Day 19
 

Ljubljana and on to Lake Bled

We drove into beautiful Ljubljana with the Alps in the background! We took a walk around the city then had dinner (I had mushroom soup and Michael had a "Stag Steak Dinner".

We heard the bells and went to mass....all in Slovenian. I'm sure Michael got more out do it than I did, but the church was beautiful... painted ceilings ie… Sistine Chapel, etc. The church had been rebuilt over time, it seems that if war doesn't destroy, weather will. There is however a crucifix that was left from the old church. Strangely they keep it to the side and have a painting at the altar...go figure! The doors are pretty amazing. They were made by a local artist who put all the figures of the many Bishops they have had from least popular ascending to most popular.

 

This morning after breakfast... so many choices. This place no calamari, but they had a porridge I might try tomorrow. By then we were ready to board the bus for a trip to Lake Bled. What a beautiful picturesque place! There is a beautiful church in the middle of this long glacial lake surrounded by trees and the Alps. There are beautiful homes along the lake interspersed with trees. A man in a wooden row boat... not the normal kind… rowed us to the church. It was tipsy and we had to try not to move which was hard as there were so many beautiful places to see (Tito's home, castle, other boats, swans, etc.)!
 
 

 

 

 

The church was neat but a hundred more steps up or more. My legs and lungs at barking at me! The story goes... and there is always a story... a lady at the lake wanted to give the church a bell in the early days in honor of her deceased husband. As a crew were bringing it to the island, their boat capsized and the crew drowned and the bell was lost at the bottom of the lake. Maybe they'd turned around to look at stuff as we did and made the boat unstable. I can't imagine that they couldn't swim to safety, but... well it is a story! Anyway, the Pope must have felt pretty bad because he had another bell sent to the church. It had been blessed and now people believe that you can make a wish and pull the rope for the bell and it will come true. We each made a wish and pulled the rope and got our picture taken except for Michael as I pressed the wrong button. Now you know why I don't take photos! Joan saved me with her camera so I'll include that picture.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From there we were rowed back to the other side and went by bus around the lake to the castle. Wonderful but oh no! More hills to climb. This time instead of steps it was a ramp of uneven rocks! We stopped half way to the wine cellar where an adorable monk gave a shopping spiel too wonderful to miss. We promised to be back and went on up the hill for a beautiful look out over the lake toward the church. There was a museum, a gift shop and a neat printing shop there, but we hurried through everything and back down the hill for Michael to "bottle" his own Merlo. I took pictures this time and the monk was so cute and so funny. We plan to save that bottle until our fiftieth anniversary if we make it that far!
 
 

 

 

From the castle we took off to a little town for lunch. We walked through the old town and visited a cookie museum. They bake these cookies that are famous in Slovenia and upper parts of Croatia. We watched her make them.... something they have done for many years. I bought a permanent cookie for my Christmas tree...a memento of this great trip.
 
Lunch was picture perfect. When I get home Michael will have pictures of the mushroom soup in cute bread bowl, sausage, turnips, potatoes and sauerkraut and sausages that was so delicious. Dessert was wonderful apple ice cream in a hollowed out apple. All was super yummy. I know I have never had green apple ice cream but it was so refreshing!
 
We walked around the little town, got a goodbye picture with our bus driver Sinesha, and rode the bus back to the hotel. We had to de-board quickly and say our goodbyes to Sineesha as he has to park in the street in front of our beautiful hotel and the street is so busy. He was leaving for Zagreb.

 
We went up to the room and vegged after a few hours sleep then we walked down to the center to check out Burgers and Beer (their first annual). It was too wild last night but since it was after seven the crowd had cleared. We checked it out and chose Cube Burger. There was a long line and we bought two for 5 € each. We should have shared one as they were humongous and sooooo good. Picture! They were as big as an outstretched hand. The bread was a homemade pita bun. Delicious, but we threw out almost half each! We were stuffed!

 
 

Tomorrow is our last day here and then we fly out...it will be two long days before we get home. I'm missing folks. This is about the right amount of time away from home!
 
Goodnight from Ljubljana

 Grove and the gang