The sun finally broke through and my relatives finally broke down, begging us to show them something more interesting than the inside of a grocery store. So we dropped the big one off with his sitter to play with a giant basketball-playing M&M, left Magda home with the parasite (”I’ve seen Ljubljana before”), and drove east to the capital via the Roman military ruins at Ad Pirum, invisible under crunchy snow. Then came the inevitable but always entertaining circular tour of Ljubljana’s old center. Playing with the new Lensbaby in nearly every picture:

Pink baroque.JPG
It was noon when we started in Prešernov trg

Robbia fountain.JPG
They’ve replaced the acid-etched marble figures on the Robbia fountain with pasty-white resin replicas

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By half past twelve we were climbing Castle Hill

Ljubljana grad stolp.JPG
And a few minutes later were entering the castle

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We spent a long time atop the tower, enjoying the sun and looking down at where we’d started

City below NW.JPG
And took

City below north.JPG
Some pictures of

City below west.JPG
Rooftops sprinkled with sneg

Zmajski most wide.JPG
Descending, ended up at the Dragon Bridge

Zmajski most close.JPG
“That thing is scarier in pictures than in real life,” my sister says

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In the public market, we bought raspberries but gawked at fractal vegetables

Macek.JPG
Passed a famous landmark without pausing for a drink

Full circle.JPG
And ended up back where we’d started

I don’t yet know what I’m doing with that Lensbaby, but am willing to put in some time. Which I have so much of.