Happy New Year from Slovenia - and Happy Birthday Vivi!

This lucky little girl gets to celebrate her birthday in some very cool destinations.  And the best part is that all of Europe sets off amazing fireworks in celebration, too!  This year we spent New Years Eve in Lake Bled, Slovenia.  It was one of our favorite trips that we took from Germany, while I was pregnant with Vivian, and now it is only a 3 hour drive from our home in Italy.  We really enjoy experiencing some of our favorite travel destinations again now with our children!
 

 Lake Bled boasts a beautiful island church and a cliff side castle overlooking the thermal water.  On a clear day the lake is framed by the Julian Alps.  It is such a picturesque place.   

We stayed in a little house just a few blocks from the water, with a view of the castle out one window.  We made our way up to the castle on New Years Eve in the morning and discovered we weren't the only ones - piling out of cars behind us was a medieval troupe.  So funny to see swords, flags and other weapons being pulled out of their car trunks and thule car toppers! 
   We arrived just as the "Medieval party - dancing and sword fighting with the Lord of the Castle" was beginning.  We could not have timed it more perfectly, and we didn't even know the event was going on.  Lucky us!  Vivian got a spot right up front and could see the sparks flying off the swords!  The video recording on my camera kept cutting out after just a few seconds, but you get the idea. 

Our favorite parts were the flaming sword fight and the fire swallowing man.   

 

 
 


 

 

The only negative was that our view from the castle wasn't much clearer than when we were there in August of 2007: the church on the little island is barely visible below us. 

August 2007 - pregnant with Vivian!

A few more pictures from our trip in 2007, on a sunnier day:

 

August 2007
 

We also revisited the wine cellar at the castle and Vivian and Clara filled, corked, and wax sealed a wine bottle just like we did in 2007, with help from the same monk. 

Clara, New Years Eve 2013



Julia, August 2007

 

Vivian, stamping the wax seal, New Years Eve 2013



Julia, Aug 2007, while pregnant with Vivian!



Clara corking the bottle



Vivian sealing it in wax

 
 

 
 
 
 

Can you spot the castle guards?

Here's a closer look - don't they look ferocious :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

Vivian and I walked around the lake while Clara and Paul drove the car back after our lunch at Chilli's, the local Mexican restaurant (yes, a Mexican restaurant in Slovenia - hey, we take what we can get.  And it was actually pretty good. :)

The swans swam right up to Vivian, they must've been really hungry and looking for food.   They are so pretty. 

 



The castle lit up at night is so beautiful, especially with the reflection in the water.  Sadly, the fog started to roll in as midnight approached and it was difficult to see the fireworks set off below the castle by the water.  Luckily some of the fireworks were small and not too high because the tops of the big, high ones were lost in the clouds.  I didn't even try to take any pictures of the fireworks - but we still really enjoyed them and the booming echo and reflections in the water.  And there were lots of people setting off their own, semi-professional fireworks all around the lake.  Both girls loved getting to stay up until midnight and even Clara was pretty well behaved, thanks to a long nap earlier in the day. 

 

 

 

 

My attempt at a pink frosting rosette cake even survived the journey from home to the hotel, despite being crammed into our tiny car along with our winter gear, bags for two nights, and a couple of gifts thrown in too.  I am quite amazed that it made it. 

Excited Six Year Old Vivian!

 

 

Happy 2014 to you and Happy Birthday Vivian! 

Lake Como

Over Memorial Day weekend, we had the pleasure of spending our holiday with friends at beautiful Lake Como.  The pictures say it all.....it is truly an amazing place, this lovely blue lake with snow capped Alps for a backdrop, and picturesque villas and villages dotting the shores....so gorgeous!

restaurant window with a view
 



friendly swans...



...getting closer...

....maybe not so friendly after all...  eek!



We rode the ferry boats around to view the lakeshore from the water and to stop off in a few of the villages, one of which was the original Bellagio.  We were lucky to have a beautiful sunny day after the unseasonably cold weather we'd had. 

 

Paul was of course very excited to search for the villa that part of Star Wars episode 2 was filmed in, but the boat didn't get very close.  Here are a few of the shots from afar:

Since the likes of George Clooney, Madonna, Daniel Craig, Paul McCartney and many other super stars have homes along Lake Como, a favorite theme throughout the trip was pointing out which villas belonged to which stars.  Of course we had no idea, but we had fun with our imaginings.  Statements like: 'oooh, that one.  That one is most definitely George Clooney's villa.  I believe I just saw him sunbathing on the front lawn,' were thrown around regularly (substitute Madonna above if one of the males in our group made the statement.) Ha! 

And good thing I had my telephoto lens with me, because I definitely felt like paparazzi taking these next photos: next to the swimming pool inside the floating dock in the lake, there was a swimsuit model shoot taking place.  Seriously, it was hard to return to real life after a few days in this place. 

Our favorite part of the trip was the spectacular views overlooking the lake,
 after ascending in the funicular (glass elevator/gondola/cable car ride).  What a view!

We soaked in the scenery and enjoyed some of the best pizzas and calzones we've had in all of Italy.  Fantastic!  Truly an unforgettable place.  As was our journey back down the mountainside: after lunch we returned to the funicular for our return trip only to find that the winds had picked up and the cable car had been shut down. The operator told us that we could walk down, which would probably take us several hours down the meandering, switchback road (or longer, with four small children including a 2 year old) or wait to see if the winds let up.  Since several locals were waiting, we figured we would wait it out too.  About 30 minutes later, the operator told us we could "try" to descend - what?!? What exactly is the alternative here??  As we embarked, we noticed that all the locals were looking at us a bit skeptically - certainly they thought that the ignorant tourists should be guinea pigs in this endeavor and 'gallantly' let us go first.  Ha!   The ride down was rather sketchy- they stopped the funicular several times, quite suddenly, and we sat swaying in the wind until the breezes died down enough for us to continue.  Paul, who has a bit of a problem with heights and confined spaces to begin with, was close to hyperventilating.  Yikes!  But we made it, safe and sound - though they shut down the ride behind us.  They certainly know how to put the 'fun' in 'funicular.' :)  What a memorable journey, indeed!