It’s Not Over Until…

“The moment where you doubt whether you can fly, you cease for ever being able to do it.” – Peter Pan

*Well, it’s just not over until I give props to Murph! The amount of time and effort he puts forth for these journeys to take flight is truly amazing!*

Guiding us along – reserving rooms, events, cars, trains, museums, timed tickets for the Vatican, the Sistine Chapel, the Colosseum & monuments to visit…buying passes for vaparettoes (boats in Venice) & *tubes (subways in London).*

*Seriously, it takes MONTHS to plan all of this – AND he does* *this without even whining* ❤️

*“There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.” –* Edith Wharton

*In addition to all of that, he’s my editor. Before I send any of my blog posts he looks them over first.*

*“We can do no great things — only small things with great love.”* – Mother Teresa

*He even hangs on to me so I don’t blow away with the wind!*

We aren’t really shoppers, and especially not when we travel. Limited amount of luggage space, ya know. Except when I saw a man wearing this shirt while we were in Ljubljana I knew I HAD to have one. Fast forward about 10 days and I found it in a shop while we were in Kobarid.

*“Think not that you can direct the course of love; for love…directs your course.” –* Khalil Gilbran

****A word with you please **** When we talked about traveling to England, Wales and Europe this past summer, many of our friends voiced concern. Let’s face it, the good ole U.S. of A. no longer has a great reputation. Several people thought we’d experience animosity because we were American. I’m here to tell you, it was just the opposite – we spoke with people from England, Italy, Slovenian, Australia, Switzerland & Vancouver to name a few. Unilaterally, they showed compassion and concern for the citizens of our country. They realize that “we the people” is different than the people who are running us into the ground. They’re worried and didn’t hesitate to tell us so. But hey! we only have three more years to survive – right? 🤔

“One of the great things about travel is you find out how many good, kind people there are.” – Edith Wharton

Steppin’ Up

“The world is changed by your example not your opinion.” – Paul Coelho

We weren’t sure that we would arrive at our hotel in Rome before the manager left for the day. So, she sent us this adorable video to make our check in seamless.

*Figuring all of this out is half the fun!*

*Tower climbing is generally a challenge – but oh the views once you arrive at the top!*

*The apartment we had in Florence had two lofts on either side, where we climbed up every night. Also, down in the middle of the night* 😉

*If you want to see something – you’re gonna have to climb to get there* 😂

*Remember the roof top terrace in Venice? Well, it was crazy getting up there – two sets of stairs…*

*the second one, we practically had to crawl up. But again – that view!*

*Even in Slovenia we had stairs up to our bed – is this a flood zone or something !?!* 😂

*We were starting to think it was a conspiracy – honestly?* – *the top floor again?*

*Always fun to have a suspension bridge to traverse between steps!*

*Well, if you want to get up to that waterfall – just head up!*

*See that tie dye dot on the top floor of the building? You guessed it – me on our balcony!*

Remember the ancient tower where we stayed in Siena? I found this video that Murph made while we were there. Pretty cute!

Bohinj and Beyond

“A journey is like a marriage. The certain way to go wrong is to think you can control it.” – John Steinbeck

*Overall we had really nice weather but the first day at Lake Bohinj we woke up to this!*

*We started with umbrellas but quickly transitioned into waterproof jackets. We were determined to walk around the entire lake*!

It’s hard to tell from this pic but the path was pretty washed out here. We had to scramble down about 20 ft and then back up again. We’d gone too far to turn back. By now, it had been about 2 1/2 hours and we were cold and wet. BUT we did know there was a boat dock up ahead. So, POR (press on regardless).

We ended up walking around 2/3 of the lake but swallowed our pride and took the boat back. Our B&B had an actual drying room for wet boots and clothes, that we took full advantage of. I’m starting to think it rains/snows here more than advertised. ☺️

*The following day started out cloudy so we weren’t sure we’d see much when we took this cable car up – hoping to see Mt Triglav.*

*And we did have nice views of Lake Bohinj* 😊

*We also walked to a neighboring village – Stara Fuzina – where I spotted this “art” in the main square.*

*But on closer inspection we realized it was an old well!*

*Then we saw this explanation. A little tough to read but possible when zoomed in.*

*I really loved this quaint village with a notice that said it all* 💚

If you recall, while in Italy we spotted so many Madonnas. But in Slovenia where 80% of the population is Catholic we saw several shrines to saints, even in the smallest of villages. We also saw many, many crucifixes.

*We went into quite a few old churches and I found this fascinating. Look at these stations of the cross, juxtaposed to one another.* *This is one interpretation of station eleven in a church.*

*And this is the same station – different, very old church – different interpretation.*

We stopped to listen to this woman while in Venice. I just didn’t want to leave her out!

How ‘bout some history?

“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” – Marcel Proust

Generally speaking, while traveling, Murph navigates and I do the driving. I have to tell you I LOVE driving a standard transmission car and I had a little 5 speed VW Polo this year. I drove the Vršiċ Pass Loop – which is comprised of 24 hairpin, switchbacks up the mountains and 26 hairpin, switchbacks down. The turns were cobbled for better traction. It was sooo much fun!

