Slovenia - Day of the police

See the last two posts for a description of our sleep.  Last night they were a little gracious - the talking and singing outside stopped a bit earlier than 4am.  Of course then we were up and at em early - we had toast and vegemite ( none burned today!) and then packed the car.  We had a bit over 400 kms to go today so wanted to leave early anyways.

Traffic wasn't bad leaving Budapest which we were very grateful for.  The weather was also nice so Tony stepped out in shorts and a t-shirt today.  We had a couple of quick stops for toilets and coffee and just leg stretching.  About the servo toilets - we learned today why you get a receipt from the machine after you pay to use the toilets.  You hand the receipt in when you buy something and they discount that amount of of what you buy!!  OMG I cant believe we wasted all that money  lol  At least we found out only half way through our trip and not at the end.

Just before we got to the Hungary / Slovenia border we got pulled over by the Hungarian police. They were just doing random stops and we were the lucky last in the queue.  We got the inspector come to our car - probably because we have french plates and they're rare as hens teeth this far east (other drivers give these plates a good look over as they probably have never seen red ones before).  Anyways, the police man was quite nice and spoke English beautifully which we were thankful for.  We had to hand over passports, drivers licence and car papers.  He took them back to his car and we sat patiently on the side of the road.  He ran out info through Interpol it seems and we were glad to find out that we weren't wanted for anything and that Nate isn't some criminal mastermind.  It was still a relief to be cleared and fare-welled from Hungary.

border check

We had to stop again just over the border to get our next Vignette sticker (so we dont have to pay tolls) and we were off again.  The scenery in this part of the country is gorgeous - were travelling just below the foothills of the alps so it was very mountainous.  Lots of tunnels through hills and beautiful chalets nestled into the hills.  We made great time and despite some rain we got to Ljubljana at lunchtime.  This is where the fairytale ends.

just some random houses along the way 

nothing for miles and then a little group of houses

castle on the hill

really mountainous

Our sat nav has been pretty good so we were confident in where she was sending us.  Lots of one way and small streets everywhere in Europe so sometimes you have to go around a bit to get where you need to be.  Our hotel is in a one way street, we know that now but didn't earlier.  We turned into the street that feeds into the one way street and the end of the road was blocked by police cars.  The car infront of us was reversing back towards us so we had no choice but to do the same. So then we thought we could go in the back way.  Lap 1 begins.  We went around and end up back in the same road as thats the only way in.  I got out of the car and spoke to a police man who gave me directions of how to get in.  Lap 2 begins.  We followed his directions and we were back at the same place.  I rang the hotel and she confirmed we were in the right spot and that the police should let us in.  Nope - they wouldn't.  Lap 3 begins.  This time we decided to try a different way in and went the wrong way into a one way street.  The police saw us and he walked over to us again asking what were we doing and we had to go back.  Final lap begins.  We went out and took a longer loop, stopping to ask another more sensible policeman where we needed to go.  Again he gave us directions back into the blocked off street.

My mobile phone then rang and the hotel receptionist told me that she has spoken to the police outside and they would let us through.  So we get there and the same young police guy says no, go back.  I was not having it so I told him to speak to the hotel and she would explain.  At this point his supervisor had words with him and they moved 2 of their police cars to let us through (into the same street we had already been into the wrong way).  This time we noticed the hotel sign - VICTORY!!!  Well almost, as the parking isn't actually on site and we have to navigate a few blocks over to use that carpark.  That was also difficult to find as the direction sheet they gave us was a crappy photocopy.  By the time we got to the hotel with our bags it was 1.15 pm.  So we had spent about an hour going around and around a one block radius.  All because someone decided to rob a bank and have a siege!

We went to a little restaurant across the road for lunch and to calm down a little before returning to check in.  The hotel is quite nice and our room is spacious ( although the TV is on Nate's side).  After we settled in Nate and I did our usual reconnaissance to get some drinks etc.

We got takeaway cheeseburgers for dinner from a little takeaway place nearby and they were superb.