Opatija, Croatia (Day 2, May 18)

The flight from Newark to Zurich went well--as well as a seven-hour flight can go, anyway. It was on time and had good service but neither if us slept well so we were kind of groggy. When we got to Zurich, we went to the wrong passport control first--should have gone to the transfer gates first. The agent was very nice about it and pointed us in the right direction. Then when we went through the baggage check at the transfer point, I was flagged for a random extra check where they swab your hands and shoes. Imagine my surprise when she told me I tested positive for explosives! So they patted me down, swabbed more of me, and opened and checked my computer and backpack carefully too, I know my personality can be explosive--but jeez!

We finally made it to out Swiss flight to Ljubljana, which had a slight delay as well as two gate changes, but we did get a chance to sleep some and they gave us chocolate! I will always wake up for that.

Landed in Ljubljana, Slovenia and our Gate 1 transfer was waiting for us.

View from the plane as we approach Ljubljana

Slovenian Alps right outside the airport

Our Gate 1 driver was great--and he had a Mercedes. It took about 1.5 hrs to drive to Opatija from Ljubljana and a lot of it was highway (which reminded us of Poland) but there was a lengthy "country" road that took us though several small towns which I thought was great.

We are staying at the Hotel Bristol in Opatija where we'll meet the other travelers in our group and have our first dinner. It's a great location, but we'll explore more of it later since dinner was at 7 and we are tired.

View from our hotel room. This was a former opera house converted into a hotel. It's for sale, but needs some work.

Tomorrow is a full-day tour of the Istrian peninsula which should be great, but now it's time to sleep. See you tomorrow!

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