful and is quick in getting back to you.
In Czech Republic, he got us a deal with Budget.
In Croatia, it was Hertz.
There were drop-off fees,of course. It was good that two couples shared in the cost.

Stu T, Yes, the blog with pictures will follow once I finish this report (which should be in the next decade at the rate I am going).

cafegoddess, you will love Croatia. Along with Dubrovnik and Trogir, we also really like Rovinj as a base.
Plitvice was truly out of this world.
Slovenia was terrific, too, just in case you are thinking about traveling to that beautiful country on your trip.

Once I return from a short Chicago trip this weekend, I will get cranking and finish this darned thing. Between work and play, it has taken longer than expected.

Thank you all for the kind words.

The longer your reports are, the better.

I would love to see the photos too, your descriptions are so tempting.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back to Fodor's...

<b>DAY SEVENTEEN � BITE ME, PALACE AFORETHOUGHT, LET�S SPLIT SPLIT, THE TOM/KIM �SHORT-CUT,&quot; JUMP-STARTING OUR VACATION, MORE STAIRS AND, OH, I THOUGHT YOU SAID MARIJUANA </b>

(I finally drifted off to sleep and, by morning, we would know who won this epic battle between man and insect).

And the answer was�the insect by TKO. I awoke on this cloudy morning with multiple mosquito bites, but these weren�t the average run-of-the mill Southern California mosquito bites. These babies were huge, and there was one bite so big on the inside of my elbow that I thought I was growing a new appendage. The good news, the West Nile Virus was nowhere to be found in Trogir.

There was no sign of the monster mosquito, but I envisioned he was sitting out on the balcony smoking a cigarette and chatting on a cell phone to his mosquito buddies about his conquest. The funny thing about these bites was that they did not itch; not at all. The only problem was lifting my arm that now had a giant red mass attached to it.

After a nice breakfast cooked by Luka�s wife at the Apartmani Trogir, we took off for the second largest city in Croatia; Split. Our goal for the morning was to see Dioklecijanova Palača, (Diocletian�s Palace). In the late 200s Diocletian wanted a retirement residence to be constructed, but this palace was not going to be Leisure World.

The palace took more than a decade to build, and safety surely was not the order of the day. More than 2,000 people lost their lives building it, but I�m sure Diocletian did not care because he was busy torturing and executing Christians. By the time our car reached the parking area for the palace, the four of us were ready to torture and execute the people who were in charge of sign directions in Split.

We got off at the appointed exit we had been told to take, saw a sign for the palace and then�nothing. There were no signs, but we followed a course that seemed to be going in the general direction of the palace.

Driving through Split, we were very happy we had not made this city our base. Split was big and it will not go down as one of my favorite European cities. We drove down to the harbor, saw no sign of or signs for the palace, figured we had made a wrong turn and headed back.

We did this a few times until we realized our first instincts had been correct. �Just find a parking space anywhere,� Tracy said. �After that big breakfast, the walking will do us good.� Words she would regret only a couple of hours later.

We walked down to the Obala Hrvatskog Narodnog Preporoda (Croatian National Revival Embankment), which is known as the Riva. The promenade has been a focus of controversy because it was recently redone, and many people think it looks too modern. We thought it looked fine, even with the slight smell of sulpher.

We toured Diocletian�s Palace for about an hour, then climbed the stairs to Katedrale Sv. Duje (Cathedral of St. Dominus). The last part of the stairwell was rather precarious, but we again lived to tell about them.

At the top, Kim had me pose with four new �Mrs. Maitais,� whose combined age was younger than some bourbon I have drank in my life. Tracy reminded me again about living in the back of the Honda, and once more my dreams were shattered.

On the way back to the car, we strolled through an outdoor market where I picked up a melon that smelled delicious. The gang was ready to split Split and get back to quaint Trogir for lunch, and it was at this moment that Kim and I made our fatal decision.

�Don�t you think if we walked up this street, it will take us right back to the car?� Kim said.

�Absolutely!� I said stupidly.

The wives were not quite so sure about this and lobbied to go back from whence we came.

�No,� I said stubbornly, �Kim is definitely right.�

About 15 minutes and 20 �looks� later, Kim and I realized we had no clue where the hell we were or where we were going. It was now very hot out and Tracy�s expression made Medusa�s look romantic. Fortunately, I did not turn into stone.

