Wrapping it up and other random thoughts

The day before we left for Europe, Josh asked me if there was anything I was really going to miss beside my pets. My immediate response, French toast and iced tea.  I was able to solve the French toast issue, when I had my brother bring me maple syrup!  The bread here is very good so the French toast turns out well. We have had it several times.  As for iced tea, you do see it on the menu, but they put stuff in it and I just like plain old iced tea, no sugar, just lots of ice. So I did make some tea here at the apartment, but it takes forever to make ice in my little fridge so it was not a complete success.  Speaking of ice, when you do ask for ice the wait staff is very accommodating, but they bring you one or two tiny cubes.  Oh well.
I have enjoyed my time here in Europe, it has given me a taste of what it would be like to live overseas. There are definitely positive and negative aspects of living abroad.  The ease of using mass transportation is a definite positive, not being dependent on a car has been somewhat liberating.  But there are times when I miss just being able to jump in my car and take off to go somewhere or run an errand. The lifestyle of sitting at cafes, having coffee, ice cream or wine is very seductive.  The smoking at the outside cafes is a real turn off.  I am always scanning to see if I can find a place away from others and no matter where I pick someone sits down near me and starts smoking.    The outside markets are wonderful so I know we are lucky to have a nice one in Blacksburg.  Less choices in grocery stores, which I think is good overall, but it is frustrating trying to figure out what I am buying.  Metric system sucks...I can do kilometers, but the weight thing throws me off.  Love cappucinos, but I wouldn't mind a good old latte from Starbucks or a salad from Paneras'.  Ice cream and pizza!  Not sure if there is a better place to get good ice cream or pizza, except maybe the ice cream in Eugene.  I like how dog friendly it is, you can take your dog anywhere!  I miss watching current TV shows, but I don't miss the political ads, CNN and all the other hyped up news outlets.  I do miss NPR in the morning.  I miss sitting at my kitchen bar reading the comics and doing the crossroad puzzle while I have either a cup of tea or coffee.  I wish I had a dvd player or the ability to stream a movie.  There is a probably a way to do it, but I have not figured it out.   I don't miss college football but I do miss watching the Broncos.

Except for a few days, I have not had time to be homesick. However, I do miss Kona terribly, I miss talking to Nick and Lauren whenever I like.  Texting and email helps.  I have not talked to my sister, Lisa since late August and that is weird.  Again texting helps! I miss having coffee or lunch with my friends, my massages, our social groups.  Again texting and emails help.   I miss my book group, but I do have lots of time to read! I miss my pillow...I think Rick is tired of me talking about my pillow.  So the pillow is going to Australia! I miss my cats, but not Chewy sleeping on top of me.  I do miss the fall and all the beautiful colors. The leaves have changed here, but not as brilliantly.  Okay....I think I am a little homesick.

I think the last week is always difficult, I want time to reflect on the past 7 weeks and everything we have done, the people we have met, experiences we have enjoyed.  Part of me wants to sit by a cafe all day and read the other half just wants to veg in the apartment.  I am already thinking about Australia and what awaits us. I an anxious to see Lauren, Josh and Kona and at the same time worry that Kona will be confused and not understand when we leave a few days later.  I can't wait to get a haircut and a massage (even if it won't be at my favorite Eucalyptus in Blacksburg) and beverages with ice!

So here is quick recap of our 7 weeks in Europe:

 First stop St Gallen, Switzerland.  Rick taking a coffee break before we head to airport.

Next stop; Vienna, Austria.  A stroll in the Volksgarten and a stop at Demel for coffee and cake

Train ride to Italy

Now we are in Riomaggiore, Italy  Cinque Terra

 Gelato after a long hike in Cinque Terra

Romantic dinner at Riomaggiore Harbor

Over night stop in Pisa, Italy then off to Siena

Siena is lovely and fun to walk around.  Great meals as well.  Probably one of the best lunches on our trip was in Siena.

Now we are off to another region of Tuscany to stay at our agriturismo, La Falconara and Carol and Don are joining us for a week.

