Today is the fourth day of our Eastern European journey. This morning, we were scheduled to pick up our car and begin the driving portion of our trip.
We had a quick breakfast at the hotel and then asked the clerk to call us a taxi to take us to the car rental office. We had reserved an automatic because I do not know how to drive a manual transmission. I was never given the opportunity to learn how to drive one of my father’s manual-transmission vehicles, and now I am paying for it. When you travel in other parts of the world, manual transmissions are preferred, so you have to be sure to specify an automatic when making your reservation. Automatic vehicles also cost about twice as much to rent.
They gave us a Toyota Auris Hybrid. I had never driven a hybrid car before. There is a button you push to start the car, and since it is a hybrid, you do not actually hear the engine start up. I then could not figure out how to get the car into gear. I had to go back into the rental office and ask the agent if he could help me. He was very gracious and walked out to the car to show me how to start it and put it into gear.
I tried to get my GPS to work, but for some reason, it would not locate any of the addresses we entered into it. I finally gave up and just started driving. We drove around Vienna for a while until I spotted a sign that said Graz. That was the city we were supposed to be heading toward, so we followed the sign. We were lucky that we saw it.
The weather was cool and overcast when we started out, but at least it was not raining. We drove for several hours and then arrived in Graz. We wanted to go to the city center, but Jay and I do not have the best sense of direction. After driving around for a while, I said we should just forget it and head to our next stop: Ljubljana.
Before entering Slovenia, you have to buy a vignette. We thought we had to stop at the last town before the border and find a convenience store, so we got off the highway at a little town called Spielfeld. We did not find a convenience store, but we did see a cow loose on the road with a girl chasing after it, and it almost ran into the car. I do not know how I would have explained to the insurance company that we were hit by a cow.
Anyway, we did not find the convenience store, so we got back on the highway. Right at the border, there was a small convenience store. We stopped there, and I needed to use the restroom. The restroom — or “WC,” as they call it — was out back. I was heading toward the door when I heard someone calling to me. I looked up and saw a woman sitting in a little booth outside the bathroom. She told me it cost 0.50 euros to use the restroom. I really had to go, so I gladly paid. I remember thinking they had a pretty good little business going there.
I then went inside, and Jay and I got something to eat and drink while also buying the vignette. They only accepted cash for the vignette, so I was happy I had brought some euros with me.
We finally made it to Ljubljana, and my GPS still was not working, so I used the GPS on my iPhone instead. I first asked it to locate me and then entered the hotel address and requested directions. Using the iPhone’s GPS, we were able to find the hotel. We never would have found it otherwise.
The hotel is small but clean. There is no elevator, and our room was on the third floor, but the desk clerk helped us carry our bags upstairs.
We then took a taxi into the city center to find a restaurant for supper and walk around a little. It was after seven o’clock, so the stores were already closed, and it was too late to visit the castle.
I ordered a hamburger, and it arrived as a deconstructed burger. It was a piece of bread covered with sauce, lettuce, tomatoes, and bacon. The hamburger patty sat on top, and a skewer stuck into the burger held potato wedges in place. I almost started laughing when the waiter brought it out because it looked so funny. But it tasted good.
After dinner, we walked around a little more and then took a taxi back to our hotel. Tomorrow, we plan to return to the city center and visit the castle before heading on to Zagreb.
