My baby brother is a college student and is currently in Europe. He is sending us (his siblings) emails as he goes along. I thought this group would be interested in his trip into Slovenia looking for the towns our great grandparents were born in. His email is as follows: Let's see, where did I leave off...I think I was in Vienna last I wrote. Im now in Rome but I'll get to that later. After Vienna I wen't to Slovenia. The first night I stayed in a hostel that was more like a three star hotel and cost me about 12 bucks. Its called Bled its a small village on a small lake in the alps, it was awesome, I think I was the only american there, It was nice to see something besides tourists. Bled is a big european vacation spot but no one was there just a couple of british guys I was traveling with and the locals. The next morning I rented a car and headed off for the Novo Metzo area. Thats when the fun began. I forget to bring the information I had on slovenia so all I had to go by was a map I got from Cherie with 6 or seven cities highlited. I couldnt rember who was from where but I figured they must be important. using the map and a lot of gussing I was able to wind my way around the mountains on roads/trails the size American sidewalks ! and find all the cities but one. I went the closest churches to each city and checked out the grave yards, the churches where all closed. apparently they only have mass 4 or 5 times a year since no priests live in the area. I felt like I had seen a lot and narrowed down where the Kocjans must have lived but there was still one more town on the other side of the mountain and it was bugging me that I hadnt made it there, it was getting to be late afternoon and I decided to see if I could find it before it got dark. The map was useless since the road quickly turned into a maze of trails connecting farms and fields. I was just driving aimlessly hoping for a little luck. after about an hour and a half of driving I found my self quit lost at the top of a beautiful mountain. there was a house there and a family was out in front drinking some wine. They didnt understand English but I was able to get across that I was looking for the town Primoz. Since it was obvious that i was not understanding a word of the directions they where trying to give the whole family piled in their little VW Rabbit and told me to follow them. About 10 miles a way we found a small village (5 houses to be exact) and a small church. This they said was Primoz, they talked to some villagers and said I was looking for family. It just so happened that in one of those five houses there was a girl who spoke english, probably the only english speaker in a 50 mile radius, I was REALLY in the boonies. Anyways she introduced me to Annica Blatnik who lives in the same house that Joseph and Josephene Blatnik lived in. She was married to the late Tone Blatnik who was Joseph Blatnik's newphew. One man in the village said that Joseph Blatnik moved from Primoz to America around 1914 and that the kogans lived in a town called Bucka which I had alreaddy concluded after seeing all the names in the graveyard their. Annica remembers her husband getting letters from a Josephene Blatnik, she was quite impressed that I had come all the way from america ! to! see their small village. She had keys to the church and showed me around and then fed me some dinner The house was very small, about the size of a one car garage. By this time it was getting pretty dark, We exchanged addresses and she said she would mail any letters or pictures she could find. She then gave me directions back down to a somewhat main road where I was able to find signs that led me back to Lublijana. Pretty cool huh. thats enough for now, Ill talk about venice and Rome next time. By for now. Abe Primoz as is where Josephine (Josefa) Blatnik was born and is just over the mountain from Jelendol where the older brothers of her husband -- Matt Kocjan was born. The other town besides Jelendol, Bucka and Primoz that I had highlighted on the map that Abe would have visited would have been: Stopno (birthplace of Matija Kocjan) Perhaps one more--I will be asking Abe when he gets back in the states! I hadn't a clue about Bucka being a stronghold of Kocjans--but about a year ago my Grandma received information from a cousin related through Andy Kocjan of Niles Ohio and she and an aunt had got alot of information on her mothers line from the church in Bucka. I surmised that since Bucka was close and fairly large that it could possibly house the Catholic church where the records of the Kocjans might be. Cherie Gardner Harmon [email protected]