I Feel Slovenia.  I FEEL sLOVEnia.  Just read the Capitals, that is the slogan that the Slovenian have come up with for their Country and I can tell you what, its pretty adept.
Leaving Italy for the second time in our lives, we entered Slovenia, heading first to Lake Bled and then onto Ljubjlana.  On the way to Lake Bled we decided to kill some time by stopping in at the Skojcan Caves, once again its something that is on the UNESCO list.  The area in the South-Eastern of Slovenia and extending into both Italy and Croatia is an old Limestone plateau and full of caves and dolines.  Infact the name of the area is Karst and it is from here that the common name for this type of rock formation comes from, Karst formations.  So far over 10,000 caves have been identified in Slovenia and the Skocjan one just happens to be the best (NOTE: I haven't seen any other ones in Slovenia so this is just a comment based on the brochure that I read).  The Reka River flows along the surface until it reaches the town of Skocjan where it then heads underground, briefly reappearing in 2 seperate dolines (collasped roofs of the underground stream) before it is never ever seen again.  It actually travels for over 38km underground before exiting into the Adriatic Sea somewhere around Monfalcone in Italy.  The start of the tour is a bit bland, you just walk through a man-made tunnel until you reach a small chamber that really doesn't have that much interesting things in it.  But after you have walked, I dunno, about 600m, you start to hear the river and then turn the corner to this huge underground canyon, biggest thing I've seen.  Both Audrey and I immediately thought of the 'Mines of Moria' in the 'Lord of the Rings' movies.  I didn't think that this size of a chamber could be possible (wait till I go to Malaysia and Vietnam and see those babies, they are massive).  We trundled along, taking a few sneaky snaps (you aren't allowed to take photo's), gapeing at the things around us.  All in all we spent a good 4 hours exporing this little part of Slovenia, a good start.
We continued onto Lake Bled and arrived late in the afternoon.  Lake Bled is that picture perfect postcard place.  In the middle of the 3km long lake is an island that has a 15th Century church built on it and in the immediate background there is a 11th Century castle built on top of a 120m spire of granite and then behind that is the Julien Alps, approximately 250,000th Century BC if I have to add a number to it.  This place was on my to-do list ever since I saw a picture of it as a young lad and first impressions were great.  After dinner and a Wiener Schitzel second impressions were even better.  In the morning we rented bikes and went for a ride around the lake to see all the vantages points it has to offer.  We even stopped to partake in a little bit of Archery, I was bad, Audrey was worse.  A little side trip took us to the Vingter Gorge and a 3km walk before hightailing it back to Bled and the top of the Castle for a lunch with a view and a half AND magnificent food.  Dessert was had in the small bakery that sells exclusively the famous Bled Cream Cake, developed by a chef there in the 50's.  The rain then came and the rest of the day was spent indoors catching up on some reading (for Audrey) and sport (for Payton).  Next day was a little side trip to Lake Boninj and the Savica Waterfall, a rather unique one because the water actually exits the mountain from half way up.  Quite unusual.
Ljubljana is the Capital of Slovenia and with only 220,000 people living there makes it one of the smallest Capitals in Europe.  That doesn't mean that there aren't things to see or stories to tell.  The most obvious things that you see in Ljubljana is the Castle, standing prouder than a honeymooners you-know-what over the city below.  An occupied site since Roman times, it fell into disrepair in the late 19th Century before a forward thinking Mayor bought it and started to transform it back into something worth while.  It really hit its straps in the 2000's and it now is a place that has museums, exhibitions and concerts happening all day, ever day.  The old town center directly below the Castle is a charming, if not small, place to wander around and get lost in (although given its size, probably impossible to do.  And anyway one of the friendly locals would just point you in the right direction).  Along with the usual museum that Capital Cities have a couple of these had some really interesting items, namely the National Museum that contains the worlds oldest (proven that it) musical instrument, a bone of something that has 4 holes drilling in it, and the Ljubljana City Museum that has the worlds oldest known wheel and axle, found in the marshes not 10km's south of the city.  A couple of real claims to fame there methinks.
Our last days in Slovenia were spent (trying to) shopping and driving to Maribor, the second largest city in Slovenia, where we found the world's oldest, confirmed, vine that still produces grapes, at least 430 years they think.  Pretty amazing stuff that, to think that that particular vine has been growing well before Australia was discovered/invaded (you choose).
Off to Australia, nope sorry, Austria.  G'Day Mate will be said a lot in the coming days ...