Lake Bled

This morning we paid up at the B&B, walked to the train station to pick up our little black rental car, and in 45 minutes we were here...staying at a farm surrounded by alpine meadows and a 5 minute drive from Lake Bled.

The Mulej family's farm is definitely a working farm; tractors, cows, some Bearnese Mountain farm dogs, stray cats here and there, and lush vegetable patches.


We headed straight out to Bled Castle, which towers about 1 kilometer above the lake and has been there is some form since at least 1044.


At the castle there was lots of history to learn. We hung in there for a while, learnin' some stuff, and then just enjoyed the photo opportunities:

Tiny little glimpse of the island in Lake Bled in this pretty bad self portrait. But doesn't Erin I. have a fabulous hat?

After the castle, we parked our car back down by the lake and embarked on a 3.5 mile stroll around the perimeter. I'm a slow walker, and Erin has short legs (her words, not mine), so our stroll ended up taking about 2.5 hours. We walked past Tito's villa from the glory days of the former Yugoslavia. (We tried to order the famous Lake Bled cake at the restaurant there, but for some reason it wasn't available; we'll try somewhere else tomorrow).

But in any case, the lake, and it's island (the only island in Slovenia!) is quite the definition of picturesque. For instance:

More on the island, and its church, tomorrow, since that's definitely on our agenda, aside from the cake, of course.

We got a little tired towards the end, even after a stop for a cold Cockta, and were dragging a bit. In fact, here's how we both felt when we got back to our room:


I immediately fell asleep for two hours. Erin had to wake me up in time for our farmhouse dinner and we both dragged ourselves downstairs. Part of the deal staying here is having an option to pay a little extra to have home-cooked farmhouse dinner. It was really, really delicious. First course was fresh green beans, then soft polenta with beef stew and a bowl of lightly dressed fresh lettuce, and the dessert...well, I don't know what to call it. It had a first layer kind of like a lemon bar, then a berry (lingonberry, maybe?) compote, topped with a layer of baked meringue. Happy sigh.

After diner we walked around the farm a bit, and an Australian couple stopped us, asked where we were from, and we had a long chat. Turns out she is a teacher too, and he's the principal at the same school, and they're visiting several of the same places we are - plus many more, as they're on a 5 week paid leave, escaping their winter weather, and making the most of the 2o hour flight it takes to get to Europe. We both felt sheepish for complaining about the 10 hours we had. We also had something else in common, starting with Rick and ending in Steves....so funny. We traded tips and agreed that his recommendations are pretty spot on. Of course, it was a Rick Steves recommendation that led us both to this farm in the first place.

Now I'm blogging, and Erin was reading peacefully until the largest bee we've both ever seen came buzzing in the room. I suppose that bugs are part of farm life, but still - yeesh. Erin's doing a great job of bug management while I finish up this post. She's squealing a little, but still a good sport as usual!

Around town

As I am wont to do with various travel partners, I dragged Erin on a two-hour walking tour of Old Ljubljana this morning. Arne, our tour guide, was full of facts, charming, and had serious bed head. Here he is, explaining all of Slovenian history with the help of this giant door on the cathedral, made to honor Pope John Paul when he visited here a while back.


We climbed up to the top of a tower at Ljubljana castle to take a look at the city. Somehow I look less impressed than I was:


But Erin I. was cheerful and looks much more normal:


This is a view of a giant, forested park in the middle of the town. A few years back, a brown bear wandered into this park and then into the center of town. Apparently, all that ensued was the biggest news in Slovenia for the next 5 days.


We then hiked down from the castle along steep little paths and cobbles. Erin and I are big eavesdroppers; we loved listening to the conversations that a group of young teachers in our group from various European countries were having. We also keep trying to overhear any American accented English, and finally tonight we heard some Americans for the first time.


The graffiti here is pretty interesting. Maybe because it's just different from the usual gang stuff I see at home. Quite different:

Best graffiti of all, hands down:

We took a break at a sidewalk cafe and ordered "Cockta", which is a communist-era version of Coca-Cola, advertised to have "berries, fruits, and 8 herbs". It was actually super delicious.


