Birthday trip: Day 3

Day 3 of our trip had overcast and rainy weather so we decided to drive to the Tripoint...where Italy, Slovenia and Austria all meet...and then into Austria for a bit.

The Tripoint was pretty remote, with a rough dirt/gravel road to get there. When we finally arrived, there was only one other couple there. They'd hiked from the nearest Slovenian town and headed back down while we were still up there (about a 2-2.5 hour hike, they said).

Here's the first marker we saw...

There were a couple more markers also but the winner was the view. Here's looking into Austria...

They also had this metal topographic map which was cool...

During a break in the rain (a gorgeous sunny few moments), we enjoyed a picnic lunch. 

We'd already tucked in a good bit before we remembered to take a photo, sorry. Our AirBNB had a flyer for this local business that would pack you a breakfast basket or a picnic basket...filled with lots of yummy food in appropriate serving sizes and complete with the basket, a blanket, a cutting board, etc. (I know I'm forgeting things but our basket had a loaf of fresh bread, butter and jam and honey, sausage and cheese, yogurts, hard boiled eggs, fresh fruit, peach nectar juice, milk, and a little potica!) They delivered it to our AirBNB and then the next day we just left the basket and blanket back out by the door and they picked it up. Yay!

While we were eating, a truck from Villacher brewery surprised us, arriving to pick up some tables and such that had been left at the site after a recent gathering. We got on the road down before the truck and headed into Villach, Austria where we ended up parking in a lot directly across from the Villacher building...

...and as we were walking away from there toward town, the very same Villacher truck driver honked at us and rolled down the window to say hi. :) 

We saw this cool street/alley along our way...

...and, of course, climbed the 239 steps to the top of the church tower.

There was actually a section of the climb with a red and green light to control the direction...because it was too narrow for passing...

(We came upon other climbs on our trip that could have used a system like this, fyi.)

Then we ventured next door to the actual cathedral. It was rather plain looking from the outside but fascinating on the inside. I've not seen another ceiling like this, and I've been in a rather lot of churches and cathedrals in my travels.

We stopped and got afternoon tea and coffee plus dessert and then walked along the river a bit before returning to the car, figuring out yet again how to get out of the parking lot, and driving back to Bled for dinner and a quiet night. 

Birthday trip: Day 2

Day 2 was spent in Ljubljana, Slovenia. We drove the 40 minutes or so from Bled (where we home-based), found parking and started our wander...

Had to take a picture at Dragon Bridge...

...and in front of the pink church that Ljubljana is somewhat associated with...

Then we climbed the hill to the castle and took a photo inside the courtyard...

...before climbing the viewing tower and looking out...

What goes up must come down...so then we climbed back down the hill...

(parts of the path were made up of many steps and parts were a more traditional trail)

In our wandering, we also found this. It's an odd river of bronze faces in Locksmith Alley...

There was a fountain at the top so that water actually flowed down. And here's a close up of some of the faces...

Then we had lunch and wandered more before meeting up with our food tour. We find that it's a lovely and useful idea to take a food tour at the beginning of trips...not only are they usually delicious and fun but they teach you what to look for in a new country's foods. This food tour did not disappoint. It was fabulous and filling and educational. We had six different stops and had a lovely time for about 3.5 hours. This was our second stop...a lovely chicken soup and some local beer and sausages...

I'm pretty disappointed we didn't take a group photo, though. It was our lovely guide, us, and two other couples. One of the couples was from Australia and one was from South Africa, so we were quite the diverse group and had some great conversations. I don't have photos from each of our stops (was too busy enjoying the food!) but we ended with these adorable personal-size poticas...

My dad's grandparents all immigrated here from Slovenia in the late 1800s so potica is something that our family has made and celebrated at least annually (definitely at Christmas and sometimes other times as well). It was wonderful tasting home along the way. :)

After our food tour, we parted ways and wandered past Butcher's Bridge (which we'd been at or past numerous times already)...

...and then found our car again, battled with figuring out how to pay and get out of the garage again, lol, and drove back to our place in Bled.

Birthday trip: Day 1

So. To celebrate each of us turning 50 this past summer, Nathan and I took a fabulous birthday trip. If you follow me on Facebook, I've already shared most of this. But I know not everyone does Facebook and it'll be nice to have a record of things here...

Bear with me as I get posts up. We did a lot and took a ton of photos. ;) I'm going to do day by day posts and then will wrap up and such at the end.

Without further ado, then...we left Denver on Friday, September 12 and flew all night to London. Because we managed a row to ourselves and since I'm short, I was actually able to lay down a bit and get some sleep on the flight. Nathan wasn't as fortunate...leaned against the window but just doesn't sleep well on planes. We then hung out in London for some hours before catching our connecting flight to Zagreb, Croatia. We landed on Saturday, September 13 in the evening, picked up our rental car, said many thanks that Nathan remembered how to drive a manual car (they were considerably cheaper to rent than automatics), and found our AirBNB for the night (which took a bit and ended with us in a parking garage because we were unwilling to try to park where we'd been told...it was quite a narrow entrance!). We walked a few blocks to our place and climbed the five flights of stairs in the dark. Thus ended a very long travel "day."

Sunday, September 14, then, we'll call Day 1. We decided to leave the car where it was and just walk. So, we checked out and loaded our stuff into the car then left everything there and explored Zagreb. We walked around Upper and Lower Town and just generally wandered...

