Saturday - June 7th, 2008 (Left for Italy)

Before breakfast Corey went for a swim (poor kid), that yes, overlooked the vineyards at Hotel Belica.

After we ate, Mark, Petra, John, Corey & I were off to Venice, Italy. It was about a 2 hour drive from where we were. Once we arrived, we parked the car and got on the water bus. This place is exactly like the post cards, but much more beautiful. The architecture is remarkable. We stopped at a quaint little restaurant on the water for lunch.

(Can you see Roger Feder's fabulous face below on the building to the right? The French Open is currently going on.)

The photo below shows the passage way where convicts that are tried (courthouse on the left) and sentenced walk through to jail (building on the right). They call it the "bridge of sigh". It's their last look at daylight.

Below is a piece of art that was constructed outside of an art mesuem. It appears to be all metals from a kitchen.

Afterwards, we walked and walked trying to take in as much as we could. At the famous Rialto bridge, which we're standing on below, we went to a soccer store (European world cup soccer finals are going on now while we are here) and purchased a soccer ball and goalie gloves for Corey. The store owner was terrific and spoke english to Corey in helping him make the right selection.

We left Italy around 7:30 p.m. and headed to the seaside to a town called Izola. This was one of my favorite towns. We met Petra's parents this time and enjoyed dinner together. They are wonderful people who have a very beautiful daughter...and a cool dog named Henkel (he was asleep under the table).

(Life is good when there's ketchup near by...)

After dinner Mark & Petra drove us to our hotel - Hotel Piran...it was magnificent. We were on the top floor and our balcony overlooked the Adriatic sea. If you looked to the left you see the shoreline of Croatia and to the right you see the lights of Italy...amazing. Unfortunately our camera battery died, so we have no night pictures of this.

Friday - June 6th, 2008 (Bled Lake, Soca River & Movia vineyard)

Corey woke us up early as he fell out of his bed at 6:00 a.m. We cleaned up and went downstairs of the hotel for breakfast. We were served meat (like bologna) and cheese for starters. Kinda like where some places in Tx. put chips and salsa or bread on the table. We were then served eggs and ham, a basket of rolls and various marmalades. Corey had chocolate chip crepes. He is soooo on vacation.

Mark & Petra picked us up around 9:30 and we drove to Bled Lake. This place was absolutely beautiful. Very calming. Even though the rain hasn't stopped and the air was cool, we truly enjoyed the walk we took around this lake. We of course stopped at a local shop on the water and had tea and dessert.

We left at 12:30 for a drive through the mountain pass called Vrsic (written with a small "v" over the "c"). There are 50 curves driving up this mountain (25 on each side). We were greeted by mountain goats and some snow in the hills when we reached the top. Incredible.

We then drove down the backside of the Alps to the Soca (again, a small "v" over the "c") river for some river rafting. This river is amazing. I encourage all of you to go here! The water was 7 degrees celseus and a beautiful shade of Jade green. You can see the bottom and even drink the water - which we did. We all dressed in full body rafting gear, met our rafting guide, went over the rules and how-to's and we were off. Corey started off as a paddler, but later retired the paddle and moved to the front of the boat. There wasn't a dry bone on his body. He had a blast. We were told to expect the ride to go for 2 hours, but the rapids were moving swiftly as the rain has been continuous for over a week before we arrived. We finished in an hour. I would have paddled for 3 hrs. That was amazing!!

For our next adventure we drove to a well known wine makers home/vineyard called Movia Vandima Turno founded in 1820. The wine makers name is Ales (written with a small "v" over the "s") Kristanclc (small "v"s over the "c"s). Joe & Angela met us there along with Angela's neice, Irene (the chameleon owner) and her boyfriend. There were 5 other gentlemen from Italy also there to meet Ales and see his cellars. Ales has come out with a new sparkling wine called Movia Puro (meaning Pure). The recommended way to enjoy this bottle is to open it under water. We have a video of this, but can't load it here. The tour was very personal and such an experience. Ales was kind enough to jump from Italian to Slovanian and to English to include everyone. Plus we had the help of our interpreting friends. This was an event we'll always remember.

That evening we all stayed (at a hotel further up the hill overlooking the vineyards) called Hotel Belica. We met the owners later for drinks and bread. They too are wine makers. Belica was est. in 1898. Our hotel room was more like a small house. It was stunning. We had a terrace that overlooked the vineyards. Where we were was very close to Italy and you can see one the roads that travels alongside the vineyards.

Thursday, June 5th, 2008 (Ljubljana, Slovenia)

Today we left for Slovania. Our flight was at 10:15 a.m. and we arrived at 11:55 am. Mark was there to greet us at the airport. Some background...We met Mark & Petra in 2004 in Cozumel when we took Kasey there for his graduation scuba diving trip. We exchanged email info. with them and the next year they stopped through Texas, along with Mark's parents, Joe & Angela, on their way to Vegas for a conference Joe was attending. Joe has a business, Racman Technologies (I believe). He manufacturers CD's and DVD's. Angela is a doctor (General practitioner), Petra has completed her studies in law and works for a Notary at a law firm. And Mark is still studying to be a doctor - not sure which field yet, but he's going to be very successful in whatever field he chooses.



















Heeeeerrrrrreeee's Mark!


When we arrived the weather was rainy and around 63 degrees. Our first stop was to visit Joe's place of work. The tour was very interesting and reminding John of his days at Cypress Semi. with the sputtering, targets, etest, etc.. Afterwards we walked across the street to a small shop called "STOP" and had tea/coffee. Corey asked for a hot chocolate. There's is like a chocolate bar melted in a glass with whip cream on top. Very thick ....Corey was quite happy. I feared he'd never sleep again!




















Joe's business facility.










Here is Corey with one of the workers on his left and Joe on his right. They're letting him press the button on a heavy duty paper slicer.









Later we went to lunch at CAD (with a small "v" over the "C") and Petra, Angela and Joe later joined us. We were told that the food was not typical Slovenian food, instead it was more Siberian. There was lots of meats (minced, pork, cheese steak) and even horse. Yes, we ate horse. There was also plenty of cheese. In particular a butter cheese and squares of feta. We also had baked beans, grilled paprika peppers and huge disc's of bread - kinda like pita, but not hollowed out.






















Angela had to leave us temporarily to meet with a "roach vendor" before he closed shop. She buys the roaches and some grass hoppers to feed her neice's chamileon. After lunch we parted from Joe & Angela and drove through Ljubljana (capital of Slovenia and where they live) with Mark & Petra to see the city. We hiked to the top of Ljubljana's castle to get a better view of the city. It's surrounded by hills; very beautiful.










































































Afterwards we had tea and dessert (local dessert is Gibanica - fabulous) at a place called the Tea House. They then took us to our hotel Bajc. Unique and nice place.















Our bed.



























Corey's bed. Bath, TV and desks are on other side of the room.