A Long Train Journey

Today we caught a train from Ljubljana to Zagreb. The journey was two-and-a-half hours long.

Eventually we got to Zagreb and walked to the hotel. We found out that the hotel room wasn't going to be ready for an hour. We left our bags at the hotel and went walking.

While we were waiting we walked to a restaurant and I had vegetable stew in a bowl with bread. I didn't like that much at all.

The funicular

Then we went to a café and I had a meringue and a whole peeled banana with a thin layer of chocolate over it. It was one of the best desserts I ever had.

When the desserts were over we went to a funicular railway to the upper
town.

We walked around the up town for a bit and went to a museum called the Museum Of Broken Relationships which to me wasn't very interesting.

After the museum we went to a café and I had a lemonade (although it wasn't very good lemonade).

We went to a mall after the museum and got some calzone from a bakery. We went and got some drinks from a juice bar.

Then we went to a park to eat it and fead crumbs to the birds.

  

First (And Last) Whole Day In Ljubljana

A great view

Yesterday we went to a palace in Ljubljana up a funicular railway. When we got to the castle we went up to the viewing tower and there was an excellent view of the whole town.

After the tower we went and saw a video that showed how the castle had changed hands between various powers such as the Romans and the Turks and changed its shape throughout history.

When the video was over we went to see the dungeon, which for a dungeon wasn't that creepy. In fact it was a little boring.

Up with carnivores!

Then went to go see the chapel. On the chapel ceiling were lots of different coats of arms.

After that we walked around a bit and had lunch.

When lunch was over  we walked around a little more and saw lots of historic buildings, fountains, and pigeons.

When we finished looking around we walked back to the hotel and had a rest.

At the sign of the giant sausage

For dinner we went out to a traditional sausage restaurant which served sausages with hot fresh bread, mustard, and horseradish. I thought it tasted fabulous.

Good-Bye Venice

Today we packed and said good-bye to Ren Yuan and got two vaporetti to the bus station.

Then we waited while the bus driver had a rest then we boarded the double decker luxury bus and went off to Villach in Austria. I had some food and then didn't do much for the rest of the bus journey.

Then when we got off the bus and we caught a three hour train to Ljubljana. On the train I looked at the scenery and got bored.

When we got to Ljubljana we walked to our hotel called City Hotel .

Then we had dinner. I had trout with vegetables. The food was okay but it was a little salty.

Then I went to bed.

Lots Of Walking

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Today we went walking around some familiar parts and some new parts of Venice.

Then we took a vaporetto to an island called the Giudecca and we looked around there for a bit and we went to a church called Redentor and then we had lunch. Then we went to go see another church on San Giorgio Maggiore, and then we went to a café.

After that we took a vaporetto to the Piazza San Marco and my dad and I went to see a Manet art exhibition in the Doge's palace. There weren't many pictures but there were some good ones such as one picture called the bullfight.

Finally we took a vaporetto to our apartment.

In the evening we went out to dinner at a restaurant I had a nice big hot juicy mouth watering slice of pizza. The pizza was delicious and I liked it a lot. The pizza had to be carried on a trolly because it was so big.

After dinner we went to the Alaska gelato place and I had a mint flavoured ice cream.
The mint was a bit stronger then I was used to but it was still okay.

When we finished the ice cream we went to the grand canal and I saw some churches that looked much different then the ones we saw earlier because it was made out of brick and much smaller. We looked at the canal for a while and then we went back home.

Weapons, Old Books, And A Dungeon

Today [now yesterday, Ed] we took a short walk to a museum called The Ca' Pesaro. There we saw various pictures and a section which had samurai armour, flintlock rifles,  wakizashi (short single-edged sword), katana (long single-edged sword),  tachi (swords like katana but for horseback), Japanese arrows, and battle helmets. I really liked it. Even

Image stolen from Panaramio.

the weapons were works of art with beautiful decorations on the sword guards and handles. The arrow quivers also had designs on them.

After the museum we went for a walk around Venice looking at all the magnificent architecture. At one point I saw a funny little pipe poking out of the water that looked like a submarine periscope poking up from above the surface of the water. 

Eventually we stopped walking and we had lunch in a small restaurant and I had some nice big delicious mouth watering slices of mushroom pizza. With it I had a glass of orange juice and some glasses of water.

