Pilgrimage to the Homeland!

Last summer, once my move to London appeared imminent (although I still didn't have a flight or a visa), my parents started planning THEIR trip out here to see me this May. I made them hold off on purchasing their tickets until I was actually on my way, but one of the first things they started to investigate was going to Slovenia.

My Dad's entire family is Slovenian, but he and his parents were born in the U.S. It was all of his grandparents (on both sides of his family) who emigrated to the United States at a time where economic prospects in the quiet country bordering on Italy, Austria and what is now Croatia looked grim. The Slovenian community stays fairly close, so it was no surprise that his parents married within their culture in the States.

My Dad is also into genealogy, and although Slovenian church records are in Latin, he's made fairly good progress piecing together his family tree. He had tracked down the Grabrijans (what my last name used to look like before the dyslexia at Ellis Island changed it to Grabyan) in a small town called Adlesici on the Slovenian/Croatian border. He contacted them in English and Slovenian (via translator), and even found another distant relative living in California who had visited the same relatives the year before.

The dates were set for the last weekend in May 2007 for my mom, dad, and I to stay at the Grabrijan Tourist Farm (don't get me started on the name! But that's what they call guest houses in Slovenia). As some of you will remember, I visited Ljubljana, Slovenia's capital, last September. I was already in the area, visiting Prague, Vienna and Salzburg, and I wanted to scope the place out and give my parents an idea of what to expect. [I never got around to posting about that particular trip].

On Friday morning, 25 May, we were all up at 5:30AM to start a day of traveling and tourism from London to Slovenia via Paris. We took more modes of transport in one day than any of us had done before, including (in no particular order) two metro systems, a train (overland and going under the water through the chunnel), taxis in Paris, a boat along the Seine, a bus between the airport terminal and the plane, a plane from Paris to Slovenia, and driving a rental car to the hotel! [I will post more about the afternoon in Paris along with the two days in Paris we spent after Slovenia].

We arrived in Ljubljana two hours late because of thundershowers in Paris, but the rental car office stayed open for us, and we were checked into the hotel and sitting at an outdoor cafe along the river, enjoying a drink by midnight.


The next morning, I slept in late (suffering from a cold) and let Mom and Dad explore Lujubljana - the outdoor market, the castle on the hill, etc. We had traditional Slovenian food at a restaurant called Sokol that I remembered from September, and then we were off towards Adlesici in the rental car.

The countryside of Slovenia is hilly and green, full of trees, open space, and small villages which you can locate by the tell tale church steeple. There a few large highways, but most of the roads are one lane in each direction, and we were pleasantly surprised at how well-maintained they all were.

We had been told that the Grabrijan house is right across from the church in Adlesici and and that 'we can't fail'. So we get to the village, which consists of the church and some houses on one side of the road and more houses on the other. We drive past the church - huh - I guess we went to far. Sure enough, we turn around, head back and see the Grabrijan guest house.


More about the family to be continued...