Greetings again!

I'm now in London and have so much to update!!

Last time I wrote from Ljubljana, pronounced Lub-liana- a j is pronounced like a y (Maddy, after a few mumbled attempts I finally learnt how to say it!)

Kat and I had decided to go to the caves the next day. As I was flying out at 6:30pm we figured we'd catch the 8:06 train out there and then come back about 1:40. We managed to catch the 8:06 train, but only just! So we were happy with ourselves that we'd have plenty of time to see the caves, which were an hour away. Slovenia is gorgeous and the scenery from the train is gorgeous. We ended up seeing plenty of it, because the train suddenly stoppped about 2 stations from the cave. People in uniform came up and tried to tell us something, but we don't speak Slovenian, so we had no idea what was going on. We asked an older man sitting near us and he tried to tell us in Slovenian. That didn't work, so he just said 'kaput'. Kat managed to communicate with someone in german and found out there was something wrong with the power supply. I don't want to giove the wrong impression- these were really nice trains, clean, comfortable and in good nick. Obviously it had just broken down and they were having trouble fixing it. Anyway, an hour later, someone else in uniform came and told us something and the lady who spoke german told us that we had to get on another train. Anyway we made it to the right station and went on a lovely walk through this little village to the caves.

We had been told to dress warmly, as the caves were 8 degrees. But it was 35 degrees that day, so we brought along clothes to put on top of our summer clothes. We looked quite a sight with trackies and jumpers on, with skirts and shiorts on as well. But lucky we did cos it was chilly and wet in the caves. However they are amazing! There are 20 km of caves, but we only saw about 5 km of them. Once you arrive, you get on this little train that takes you deep into the caves, where you do a walking tour for about 1km and then catch the train back along a different route. It was unbelievable. Just amazing. I've taken about 100 photos, but they don't do it justice. At one point we were 120 km below the ground. The caves have been forming for hundreds of thousands of years. The stalactites and stalagmites are enourmous, and they are formed drip by drip.

The caves were discovered in the late 1800's or early 1900's I think. At one stage they turned out all the lights and it was so dark. I can't imagine what the caves would have looked like by candle light. And apparently they were such a tourist destination even then that they were the first place in Slovenia to have electricity!

So after our visit to the caves we caught this little tourist train that drives on the roads back to the station (we didn't feel like walking up hill!). I asked the driver how much it would cost and he said 'Ah it's my first week. My first day. It's free this week because it's my first week!'. I think our little trip on it was one of the first because we drove around this small town with the driver blowing the whistle and the two ladies in the front laughing and waving to all their friends. Quite funny.

Luckily on the way back our train didn't stall and I went back, picked up my stuff and made it to the airport. I was a bit early but thought I'd just check in and wait with a book. Checking in, however, required a bit of charm as the lady told me my bags were 5 kg overweight. She offered to let me get away with being 3kg overweight, but I woul;d have to take out the extra 2 kg. I didn't want to pay, but had no idea what else to do. However, when I asked her how much it would be I mentioned I was from Australia and that there was just no way I could take it out as there was nothing I could do with it if I did. She agreed and let me through without paying.

Slovenia has just been accepted by the EU and gotten Euros, and as a result have to change their airport to fit regulations. As a result, they have got a very small departure gate area, with only 5 gates, while they make modifications. Unfortunately, they also had abotu 10 flights which were delayed for 1-2 hours (not really sure why, they said something to do with an air traffic control problem), so we were crammed into this tiny area, sitting on the chairs, the floor, everywhere, waiting for our flights. I was lucky, my flight was only delayed for an hour, but some flights were delayed a lot longer.

Anyway my flight left okay in the end, with a little bus taking us from the departure gate to the plane, which seated about 80 people and had little stairs that folded out from the doorway! However, Adria Air (the national airline of Slovenia) is actually a really good airline- it's a member of the star alliance. We got served snacks and drinks and the staff were great.

I arrived in Amsterdam about 9:00 and made it to the backpacker hostel I'd booked about 10 (it's still light at 10 here). When I initially booked this hostel, I'd accidentally booked it for Friday, and there were very few available for the Friday. So when I realised my mistake I changed it to Thursday, as I'd already paid a deposit and everything. However, I'd forgotten I'd booked a Christian youth hostel. I think most people know, I'm not that into religion, and in all of the cities in the world, it's quite funny that I'd managed to book a Christian youth hostel in Amsterdam of all places! Anyway it was fine, a decent place to stay and free pancakes for breakfast in the morning!

I think I will have to continue this later as I am going to see a musical (We Will Rock You) in the West End in aboutt 20 minutes. So will update tomorrow if I can,

Anneke

ps. A few people have mentioned it was hard to add comments, so I've changed it to make it easier now. I hope it's worked!

pps Dad- meeting Annie McGuinness tomorrow night.