Saudi Arabia

Before I get into this post I just want to briefly acknowledge the awful attacks that happened here in Paris on November 13. What happened was truly horrifying, scary and sad and occurred roughly a 25 minute walk from our house. It was all too close to home for us. The week following was a strange one and definitely not normal but the Parisians were determined to go back to normal life as soon as possible. I would say that some did but it took more than a week before it started to feel remotely back to normal again. And now, I walk around a little more cautious and aware than before but it's back to life again. And I think that's the best we can do. My heart goes out to all the victims and families of this horrible tragedy.

And now back to my post.....

As you may recall from previous posts, my sister and her family moved to Saudi Arabia a little over a year ago for a great job opportunity for John, my sister’s husband. In that time they have visited us in Paris and we have met them in Slovenia. And now it was my turn to go visit them and see what their world is all about. So in October, that's what I did.

Nate and I decided that I would go on my own as it’s a 6 hour flight from Paris to Jeddah (the nearest airport to where John and Julie live). I was only going for a long weekend and we weren’t all that thrilled about having Josephine on a plane for a total of 12 hours in a span of 4 days.

After working with a French agency in Paris to get the required visa and it coming through in just the knick of time, I was ready to start my Saudi adventure. I left on a Thursday morning and with a one hour time difference landed in Jeddah around 6pm. Let’s back up for a second though. I flew Saudia Airlines which in and of itself was interesting. First of all, it was super nice and hardly full. The bathroom was probably one of the nicer and cleaner airline bathrooms I’ve been in with a bidet and all. They had the normal video screens in the back of the seats and once the pre-flight announcements were finished they had a prayer to Allah before taking off. I then watched a movie on my flight and they censored out “beer”. They also blurred out any cleavage. This proved to be a very Saudi start to my trip.

When landing in Jeddah, John had arranged for someone from government affairs at KAUST to meet me at the airport and walk me through passport control. I was quite grateful for this as the line was not moving all that fast as they were taking fingerprints and pictures of everyone that walked through. The guy walked me right up to the front and in a few minutes, I was done. I grabbed my bag and it then had to go through a screening where Julie explained they look to be sure you’re not bringing in any alcohol or pork products, because well, those aren’t allowed there. John was waiting for me as I exited and we were off.

The KAUST beacon

KAUST is about a 45 minute drive from Jeddah, near the city of Thuwal. After an unexpected little driving tour of the city due to a missed turn, we were on our way.

To enter the KAUST community, which is gated and highly secure, we had to stop at the visitor’s center to pick up my badge, which John had pre-registered. And then finally we were at their home! Julie and I went to dinner on our own while John stayed home with the girls.

KAUST is a fairly large community with a couple of rec centers, a number of restaurants, a beach, schools for the kids, medical center, grocery store, the university of course and all of the basic things you would need on a daily basis. They don’t need to leave for any reason. Within the community, Julie can drive. Outside, she is not allowed.



Friday we had brunch at a restaurant overlooking the Red Sea and I got a driving tour of the entire community. It’s all very nice and very new. You definitely get a small town feel from it. Throughout my time there, John and Julie were constantly running into people they knew. There is also the most beautiful mosque inside the community. Too bad I didn’t get a chance to go inside.

Oh, and I can’t forget to mention that it was HOT and extremely HUMID! I think I’ve only ever felt humidity like that when I was in New Orleans in July. You really can’t stay outside for very long before you are sweating through your clothes. So of course everything inside is highly air conditioned.

The other thing that stood out, and I noticed this even when the plane was landing, is that everything is beige. It all looks dust covered. Which I suppose makes sense as you are in the middle of the desert. But still, it is like there is a blanket of dust over everything.

For Saturday, John and Julie had rented a boat for us to go out on the Red Sea for four hours for some snorkeling and hanging out. This is probably one of the nicest boats I’ve been on. It was fully air conditioned on the inside with a full spread of food and three bedrooms and two bathrooms in the back. You could also head up to the top where you could sit and watch as the boat went along.

The Red Sea is really warm and that aquamarine blue….it’s so pretty. It makes you feel like you are on a tropical vacation. We snorkeled, we just hung out in the water outside of the boat….all in all it was really fun and a big highlight of the trip for sure.

