Scenic Slovenia

I guess you could sue me for false advertising...but I hope you won't.

In my last entry I wrote of my excitement about visiting Lake Bled. A friend here suggested that place to us, so we researched it on the internet, but we ended up deciding to stay in a small town just a little north of Bled. Of course, I KNEW THAT when I wrote about it, but my brain got stuck on the idea of going to Bled, and I was convinced we were still going there. I'm not sure what exactly is wrong with me, but I think this same brain malfunction caused me to send two wedding cards to a friend. At first, I filled out a card way ahead of the actual wedding date, then set it on my desk, ready to be mailed at the appointed time. The time came and went, and in the meantime, the card disappeared mysteriously. I emailed this friend to ask if she had received the card, thinking it had been mailed by someone else in our house, but this was not the case. I guess I filled out another card and mailed it to her. A couple weeks passed by, and lo and behold, the missing card shows up in the bottom of a drawer where it must have landed after falling from the desk. And not remembering that I'd already sent dear married-by-now-friend a card, I sent her ANOTHER one! Isn't SHE special? That's what she said when she emailed me and thanked me for BOTH of her wedding cards.

All that to say, I think I'm starting to worry about me.

And now, onto the rest of the story....

Kranjska Gora, a small village at the foot of the Julian Alps, was a quiet place to kick off our boots and rest awhile. That is, Clara and I rested, while Dad and the boys tromped off to the mountain everyday and skied to their hearts content.


There was no real snow while we were there, only the artificial snow from the snow cannons covering the slopes. It has been a warm and green winter in most of Europe! The little town was hopping though, with excitement over the women's slalom event being held that weekend. I believe an Austrian took first place.



We stayed at this Bed and Breakfast, owned by a very friendly Slovenian couple.


Breakfast was a mix of coffee or tea, orange juice, fruits, croissants, cereal, bread, cheese, tomatoes, sliced cold cuts and yogurt. My favorite part of traveling in Europe is staying at B&B's. In the U.S., I thought of them as romantic getaways. But here I find it an interesting way to meet the locals and find out what the people in any given area are really like. They are so hospitable and kind, can usually converse well in English, and they provide many helpful travel tips. When we leave a B&B, we feel like we are leaving friends. Case in point, the couple from the B&B we stayed at while visiting Italy last year sent birthday greetings to Clara ON her birthday. I do not even recall sharing what her birth date was with them, but they remembered and they wrote us.

One afternoon, Clara and I went walking around the town and discovered this little bakery, called Kala....



It was the most beautifully decorated bakery I've ever been in. The walls were a soft yellow, and paintings of flowers graced the interior. A cappuccino machine brought forth a magnificent cup of "white coffee," and paired with a slice of warm apple tart that Clara and I shared all made for a memorable occasion. I really felt like I was on my first "date" with my daughter. It was a place I would have taken my mother. It's the little things in life that mean so much!


We visited Papa Joe's Pizzeria a couple times.



This was both fun, and frustrating. We discovered very few restaurants in Slovenia, and this is true also of Croatia, that have high chairs for babies. Clara is in the "discovery of all things wonderful" stage, and this includes all areas of restaurants, under the tables and everything on the floor. There definitely is nothing of interest at the table we have chosen to sit at, so why should she be forced to sit there? (Her logic, not mine.) Eating is one thing. She prefers to sit in our lap and do her eating from our plates. But a baby doesn't eat for long, and she sure doesn't sit there and wait patiently for food to arrive when there is so much exploring that needs to be done. The first night in town, after ordering our food and seeing that eating out was going to be a horrid adventure, I gathered up little girl and we walked back to our room. The guys brought our food later and we ate our pizza in the comfort of our bedroom!


The downtown area was a pedestrian only part of town. This is a good idea, I think. I wish more of our towns in the U.S. were set up like this. It's good to stroll down the cobblestone streets, gaze in store windows, or sit on a bench and have a look at this old church without having cars zoom by and disrupt your thoughts or mess up your hair.



There you have it. Scenic Slovenia. I want to go back. Wanna come with me?