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Dober dan (hello) from Lake Bled in Slovenia, (There was no picture to choose from Slovenia but the picture above looks quite like the country of Austria.)
We rode the train yesterday, we barely got our tickets in Budapest and aboard the train in time. It is an all day trip with 3 transfers. It was the best train ride I have ever had and pleasant compared to the train from Prague to Budapest. The train was very nice with fold down seats and so we read and watched the view out the window and slept. The train ride was through the country of Austria and what a gorgeous country side. I felt like I should have a little dress on and spin in circles singing the hills are alive! Katie and I wish we could have spent some time here but that will have to be on another trip. There were cottages and streams going through each town with rolling hills of green and beautiful trees of every color. There were fields of yellow flowers and cows in pastures. Photo ready European life. Soon after out train ride started and after we crossed the country line and made our first transfer the language changed from Hungarian to German...good thing because I understand neither haahaa. The trains and transfers were a little confusing and we were fortunate to have some helpful people point us in the right direction. To give an example of the language barrier it took us about 5 min to explain that we would like a fork in the dinning car. It is funny how you take things for granted like being literate. I start using a lot of hand gestures.
We got into the train station in Bled at around 8pm and asked a woman about the bus into town and she came out of her shop and ran across the street and stopped the bus and told us this was ours...how nice. We are staying at Penzion Bledec which is a hostel in this old home. We went out to dinner at this pub and had wonderful vegetable soup and met a couple (Kyle and Karen) from New Zeland and spoke with them for several hours. We made plans to meet up with them today for lunch.
We started out our day trying to get on an old hand made boat to ferry us across the lake to the island with the church on it, but we were the only three people and we would have to wait for more people to fill the boat so instead we rented this old wooden row boat and I rowed Katie and Sean across the lake and got blisters on my hand because I was too lazy to take off my rings. What a gorgeous little island. I guess the tradition is for married couples to come to this island and have the groom carry the bride up 98 steps to the church at the top... I guess not many men can accomplish this feat. This town is just perfect. The colors are amazing this time of year. The weather threatens rain with clouds and overcast skies but it is just so beautiful anyways and we are just pleased it is not raining. This town is just perfect with the backdrop of the Julian Alps with the tips covered by clouds. It is quaint and perfectly situated mountain escape. Being here is relaxing and like a vacation from our vacation. I think I could live here...Katie says she could too. Maybe we could become physiotherapists instead!
Lake Bled is where the Slovenian Olympic crew team trains. They won the gold metal in the 2000 Olympics which they are very proud of naturally. This afternoon we walked around the entire lake which was about 3.5 miles and Katie and I met a nice girl from Australia. We are taking lots of pictures but they don't seem to capture the full beauty of what we see.
We are leaving for Ljubljana today on the bus and will spend the next two nights there. We have met a lot of Californians here which is kind of odd. We spoke with a physician and his nurse practitioner wife at our Hostel this morning who are on a month long vacation. Lots of Americans and New Zelanders so far. Well I hope the weather holds well for our walkabout tomorrow. Talk to you all very soon.
Zivjo (bye),
Renel
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