One country to the next: from austria to slOvenia

We said goodbye to Vienna, traveling into the mountains on our way to Slovenia. We made a stop at s rest area, where the gals wore the traditional dirndl dresses with aprons. Our guide, who is Slovenian, said all gals have at least one such dress. They cost 50 euros on up, she said.

We faced another tradition: the dreaded turnstile with pay to use bathrooms.
Then we continue on with our guide explaining more about the Slovenia for us. She said the country is famous for its white wines and that skiing was the country's sport. Every year they hold the Golden Fox ski event for best skiers, more popular than soccer. She also said the country's tree is a linden.

Then we stopped at stopped at Maribor, The second largest city in Slovenia with 89,000 residents but 50,000 students at their free university.

We had lunch, explored the old town and saw the oldest grapevines in the world, dated over 400 years old. The pruning of the tree becomes a festival and only 100 small bottles of wine are made from it each year. The wine is given to dignitaries such as the pope and people like Brad Pitt--LOL.

Then back on the bus to Ljubljana, where the plains give way to lush mountains with hay racks, which look like a barn with slats for sides, used to dry the hay since it's so damp here on the ground.

We learned about potica (pronounced Poe teet saw) which is like povitica of Poland.

Brandy is popular here as well as beer and wine. Pear brandy is particularly popular. They put a bottle over a pear as it grows.

Horse meat on menu, see picture with "donkey" listed. One restaurante featured "foal." Our guide warned us. Fried liver is also popular. 

She said the fire department in each village hold competitions. and they have to organize a party once per year if no emergencies this year.