Another must do was to hit up their grocery store, Tamimi. It’s essentially a Safeway and quite a thrill for this girl coming from Paris. There were so many American goods that I got to stock up on! Refried beans of course as well as zip loc bags, ranch dressing, etc.

Dinner in Thuwal

Saturday night we tagged along with a co-worker of John’s and his family who were heading outside of the KAUST walls into Thuwal for dinner. His co-worker speaks Arabic and has been living there for over 3 years so it made it that much easier to venture out. Julie and I donned our abayas because that’s what women have to do if you’re in Saudi Arabia. Looking at the guys who were in their shorts and t-shirts, it all just feels so wrong. Anyways though, we went to the restaurant, which is called the Fish Market, and they reserved the family room. This is a private, air conditioned room and once inside, we didn’t have to wear the abayas. Apparently they got the nicer family room as others I saw had concrete walls on 3 sides with a partial fourth wall. It’s all so bizarre. I learned that in restaurants you have the singles section, which is where the men eat and if they are with women and children, they have to go to the family rooms…which are more secluded.

Anyways, dinner was eaten at a low table where you sit on the floor. Oh and when we got to the room and got settled, the men went out to pick the fish and food. Dinner was delicious though with a variety of fish and rice and flat bread.

Sunday the girls were back in school and John back at work. Their work week goes from Sunday to Thursday. John gave me a tour of the university where he works so I got a good feel for the campus.

After the girls got out of school, we headed to a pool at the rec center where it overlooks the Red Sea. We ate dinner at the restaurant right next to it. Again, it felt like being on a tropical vacation.

My flight left at 1am that night so I took a taxi back to the airport and got to the gate with no problem. At security though I did have to go in the “Female” line which took me to a separate room where a female airport employee screens you with the wand.

Overall it was a super interesting trip and I was so glad I went. I know the feeling of wanting to show people your life and where you live and I was glad I got to see that for John and Julie. It’s a really nice community where they live. The culture is a bit of a shock but inside the community you don’t feel that at all. It was a reminder to me though to be thankful for all of the rights we do have, even ones we think are so basic and a given like wearing what you want to wear and driving.

Aix-en-Provence

Water is the essence of wet

After enjoying a week in Italy for vacation, then a brief stint back at work which included 3 nights in London for me, we were back on the French trail for a long weekend to round out the end of summer. Adding to the excitement on this trek, visiting from the motherland of Oregon were our close friends and fellow Lone Pine Wildcats, Chad and Tasha. Chad and Tasha, who were enjoying their own child free week of European holiday, carved out a few days with us to go to the South of France to spend 3 nights in Aix-en-Provence.

Ahhh, the French countryside

Aix is one of those towns in France everyone tells you to go see. Sitting at the south end of the Rhone Valley, not too far from the Mediterranean, it was a city we have had on our list of places to go in France. Bonus: Given its location in the south where the weather would still be nice and warm, it seemed like the perfect fit for everyone.

Meeting up with Chad and Tasha at the train station in Paris as they returned from a visit to Champagne (did the tour with Rachel of course), off we go to Aix. About 3 and a half hours from Paris, we started the trip by passing the time with some wine and cheese and we even got little Bean to take a nap which almost never happens. Of course we rented a great apartment for all of us to stay and upon arrival we quickly obtained the necessary provisions and enjoyed happy hour and take out dinner for our first night in town.

Wine Tasting!

We had two full days to fill. The first day, based on the recommendation of my coworker whose husband is from the area, we decided to rent a car for the day and drive around the Montagne Sainte-Victoire. We stopped in a few villages along the way and we even had a great restaurant recommendation. Of course being in France, we had to pull over at a random winery for a bit of tasting and some great pictures courtesy of Tasha and her photog skills.

Traditional French Saturday market

The second day in Aix we dedicated to the proper French tradition of visiting the Saturday town market to buy all the ingredients for dinner that night. The Saturday market in Aix actually spreads throughout several parts of the town and included not only the traditional farmers market for food, but also a flea market of sorts. After spending some time wandering around and getting all we needed for the evening, we found a nice lunch spot to sit and enjoy the weather along with a bottle of rosé from Provence. Pleasant lunch, some nap time, and a great evening dinner made for a great second day in Aix.