Mary was happy, because now her Dubrovnik �short-cut� was a distant second in walking miscues on this trip.

Eventually we got back on track, found the car and after the mandatory 10 minutes of silence, the couples were once again speaking to each other in civil tones.

We parked back at the apartment and scurried over to Old Town Trogir for a little more exploration of the town and a much-needed lunch. We conquered the stairs of the Cathedral of St. Lawrence (more beautiful views) and then had lunch down on the Trogir Riva. Kim and Mary went back to the apartment first, while Tracy and I finished some wine.

When we arrived about 20 minutes later, Kim was standing next to the car. �What are you doing out here?� I asked.

�You left the lights on,� he said, �and I don�t know where you put the key.�

�No problem,� I thought. I was sure that this car was just like my Honda (where I would live if I ever cheated on Tracy), and the lights would shut off automatically after a few minutes.

We climbed upstairs; I grabbed the keys and said confidently, �I�ll be back in a few seconds.� I hurried downstairs, got in the car, turned off the lights and, just so I could reassure everyone when I returned, I turned the key to start the car.

Holy Buster Keaton, all I could hear was silence. I tried again. No luck. It was 4 p.m. and we were going to leave tomorrow at the crack of dawn to go to Plitvice National Park. Yes, I had a dilemma. Think fast.

Then I remembered. Our apartment was located next to an auto repair shop. I walked briskly over to a few guys standing in front of a dismantled car and asked if anyone could speak English. Of course, they all spoke English and fortunately the young man working at the shop had some jumper cables. �Give me a couple of minutes, � he said.

By the time I had walked back to the car, he was there on his motorcycle. He hooked up the car to the motorcycle, and I heard the beautiful sound of our rental car�s engine humming. �Keep it on 15 minutes and you�ll be fine,� he said. The charge (pun intended) was about ten bucks.

Right after he left, Kim came down and said, �Well, it looks like everything was ok.� I thought about just answering �yes,� but because we are �the story comes first� type of people, I came clean. He just shook his head; laughed and said, �See you up on the balcony for some wine.�

Later, as we sipped our vino, Kim and Mary said (or I thought they said), �How about Marijuana tonight for dinner?�

�Is that legal in Croatia?� I asked hopefully. Wow, first I�m nearly turned into stone and later I might get stoned. I wondered if Kim had any Grateful Dead songs on that IPOD.

Of course, they didn�t mean marijuana but the restaurant called Marijana. It was a nice way to end an unusual day, and the food was again fine, although Croatia�s food had not been, in our opinion, as good as the food we had eaten in the Czech Republic and Poland. However our resident fish connoisseur Mary was very happy with the choices from the sea in Croatia.

We arrived back at the apartment relatively early, because tomorrow we were going to drive inland and spend the day in Plitvička jezera (Plitvice National Park). As the four of us drifted off that night, we did not have a clue that one of the most gorgeous settings on the planet lay only a few hours away.

<b>COMING UP - DAY EIGHTEEN � ON THE BOARDWALK: PLITVICE PERFECT </b>

Whew.... I almost missed this episode since I logged off at 8 last nite... and don't often backtrack. Am looking forward to the next installment.... since we didn't get to the beautiful forest during our brief visit to Croatia.

Thanks Grandma, I hope the words I write about Plitvice will do justice to its incomparable beauty.

<b>DAY EIGHTEEN � WAKE-UP RING, ON THE BOARDWALK: PLITVICE PERFECT AND THE NIGHTCAP FROM HELL </b>

For once, it was not Tom who awoke Tracy from her deep slumber. Instead, it was the never-ending sound of bells from a nearby church that jarred her from her blissful repose. By the time she had finished counting (why she was counting, I don�t know), she had tallied 144 ring-a-ding dings.

Being my loving companion, she, of course, then woke me up to tell me all about how she was awakened from a deep sleep. I could relate.

Well, no harm done since we were all planning on getting an early start so we could spend a full afternoon at Nacionalni Park Plitvička jezera. We had a quick breakfast at Apartmani Trogir, said good-bye to our hospitable host Luka and started out for Plitvice.

