Brezje, Slovenia Lake Bled
August 14-15th
Lake Bled - bike ride, boat ride, rope swings
August 14th
Checked into our room.
Our accommodations: They boys were stoked to find a basketball hoop, a soccer goal and two soccer balls. They have spent pretty much every spare minute shooting hoops or soccer goals. I love that. We have a nice, large, clean room with 2 bunk beds and a double. The bathroom is shared with campers and we have to wait in line for the toilet sometimes, but it's O.K. We have internet! Always a huge bonus. The beds are comfortable and it's been pretty cool here so we sleep well, too. We share the kitchen and dining room, too - each in separate buildings. There's no garbage can in our room, but there are garbage cans outside.
19:00 is a big deal here. The bells start ringing at 18:45 - all of them!- and continued until 19:00. It was pretty cool. We went shopping in the tiny market in town, then to dinner at a pizzeria nearby and ate for less than we have our entire trip (21E)!
August 15th
We rented bikes - we had to get them from two sister offices that were about 8 minutes apart walking - but we were able to get kid bikes for our kids which was wonderful. The path around the lake is beautiful! There are tons of tourists so, if I did it again, I'd start biking at 9am. We wouldn't have so many near-misses with walking tourists. We didn't get started until 11am despite our best efforts for starting early. It took us about an hour to bike the 6 km.path around the lake.
We then ate lunch - nothing Slovenian nor exceptionally yummy - then walked to the first rope swing. It was very high in the tree, but some boys had just finished using it. One boy, 12 or so, was kind enough to get the rope for us and swing it to Dan and Talmage two times each even though his friends were getting ready to go and then going. Dan payed him and he seemed less bothered about the inconvenience.
That afternoon we waited in line for a boat. I thought we'd have to wait for an hour, but, fortunately, a large boat returned and everyone else was waiting for a small boat. Lucky us! (small boat - 10E/hour, large boat 20E/hour). The views of the mountains are stunning from the lake. We rowed to the island in the middle and checked out the church.
There are many steps leading up to the church. We heard a good groom will carry his bride up all the steps as a symbol of his devotion. Dan, being the romantic that he is, carried me up all the steps to the cheering of the kids and compliments of locals.
Today was Mary's Saint Day and we went to a Mary's church which is why, to our supreme delight, there was a live choir singing in the church with the organ! It was so beautiful!!
We lined up with many other tourists to ring the good-luck bell. I was focused on keeping the kids behaving well and then on them not ringing the bell too much. Then I stepped for my turn and rang the bell. Afterwards, I turned around and realized mass was in progress! I felt the congregation's eyes on me like, 'How dare you, during our mass and in the front, ring a bell?' I felt deeply ashamed. True, there was a long line of tourists and I was one of many, but I knew better. I won't do that again!
After another gorgeous row back to the land, we re-parked the car closer to another rope swing. I was so happy to be on the bike/walking path again. It really is such an enjoyable walk with huge trees on both sides. The ropes on this swing were lower so all the kids were able to do it and thought it was great fun. They got cold pretty fast so they only swam for about 20 minutes. But they thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
We drove to a local restaurant - Gostilna Pr'Tavcar - recommended by our host where we had a delicious and fulfilling dinner of local cuisine for 39E! That's a great price and cheaper than lunch today. Dan and the boys shared weiner schnitzel with chicken (the portions were huge), I had yummy trout with Allison and Brie had beef soup with noodles and loved it. The menus weren't in English but our host was kind enough to translate for us.
Lake Bled - bike ride, boat ride, rope swings
August 14th
Checked into our room.
Our accommodations: They boys were stoked to find a basketball hoop, a soccer goal and two soccer balls. They have spent pretty much every spare minute shooting hoops or soccer goals. I love that. We have a nice, large, clean room with 2 bunk beds and a double. The bathroom is shared with campers and we have to wait in line for the toilet sometimes, but it's O.K. We have internet! Always a huge bonus. The beds are comfortable and it's been pretty cool here so we sleep well, too. We share the kitchen and dining room, too - each in separate buildings. There's no garbage can in our room, but there are garbage cans outside.
19:00 is a big deal here. The bells start ringing at 18:45 - all of them!- and continued until 19:00. It was pretty cool. We went shopping in the tiny market in town, then to dinner at a pizzeria nearby and ate for less than we have our entire trip (21E)!
August 15th
We rented bikes - we had to get them from two sister offices that were about 8 minutes apart walking - but we were able to get kid bikes for our kids which was wonderful. The path around the lake is beautiful! There are tons of tourists so, if I did it again, I'd start biking at 9am. We wouldn't have so many near-misses with walking tourists. We didn't get started until 11am despite our best efforts for starting early. It took us about an hour to bike the 6 km.path around the lake.We then ate lunch - nothing Slovenian nor exceptionally yummy - then walked to the first rope swing. It was very high in the tree, but some boys had just finished using it. One boy, 12 or so, was kind enough to get the rope for us and swing it to Dan and Talmage two times each even though his friends were getting ready to go and then going. Dan payed him and he seemed less bothered about the inconvenience.
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| View of the mountains from the lake. |
That afternoon we waited in line for a boat. I thought we'd have to wait for an hour, but, fortunately, a large boat returned and everyone else was waiting for a small boat. Lucky us! (small boat - 10E/hour, large boat 20E/hour). The views of the mountains are stunning from the lake. We rowed to the island in the middle and checked out the church.There are many steps leading up to the church. We heard a good groom will carry his bride up all the steps as a symbol of his devotion. Dan, being the romantic that he is, carried me up all the steps to the cheering of the kids and compliments of locals.
Today was Mary's Saint Day and we went to a Mary's church which is why, to our supreme delight, there was a live choir singing in the church with the organ! It was so beautiful!!
We lined up with many other tourists to ring the good-luck bell. I was focused on keeping the kids behaving well and then on them not ringing the bell too much. Then I stepped for my turn and rang the bell. Afterwards, I turned around and realized mass was in progress! I felt the congregation's eyes on me like, 'How dare you, during our mass and in the front, ring a bell?' I felt deeply ashamed. True, there was a long line of tourists and I was one of many, but I knew better. I won't do that again!
After another gorgeous row back to the land, we re-parked the car closer to another rope swing. I was so happy to be on the bike/walking path again. It really is such an enjoyable walk with huge trees on both sides. The ropes on this swing were lower so all the kids were able to do it and thought it was great fun. They got cold pretty fast so they only swam for about 20 minutes. But they thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
We drove to a local restaurant - Gostilna Pr'Tavcar - recommended by our host where we had a delicious and fulfilling dinner of local cuisine for 39E! That's a great price and cheaper than lunch today. Dan and the boys shared weiner schnitzel with chicken (the portions were huge), I had yummy trout with Allison and Brie had beef soup with noodles and loved it. The menus weren't in English but our host was kind enough to translate for us.
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