Here's the view from our AirBNB (we were on the top level)...

And this, in the daylight, is the entrance to the parking for our AirBNB (had to open the doors and drive through). In the dark, we just weren't willing, lol.

So. We stowed our stuff and walked...here's a park I found to hang and loosen up my back after the travel day beforehand (it was tricky getting inside there, lol)...

Looking up at the world’s shortest funicular (sadly, closed for renovation/repair)…we just took the steps up to Upper Town instead...

And, this is St Mark's in Upper Town. The construction pods didn't help with the aesthetic but the roof is really the thing, right?

Also in Upper Town, we stopped in at the Museum of Broken Relationships...

It was fascinating and definitely one of a kind. And then we climbed to the top of Burglars Tower in Upper Town Zagreb (because we like to climb things, lol)...

And this is us in the main square in Lower Town...

...and we found a chocolate museum! They actually gave you chocolate with admission! There were samples coordinating with the different rooms along the exhibit. You learned some then ate the chocolate…educational and yummy!!

(Yes, I should have taken a photo *before* I ate all the chocolate. I'm feeling like I should get credit for waiting for each room and not just eating it all at the start, lol.)

Along the way there was also lunch and gelato and coffee and gelato. :) And then we walked back to our car, figured out how to get out of the parking garage (not the easiest thing), and headed out of Zagreb. Along the way, we had to stop before the Slovenia border to get a vignette for the rental car (which took a little bit of struggling with technology) and then we continued to Bled, met with our next AirBNB host and walked to dinner. 

And that was day 1.

Thankful & Throwback Thursday

I'll start with a throwback photo, just because. :) So, here's a sweet photo of my three boys twenty years ago...

Yup, this is from September of 2005. Micah was just over a month old, Noah would have been almost five and Asher was three. Aren't they adorable?!

Now, things I'm thankful for lately...

1. Photos. I'm so thankful that I have so many photos of my guys growing up. As an incredibly visual person, the photos help me remember. I have a fair number of extended family photos also...from my own childhood and my parents' and Nathan's...yay! (And, yes, my photos have pretty much all been digitized and organized chronologically because I've had the time and I'm like that, lol.)

2. Vinnie. I meant to say a couple weeks ago that, even though I'm thoroughly enjoying our new EV, Stevie, I'm so glad for our mini van, Vinnie. He's been amazing for us over the almost 17 years we've had him. Specifically this summer, Vinnie's been a rock star for our road trip and for moving both younger boys and their stuff. Hooray for plenty of cargo space!

3. My baby sister. Today is my baby sister's birthday. Thankful for all my siblings but particularly thankful today for the many laughs provided by Cas over the years. She's so entertaining...even when she doesn't mean to be. ;)

This is from Cas' 5th birthday. I'm actually taller than them all here because they're all 10 and younger, lol. By a couple years after this photo was taken, Zach and Bekah were probably taller than me. 

4. That things are calm. Not much to report here lately, which is actually fine. I'm thankful for how steady things are. Micah's a great roommate, very helpful actually. He continues to teach himself and challenge himself and look for a job. Asher's back at UNC and well started on his final semester of classes. He's got new roommates (which is going well) and continues with Taekwondo Club and PE Club. And Noah's in South Korea now and starting to get out and experience more of that country. We're looking forward to hopefully seeing more pictures from him soon.

5. That Nathan's ankle is healed. It took more than a month but Nathan's sprained ankle finally healed! It's maybe not 100% still but it's good enough that he was able to finish his introductory paragliding course...which means he's actually paraglided (by himself!) three times now. 

This was from a video from a camera mounted to his helmet during his inaugural flight on August 31. Thankful he's safe and that he's enjoying it so much. :) 

6. The smell of sourdough. My house smells like sourdough right now and it's lovely. I'm a little surprised to say that I've actually been making sourdough bread pretty regularly (once a week-ish) since I learned how this spring. Thankful for the wonderful smell and for having yummy bread in the house (where I know exactly what went into it). Thankful, too, that Micah's here to help us eat it, lol.

So, that's my list for now. Hope your September is going well!

Last-ish first day of school

Today was Asher's last first day of school at UNC. I was going to say last first day, period. But. He's going into education so it seems likely he'll have more first days of school, lol. But it's my last first day with a son as a student...so yay!

In any case, the fall semester started today. Asher sent me this photo. :)

His class today was actually offsite at a local high school, where he'll be doing practicum type stuff (teaching lessons) all semester. (His other three classes will meet/start tomorrow.) He has this one semester of classes and then will do his student teaching in the spring and graduate in May. He'll graduate with his degree in Sport & Exercise Science: Physical Education K-12 Teaching, is currently the treasurer of the UNC PE Club and is the vice president and instructor of the UNC Taekwondo Club. 

Micah and I moved Asher into his dorm last Friday. (Micah was the appreciated muscle.) Asher's living in the "twin" dorm of the one he lived in for the past two years...switched because he wanted a ground floor room. He's in one of the single rooms in a single-single-double suite (same situation as the previous two years with a shared common room and bathroom). This one is a bit bigger than the last one and is also taller...but it doesn't have the cool circle windows. ;) 

So. He's all set up and off to a good start. Hooray! Here's to an amazing final year!