Not content with having walked on the tour for two hours, we navigated our way out to the free Botanical Gardens outside the center of town. Here I am, quite excited that I managed to find it:


The hydrangeas were beautiful and even had a light scent:


Loved these, whatever they are....

Now, despite not understanding a lick of Slovene, it's been quite easy to navigate around, make ourselves understood, and so on. But there are definitely moments where we realize we just don't get it, like this:


They're everywhere. Cardboard birds and fake birdhouses. Art installation, perhaps? OH wait, maybe meant to scare away littler nuisance birds?

After a 2 hour nap, we headed out to dinner. Instead of cocktails we had smoothies. Delicious.

I'm getting sleepy, but here are a few little videos for your viewing pleasure!

Lyoo-blee-yana

Hi folks! We've arrived safely and without incident; in fact, aside from having forgotten how crazy-making the 10 hour flight can be, our travel was perfectly smooth. 19 hours from door to door.

We flew in a 747 on the way here, which was my first time in a plane with an actual upstairs. This was made less exciting when we realized that it seemed the airline had strategically placed all families with young children in our smallish upper seating area. Erin I. managed to make friends with a small blond boy named Raul who walked into our row to say hello and inspect our water bottles. I was more in a raised-eyebrow kind of relationship with him. Speaking of our water bottles, here they are:

Erin I. bought them for us a few weeks back, but we both labeled them in this way INDEPENDENTLY of each other.

We had a brief layover at the airport in Paris, which was a welcome break from the plane. Time to check e-mail, and notice how perfectly I blended in with the furniture:

Then, a few hours later, arrived in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Flying into this small country's only airport quite reminded me of flying into Kauai, actually...except instead of tropical forest it was mountains and pine forests, scattered with little villages whose church steeples we could see from the plane. And instead of friendly local Hawaiians speaking English there was a large Arabic-speaking tourist group and definitely no Americans to be seen. (We still don't think we've seen any - definitely haven't heard them.) The airport was tiny - we walked off the plane onto the tarmac and were picked up in a tram and driven a few hundred yards to the arrival hall. No customs, a quick stop at the baggage claim carousel, and then we were out on the street. I was particularly charmed by the earnest tone of the advertisements at the airport:



Our room here at Slamic B&B is perfect. It reminds me of my freshman year dorm at UC Davis, at least the way the beds are. Our view includes charming old roofs AND geraniums:

We got some advice about where to catch the World Cup semifinal and headed out to dinner after a 2 hour (much needed) nap. Despite how I roll my eyes when other people take excited pictures of their food while at restaurants, here's our meal:

Erin ordered traditional Slovenian buckwheat porridge with mushrooms. It was good, but, um, it was a LOT of buckwheat. Mine is pork medallions, mushrooms, potatoes and peppers. Also pictured is the worst glass of rose I've ever had. For reals. At least it was only $1.50.

Our view of the match, until a rude man came and stood right where that beer is. We couldn't figure out who the crowd was cheering for - I think in the end they were just cheering when anything exciting happened.

We strolled home after dinner along the river through the town center. Groups of people were gathered everywhere watching the game as it neared its end. One of the main bridges had the game projected right underneath so we stopped there to watch the end and then hear the jubilant cries of the Spanish fans on both sides of the river.

We're back in our room now; it's been a long day. I'm blogging, of course, but I thought I'd also share what Erin I. is doing. See you tomorrow!

Quirks

We all have quirks - some more than others. Certainly I have my fair share. As I was packing tonight, I took a picture of a few small details. Stay tuned to the end of the post for an introduction to an important new travel partner!

Each bag has exactly 27 vitamins and q-tips, respectively. It's my own little way of counting down the days of vacation. I love the tidiness of having no extra at the end of the trip.

The spreadsheet. Love it. Can't wait to see the places I've been reading about.

My new reading companion. It's an eclectic and optimistic list, I'll admit.

No need to stop at the ATM right away! I uncovered some Euros from last summer that will come in handy.

The story of this candle is a perfect example of how I can turn a simple thing into one that's quite complex. When we went to Greece, Sharon gave Lo and I some little travel candles to take. One in particular is called "Fig", and we would take it up to the roof patio of our hotel in Athens, enjoy the view of the brightly-lit Parthenon, and play cribbage in the late evenings when things finally cooled down. Smelling this candle brings me right back to that lovely rooftop, and I wanted one to bring on this trip. Unfortunately, it's very very hard to find this candle ANYWHERE around here (believe me, I tried), but I finally found a company in Virginia and after one failed shipment process, I finally got my little fig candle in the mail last week. See? Complicated.