Dinner in Paris with the Bartley's

Aix definitely lived up to all the hype. We really found the city to be a bit larger

than expected with lots of interesting streets, shops and great food. We were even treated to an early morning "extreme" thunder storm which woke everyone up around 6:00 am Sunday morning. After an enjoyable and all too short trip, we headed back to Paris, bringing our summer vacation to an official end. Good news, we still had a few nights with Chad and Tasha at our place as they rounded out their trip with a few days in Paris.

Get yer' bucket!

View from our apartment for the week

Summer Vacation!  It's one of the best times of the year, something to look forward to, plan out, visit new places and relax in the warm sunshine.  In Europe it's especially nice as the summer months have a definite slow down at the office and generally you're going to take two, maybe three weeks of holiday.  Not quite so much for us this year due to some other conflicts and changing schedules but we did peg one full week at the beginning of September for a week on the beach.  Since we're not tied (yet!) to the school schedule, the weather is still very nice and crowds begin to die down, early September was the perfect time to go.

Morning walk...

The criteria was pretty simple.  On the beach.  Easy travel.  In Italy.  Upon examination of a map and direct flight options from Paris, we landed on the town of Viareggio just north of the town of Pisa.  A simple 1 hour 15 minute flight and a 20 minute car ride, this fit the bill for all we wanted.  What we didn't expect was that the worst part of the trip would be the ride to the airport where a bit of car sickness from Josephine made for a stressful first 40 minutes of holiday, but once at the airport with a quick change of clothes, all was well and ready for the trip.

Wonder what's out there?

 As is our norm, we rented an apartment in Viareggio right on the beach.  This place turned out to be one of the best places we have rented so far with big windows on one side facing the water, and a large patio on the other side with a table perfect for outdoor dining and some couches too for evening relaxation.  As is usual at a Mediterranean beach town, the water front is lined with chairs and umbrellas where you rent your spot for the day and it's yours.  Come and go as you please, your spot is always waiting for you.  Bonus for us with the apartment, the travel time from house to chair was about 2 and a half minutes.  This was especially nice come nap time each afternoon when putting Josephine down.

Just loungin' for the day

Hi from Pisa!

We settled in to a pretty nice daily routine.  Wake up, cup of coffee, have some breakfast then go for a walk.  Pick up some fruit, restock the wine from a little wine shop we found, and head back to the apartment and lather up the sunscreen.  All goes well we're in our beach chairs by 11:00.  After spending an hour or so on the beach playing in the water or sand - or both - we would head off to find lunch.  Lots of little places at the beach or on the street, just pick one and see what we get.  After lunch, one of us would take Miss Bean for a nap, and the other would get some coveted alone time on the beach to relax.  An hour or so into nap time and we switch.  Once nap time was over, we're all back at the beach by 4.  Play some more then most likely head off for some gelato before going back home to clean up, have dinner and settle in for the night.

Get yer' Bucket!

Of the 5 full days we had in town, we did take one day and travel to the town of Pisa.  This was a 25 minute train ride which seemed easy enough, but notoriously the trains in Italy are somewhat unpredictable.  This was true for us as well, but fortunately not too painful.  Pisa is famous of course for its Leaning Tower which was a pretty good site seeing stop.  There was a long line up of people all trying to get that perfect picture at just the right angle where it looks like you are holding up the tower.  And the "selfie stick" is out of control.  The selfie stick is an epidemic and needs to go away, but that's another story.  After seeing the Tower, off to lunch we go for some Italian thin crust pizza and a slow walk through the town back to the train station.  Nice little town and a perfect break from the beach routine for a day.

I love vacation!

As our beach vacation came to a close The Bean definitely seemed to enjoy herself, she loved her sand bucket, seemed to enjoy standing right at the edge of the water where the waves would splash up on her feet and was quite the diva walking up and down the rows of chairs waving to all the people as she would go by.  One week, always too short but we got exactly what we wanted out of our time and look forward to planning the next holiday!