The Apartmani Trogir was another winner for us, and its location next to the car repair shop, once thought to be a detriment, turned out to be our saving grace. It was inexpensive, clean, quiet (well, except for some late night Croatian soccer fans honking their horns), provided a nice breakfast, and I would recommend it, especially for those who like a good deal.

Once again, the sun was shining brightly and the skies were blue. The drive to Plitvice wound through the hills near Trogir, but we soon found ourselves on a new stretch of highway that we were told would cut off a lot of time on our drive. After more than an hour, we drove our car through a tunnel (a very long tunnel) that had been carved out of the mountain. Fortunately, we did not have to utilize one of the many �Exit-Escape� routes that are interspersed throughout the tunnel. It was quite a remarkable display of technology and one of the neatest tunnels I have ever been inside (I�ve always been a sucker for tunnels since the first time I saw �The Great Escape� as a kid).

Once we reached daylight again, the topography was quite different than when we first entered the tunnel. It was greener, lush and much more reminiscent of the Austria countryside than what we had previously seen in Croatia. From the highway exit to Plitvice, it took us just under an hour on a two-lane road through the forest setting to reach our hotel at the park, The Hotel Plitvice. The drive from Trogir had taken exactly two hours and 45 minutes.

At first glance, the Hotel Plitvice resembled a boxy, Communist-era hotel and does not appear to have been updated since the Sixties. I thought the Brady Bunch might appear at any moment as we rambled up the stairs, although I�m not sure if any of them were actual Communists (maybe Marcia, Marcia, Marcia). We were pleasantly surprised when we reached our respective rooms. Both rooms had spectacular views of one of the lakes with just a snippet of a glance at a cascading waterfall. This view gave us only a glimpse of the natural beauty that we were about to see.

Although the hotel had shut down its breakfast service, they offered us the opportunity to eat and, what the heck; you can never have enough hard rolls and jam. Plus, we knew the remainder of the day would be a good workout, so we could afford a few more calories and carbs. The dining room was definitely national park Sixties era, but the views and service provided by the hotel staff more than compensated.

After breakfast, we rambled (there�s lots of rambling in national parks, as you can see) on a paved path about five minutes from the hotel to the actual entrance to the park, where we bought our tickets and waited for the shuttle to transport us to the Donja Jezera (Lower Lakes). I had read in Rick Steves� book that it was best to start at the Lower Lakes, and although, as I have stated, I don�t follow his restaurant and hotel advice often, his tips on visiting tourist sites have, for the most part, been right on the mark. He didn�t fail us this time, either.

After a short tram ride, we began our hike, and the first views of Plitvice were breathtaking, to say the least. We overlooked a panorama of waterfalls and lakes, not to mention a hell of a lot of tourists walking on the boardwalks that wind through, around and over the lakes and falls.

After a short downhill hike, we saw the signs for Velicki Slap (not a Croatian wrestler, but meaning Big Waterfall), and we took the ten to fifteen minute detour to take pictures and experience the thunderous, cascading water.

The Velicki Slap is the tallest waterfall in Croatia. The numerous lakes are lined with wooden boardwalks with a twofold purpose: one to keep you on the path and away from any unexploded landmines (the first person killed in the war was a forest ranger at Plitvice) and also to preserve the delicate ecological balance of the park. As we walked along the wooden path along the lakes, it didn�t take long for Mary to go into her rendition of the Drifters� song �On the Boardwalk.� By the way, Mary is the only one in our group who not only can carry a tune, but who actually knows ALL the lyrics.

The Plitvice boardwalk system really is something to behold and something they would never allow in the litigious United States, since there were no rails to keep uncoordinated tourists from falling in. The lakes are incredibly pristine; so pristine that you are not even allowed to touch the water for fear of ruining the ecological balance (so you had better not fall in buddy!). Water in the turquoise lakes was so clear that the school of fish glistening in the afternoon sun were smiling (probably because they knew that they would not be dinner for any of the tourists).

At each and every turn, a new, incomparable vista awaited us with another series of waterfalls tumbling down into the gorgeous lakes. The more we walked, the more people we saw, but thankfully most were going the other way having started at the Upper Lakes, so thank you Mr. Steves for your recommendation.

I don�t have a clue how long it would normally take to navigate the Lower Lakes, because every minute or so one of us stopped to take another in a seemingly never-ending series of photographs. After going through the countless pictures we snapped, Kim and I agreed that even our best photographs could not capture the astonishing beauty that is Plitvice National Park.