And now...introducing a slimmer and more colorful version of Big Mama:


I call him Popeye.

Coming in July 2010

This year, from July 6 to August 2, I'm headed to the homeland. Slovenia, of course! Turns out that my great great grandmother emigrated from a community of Germans living in present-day Slovenia around the turn of the century. Her name was Mary, and she brought her two brothers with her, pretending they were her children. I never knew her of course; I didn't even meet my grandfather, her grandson, my mom's dad. But thanks to the magic of the interwebs, I have found the village she was from, and with GPS in my rental car...we'll see what I can find.

But Slovenia is only a part of the trip. My friend (also named Erin, so be prepared for some sort of delightful shorthand on the blog, a la Erin 1 and Erin 2...I haven't decided quite what, yet) and I will drive to Croatia, and travel along the Dalmatian coast. Then, we fly to Krakow, visit Auschwitz, then train to Berlin where we'll meet up with Erin's friend who will host us for a few days. We shall part ways in Berlin, but no sooner will I have said goodbye to one friend, then another will join me! Donica has managed to escape a very demanding new job for just one week, during which we will visit Berlin, parts of the Czech Republic, and end in Prague. Phew.

All Good Things...

Tomorrow, after a final delicious breakfast, we catch a bus to the airport and then fly to Heathrow, Toronto, and finally San Francisco...and regular life resumes. We had a great last day:

Oscar Wilde and I, hanging out in the park near where he grew up

Our very understated hotel entrance - and our splurge of the trip. All the old-world elegance had one drawback, however: 72 stairs to our top-floor room.

We went to the national gallery today, as I was very keen on seeing the Vermeer. I do love Vermeer, but it was a Caravaggio that really caught our attention. But my favorite of all was a Velazquez that I'd never seen before. After lots more walking around listening to our downloaded Dublin walking tours on our ipods, plus some shopping, Lo got tired and headed home. I stayed out for one more thing I'd been wanting to see, which was worth the aching feet at the end of the day. The Chester Beatty Library here in Dublin has an amazing collection of old, old religious texts, including fragments of some of the earliest copies of the gospels and Paul's letters, to name just a few. Seeing these fragments - Greek writing on scraps of papyrus that are dated to 150 A.D. - was a highlight of my day. Wish I could have taken pictures.

After a quick rest, we headed back out for another walk across town, but this one rewarded by a very delicious dinner at The Winding Stair. They serve Irish food, which we've been happily eating all vacation, but with a more high-end twist. And, bonus, their Valhrona brownie with lemon curd and organic vanilla ice cream was better than my own brownie recipe, and that's saying something. :)

Two happy vacationers after dinner on the Ha'penny Bridge over the River Liffey...

and two big thumbs up for a great trip!

Guinness, It's Good For You!

This is indeed one of the advertising slogans we've seen everywhere, and today we made the trek out to the Guinness homeworld. I had heard that it was a pretty cheesy, touristy place and had skipped it last time I was in Dublin, but I'm glad we went. Touristy - yes. Cheesy - no. In fact, many things about it reminded Lo of the way the folks at Peets Coffee and Tea talk about their product - nothing short of reverential.

Just a few gallons of beer up there...

We started at the bottom floor with a quick primer on the four ingredients of Guinness (little trivia question, anyone?). The entrance comes with one free pint, which you could enjoy on the top floor Gravity Bar (360 degree view of Dublin, but slammed with people today), or you could learn to pull it yourself at a little lesson area. Lo did the lesson:

The first step - 45 degree angle, then straighten up and fill almost to the top...

Then wait for a bit while it settles before you top it off. Actually, "a bit" is too imprecise. You are to wait 119.5 seconds, then top off, then wait 30 seconds, then enjoy!

The little graduate with her pint and her certificate. She did a pretty good job, just a few bubbles on top indicated her lack of experience. The lady there said that if you get a Guinness that tastes off, the temperature could be wrong or they didn't let it settle properly - send it back!