Le Petit Cafe, Ljubljana!

Le Petit Cafe is an amazing little cafe located in the university part of town in French Revolution Square! So it is always packed! They have great breakfast and the croissants are so light and flaky they melt in your mouth! It's Kevin and my favorite breakfast spot in town! There is an outside patio that is even full in the middle of the winter! Inside it's a little like an intimate Parisian cafe, with posters against exposed brick. It's a fine place for healthy breakfasts made with fresh ingredients, including homemade yogurt. The menu is pretty casual, offering breakfast, salads, pastas, wholesome sandwiches, special coffees, and deserts! There is also free wifi! 

The beautiful wall decor of french paintings and posters!

Freshly squeezed orange juice! nothing better! <3

Kevin sipping his coffee with his brand new haircut! cutie!

The best thing to get is the eggs florentine! It was amazing baked eggs and spinach in a creamy cheese and parmesan! melt it your mouth! deliciousness! Kevin got the English breakfast, which was also very good! eggs, bacon, mushrooms, and tomato! 

Slovenian Word of the Day:
Oranžna meaning Orange

PEACE & LOVE,
Kevin & Amanda

Postojna Cave!

Kevin and I visited the world famous cave located in Postojna, Slovenia! It was an extraordinary thing to see!

On the train! part of the tour was by train but most of it was by foot and they have different tours for most languages! In 1872 rails were laid in the cave along with first cave train for tourists. 

Postojna Cave is a 20,570 m (67,490 ft) long karst cave system near Postojna, Slovenia. It's the second longest cave system in the country, following the Migocev Cave System. 

Postojna Cave is one of the top tourism sites in Slovenia, with more than 28 Million visitors!

The caves were created by the Pivka River, a karst lost river in Slovenia. Karst topography is a geological formation shaped by the dissolution of a layer or layers of soluble bedrock, usually carbonate rock such as limestone or dolomite, but has also been documented for weathering-resistant rocks, such as quartzite, given the right conditions.

The cave was first described in the 17th century by Johann Weikhard von Valvasor. A new area of the cave was discovered accidentally in 1818 by local Luka Čeč, when he was preparing the hitherto known parts of the cave for a visit by Francis I, the first Emperor of Austria.

In 1819, the caves were opened to the public, and Čeč went on to become the first official tourist guide for the caves.

Electric lighting was added in 1884, preceding even Ljubljana, the capital of Carniola, the Austro-Hungarian province the cave was part of at the time, and further enhancing the cave system's popularity.

These ceiling formations are called Stalactites, skinny spaghetti or straw like. Just one drop of water on the ceiling of a cave is all that is needed for a stalactite to start forming. Each drop contains a small amount of dissolved limestone that has been acquired from flowing through the cracks and joints of the bedrock. Once this drop is hanging suspended from the ceiling some of the contained carbon dioxide escapes the droplet. Due to this carbon dioxide escaping, the droplet can’t hold as much limestone so a thin external ring is formed. After the drop falls, a small layer is left as a residual.

After 1945, the gas locomotive was replaced by an electric one. 5.3 km of the caves are open to the public, the longest publicly accessible depth of any cave system in the world.

No matter if its raining, snowing, summer, or winter the cave will always have an interior temperature of 9C (48F) and there is always water dripping on you! If its raining its usually more wet inside!

Stalagmites are formations that are created from the ground up. These formations form from the drops that have fallen from stalactites or dripstones. Even though the drops left some dissolved limestone with the stalactite (dripstone) some still remains in the droplet. As this droplet falls and hits the bottom of the cave or tunnel the droplet scatters. This process allows more carbon dioxide to be lost hence another dripstone formation on the cave floor has begun to form. After many drops have landed on the same spot a stalagmite has formed

Curtain Formation is a thin wavy, folded sheet like mineral deposit that hangs from the ceiling.

To give you an idea of how long these formations have been creating themselves; it may take 120 years or longer for 1 cubic inch of calcite to be deposited on a cave formation.

