by Krista | Apr 21, 2011 | Plucky Thursday
Good morning, dear ones! 🙂
I write to you with a grateful heart today because at long last I know what’s been causing me such pain the last three months: an obscure virus from the Ecoli family. I am on the right treatment now and each day I’m getting better and stronger. 🙂 I’ll have to do a lot of resting for the next while, but I’m so happy to have answers and the hope of getting back to my old self in the near future.
Thank you SO much for all your wonderful notes and phone calls and texts and emails through this painful time. You’ve made a dark time so much easier to bear. 🙂
Today I’m celebrating beautiful things, like these lovely views from inside Bled Castle in Slovenia. 🙂
How are YOU doing today? What beautiful things are making your heart happy?
by Krista | Mar 23, 2010 | Spring
We had spent a happy hour exploring Bled Castle in Slovenia, luxuriating in the cool breezes gusting across the terrace, utterly entranced by the exhilarating views of snow covered mountains, forested hills, and the turquoise waters of Lake Bled.
The mountains surrounding Lake Bled, Slovenia
My friend Ben perched far above Lake Bled.
Although we could’ve stayed up there for hours, we reminded ourselves that we still had much to see before driving to Ljubljana that night. So we took one last look at the amazing vista then headed out through the castle doors and hiked down the winding cobbled path to the lake.
The lake was even more beautiful up close, the water clear and cool, the banks bordered with trees and wonderful old homes.
Research beforehand warned us that the only way to the island in the middle of the lake was by rowboat, so we secured ourselves a sturdy craft and a burly oarsman, and began our peaceful journey across Lake Bled.
Our strapping oarsman.
In an age when everything seems to be motorized and streamlined for optimum speed, there was something surreal about bobbing slowly across the lake, the only sounds the splash of the oars and our occasional bursts of amazed laughter at this grand adventure we were having.
Next time I will take you to explore the island and inside an ancient church.:-)
by Krista | Mar 16, 2010 | Spring
We returned from our 5 a.m. walking tour of Venice in time to pack our bags and linger over a hearty breakfast of croissants, muesli and coffee.
Securing one last gelato we left the charming canals of Venice one bright Spring morning, loaded up our 9 passenger van and headed towards Slovenia.
It was a gorgeous drive beside flowering meadows, over mountain passes and through quaint villages. We were enjoying ourselves immensely as Ryan taught us his oh-so-novel dance moves and we sang loudly to The Proclaimers I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles). Suddenly we were startled by this sign:
Austria! How the dickens did we end up in Austria?! There was much laughter and the hurried unfurling of the largest road map I’ve ever seen as we attempted to find out where in tarnation we were. 🙂
To this day we don’t know how we got there, but it was a welcome detour as we pulled off the highway and wended our way up, up, up into forested hills.
As we entered Slovenia we were struck dumb by the soaring peaks rising up before us.
We pulled over to the prettiest meadow and just gazed up at them. Tearing ourselves away, we continued on, finding exquisite beauty at every turn. I was struck most by the color of the river we followed, a pale, ice blue, so striking against the lush green terrain. Before we knew it, we were at our destination: Bled Castle.
First mentioned in 1004, Bled Castle is one of the oldest in Slovenia, and overlooks the stunningly turquoise Lake Bled.
I love these shutters. 🙂
This monk chatting with his bird.
This lovely gateway that I simply had to go through.
We had such fun exploring, but the best part was being rowed across the lake to the ancient church on an island in the center. I shall take you there next time. 🙂