 Whiskey and Donut, two of the eleven cats residing at our place.

 Coffee break in Tuscany

 Wine tour with Alex

 Dinner one evening at our apt.

 Tuscany, near Monteciano

 Wine tasting at Fanti

 Wine tasting at San Polino

Now we are off to Ljubljana, but not before a very quick overnight stay in Venice.

 Grand Canal in Venice

We finally are in Ljubljana and really love the market and architecture.
After a week on our own, Jerry, Jean, Carol and Don join us.

 Coffee break and cakes at Lake Bled

Touring around Slovenia with the family. The weather was not the greatest, but we still had fun.
Then Carol and Don left, and we went to Vienna for a quick weekend trip.

 Another break at Demel

 Day trip to Melk to see Melk Abbey and cruise along the Danube

 Lunch break in Melk

 Cute town Durnstein along the Danube

 Back in Ljubljana, view from the castle, finally some nice weather!

Predjama castle in Slovenia, another rainy day but a perfect day to see the castle and caves.

Last weekend in Slovenia with a tour of Piran and wine tasting.

Hanging with the family in Slovenia

Funny things happen when you are traveling with your siblings and their spouses.  Just getting out the door in the morning can be a challenge when you are trying to figure out the plan for the day.  But we did pretty well, navigating the Slovene roads, meeting very nice people who were both helpful and curious.

Carol, Don, Jerry and Jean arrived Slovenia on a Friday and Rick and I joined them at the chalet they rented for the week.  The chalet was in a small village overlooking the valley.  Not far from a cute little town of Kamnick and about 45 minutes from Ljubljana.  Rick and I left Ljubljana with a directions to the chalet from the owner and all was well until we actually arrived Kamnick. Thank goodness it was still light and we stopped at a bar cafe, where the waitress and her friend actually drew maps for us to help us find the proper streets and roads.  We drove a windy steep road to the chalet and finally arrived.  I wish I had taken photos of inside the chalet, because it was hoot.  We all commented that you could never get by renting this place in the states.  To navigate the stairs from one floor to the next (and there were two sets) you had to either walk sideways or backwards holding onto the handrail.

The first day we decided to visit Velika Planina, taking a cable car up the mountain then hiking to the pastures where shepherd's huts were located.  Unfortunately, after we got to the top of the cable car, the mountains were pretty much socked in and we only made it to a small restaurant, Zeleni Rob.  Jerry and I decided to partake in local wine, which was a hoot, because we decided it was step from being vinegar.  Carol, Don and Rick stuck with beer.  We had a big order of fries and Carol and Don tried a traditional strukjii, a sweet dumpling stuffed curd cheese.  It was yummy.  On the way down we had a great conversation with local people. They were so interested  that we were traveling together and not on a tour.  They are very proud of their country and want to make sure you are having a good time.  

The next day we went to Bled, again it was a cloudy socked in kind of day.  So we first decided to stop at this little town called Radovljica.  Sometimes you stumble across a jewel and this was it.  The town was tiny, but the buildings lovely and the Beekeeping Museum was fascinating.  We had coffee and cakes at a cafe,  looked at the flea market along the square, visited a gingerbread making store, and Don and Rick helped an old man load a ceramic wood stove into his truck and he offered them a drink of some kind of liquor.  Finally,  the weather was somewhat clearing so we headed to Lake Bled.  We decided instead of paying for a boat to take us to the island, we would row our own boat.  I don't know if I should publish the photos of Carol trying to get in and out of the boat. I am just glad we did not tip the boat over from laughing so hard.  The church on Bled Island was being renovated, but it was still interesting as was the clock mechanism in the tower.  Bled itself is a little crowded with tourist, and there are some ugly looking hotels along the lakeside in the town itself. They must have been built during the communist era. However, the old part of town is cute and after having some great pizza we found a cafe along the lake and had tea and cream cake and listened to a duo play music.  It was a lovely evening.

