WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 2011 – AUSTRIA
Craig and Christopher went to the airport to pick up our rental car. The rental car location on base wouldn’t allow us to rent a car to take to Slovenia and the airport location made Craig sign a form saying that he would immediately pay 26,000E if the car were stolen while in Slovenia. It made us wonder what kind of country we were going to visit.
Craig, Christopher and I headed off to Austria to spend the night. The Thompsons were going to meet us in Slovenia on Thursday. The drive to Austria is only 4 hours or so but typical Burnett fashion it took us much longer. About an hour out of Stuttgart the entire interstate was closed down for construction with no advance notice so we had to take small back roads. It was a very beautiful drive along windy highways and through small, quaint towns. Craig was still experiencing jet lag and kept having to stop at rest stops to take short naps. Eventually we made it to the German side of the Salzburg area and found our hotel. It was a very nice hotel with large, modern, clean rooms in a gasthous but it also had a leak in the ceiling so they had to move us. I had paid a little bit more for the room based on the information that it had wireless internet. We could get the internet but only if the door were propped open. Needless to say the door was propped open for most of the evening. We drove into Salzburg for dinner and again wandered around looking for a restaurant (we did that a lot on this trip). I had looked at TripAdvisor to see what restaurants were recommended and we were looking for the top rated restaurant for a lower price. We asked directions two-three times only to find that the place was packed. We went to another restaurant which was in an upstairs location but it was hot outside and extremely hot in there so we left. Tried another… same story different location. Finally ended up at an outdoor restaurant which was a little iffy because of the smoke (Craig kept having to take walks to get away from the cigarette smoke) and because it had been raining off and on. The meal was OK but not great. Salzburg just didn’t leave a good impression with me.
THURSDAY, JULY 14, 2011 – ON TO SLOVENIA
We really wanted Craig to see Eagle’s Nest but it was cloudy and rainy so we hit _________ again. Just walked around there and then took very narrow, windy, beautiful roads to the autobahn just south of Salzburg. The drive from Salzburg to Slovenia was incredibly beautiful. Mountains. Villages. Houses on the side of the mountains with no visible roads going to them. It made me think of “Heidi”. There were also a lot of tunnels ranging from very short to 8km long. Oh and tolls several high priced tolls. We were getting close to the Slovenia border and saw a very large, ugly checkpoint ahead… exactly how you would think Soviet Union checkpoints look. Craig and I were already unsure of what to expect in Slovenia and this made us even more nervous. We pulled up to the checkpoint and low and behold it had been turned into just another toll booth so we sailed on through. (Sidenote: Both Austria and Slovenia in addition to toll roads require vignettes which are permits to drive in the country that you purchase from gas stations and place on your windshield.) Another long tunnel and we were in Slovenia. Found our overnight lodging quite easily at about 3:00pm. The lodging was owned by a family who had turned the upper two floors of their home which was located outside of Bled, surrounded by farm ground into apartments and rooms. It was clean and fairly nice but again the promised wireless internet was non-existent except downstairs in the lobby. We checked in and almost immediately the Thompsons arrived and checked into their apartment on the 3rd floor. Oh, also, the place smelled like old silage, horses… you know a farm but it was really a strong smell. After we checked in we took two cars to the summer tobogganing sight. For the kids’ birthdays and to thank T&B for their hospitality I purchased all of them two rides on the toboggans. Craig took pictures and I watched at the bottom of hill. (Sidenote: Craig just told me the other day that he kind of wanted to go too… I had no idea and feel bad that he didn’t do it.) All of them had a ball going down the mountain on “toboggans” and we enjoyed our part of watching. We then went to dinner at a local restaurant. I can’t remember what any of us had except Brady. He saw a picture of a trout on the menu and decided that was what he wanted to eat. It was a whole trout with eyes… the whole works and none of us thought that he would like it. He ate the whole thing. He and Craig bonded over dinner and they walked part way back to the cars hand in hand and even skipped part way. Well the rest of us couldn’t miss out so we skipped too. It was very sweet and fun.