When our walk through the Lower Lakes ended, we arrived at a lake that had picnic tables and a place to get some refreshments, including barbecue items that smelled tantalizing. We grabbed some water, and soon found ourselves transported by boat about twenty minutes across Jezero Kozjak (so beautiful that I didn�t even make a Telly Savalas joke) to the Gornja Jazera (Upper Lakes) region of the park.

The tranquility and serenity here is indescribable, and even though we were only half way through our journey at this amazing park, we all commented that Plitvice might be the most fantastic national park we had ever visited.

If possible, the Upper Lakes are even more beautiful than the Lower Lakes. �Unbelievable.� �Incredible.� �Remarkable.� �Stupendous.� You can go through a litany of possible adjectives, and I believe by the end of our hike every superlative known to mankind had been uttered not only by us but also by everyone we encountered on the trails of this wondrous park. Between the Buza Bar and Plitvice National Park, Croatia now had two of the most scenic spots on earth.

Our hike continued past where most tourists call it a day, and we were rewarded with even greater solitude and even grander views from above. Finally, the lakes and waterfalls became less and less prevalent, but by this time we were in �breathtaking scenery overload� mode.

At the end of the trail there was a sign explaining how the park was formed. Centuries ago there was a forested valley with a river running through it (actually, looking at a recent picture of Robert Redford, he might have been there). Over time, limestone was formed which broke off and caused the river to dam up and form the beautiful lakes and waterfalls that compose Plitivice. The unspoiled, white limestone lakes, submerged trees and schools of fish (not only are they happy fish, but educated, too) only add to the exceptional beauty.

We caught the bus back to where our day�s journey began, walked up to the hotel, showered and went out on the hotel balcony for cocktails (surprised?). We spent the late afternoon chatting with other guests on the beauty of this national park. Looking out onto the National Park, the four of us once again counted our lucky blessings for being so fortunate to experience a day like today.

There were other spots we could travel to for dinner in the park, but we decided to dine at our hotel, and that turned out to be a very good choice. The food at the Hotel Plitvice was quite delicious. Kim and Tracy had the Veal �Stake� (obviously a favorite with Count Dracula) with a lemon cream sauce, salad, potato balls and saut&eacute;ed mushrooms.

Mary, who had begun sprouting gills after all her seafood dishes, decided to go for the pork chop stuffed with sausage (the heart attack special, we called it), and she also had the requisite potato balls.

My motto on this trip was �You can never have too much Gorgonzola,� so I had the beef with Gorgonzola sauce, along with saut&eacute;ed mushrooms and a salad.

By the time we had finished our meal, the girls were pooped and went back to the rooms, but Kim and I had a quest. Unbeknownst to me, Kim�s only quest was to watch me have a drink. The entire trip, I had wanted to try a drink called Slivovitz.

I had stolen the following quote from somewhere online and had it in my notes: &quot;Real slivovitz contains between 50 and 70% alcohol and can make even hardened drinkers cough and splutter. It will also burst into flames if you wave a lit match over the glass. Good slivovitz should be served in a snifter like any other fine brandy, while low-grade slivovitz should be swilled like any other cheap intoxicant.&quot; Yeah baby, bring it on!

Kim somehow finagled his way out of trying this gasoline in a glass, and when I ordered my slivovitz, he asked the bartender if he liked this drink. �Oh no, no; not at all. I wouldn�t drink it,� the bartender answered. Ok, that was not an overwhelming endorsement.

Although it was served in a snifter, I decided to go the �swilled like any other cheap intoxicant� route and chug it down, which I did. In an instant my face turned bright red, I began sweating and the hair on my body stood on end and saluted as if an honor guard was passing in front of me. If anyone had been smoking in my general vicinity, the hotel would have exploded into flames. Now I know how The Incredible Hulk felt during his body transformations.

I also believe I gasped, but right at that moment I was somewhere in limbo between a seizure and a coma. I do have the hazy recollection of Kim and the bartender doubling over in laughter at my alcoholic plight. The good news was that I had not burst into a fireball and that I still retained most of my internal organs.

