Straw Nativity

It’s been a day of blissfully trouble free travel. It’s years since we’ve flown from Heathrow, and it seems so much more pleasant than Manchester. We’re ushered through Fast Track at security, and enjoy the novelty of not having to remove anything from bags at security - though having both stoma and catheter does mean I get stopped and swabbed after going through the scanner! The lounge is busy but excellent - timing means G manages a late breakfast and an early lunch! Even our BA flight goes smoothly- arriving at Ljubljana 20 minutes ahead of schedule, and our driver is waiting for us to whisk us into the city (I’ve booked a transfer with Booking.com for the first time) 

At the last minute, I changed our booking from the large Grand Union hotel which admittedly looks beautiful, to a smaller boutique hotel that comes highly recommended, and first impressions are very positive. We’re offered a glass of champagne while the lovely receptionist takes us through locations, recommendations etc. We’ve booked to stay here for the week - highly unusual apparently - though we’ll hire a car to travel outside the city in a few days time. 

Sadly, there is no snow - not even in the mountains around the city. It’s been an uncharacteristically mild winter so far. 

We venture out to a restaurant booked and recommended by the hotel. Breg offers a delicious menu with several vegetarian options and a huge range of Slovenian wines by the glass.

Later we walk along the river bank where Christmas lights reflect beautifully in the waters, and vestiges of the Christmas market still sell food and mulled wine. We pass a beautiful straw Christmas Nativity Scene made with great precision and effort by Anton Kravanja (my main) and admire the light installations of ‘They are Us’ - intended to ‘remind us that while we are natives today, we might already be refugees tomorrow. Today we are Earthlings and in a few years we might also be Martians. We used to be simple single-cell organisms, while today we are complex (mostly) intelligent organisms.’ I’m not convinced that my iPhone really captures these, and will revisit with my camera! But for now there’s a general scene in extras.