Columns form after thousands if not millions of years of stalactite and stalagmite formation. When both of these two formations finally grow into one another a column is formed. This as stated earlier can take a very long time and in some cases never happens due to cave or environmental changes occurring.

Do not touch! Touching an active formation causes growth to cease in that area because dirt or oil from your skin prevents water from reaching the growing formation. Enough touches, and the formation will die.

Inside the cave there was a room that was all white followed by a room that was all red! It was really cool to see. Also the pools of water where so clear and still they looked like glass! The water inside the caves is so pure that you are able to drink it! 

Sparkly! Very cool formation

The caves are also home to the endemic olm, the largest trogloditic amphibian in the world. The tour through the caves includes an aquarium with some olms in it.

After 3 hours of being in the cave we come out to a snowstorm! 

Slovenian Word of the Day:
Jama meaning Cave

PEACE & LOVE,
Kevin & Amanda

Predjama Castle!

Earlier this month Kevin and I went on a little day trip to check-out Predjama Castle! Predjama Castle is a beautiful Renaissance castle built within a cave mouth in south-central Slovenia, in the historical region of Inner Carniola.

On the ride to the castle. It is only about 45 minutes from Ljubljana!

Baby Banana! We packed a lunch for the day. Keeps Kevin happy because he needs to eat every couple hours or he gets "hangry"! :)

Very beautiful and picturesque! The castle in the side of the mountain open to the mouth of a cave! The castle was first mentioned in the year 1274 with the German name Luegg, when the Patriarch of Aquileia built the castle in Gothic style. The castle was built under a natural rocky arch high in the stone wall to make access to it difficult. 

Moi and the castle! It was a rainy day but we had a nice time! The castle became known as the seat of Knight Erazem Lueger, owner of the castle in 15th century and a renowned robber baron. He was the son of the Imperial Governor of Trieste, Nikolaj Lueger.

Kevin and the castle! According to legend, Erazem came into conflict with the Habsburg establishment, when he killed the commander of the Imperial army Marshall Pappencheim, who had offended the honour of Erazem's deceased friend, Andrej Baumkircher of Vipava. Fleeing from the revenge of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III, Erazem settled in the family fortress of Predjama. He allied himself with the Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus and began to attack Habsburg estates and towns in Carniola.

A headstrong and rebellious knight, Erazem rebelled against the Austrian emperor Fredrick III and eventually killed his kinsman. Thus enraged, the Austrian leader commissioned the governor of Trieste to capture and kill Erazem. This is where the impregnability of Predjama Castle was truly put to the test. For a year and a day, Erazem was besieged in his fortress. But, much to the dismay of his adversaries, he continued to survive and taunt the attacking soldiers by pelting them with cherries. They couldn't figure out how he was getting his supplies. As far as they knew, there was only one way in and out of the valley, and the castle. But the cunning knight knew better. Unbeknownst to the soldiers, Erazem knew of a secret tunnel leading from the castle, which allowed him to travel to the nearby village of Vipava and collect supplies, including hoards of fresh cherries when the season was ripe.

Today you can take tours down the tunnels and caves Erazem used! But it seemed that the soldiers were to have the last laugh. With the strategic placement of a small signal flag, a servant of Erazem was bribed to reveal when his master was in attendance at that place where the elusive knight and even the noblest of men needed to go after consuming lots of cherries and wine: the outhouse. Unfortunately for Erazem, the toilet, situated on the top floor and at the very edge of the castle, was the one place that wasn't so impregnable. When the moment came, the flag was placed there by the treacherous servant. A single cannon ball was launched, and the errant knight was literally caught with his pants down.

The annual medieval tournament, held in July, is named after the notorious 15th-century robber baron Erazem of Predjama. For the duration of the tournament, Predjama returns to the Middle Ages and the castle grounds fill with costumed characters and colourful tournament events.

Mattress made of hay! A view of the renovated castle rooms and their furnishing gives visitors an idea of how people once lived and worked in the castle and how well the castle has been preserved.

He runs it!

