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.