The Florida Horzens come to Paris

July must be the time to travel as we also had a visit from my Uncle Jim and Aunt Deborah from Florida. Aunt Deborah, who teaches German at a high school in Orlando, was accepted into a program for German teachers in Leipzig, Germany. She spent three weeks there for the program and when it ended, Uncle Jim flew out to meet up with her for a bit of travel together. And we were lucky enough that they included 3 nights in Paris as part of their itinerary! They arrived on a Friday evening and we greeted them with, what I’m sure you can now guess, wine, cheese and a baguette. We had an enjoyable evening catching up as it had been quite some time since we had last seen each other.

Saturday morning we started with coffee and a croissant at a local cafe near our house on Rue Bretagne. Nate then headed out to do some grocery shopping and Uncle Jim, Aunt Deborah, me and Josephine all headed to Pere Lachaise cemetery (which Nate had already visited previously). We spent a couple of hours in this massive cemetery and with the help of a map were barely able to locate a few famous tombstones like Jim Morrison and Chopin. It was quite like a maze in there and it’s huge! Uncle Jim and Aunt Deborah had to get going as they had a walking tour later that afternoon which would take them up the Eiffel Tower allowing them to skip the, no joking, 3 hour line. They left for that and Josephine and I headed home for a nap.

That night we left Josephine at home with a babysitter and the four of us ventured out for an adults night out. We started with dinner and then went to one of our favorites, Canal St. Martin, with a couple bottles of wine. It was a warm evening and the canal was crowded with people who all had the same idea as ours. It was a perfect evening and before we knew it, it was time to head back (Josephine is quite the persistent wake up call in the morning).

Sunday got off to a slow start but of course included a trip to the local boulangerie for some croissants. We went to Sunday mass and then Uncle Jim and Aunt Deborah took off for some sightseeing on their own. We met up with them after Josephine’s nap at the Champ de Mars for a picnic. There was a little bit of rain that threatened our good time but we stuck it out and eventually it dissipated and we had a lovely afternoon/evening. The good news too is it wasn’t all that crowded. We headed back, grabbed some Happy Nouilles takeout for dinner and enjoyed one last evening together. Uncle Jim and Aunt Deborah were leaving the very next morning.

The time was quick but such fun. Thanks for coming to see us!

In Bruges!

Recently, I finally watched the movie "In Bruges" after hearing about this film for years, people telling me it's good, should see it, well - unfortunately it isn't.  Just my opinion I guess but didn't care for it much at all.  Except for the part where the guy jumps off the bell tower maybe.  Anyway, the reason for that random thought was that our latest adventure was to the actual town of Bruges!

In Bruges!

The inspiration for this little trip north to Belgium and the city of Bruges was a visit to Europe once again by our good friends Ron and Lindsay. (now known as La-La according to the Bean)  You may remember Ron and Lindsay from such trips as Orange, Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Naxos, Santorini, and more!  Making their third trip they really wanted to hit Bruges and we were more than happy to join.

Ron & La-La

But first, what would a trip to Europe be without a few days in Paris?  What could be the problem with that?  Well, what about a temperature pushing 40 Celsius / 100 Fahrenheit?  That could be a problem.  And it was.  With a perfectly timed trip during a record heat wave, R&La-La got to experience the heat sans air conditioning.  With no screens on the windows and air conditioning at maybe 25% of locations, when the temperature rises in the summer it can be unbearable.  The air is humid, stuffy, no wind or breeze to speak of, concrete everywhere, and it all adds up to some misery both inside and out.  But you make the best of it, and one way to do it is to send R&La-La off for the day to the Champagne region for a day tour with our friend Rachel.  We have now sent an easy dozen different people to Rachel for her day tour as she takes such good care of everyone and all come back having had a great time.  Unfortunately she can't do anything to block out the sun like Mr. Burns did on that one episode of the Simpsons, but what can you do.

Tour of Bruges by boat

Also unfortunate was that right in the middle of this visit I had to take a night and go to Switzerland for work.  The silver lining in this was that I figured at least a hotel would have AC.  I was wrong. As a consolation prize there was a 6 inch diameter desk fan waiting.  Sweet.  Wish I had taken a picture.

Cruising on a canal

The night before I had to leave we did at least get the babysitter and go out on a couples date to a great restaurant called Le Chateaubriand.  As we don't get out nearly as much as we used to, it's always a treat especially with good friends.  It was bit hot however as of course the restaurant had no AC. R&La-La definitely got part of the European experience!