The dungeon! This castle I believe held a lot of prisoners including Erazem himself!

Lets get lost.. It was a lot of fun exploring this castle, the inside layout was like a maze, with stair cases and different rooms hidden everywhere.

Canyon fire!

This path was blocked off but wonder were it leads to.. curious of the unknown.

Foggy rainy days make for eery pictures!

This s the highest point we could get up inside the cave but you could see the stairway continued on forever, but was just blocked off for tourist! A secret natural shaft leads out of the castle, which Erazem ordered to be enlarged, and leads into Postojna Cave (11 Km away). This shaft allowed Erazem to secretly supply the castle with food in the time of the siege; he also used it to continue with his robberies.

View outside the hole!

Predjama Castle was used as the castle featured in the 1986 movie Armour of God by Golden Harvest starring Jackie Chan, Alan Tam, Rosamund Kwan and Lola Forner. It was also investigated for paranormal activity in a 2008 episode of Ghost Hunters International on the Sci Fi Channel.

Slovenian Word of the Day:

češnja meaning cherry

PEACE & LOVE, 

Kevin & Amanda

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day friends and family! Hope you all have a wonderful day with your significant others and loved ones! xoxo

My Valentine, My Love, My Best Friend! Missing him today! He's on his way to Dornbirn for a hockey game!

My mom is the most thoughtful sweetest person ever! She sent me a super cute Valentine's Day package! With Sweets and Crafts! Two of my favorite things! I love you mom Thank you! Hope you and Dad have a wonderful day <3

LOVE banner! I love decorating the apartment for all the holidays that come to keep me busy! I love arts and crafts, it is like creative therapy for me to create something pretty!

I made Kevin Valentine's Day fortune cookies for all 14 days of February. He has opened one a day! <3

Slovenian Word of the Day:
Ljubezen meaning Love

PEACE & LOVE,
Amanda

Bled Castle!

Lake Bled is a beautiful place with a beautiful setting! Bled Castle is a medieval castle built on a precipice above the city of Bled in Slovenia, overlooking Lake Bled. It is the oldest Slovenian castle and is currently one of the most visited tourist attractions in Slovenia.

The castle was first mentioned in a 22 May 1011 deed of donation issued by Emperor Henry II in favour of the Bishops of Brixen. Then located in the March of Carniola, it passed to the Austrian House of Habsburg in 1278.

The oldest part of the castle is the Romanesque tower.

The cobblestone path was so steep walking in!

Views of The Julian Alps, a mountain range of the Southern Limestone Alps that stretches from northeastern Italy to Slovenia, where they rise to 2,864 m at Mount Triglav.

Entrance to the Grad!

Small details!

In the Middle Ages more towers were built and the fortifications were improved. Other buildings were constructed in the Renaissance style. The buildings are arranged around two courtyards, which are connected with a staircase. 

wishing well.

I love you.

Our visit inside the Museum!

Love the calligraphy!

Armor and Spears! 

Model of the castle. I love Models!

Old bathroom!

There is a chapel on the upper courtyard, which was built in the 16th century, and renovated around 1700, when it was also painted with illusionist frescoes. 

We visited the winery!

The Dornberg Castle Cellar!

Had to buy a couple bottles of wine from Andre the Monk. It was very good wine! We got a Merlot Barrique and a sparkling Red called Eva! (the sparkling white was called Adam)  Which I found interesting, I've never had sparkling red wine before. I love it!

A snowman with a bottle of Adam! Bled Tradition is to Sabrage, or Sabree, the art of cutting the top of the bottle off with a blade.

Beautiful Lake! Beautiful Castle!

"I just want to have fun and be in-love with you"!

The Original Lake Bled Cream Cake (Kremšnita) from Hotel Park since 1953. Filled with vanilla and custard cream cake dessert popular in several central-European countries. There are many regional variations, but they all include puff pastry base and custard cream. It is so delicious! and went so nicely with our red sparkling wine! 

Slovenian Word of the Day:

Grad meaning Castle

PEACE & LOVE,
Kevin & Amanda