When I regained my eyesight and 25% of the rest of my faculties, Kim and I walked (one of us in a straight line) back to our rooms. Tracy was heavily involved in her reading, but took the time to ask, �How did the slivovitz experiment go?� She then looked up from her book, saw my slivovitz-induced flushed face, and in her best Rosanne Rosanna Danna imitation said, �Never mind.�

After brushing my teeth for the next couple of hours (slight exaggeration) and staying away from any flammable materials that might be in the room, we slipped into a tranquil sleep in peaceful Plitvice. My recommendation to anyone who travels to this part of the world is, �Do not miss Plitvice!� And, oh yeah, skip the slivovitz!

<b>COMING UP � DAY NINETEEN � A GOOD DAY NOT TO BE A PIG, UNDERRATED AND LOVELY LJUBLJANA, BUSH WACKED, A GREAT B&amp;B, DOWN BY THE LAZY RIVER AND DINING AL FRESCO AT A TERRIFIC RESTAURANT </b>

Do you remember how many hours you spent hiking at Plitvice?

&quot;Do you remember how many hours you spent hiking at Plitvice?&quot;

From the start of the hike at the Lower Lakes until we got to the stop to be picked up at the Upper Lakes was about 3 1/2 - 4 hours hours total (that included a 20 minute boat ride on Lake Telly Savalas and about 10 minutes to grab some water).

You could do the hike faster, but you won't want to. Simply spectacular!

Hi Tom,
Wow, Plitvice sounds amazing. Thank you for the vivid descriptions. Very happy you survived the slivovitz... this place wouldn't be the same without your reports!

Hi, Tom,

Just got my NG Traveler in the mail. The last page displays your favorite lakes.

Ugh....every time I read about Plitvice I kick myself for not visiting! The day we were to go to Plitvice it was pouring down rain so we decided to skip it. Now I think we should have went, rain or shine. Oh well...I guess I'll have to go back so I can visit!

Tom, thanks for the description and for adding on!

Tracy

A little plum brandy did you in??? -

I remember a lovely evening with slivovitz (I think.)

Tracy, you will have to go back. I'm not sure Plitvice would be the same in the pouring rain anyway, so an excuse to get back isn't all bad.

Yeah, that slivovitz certainly took me by surprise. I'll be ready the next time.

We lived for a year in Slovakia and slivovitz was the national drink, I think. Everywhere we went it was religiously offered. Not being much of a drinker at all, I would just take a tiny sip and it burned all the way down. I can hardly imagine what it would have felt like to drink it the way you did!

I'm certainly enjoying your travelogue. I've been to some of the places you are writing about, and will need to go to the rest!

<b> SLIVOVITZ CAUSES MAITAITOM BRAIN DAMAGE: SOME CORRECTIONS TO THE LAST INSTALLMENT</b>

Kim and Mary joined us for dinner last night in Pasadena (yes even after a month of traveling together, we still remain friends) and said they were enjoying reliving the trip through my report. However, they said slivovitz poisoning must have infected my brain on a couple of points from the Plitvice section. The first error was minor, while the second had me shaking my head.

I had said that while hiking at Plitvice, Mary was singing �On the Boardwalk� by the Drifters. Well, Mary (our resident lyric savant) reminded me that while The Drifters sang �Up ON The Roof� and �ON Broadway,� she was actually singing the correct Drifter�s song, �UNDER The Boardwalk� while we walked ON the boardwalk. It made me want to go into a chorus of Over, Under, Sideways, Down by the Yardbirds, but I didn�t.

That minor, directional word-usage error didn�t cause me alarm, but then Kim told me something about the nightcap escapade that I truly did not remember.

In the report I stated that Kim was an innocent onlooker in the downing of the dreaded slivovitz and just was there to laugh at me. �Au contraire,� my friend corrected me last night.

Kim told me that, yes, he did partake in the plum loco after-dinner drinking festivities and was actually the first of us to chug his slivovitz, a fact that obviously had been erased from my memory bank following my subsequent quaffing of this evil potent potable. �I have no recollection of you drinking slivovitz,� I said. His next comment, though, was assurance that he did.

�It was God awful!� He then quickly added, &quot;But I DID laugh at you.&quot; You gotta love friends like that.

I mention this only as a cautionary tale that if you drink this crazy plum concoction, you do so at your own risk. Slivovitz-free Day Nineteen will be coming up soon.