FRIDAY, JULY 15, 2011 – SLOVENIA – ALL DAY EXCURSION
We were picked up by T’Osh (I have no idea how to really spell his name) at 9:00am from our apartment. It was rainy and chilly. Our first stop was a lake about ½ hour away. The water was extremely clear and trout could be seen swimming around. After messing around there for a little bit, we hopped back into the van and into the mountains. We drove for about another 45 minutes and arrived at a waterfall that was beautiful. Travis and the kids kind of worried T’Osh because the rocks were slippery from the rain and they were crossing over the stream to get to a hill to climb but they all survived with no mishaps. Next stop was a small chapel that was built during WWI by POW’s to honor prisoners who were killed by disease, starvation or avalanche while building the road over the mountain. It was an extremely small chapel and we couldn’t go inside because they were doing repairs for an upcoming celebration. In fact, when we pulled into the parking lot there was a car that had pulled in immediately before us that had brought officials (T’Osh thought that they were Russian) to inspect the work. The women were dressed in clothing that would have been popular for our working females in the late 70’s/early 80’s… very tailored, uptight looking. On the way up the mountain we saw to different herds of sheep who had taken refuge from the pouring rain under a __________ and under a bridge. It looked so funny to see those sad looking creatures staring out at us from under the bridge…. Billy Goat Gruff. Drove on to hike at the top of the mountain but when we got out of the car it began to pour. We were all soaked by the time we got into the small coffee shop. In fact, there were a lot of people in the coffee shop who were soaked. We debated about stopping for the day but we knew there wouldn’t be another opportunity to have the Excursion Day and T’Osh was hoping the weather would break. He said that quite frequently on one side of the mountain it can be bad weather but on the other clear. Eventually it did clear up but never quite completely (except when we went river rafting). So we took our hike and saw an abandoned, cement gondola shed at the very top of the mountain that was used (in addition to the road the prisoners built) to transport goods to the front line. Saw a lot of sheep poop which Brady kept talking about. I told Becky that the poop is probably what he will remember when he is grown up. After our hike we got back into the car and drove on for lunch. At a nice lunch in a small town and then the adults went river rafting. The water was down quite a bit but we didn’t have to push like we do when the water is down in Iowa. In fact, we still got some OK rapids. There were about 10 rafts going down the river pretty much together. At one point, all of the rafts stopped so that we could all scramble up on a big rock and either slide down one of the upside down rafts or jump into the water. There were so many people on the rock that it reminded me of footage of walruses all crammed onto a rock… pushing, barking, laughing to each other. I slid down the raft and the water was COLD! While we rafted the kids hung out with T’Osh who took them to a park, bought them ice cream (with T&B’s money) and let them play in the icy cold river. Taylor was heartbroken that she couldn’t go with us on the river rafting (she cried hard) but by the time we were done she was happy again. Again we headed off and this time it was to a train. T’Osh pulled the van onto the train which was open air. He opened the back tailgate and we had snacks, beers and water. We got to stay outside of the car while they changed the engine but then we all had to load into the car. T’Osh let Brady “drive” and it was a hoot. Craig got video of the ride. There is little Brady sitting at the wheel while the outside world is whizzing by just like he is driving. We had the music up loud (Slovenian folk music at first) and we were all laughing and talking. We went through several tunnels. If they were short enough and the ventilation was good we would leave the windows and side door open. If it was long, T’Osh would close the windows while Christopher would slide shut the side door. The last tunnel was very long, pitch black and stinky. As we entered the tunnel T’Osh said he had saved a special song for the tunnel. It was “Thriller” by Michael Jackson. We all laughed and started dancing and singing. When it ran out Christopher said something about Abba (can’t remember what) and up came “Take a Chance on Me” by Abba. It was a fantastic ride. After the train we stopped at one more lake and then headed back to Bled. It turned out to be a great day!
