Sher Online

Breakfast at the hotel was nice. As usual, they have a great variety of things so you can choose what you want, and how much you want. Since we’ve been fed so well this whole trip, that’s a very welcome thing.

Note: This is the thirteenth post in this series. Go HERE to start from the beginning.

It was what happened after breakfast that made this day’s start noteworthy. I was a bit late (8 minutes?) getting everything together and out to the entrance, and…there was no one there! I briefly wondered if I’d misunderstood where we were supposed to meet, but it quickly became obvious that they’d left without me!

The day was gloriously sunny and cool, so it was nice being outside. Maybe that contributed to me being calm about this. I figured they’d discover my absence eventually, but didn’t want to hold things up too long for them to come back for me. I put a note in WhatsApp, but wasn’t confident they’d see that soon. When there was no quick reply, I realized I could just call Jen, since I was still in the WiFi reach of the hotel. When she answered, she at first thought I was calling from the other van (Ellen’s). And I’m sure folks in the other van thought I was in Jen’s van. The one morning they don’t do a physical count, oh my! 😉

Anyway, Jen figured it out quickly and that van turned around to pick me up. All was well.

Our destination was just down the road at Lake Bohinj. This was where we were supposed to spend the day that we instead spent at Lake Bled; the two just got switched because of where the weather was the worst.

This was a beautiful day to spend some time at the lake. We only had a couple of hours, but they were peaceful. Minka gave us an introduction, with a story about the four men depicted in the statue. They braved local lore and the unknown to venture to the top of a surrounding mountain to find out how tall it was and what was above the known maximum height. They didn’t encounter dragons or evil spirits, but proved the heights could be safely traversed.

Then we walked to the bridge over where the lake empties into a river. Cars are constantly going back and forth, but they have to basically treat it like a one-way since tourists are constantly walking along both sides of the bridge. It’s one of the most scenic places in the town!

Unlike Lake Bled where we were yesterday, the lakeside isn’t built up and there’s no pathway to walk around it. Besides, Lake Bohinj is about three times the size of Lake Bled. All the stores and restaurants are off to the side, which leaves the lake less touristy. This is probably too many pictures, but I was really taken with how gorgeous it was!

Over the bridge is a small but apparently quite famous church, named after John the Baptist. The recurring motif is murals of his beheading. Otherwise, it was quite lovely. I was especially taken with the floor tiles.

And I got there just when a choir of young people was practicing singing for a wedding. They were in the balcony and it sounded just lovely, so I recorded a couple of videos so I could record their voices. You’ll recognize the second one as Allelujah.

Here’s the view of the church looking back where you can see the singers in the tiny loft area.

Here’s the view from an outdoor porch of the church.

As it was nearing our meet-up time, I headed back to the bridge. After a quick stop at the WC, we loaded into the vans and began our trek back to Ljubljana, where we started from 10 days ago. Wow, we’ve seen and done so much in the interim! We got back to Hotel Mrak about noon.

Because we were early and couldn’t check in yet, they stored our luggage and we went out reacquainting ourselves with the city. Since different people wanted to visit different places, we scattered. I went with a group to an abandoned bicycle factory that had been turned into shared working spaces for (mostly) artists and creative types. The spaces are bounded on both sides by glass, so they are not only very bright, but anyone visiting can see what’s going on. Because it’s Saturday, not many people were in their spaces, so there wasn’t much to see.

We continued walking along the river, though, and planned to come back on the other side. We passed the Water Gate that we had seen from the boat ride when we were here before. We didn’t see this side from the boat, but I’m guessing the river was rushing a little more than it had before because of the rain (assuming it rained in this part of the country!).

And as we passed the dragon bridge, I got a couple more pictures of these handsome guys.

Here we ran into a few others from our group, and of course, a search for gelato was involved (I got strawberry this time).

Soon it was time to head back to the hotel to check in. It was really nice to have some hours to ourselves to get prepared for our trips home. But first, our last dinner together. Minka and Elvis (her business assistant) were there, and they treated us to a few minutes of dancing, which is how Minka met Elvis in Cuba.

After a few heartfelt remarks, we ended this long, and last dinner together with hugs and good-byes. Some of us will see each other on airport shuttles tomorrow, some won’t. But we’ll keep in touch with the avenues and resources Honest Heart Journeys has provided for us. We’re Slovenia Sisters now. 🙂

One last gelato run for some of us, then back to the hotel. My plan is to not sleep since the shuttle departs at 3:45 AM. I want to be tired enough to be able to sleep on the 10-hour plane ride from Frankfurt back to DFW. I’ve showered and am mostly packed. I’m finishing this blog and then will upload trip pictures to our PhotoCircle app. If I still have time after that, I’ll check in with email and start catching up (I’m obviously delusional about that catching up part).

Then will come the adventure of getting back home. I’ve really enjoyed this trip but am now looking forward to getting home to the kitties, who probably feel I’ve abandoned them by this point. It’s been a long trip and I’m ready for some downtime, kitty purrs, and furry snuggles.

Last goodnight from Slovenia!