bled, slovenia – day two

April 18th 2009 in europe, family, slovenia, vacation

thankfully, when we woke up today everything was dry…

this morning i realized i left everything for my hair sitting on the bed at home.  this was NOT going to be a great picture trip.  oh well…i always forgot something!  that’s how i roll.

michael and i woke the boys up for breakfast….or should i say attempted to wake them up.  they were not interested.  the breakfast was nice at the hotel.  as nice a european breakfast ever is when you’re dying for eggs and sausage – american style.

again at this point, the boys were uninterested in joining us at the castle.  it’s such a dilemma…do we make them go or do we let them decide?  so this time, we let them stay.

we discovered the night before that we could drive up to the castle so michael and i headed up by 8.15 or so.  the view from all parts of the castle was breathtaking….the lake to one side, the alps to the other.  unbelievable!  it was so peaceful to be there by ourselves.  (just a few staff opening up.)   we had everything to ourselves.  a bit later while we were having a coffee (bela kava..slovenian style for me) in the courtyard and big bus of japanese tourists joined us.  it was much less quiet at that point.  we were almost finished though.

we stopped in at the print shop and there was a nice young man there who went through the outline of events in printing in slovenia.  we got pull the lever on the press to print our own document as well as make the wax seal on it.  it was cool.

we stopped back at the hotel to check on the boys, who were still sleeping.  we wanted to head to vintgar gorge and thought we would at least ask the boys if they wanted to go, though we knew the answer.  “hey guys…want to walk for 2 miles?”  the answer was a resounding NO!

the gorge, of course, was amazing.  the water was a beautiful clear green color.  because the river beds are mainly stones, the water stays very clear.  it was 3200m to the end and back.  there many cool things to see along the way…some huge fish, several types of snails and slugs, pretty wild flowers…  we enjoyed ourselves.

we went back yet again for the boys…this time they were definitely coming with us.

we went to lunch at the hotel park.  they are well known for their kremšnita (aka cream cake).  we had the mixed grill at the bledec yesterday but this place seemed much different so we tried it again.  the boys had soup to start.  the food at the park is amazing.  every bit was good, even the salad and bread.  the kremšnita was superb.  though samobor claims to have the best…it isn’t even close to as wonderful as the park’s kremšnita!

after lunch we walked along the lake for a bit and waited for the boat out to bled island.  it was a beautiful sunny day but it was a bit breezy and cool.  the closed motorboat didn’t seem to be running so we took a gondola type boat.  it was slow going but it is a pretty ride.  unfortunately, our group of japanese tourists were headed to the island at the same time in a couple of other boats.  it was busy and not peaceful on the island.  we didn’t go into the church but while we were wandering around tyler heard the wedding march and we went to the church just in time to see a newly married couple (heterosexual )

step out of the church.  the japanese group swarmed this couple!  but nothing can ruin a wedding day.  it was very sweet.

after our ride back from the island, we went to check out the tobogan on the hill.  it looked pretty cool.  michael and i each took one ride and the boys took two.  of course, i was a wimp and went pretty slowly down and michael was stuck behind me.  this was the highlight of tyler’s trip and probably thomas’ too.

we headed to the hotel to rest for a bit before dinner.  michael and the boys went swimming while i tried for nap (no such luck).  we headed back toward the gorge for dinner at a small restaurant just outside the entrance.  the food was ok but the atmosphere was great!

back for a night’s sleep and we would be on our way home tomorrow.