The work trip also meant I would be traveling separately and meeting back up with everyone In Bruges.  (see what I did there?)  Arriving that evening, everyone else had already been at the apartment for a few hours and fortunately already had furnished the place with happy hour supplies.  Among the many Airbnb apartments we have rented, this one was definitely near the top.  Really cool place, plenty big for the 5 of us and had a little roof top deck with a great view out over the neighborhood.  To celebrate our arrival that first night we got pizza and watched The Bachelorette.  I'm not the least bit embarrassed about it either.

Belgium Beer!

With a few days in Bruges we had some time to do a few different things in town.  First off, it is very cute with brick buildings, a few canals running through the town and all in all quite charming.  Certainly lived up to all that we had heard about the place.  A few of the main to-do's were to take the boat ride through the canals which we of course did.  This was a very interesting way to see parts of the town, old medieval bridges, and get Bean out on the water which she seemed to enjoy as she was looking around and taking it all in.  There is also a giant main square area with of course a church and tall bell tower which you can climb for 8 EUR and get tired according to the skipper of our fine vessel.

Also on the main square was a Bruges History museum which we decided to check out.  This may have actually been worse than the movie.  Instead of some actual history about the town, you watched some lame movie / story about a lost bird and a painting as you walked from room to room which were supposed to replicate what these rooms looked like in Bruges 500 years ago.  Pretty terrible really, but not every place is going to be a winner I suppose.  After some more wandering, lunch with delicious Belgium beer, happy hour with some more Belgium beer, and somewhat cooler temperatures, Bruges was a really nice place to visit.

Selfie from the roof top deck

With our time in Bruges coming to a close, R&La-La continued on farther north to Amsterdam for their last night of vacation before flying out of Amsterdam back to Portland the next day, while the Ross family rode the rails back south to Paris.  Another great visit by the Tycer's in the books, can't wait for next time!

Take me out to the ballgame.....

If we can make it here...

A bit of a break from the norm on this one, something totally off the grid relative to previous trips that have been talked about on this here blog.  You would think that living in Europe summer vacations would stay European focused and for the most part they have, save for a few special occasion trips back home.  And I guess this too would classify as a special occasion, in this case my Dad's upcoming 70th birthday!

Yankee Stadium

I had the idea maybe a year or so ago to take my dad on a trip for his 70th birthday, something he would never do on his own and something that surrounded a shared interest. Given we are both big baseball fans and San Francisco Giants fans, why not try and do something around the game of baseball.  My Dad's actual birthday isn't until October, but with the SF Giants and baseball theme in mind, we planned the June trip to the Northeast to see the Giants play in New York. Since we are in the neighborhood this also allowed the opportunity to take in a Yankees game, see the Baseball Hall of Fame in upstate NY, and trek to Boston for a game at Fenway Park.  All in 1 short week.

With a week in June that lined up all the dates for the games just perfectly, off we go!

Top of the Rock!

With me coming from Europe and my Dad coming from Oregon, NYC was really a good meet in the middle spot too.  My Dad had never been to New York either so along with the baseball games, we would also have the chance to see some of the main attractions in the big city.

After arriving in NY around noon and my Dad coming in later that night it also meant I could sneak in happy hour with our Parisian friends Jaclyn and Rio, who have re-transplanted back to New York, enjoy their amazing roof top deck and check in on their own little bun in the oven!

Citi Field, Go Giants!

With two sightseeing days in NYC we hit up quite a bit, seeing Times Square, Rockefeller Center, the "Top of the Rock" observation deck, 9/11 memorial, Wall Street, Statue of Liberty, and on and on and on.  NY is really endless and always an amazing place to visit.  Perhaps for me after living in Europe for the past 4 years, my highlight is really the food including good old fashioned deli sandwiches and a stop at the famous Katz's Deli for their hot pastrami.

You may know this place from this iconic scene from When Harry Met Sally.

Pretty much looks the same inside with the exception of the 80₵ soda, more like $3 - but worth every penny!

