SALZBURG, Austria – What my friend Janice and I thought would be a simple trip to Ljubljana (lyoob-lyee-AH-nah), the capital of Slovenia, turned out to be anything but simple. A theft, lots of transportation hassles and what we felt was a rather pathetic police force left us with an impression of this actually quite charming capital city that will be hard to break. When we got to the train station Friday morning, our train wasn’t listed on the departure board. After some research, we discovered the final two carriages of a train heading to Klagenfurt in southern Austria will be taken from that train in Villach, also in southern Austria, and headed towards Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, with a stop in Ljubljana. We knew we could handle this, but then found out the precaution wasn’t necessary because our direct train wouldn’t be direct anymore. There was construction on the tracks between Salzburg and Villach, so we had to change from our train to a bus to avoid the construction and get on another train, then change again to the train to Ljlubljana. Our four-and-a-quarter-hour long relaxing and sleep-filled train ride came closer to five and wasn’t peaceful at all. When we finally made it to where our hostel was supposed to be, we couldn’t find it, as there was no sign sticking out from the building. Once we did find it, we were not disappointed with our choice. The hostel was actually really new and clean (and the bathrooms had hand soap, which is bonus points in the world of hostels). Janice and I unpacked and headed to their castle, which is definitely more of a fortress than a castle. As we were walking up the hill, the sky started darkening. The forecasted rain was approaching and we were without umbrellas and coats. We took shelter in the castle after the lightning started striking and the rain started bellowing down on us. We were minding our own business when we spotted a group of guys talking about us in an unrecognizable language. I decided Janice and I should stop speaking English, because we really didn’t want to talk to them, and we hoped they wouldn’t know German. They tried whatever language they were speaking, plus French and English. Fortunately, they couldn’t speak German, though they did try, and they couldn’t recognize our American accents. After that incident, we decided we needed dinner and found a Mexican restaurant. The burritos were fantastic, but then it doesn’t take much because we’re pretty deprived of Mexican cuisine here. We left Cafe Romeo, which we would recommend to anyone visiting Ljubljana, to get coats and returned to the city center looking for a cafe or bar to get something to drink. We picked Macek, which means cat in Slovene, for its wonderful riverside seating – perfect for people watching. We saw some great finds and were telling great stories when I noticed a homeless man we saw earlier approaching. I wasn’t going to say anything to Janice because when we ignored him at dinner, he left us alone. But this time around, he reached his arm out and as he said, ‘Hola,’ grabbed Janice’s clutch and bolted. Janice yelled and ran and I got up as well. Everyone moved out of the way to let the thief through, rather than doing anything to stop him. He was surprisingly fast for a beggar. We returned to the bar and they called the police for us. Fortunately, Janice didn’t have any important documents or much money in her clutch. The item of importance was her phone, which could easily be sold on the black market, but even more important than that was the fact that her phone was her only means of contacting a guy she really likes. Finally the police arrived, though they didn’t say anything to us. They spoke only with a bartender and looked as if they were ready to leave without even asking Janice her name so her belongings could be returned if found. We noticed these officers didn’t have any defensive equipment with them, which was disappointing. What if we saw the thief? How would they stop him? I finally spoke up and they motioned for us to head out to their car with them. Neither spoke much English, so we had to go to the police station to wait for someone who could talk to us. We explained the situation to an officer who looked a little more official. She was ready to send us home (no ride back to our hostel was offered) when we expressed our concern with entering our building because there’s a keypad that requires a code, and the paper with the code written on it was in Janice’s clutch. The officer assured us there would be someone at the desk who would be able to let us in, even though we told her the desk is closed from 11 to 8. Low and behold, no one was at the desk to let us in. Fortunately, my not-so-good memory saved us from sitting in the hallway until someone else returned to the hostel. After some sleep, we headed back to the city center, discussing how we’d attack our thief if we saw him and how we would find Janice’s guy, Wolfgang, once we got back to Salzburg. The journalist in me emerged, thinking of all the ways we could search for someone she doesn’t have a picture of and whose last name we don’t know. I feel like Drew Barrymore in ‘Never Been Kissed,’ writing this column about a guy she is trying to find, but I know we won’t be able to find Wolfgang with this. We’re calling our quest Operation Wolfgang, and it officially opened Sunday night. Looking back on our weekend, we did have an okay time in Ljubljana when you exclude all of our mishaps. The old town was enjoyable and the city tour and boat ride was really informative. I had the best gnocchi I’ve ever had from Zlata Ribica and we found a dessert bar (Zvezda Kavarna) that tops all the cafes in Salzburg, which is saying a lot. And the people watching was perfect, mostly because it wasn’t too hard to find comment-worthy outfits and hairstyles. So with that, deciding to visit Ljubljana is up to you. Just watch out for the beggar with a red cap and backpack.