Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Home, Sweet Jetlag


We are finally stateside again after our seven weeks in Ljubljana.  And, despite a 4am wake-up call and layovers in Paris and Reykjavik, we made it back in one piece (although sans one suitcase, which is getting delivered later this evening).  A key component of this was entertainment that kept the whole family glued to the screen (see below).

Our final weekend consisted of a few of our staples:  sandwiches down by the river for lunch, pizza at restaurant Trta for dinner, and (what else?) a few ice cream cones.  We also managed to squeeze in a date night with a home-cooked fish dinner.  We did not, however, go to the playground because we were too ecstatic about making it all the way through our trip with no E/R visits.

We had a great mix of new and old experiences this time around.  What was fun to watch was how much the kiddos (especially Rosetta) remembered from last year.  It was really fun (or “Super!”, as they say in Slovenia) being in our old apartment the final two weeks.  That brought back so many memories, first and foremost of which was sitting in the living room all night with Grandpa watching the Packers win the “Super!” Bowl.  We chuckled walking all those stairs up to the apartment thinking about hauling two strollers with us every time last year.  We also chuckled when we found some Legos under the couch that we lost last year.

All in all, it was a successful seven weeks and Ljubljana has certainly engrained a special place in our hearts.  Thank you for joining us again on our journey and for allowing us to share our experiences with you.  We hope you’ve enjoyed it too!







Friday, August 10, 2012

Vrbnik


This week, we drove to the town of Vrbnik, on the island Krk off the coast of Croatia.  Vrbnik was built somewhere around 1200 and was originally designed to protect Krk from pirates.  It's now a remote village of about 900 people.

Talk about a cool town, especially from a kid's perspective.  The village inside the original town wall is a bunch of narrow, winding walkways between old stone buildings, with a lot of archways, steps, dead-ends, and “mini-doors,” as the kids called them.  There is even one street Vrbnik claims to be the world’s narrowest at 42 centimeters wide (see below).  Every single building is unique.  Luckily, the town is so small that when you get lost (there is no chance of finding your way using your sense of direction) it only takes a few minutes of walking before you end up at the town square or another village exit.  Vrbnik is also small enough and remote enough that it isn’t touristy at all, so it still has the feel of an 800-year-old town.

The house where we stayed was inside the wall, at the top of the hill near the church (which means we awoke to the 6:45am bells each morning), and about as old as they come.  We haven’t seen many houses like it:  it was about 12’ x 12’ square and four stories.  You can picture what that means for the stairwells…even Chantelle cracked her head a few times on the ceiling.  The cellar was a kitchen, the main floor was a living room, and the top two floors were bedrooms.  There wasn’t a whole lot of room to maneuver, but, of course, the kiddos loved it because it presented all sorts of new opportunities.

Whatever the house lacked in amenities, it made up for with its rooftop deck and the rockstar view of the Adriatic during the day and a bazillion stars at night.  From the deck, you could also see how close together the buildings in the town were:  you could literally walk across town on the rooftops if you fancied.

Most importantly, though, we all had a blast at the beach.  It certainly didn’t bother the kids that it was small and rocky, or that the sea was rough the last day (again, new challenges).  We swam ourselves ragged enough to have early, early bedtimes each night.  In fact, the last day, Celia was so tired by early afternoon that she declared, “I think I’m finished swimming,” and went and sat on a beach chair.  We capped off each beach day with a “Pinocchio” ice cream…big hit!













Sunday, August 5, 2012

Wedding in Preseren Square


Yesterday, we happened to be walking through Preseren Square when a wedding ended at the Franciscan Church of the Annunciation.   It was quite a sight.  The wedding party was in full traditional garb and they danced in the square to an accordion.  We thought they were at risk of heat stroke, but they certainly seemed to be having a lot of fun.  Unfortunately, we didn’t get any pictures of the bride and groom coming out of the church and down the steps…they got pelted with a couple kilos of rice (seriously).  We think there were more tourists gathered around taking photos and videos than people who were actually there for the wedding!

We’re on our way to the beach tomorrow for three days.  You can imagine the energy level of our apartment this morning...




Friday, August 3, 2012

Cheese Toast with Ketchup and Mayo


Unfortunately, we are now into the last ten days of our stay here.  My class has ended, and I don’t think I could have asked for it to go any better…who knows, maybe they’ll invite us back next year.  Since moving back to our old apartment on Sunday, we have just been enjoying being in Old Town again, which means not doing much of anything.

We have, of course, been keeping up with the Olympics and Slovenia’s one gold and two bronze medals (which, if you go by its population of two million people, Slovenia is proportionately laying waste to the top two medal contenders).  In the process, we’ve learned that cheese toast with ketchup and mayo washed down with Lasko makes an excellent Olympics-watching snack.