Giants team representation at HOF

With two days of sightseeing and two baseball games under our belt, including a Giants win against the Mets, off we went via train to upstate NY to the small town of Cooperstown, New York where the Baseball Hall of Fame and museum is located.  After a really pretty ride right along the Hudson River we made it to the very quaint - straight out of a Norman Rockwell "slice of Americana" type painting - Cooperstown, NY.  There can't be more than about 1,000 people and the town sits at the base of a lake in a very idyllic setting.  We spent the night along the lake, resting up for a full day at the museum in the morning.

Being avid baseball fans since we were both kids, the museum was absolutely fantastic.  A real highlight not just of this trip, but a place I'll remember for a long time.  It obviously helps when you have deep interest in the subject matter, but they did such a good job with the exhibits, memorabilia, design, and all the stuff to look at and read about, it was a really fantastic museum.  Then of course the room with all the plaques of all the guys who have been enshrined in the Hall of Fame was a really cool thing to see.  If you ever find yourself in upstate New York, I highly recommend a visit.

Hall of Fame Plaques

From there we then made our way to our last stop of Boston for a pilgrimage to Fenway Park and a Red Sox game.  We landed a perfect sunny Saturday afternoon in Boston to check out the area around the stadium complete with bars and restaurants and lots of people out before heading in to our seats. Taking some very good advice from a colleague of mine, we had seats on the shady side of the field which meant we comfortably enjoyed the 103 year old park.

With one last day in town I did a bit of sightseeing myself as I think I had just about worn out my old man by this point, before calling it another successful trip in the bag.  Happy Birthday Dad!

Fenway Paaahhhkk!

Leiden!

Riding the rails to Leiden

Is a tradition defined by an event 3 years in a row?  Let's go with yes cause that means our annual trip to Leiden is now officially a tradition!  May in France means lots of 3 day weekends and a trip to Leiden, Netherlands for a weekend away and a half marathon.  Two small changes this year. First with the way the holidays fell this year, we actually extended this to a 4 day trip instead of 3.  The other was that I did not actually run the race this year.  No real excuse other than just couldn't get motivated after the March Paris half marathon I ran.  Just couldn't find the time and desire to train and decided not to force it, and the trip may even have been more fun and relaxing without having to worry about the race on Sunday. Next year!

Enjoying Keukenhof gardens

Let's see some tulips, lots and lots of tulips...

With 4 days and no race to run, we had more free time to explore outside of Leiden and we discovered that about 20 minutes away via a direct bus that runs all day long is the Keukenhof gardens.  Open only for about two months each year in the spring, the gardens have literally millions of the famous Holland tulips.  We didn't really know what to expect, but found this to be a perfect outing for us.  The gardens are huge, they have lots of little activities for kids, places to eat, all set up really well.  Similar to an amusement park of sorts with lots of tulips everywhere.  We walked around, took tons of pictures, had lunch and even had a random family from India take a picture with Cleaver and Josephine. Presumably because you know, in India they do not have lots of babies with blue eyes.  This actually happens a fair amount with tourists from Asia as well.  It's bizarre, but has happened a few times now.

Market provisions

Saturday in Leiden of course means market day.  With one of the main canals lined with fruits, vegetables, cheese, and snack stands we loaded up from the market with plenty of everything including of course our favorite stand with the dips and olives that are all amazing.  As it was a fairly rainy day, we braved the market and then made our way back to our apartment for a relaxing lazy afternoon, complete of course with happy hour to enjoy our procured bounty from the morning.

In Amsterdam along a canal

With much nicer weather on Sunday and no race to run, we made the 30 minute train ride north to Amsterdam.  We found a great little place for lunch away from the touristy areas and then walked along the canals, stumbling upon Vondelpark along the way.  A large park full of people on a sunny day, picnics and even live music.  The kind of place where you would go on a warm day if you lived here.  From there we continued on foot to the center of Amsterdam, making stops along the way for pictures and a quick libation near a canal.  Amsterdam if I haven't said before is one of my favorite cities in Europe.

Quick train ride back to Leiden and one more happy hour and a relaxing evening in town before heading back to reality on Monday.  Bit of an added adventure was on the train ride home Cleaver would be departing in Brussels, which is about half way, as she had work meetings there on Tuesday.  So Josephine and I would have to complete the rest of the trip to Paris alone which of course we managed just fine.  Leiden once again did not disappoint and continues to get better each time we go.  Can't wait for next year!