After switchback #8 we stopped and climbed some stairs to a little Russian Orthodox chapel. The Vršiċ Pass was built during World War I by at least 10,000 Russian POWs of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire to supply the Soča Front. The POWs lived and worked in terrible conditions, and several hundred died of illness and exposure. On March 8, 1916, an avalanche thundered down the mountains, killing hundreds more workers. This chapel was built where the final casualty was found.

*At the top of the pass and at turn #24 we were planning to hike over the “hill” for some great views. Lots of loose stone etc…*

*The path just kept heading up and the “steps” felt to be waist high for me. “Can we just go back down and have a little picnic, please?”*

*The next day we hiked up and up through the forest.*

*We first reached this World War I series of tunnels and look out areas – it* *was deserted and quite eerie.*

*Then we continued up to Fort Hermann – again from WWI.*

Tried to imagine living in a mountain and waiting for soldiers to attack. War is always a very difficult thing to imagine. Ok, it doesn’t look like I’m contemplating war in this pic but still…you get it, right!?! 😉

*Okay, I know I did the whole flower “thing” but I just came across this and thought it worthy of attention. Plus, so much better than wars, right?*

The Wonder of Waterfalls

“It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye. My thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn’t feel like a giant. I felt very, very small.” – Neil Armstrong

I hope this post doesn’t feel like an HOUR of zen 😉😂

I hate to say this, but if there’s such a thing as a disappointing waterfall, this would be it. Not because it wasn’t awesome – it was just so far away. After hiking up 505 (true story) stairs, rocks and tree roots, I acknowledge its strength and beauty. But after climbing up there, the least it could be is closer!!! It was hard to even photograph without a better zoom lens. Still – it was a dramatic thing to see. Ok, now let’s climb down those 505 steps (but who’s counting, right?).

So Many Flowers

“I wish I had never gone traveling.” Said no one. EVER.

*Well, if you’ve been following me for awhile, you know I’m going to show you “a few” flowers. Here’s your moment of zen!*

*I dream of growing this kind of moss in my shade garden!*

Full disclosure, Murph and I got home on Sept 29th. However, I do have a few more things to show you so stay tuned for the next week or so!

Cycling in Slovenia

“ So come with me, where dreams are born, and time is never planned.” – Peter Pan

*We based ourselves in Kranjska Gora with the primary reason of biking a portion of this trail. It’s 400 kilometers (250 miles) and goes through Austria, Slovenia and Italy.*

*As you probably know, we’ve biked a bit and we found this trail to be exceptional!*

*The blue sky, warm day was definitely a bonus.*

*I mean, seriously – look at these surroundings!*

What an experience it was – we talked about riding the entire trail one day. With E bikes (shout out to Annie) it would be totally doable – 40/50 miles per day? Something to dream about this winter, perhaps? 🤷🏾‍♀️

*Ok, the sign on the left means we are entering Italy and the train marker on the right indicates that we are leaving Slovenia. (Look closely and you’ll see my life/biking partner!)*

*I found this ancient concrete fence fascinating.* 🤔

*Our first destination was this cable car station outside the town of Camporosso, Italy. We hopped on and rode it to the top of Monte Lussari, roughly 1,000 meters (or about 3,000 feet*).

*Great views of the mountains in Italy.*

*Murph walked the rest of the way up to the summit for a bird*’s *eye view.*

*Getting hungry now so we biked back to Tarvisio, Italy and ate at a recommended pizzeria. This is a pic of the old abandoned train station* *that is along the trail.*

*All fed and energized, we biked back toward home. But we had one more stop to make.*

*The sun was getting lower, so after a quick walk by the lake, we turned for home.*

*Now we are entering back into Slovenia and leaving Italy* *behind.*

*Yup, there are Swiftie’s here – even in Slovenia! A nice feeling of unity, I think.*

Simply Slovenia

“Happiness resides not in possessions and not in gold; the feeling of happiness dwells in the soul.” – Democritus – Ancient Greek philosopher (c. 460 – c. 370 BC)

*We left Ljubljana* *on a bit of a rainy day.*

*We hoped that seeing this newly built house that had a collapsed foundation, wasn’t a bad omen.*

*By the time we arrived at our place in Logarska Dolina, things were definitely looking up!*

*And speaking of up – we seem to always get a room at the top of our B&Bs. (There may be more on that later.)*

*After two weeks of hiking in England and two weeks of touring in Italy, I was starting to think I was burning out*. *But, oh these views*!

*Two weeks in Slovenia? I think I can handle that!*

*Of course, we weren’t done hiking – up we go, in search of a waterfall.*

“*What do you think Murph, would you rather live in a valley, mountain side, or on the very top of the mountain?” We had important conversations like this!*

*Soooo many pretty churches in Slovenia. Fun fact – it’s the only country with love in it. S – LOVE – nia! Right?*

Linger in Ljubljana

“If something good happens, travel to celebrate. If something bad happens, travel to forget. If nothing happens, travel to make something happen.” – Anonymous