Ljubljana, Slovenia & Zagreb, Croatia

Janne and the Dragon Bridge in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

We only have a couple of minutes between our next train to Osijek, Croatia- but we wanted to post up a couple of pictures from our stay in Ljubljana, Slovenia and Zagreb, Croatia. We have really enjoyed spending some time in the Slovenian and Croatian capital cities, and are so impressed by the diversity and character that both cities uniquely have. Special thanks to our new friend, Peter, for showing us around Ljubljana and telling us more about Slovenia history (and teaching us about great Slovenian beer)!

Janne and Peter in Ljubljana.

Now we are off to Osijek, Croatia - a town that marks a region of intense violence in the early 1990s wars in the former Yugoslavia. We are very interested to learn more from the local people, and hopefully leave with a better picture of what actually happened.

Off to a four-hour train ride!

Tyler in Zagreb, Croatia.

Florence, Italy

Tyler waking up on the night train between Paris and Florence.

Goodbye, France. Hello, Italy! In order to save us a day of travel time, last night was spent aboard a night train between Paris and Florence, Italy. Each car fits six people, and beds fold down from the wall when it is time to sleep. We shared a train car with 4 fantastic Argentinians on their way to Italy for the first time. It was definently a new experience, and one we would recommend trying at least once in your life. Just make sure you bring some ear plugs to get some sleep!

The best part of the train was falling asleep outside of Paris, and waking up the next morning in Italy! Florence was named a UNESCO world heritage site in 1982 and widely considered one of the most beautiful cities on the planet. It is also the birthplace of great names such as Dante, Leonardo da Vinci, Niccolò Machiavelli, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Galileo Galilei! A lot of history in this city!

We have already had our fill of fantastic pizza, pasta, and of course Gellato (Italian ice cream). Tomorrow we hope to search for the Statue of David, arguably Michelangelo's most famous sculpture, which is found here in Florence!

Florence at night.

The River Arno, which runs right through the heart of Florence.

Courts, Cords, and Casinos (oh my!)

Day One of the honeymoon is coming to a close, and it is hard to express how good a single day can be. We started our day early by catching a train from Leiden to nearby The Hague. The trip itself was less than a half hour, and incredibly easy to do. We were especially impressed by Holland's double-decker trains! We have never seen a train that was two stories high!

Janne and the double-decker train in Holland.

The afternoon continued with a visit to the headquarters of the International Criminal Court. Although we were unable to get a tour since tours must be booked weeks in advance, we instead sat in on one of the public hearings. The International Criminal Court (ICC) is the first permanent, treaty based, international criminal court established to help end impunity for the perpetrators of the most serious crimes of concern to the international community. The court was considering allegations against a Congolese military leader accused of recruting child soldiers for violence.

While the experience was not necessarily the most uplifting, it did help us to visualize and better understand how and where important trails such as the above example take place.

ICC Headquarters in The Hague

After learning more about the International Court, we made our way to Scheveningen Beach for a COMPLETELY opposite experience. Bungy jumping.

As a wedding gift to Tyler, Janne planned out an afternoon on the beach including taking a big jump together through Bungy Jump Holland. The bungy jump platform sits on top of the pier on Scheveningen Beach, right above the Atlantic Ocean. After being strapped into our equipment, we were lifted 200 feet / 60 meters to a lookout tower in which we clung to each other for dear life and took the plunge. While we are still waiting for our pictures to be developed, here are a few to help you visualize the plunge!

Scheveningen Beach with the Bungy Tower in the background.

Janne getting fitted with equipment.

Tyler getting his courage up!

The jump! (photo courtesy of http://www.digitalbreizh.net. Ours coming soon!)

Feeling good after the jump with the cord that saved our lives!

To close out the day, we thought we would celebrate by playing the 20 cent slot machines in one of Hollands numeros casinos. To be fair, we are both still students on a budget and were both super hungry after an exciting day. The world does not get much better than spending only 1 euro at the casino and getting a bunch of free food in return!

Janne and her free slot-machine food.