A beautiful morning in Lake Bled!
We walked down to the lake and just admired the view!
The swans loved the crystal clear water...and the kids. Although I think the kids were pretending to have food for them!
Our destination.
But first, a lakeside breakfast,
and cards.
Starting up from the shore, the path to the castle is just dirt paths. As we got higher and higher up, the paths turned into steps. Hundreds and hundreds of them.
We made it! When we reached the top, we saw that there is a parking lot right next to the castle. But we were glad to have trekked up on our own.
First up? Bottling some wine. The kids were on board.
Filling
Corking
Nicholas sealed the bottle with wax and attached a tag. Charlotte got to stamp the official certificate.
"Bottled by Nico and Charlotte"
Can you beat that view??
This gives you a bit of scale. The boat in the lower left will come into play later.
The museum inside wasn't that exciting. Except for the armor.
Daddy whacked at some copper discs and stamped commemorative coins for each of the kiddos.
We made our way back down, and even though the clouds were rolling in, we decided to head off via boat to Bled Island.
This wooden boat, called a "pletna", is only found at Lake Bled. There's no rudder, so all the steering is done by the captain with the two oars at the back. They are designed, hand built and passed down within families.
Best. Driver. Ever.
It's tradition to ring the bells inside the church on the island.
We all took a turn. Then we climbed the clock tower next door and walked through a little art gallery. At that point our half hour on the island was up and we hurried back to our boat.
A few sprinkles on the way back, and a LOT of chilly wind! Snuggle up!
After our boat ride, we walked up the street towards our hotel. We stopped off at a pizza place for a quick bite. It turned out not to be so quick, and while we waited, the kids took advantage of some ride-on toys that were perfect for flying down the ramp next to the restaurant. Endless fun. We had to force them to sit and eat!
OK, so I've already told the tick story, but it was at this point when we actually went to the hospital. We loved this sign on the hospital's parking garage:
No musical instruments, huh? :)
On our way back to Bled (such a beautiful drive we didn't even mind the annoyance of the whole tick thing!), we followed a gravel road, which according to the map on our GPS would take us to the river. It did!
I had to force Tom to stop after crossing over a small bit of water. He really wanted to check out the Q5's water and traction skills. I didn't want to end up on the news having gotten stuck or swept away by the river.
Between our hotel and the lake, there is a mini-golf place which we passed multiple times daily. We had promised it to the kids if there was time (and it wasn't raining) after the hospital. The rain stopped long enough for us to squeeze in a round.
Great way to end the day!
No comments:
Post a Comment