Maitai - I love reading your reports so much! and yes, I'm envious that you can take 4 weeks to do such a trip - notice, I didn't say it was a 'vacation'! My employer would begin foaming at the mouth if I even mentioned taking a full month off at once and my allotment is 7 weeks each year! Lucky you!! Please, keep the reports coming!

Come on Tom we hsve let you have a rest!!! I need too finish planning out trip to Croatia in April.
Can't wait to go there even though we were there 4 years ago you have opened it up more for us. Thank you for your report .

Jean

<b>DAY NINETEEN � A GOOD DAY NOT TO BE A PIG, UNDERRATED AND LOVELY LJUBLJANA, BUSH WACKED, A GREAT B&amp;B, DOWN BY THE LAZY RIVER AND DINING AL FRESCO AT A TERRIFIC RESTAURANT </b>

I awoke early, happy to still be alive after the slivovitz show of the previous night. I turned toward Tracy to whisper sweet nothings in her ear. Her reply, �Go brush your teeth. Your breath would kill an ox.� Romance was in the air.

We met Kim and Mary for a leisurely breakfast in the Hotel Plitvice restaurant. Croatia would be in the rear view mirror in a couple of hours as we were about to embark on a four-day journey of Slovenia. Our destination today would be Ljubljana.

The first hour of the drive was very scenic at some turns, but it was the more graphic scenery that grabbed the attention of the passengers. About every five to ten minutes I would hear, �There�s a pig on a spit� or �There�s a pig barbecue.� Obviously, grilled pork was big in this part of the land, but being a city guy, I really don�t like to know what my meat (even the &quot;other&quot; meat) looked like only minutes before eating it.

I remember going to a county fair with Tracy in our early dating years. She had been a 4-H club member as a kid, and I remember seeing this cute pig at the fair. �I had a really neat pig, too, when I was in 4-H,� Tracy said.

Being the na&iuml;ve guy I was, I said, �What did you do with him after the fair?�

�We ate him,� was her not so subtle reply. That was the end of county fairs for me.

Anyway, in the two hours it took to reach Zagreb, the scenery became greener, and the architecture was much more in the Austrian/Swiss style. We got stamped at the Slovenian border, and we were cruising along on their nice, new highway system. Two hours later, we arrived in Ljubljana.

After a couple of Garmin and then human mistakes, we found our lodging for the next two nights, the B&amp;B Slamič. This turned out to be quite a find.

Ljubljana is not an inexpensive town, and I found this place quite by accident online. It had its own, gated parking, and we were then lead upstairs to a doorway that opened on to a foyer with two separate, lovely rooms that had hardwood floors and were nicely decorated.

Downstairs was a caf&eacute; dispensing coffee, pastries and cocktails, and one story above was a lovely breakfast room and outside patio. This was one of, if not the, nicest places we stayed during our four weeks.

The lady who greeted us said, �It�s very fortunate you were not here yesterday.�

�Why not?� I inquired.

�Your president was here, and it was terrible.� I couldn�t tell if she meant the traffic or the man himself. Yes, we came a day after the George Bush Farewell Tour and judging by the reviews he received over the next couple of days George didn�t go over too well with the Ljubljana natives. At least this time he didn�t mix up the Slovenian prime minister with the Slovakian prime minister (�This job is hard!�).

After our nearly four hour drive, we were hungry, so armed with our Ljubljana map, we headed toward the Ljubljanica River and the heart of town, Pre�eren Square. We crossed the Tromostovje (Triple Bridge that was designed by famed Ljbuljanian native-son Jo�e Plečnik) and plunked ourselves down at a cute riverside caf&eacute;, Stara Macka (Black Cat).

Mary had two giant (and delicious) hamburger patties with baked potato, grilled eggplant and zucchini. Kim decided on the Caesar salad with salmon

Tracy dined on the Stara Macka salad (arugula, pears, apples, grapes, red onions, peppers, blue cheese and goat cheese), while I went straight for a very good rib-eye steak. The local beer Union was just ok in our opinion, as we liked the Pivovarna La�ko better.

The entire area was full of young, hip locals (and old, hip travelers), and we also overheard a lot of nattily clad Americans who we surmised were here on government business and decided to stay for a day or two after Bush departed. There are plenty of cafes and bars lining each side of the river, and they spill onto side streets and alleys. We were all pleasantly surprised at how much we enjoyed Ljubljana.