Visiting the Motherland

Ever since we moved to Europe in 2011, Slovenia has always been on my list of countries to visit. In case you’re not aware, I’m half Slovenian….thus the extreme interest in visiting Slovenia. So after almost 4 years, we finally made it there over Easter weekend. And even better, my sister and her family and my cousin Catherine and Aunt Cynthia were all there too!

The apartments where we stayed

In France we get Easter Monday off so we took Friday and Tuesday as vacation days and made a long weekend of it. My sister Julie and her family, coming from Saudi Arabia, got in a few hours before us and after a quick greeting at the airport, they headed to the apartments we had rented. We then waited for Catherine and Aunt Cynthia to arrive 30 minutes after us and we were off to the apartments as well. We decided to stay in Ukanc which is near the western side of Lake Bohinj. We wanted to be somewhere a little more remote and had found these apartments that looked just perfect. And they were! The place we stayed was so picturesque. We were right by the mountains and Triglav National Park and there was a little river running by with green everywhere you looked. It was so peaceful and felt like we were camping.

On a bridge in Ljubljana

Our family and Julie’s family shared an apartment and Catherine and Aunt Cynthia were in an apartment just next door. We settled in that first day, making a trip to the grocery store to get stocked up, checking out the nearest playground with the kids and just relaxing.

Saturday we took the hour drive and headed into Ljubljana for the day. Unfortunately it was raining pretty much the entire day but that of course didn’t stop us. We checked out Preseren Square and the Triple Bridge which are right next to each other and then found a Bosnian place for lunch. It was perfect! Yummy sausages, mustards, meats and breads. We then wandered around Ljubljana, checking out the marketplace with all its fruits, other food, flowers and handmade goods. Ljubljana isn’t huge and I can imagine that it would be wonderful in the summer time to sit along the river enjoying a glass of beer.

The next day was Easter and the Easter bunny found the girls and filled their baskets, even hiding a few eggs for them to find. After the morning activities we headed to mass at St Martin’s church in Srednja vas, about 3 towns from Ukanc. It was a tiny church on top of a little hill with a parking lot for maybe 6 cars. We noticed that most people were walking up the hill, no doubt just walking to church from their homes. It was a gorgeous view from the church and the church itself is exactly what you would expect from a small village church. When we got inside it definitely felt like we were visitors as we got the feeling that everyone knew everyone else and we were the outsiders. But we still enjoyed a Slovenian mass in this quaint little church.

Happy Easter!

After an Easter brunch at home, we went over to Lake Bohinj to check it out up close, including the church of St. John the Baptist that sits right next to it. The picture I have below is the same scene that my Grandparents took a picture of a long time ago when they visited what was Yugoslavia at the time. They had asked my Dad to paint it and I remember clearly that painting hanging in my Grandparent’s kitchen for many years. So it was even more special for me to go see this same exact scene for myself.

Monday was our last full day in Slovenia and we headed to Bled, just about a 30 minute drive from where we were staying. The first thing we did was get on a boat and take the short ride out to Bled Island which sits in the middle of Lake Bled. We checked out the church that sits on this island along with a great view of Bled. In the church there is a bell and if you ring it three times you get to make a wish.

We headed back to Bled and found a spot for lunch. And just in time I might add. The entire day so far had been sun and blue skies and shortly after we sat down for lunch with a view onto the lake, the weather took a 180 and became a snowy blizzard. It was whiteout conditions. That lasted through lunch and then miraculously as we were finishing up, the weather turned back to blue skies and sun. Perfect for wandering around and exploring Bled. Catherine, Aunt Cynthia and Cecilia headed up to check out the castle. The rest of us took a walk along the lake and then found a cafe off the beaten path recommended by Rick Steves where we could find a Bled traditional cake, kremna rezina. It was delicious and worth the search.

The guys and sleeping babies in front of Lake Bled

The kiddos on Bled Island

That about wrapped up our day in Bled, we headed back to the apartments to pack up and get ready to leave the next day. We so thoroughly enjoyed Slovenia. It is one of the prettier countries I’ve been to for sure and would go back in a heartbeat. Perhaps this time in spring or summer when the weather is a bit warmer.

Lake Bohinj

Lake Bled