Rick had to return to work on Monday, so the five of us decided to take a ride to the Julian Alps that boarder Austria and Italy. Since I easily get car sick, I was the navigator.  We wanted to cross Vrsic Pass with its 50 hair pen curves (26 up and 24 down)  (note I am omitting the little markings that go over some of the letters) The road was built during WWI by Russian POWs.  It is quite the road, with many vistas (although we could see little) and a quaint Russian Chapel in memory of the POWs who died while working on the road.  We had lunch at a cute little mountain top restaurant.  When we walked in the man at the bar was busy and did not seemed overly friendly.  Finally, after serving a table he acknowledged us.  I asked if he could serve us lunch and he paused and then told us he could do sausages and sauerkraut and maybe goulash.  He then went into the kitchen and came back out and very excitedly told us he had enough goulash for 3 of us! He was so sweet, it took awhile to get our food, but as he said, this is real food not fast food.  At the end of our meal he brought us a little plate of cookies.   At that point we could have turned around and return by the same route, but it looked like sunshine was ahead so we decided to continue on, not realizing we were taking a long and winding road back to Kamnick. At times we wonder if we would ever get home but we saw countryside that most tourist would not see.  

Tuesday we decided to stay close to home, several of us have been battling colds and were feeling pretty worn out.  We wanted to see a castle so we went to Skofja Loka, the oldest settlement in Slovenia.  There were some colorful 16th century buildings along the square and the castle had a very interesting museum.  Unfortunately, the chapel, which sounded very interesting was undergoing renovations.  Story of my life it seems.  

Wednesday was the last day for Carol and Don, so I took them by train into Ljubljana.  I gave them a very quick tour of the city, we had a nice lunch along the river and took a ride on the river in a boat.  

Getting ready for the  cable car ride to Velika Planina

Hiking up to the top to Zeleni Rob

Wine, beer, fries and dumplings. now that is a lunch

I love the markings on this horse

Carol and Jerry, getting ready to descend the cable car

The village of Radovlijca

A bunker turned into a chapel in honor of St Edith, a jew who became a Carmelite nun and died in Auschwitz Concentration Camp

This is actually a beehive

This is a display of some of the beehive panels.  The panels were hand painted and represented stories and myths. The bees would recognize their hives because each beekeeper had his own design.

I love how engrossed we were with the film about bees

Second breakfast

Lake Bled; island with church

Rick rowing us over to the island

Another view

Carol getting out of boat, she had a bummed knee that would not bend

Above are various photos from our day at Lake Bled, including a duck that came walking up from the lake to the cafe where we were having tea and cakes.  The duck apparently comes twice a day to get a snack from the wait staff.  They gave me some bread so I could feed him.

Below are photos from our trip through the Julian Alps.  We stopped at Fort Kluze and although it was closed, we did see the "escape ladder" used by the soldiers to escape if the enemy approached.  We went through the Soca Valley, location of a major battle in WWI and the area where Hemingway served in the military and describes in Farewell to Arms.  Our way home was on a winding narrow road through some breathtaking countryside.  We stopped at a little village for a gelato break and the owner told us that the monument located by the parking lot was for a film maker who made the first Slovene movie about the partisans and their fight against the Nazis.  

Fortress Kluze

The "escape ladder"

  

Russian Chapel along the road across Vrisic Pass

Julian Alps

Swinging Bridge, some boards were missing.  I was not thrilled being on this.

 This is the monument to the film makers

Now we are in Skofja Loka

River through the town

Carol and Don on the boat cruise in Ljubljana.  We were the only ones on the boat and had a nice glass of wine to drink.

Cruising the river Ljubljanca

It was a nice week with the family.  Rick has been busy, so it gave me a chance to see the country.  The weather was not the best and I did not get to do the hiking I had planned.  Having a cold while traveling overseas can be miserable.  After saying goodbye to Carol and Don, Jerry, Jean and I headed to Vienna.  Rick was already there teaching and we were joining him.  We had a few days in Vienna.  I will post photos from our jaunt in our next post.