After lunch we walked through the Old Town over to the funicular, which we took up to the castle area (3&euro. The gang thought they had avoided any stairs, a notion that was quickly dispelled when we saw signs to climb to the top of the castle tower for 3.50 &euro;. The view from the top was lovely, and Ljubljanians say that on a clear day you can see forever (well, really about 1/3 of Slovenia) from here.

Kim and Mary then went their own way, while Tracy and I wandered the streets trying to find a restaurant (Gostilna AS) that had been recommended to us by someone who had lived in Ljubljana for a year.

We crossed the Zamajski Most (Dragon Bridge), a bridge that was originally dedicated to the Emperor Franz Josef. You can find dragons everywhere in Ljubljana thanks to a hero from one of my favorite childhood movies, Jason of �Jason and The Argonauts.� Supposedly, sometime after he stole the famed Golden Fleece (I bought mine at Land�s End), he slew the terrible Ljubljana dragon.

We walked the streets of Ljubljana, but could not find the restaurant. So we did the best next thing and found an outside spot for a late afternoon cocktail (it really is always 5 o�clock somewhere) at the Hotel Slon.

Afterward, we took a circuitous route home past a couple of �Stop� signs that now read �Stop Bush.� Figuring they weren�t NFL fans and didn�t know who Reggie Bush was, we were pretty sure the comments were aimed at the prior day�s visitor. We also passed a wine cellar that we would return to the next day for an interesting demonstration.

When we got back to the B&amp;B Slamič, Kim and Mary had placed a business card under our door. It was for Gostilna AS. We had looked all over for it, but couldn�t find it. They weren�t looking for it, but happened to pass by it.

We freshened up and walked back down toward the river to dine at Gostilna AS, which is located in a little walkway that runs perpendicular to the river. The more expensive AS restaurant is located downstairs and inside, but it was a lovely evening, so we decided to eat at the less expensive, outdoor restaurant. The downstairs restaurant would have to be pretty spectacular to beat its outside brother.

First of all, we had a terrific young waiter by the name of Micha (spelling is a guess), who recommended we try a bottle of San Tomas wine (20 &euro. It was so good, that we ordered a couple of bottles (shocking). The basket of warm baked goods with breadsticks, crostini, corn muffins and focaccia was quite a nice way to start the meal.

I absolutely loved my gnocchi with Quattro formaggio (Micha told me a small appetizer portion would be a good accompaniment to my entr&eacute;e choice) to start. Then Kim and I had the �Crazy Veal�, which is a delicious Veal Chop that comes with grilled veggies and a potato with four cheeses (my arteries harden every time I think of this meal).

Mary put her scuba gear on and dove into the Big Sea Platter of fresh fish, while Tracy had the Agliata z rozman (roast beef slices with rosemary on a bed of Arugula (hopefully that won�t be too �elite� for some of you). It also came with the four-cheese potato.

Somehow, even though I was now expanding at an alarming rate, I wasn�t full. Micha suggested I try the vanilla pannecotta with plums. It was a �Wow� dish. Then he surprised the table by bringing over a platter of sweets (chocolate covered strawberries, dark chocolate truffles, walnut pastries, chocolate covered pears and vanilla sugar cookies). Jenny Craig turned over in her grave and she�s not even dead!

Of course, I ordered another glass of wine to help the dessert go down easier. All of this overindulging (plus a hefty tip for Micah) came to about $95 per couple (well worth it!).

We took a very long route home since our waistlines were now bulging. Ljubljana was beautiful after dark, and I implore people to not overlook this underrated town. The people are nice, the B&amp;B Slamič was terrific, and I think Ljubljana is well worth a couple of days and nights as a base.

We were all looking forward to the following day because the four of us were going to visit one of Slovenia�s most famous places, and since the forecast called for rain, this would be the ideal spot to spend the morning.

<b>COMING UP � DAY TWENTY � LOSING OUR HEADS (ALMOST), GEE YOUR SKIN IS SOFT, SURELY YOU JOUST, TEA FOR TWO, SWORD PLAY AND LOST IN TRANSLATION</b>

We too loved Ljubljana. The architecture was exquisite and overall the city is small and just lovely. Would love to return.

Can't wait to read more about Slovenia! I'm assuming you make it up to Bled?

Tracy