When lunch was over we went to a book shop which sold very old books and post cards. Some of the books were displayed in old gondolas. The reason was because if Venice flooded the books would safe in the gondola. Also they had some stairs made entirely out of books! I went and brought three postcards.

Then we walked to San Marco to the Doge's palace. We got in and we saw the armoury which had a full suit of knight armour. Also they had funny looking helmets that looked like looking at the front of the ship with your head sticking out of the sea.

Then we went to the prison across the Bridge Of Sighs. It's called that because people sighed when 

they were being taken to prison. (Currently I just think people sigh to keep the name meaningful). When we crossed I didn't sigh. The prison looked very cramped and there was no toilet, only a little light, and not much room. 

After looking in the palace we went and got a vaporetto back home (the ride took twenty minutes). When we finally got off the vaporetto we went to a café nearby our apartment and we had a pleasant conversation over drinks with the people at the table next to us. I had some cold milk and a glass of orange juice. 

Then I went home.

Island Of The Glassblowers

Today we took a vaporetto to a small island called Murano. The island is a bit like Venice but smaller The island is famous for all the things it makes out of glass. Dad's friend Ren Yuan came along, too. The vaporetto ride was long and it was hot, smelly, loud, and packed. Half way there I had some biscuits with chocolate on them and some water.

Eventually we got there and we walked for a while to get the museum. While we were walking I noticed that there were a lot of brick arches in the architecture and almost every shop sold glass ornaments, accessories, vases, and bowls [André originally wrote 'bowels'. Ed.] Another thing that caught my eye was that a lot of the buildings looked run down.

We thought that we were going to see a glass-making demonstration at the museum but we didn't. While we were walking to the museum Ren Yuan walked off to see a church. Still we saw lots of bowls, plates, vases, and even a model garden. Then we went to another glass museum and saw the same type of things as the first one. After the second museum we went to the church and picked up Ren Yuan.

Squid dinner with my sister, Lucy.

After that we went to a sort of run-down café near an area where we could see glassblowing being done. We went in and I was in front and I could feel the heat of the furnaces from even a long way away. The guy who was doing the presentation showed how vases and bowls are made then he showed how statues and sculptures are made and made a glass dolphin. He put the glass on a long metal rod and turned the rod left and right a bit like someone roasting a joint on a campfire. After it was done he put it down on a table to let it cool then he put a small piece of newspaper on the dolphin's back and it burst into flames almost instantly. Then we got a vaporetto home. On the way home we stopped at the Alaska gelato place.

'Save us!'

For dinner we went to an Italian restaurant called Bentigodi. We took a vaporetto one stop to get there For starters we had a perfectly cooked squid pieces with herbs and a bit of lemon juice and a thing made with scampi, red onions, raisins, pine nuts, and balsamic vinegar. Right behind my seat was a type of display case with ice in it and while the waiter  was taking our order another another man opened the display case and put a giant fish into it. It was as long as my arm and half of my chest! For my main I had a four large delicious ravioli pieces filled with cheese. The cheese was very thick, delicious, and gooey. For dessert I had a small (but very rich) chocolate mousse.

Art Museums and Seafood

Gondola

Yesterday we got the vaporetto and took it the Guggenheim Museum. On the way there we saw lots of boats: police boats, speed boats, other vaporetti, cargo boats, and lots of gondolas (which are the taxi boats in Venice with only one paddle). Also we noticed that some of the buildings were slightly tilted. Some buildings the plaster had peeled off and you could see the exposed brick in places.

When we got to the museum we saw some 20th century European and American art. After that we went to the Accademia museum which had religious art. I wasn't very interested my Dad and I did see some funny things here and there. There was one picture of the Last Supper and I thought it was funny that Judas got paid for saying common sense. It was obvious who was Jesus because he had a halo.

At the Accademia. I feel like
I'm being watched.

After another art museum we took a vaporetto back towards home then we went to a gelato place called Alaska which people say is supposed to make the best gelato in Venice. I had a waffle cone with vanilla icecream with chocolate chips. Then we went home.

At home we had a brief rest and then we went out to a fancy restaurant and I had a traditional Venetian dish. It was a platter with deep fried seafood including squid, prawns, and shrimp there was also deep fried vegetables. It was really crunchy with delicious seafood flavours and a little salt. I liked it a lot.

Seafood at Vecio Fritolin.