Monday, May 17, 2010

April 23, 24 & 25th, Holland

We decided to go to Holland for the annual tulip festival at Keukenhof. We went with our very good friends, the Holevas family. We stopped at Koln on the way to see the cathedral which was quite worth the stop. We toured Keukenhof on Saturday and it was super crowded so we went through quickly and made our way to the flower fields (waaaaay better). We went on to Haarlem for a festival with rides and games for the kids. In the afternoon, we went to Zaanse Schans, an adorable little historic town with old windmills. It was a quick three day trip but we really loved everything we did. Without further ado.....I give you pictures....no captions!!




















































Monday, May 3, 2010

April 9th - 18th,SLOVENIA & CROATIA

Spring Break this year was easy to plan since Bill had a three day conference in Split, Croatia. We decided to drive through Slovenia and make our way slowly to Croatia. We packed so much in on this trip, we were constantly on the move. Billy was in Greece with the youth group, he had a blast and we hope he adds his trip to our blog.


We drove straight through to Lake Bled in Slovenia with only one stop for gas and gelato. As soon as we arrived, we knew we could have bought a house and stayed forever, Lake Bled is beautiful and peaceful. This was our first picture on the lake with the castle in the background.

As listed in Rick Steves guide, we hopped back in the car before finding our B & B and went to Vintgar Gorge. He was right, it was amazing. This is Bill and the kids in front of the sign which says, basically, no entry. We ignored that.

The wood walkways go right along and over the gorge. I love that so many things in Europe allow you to be right up close and personal with nature.



Since it was April and the snow was melting fast, the gorge was full force. It was super cool to be the only people out there.

Our pension (Hotel Pension Pibernik) was spectacular with the amazing backdrop of the Julian Alps covered in snow.

The next morning we took a walk from our B & B and found a neat bridge, walkway, and a path down to the water where we had fun skipping stones.

We drove around the lake and made a pit stop at Tito's villa. Tito was the beloved dictator of communist Yugoslavia in the post-WWII era. He used this villa to host other world leaders like Khrushchev.

After driving the short road around the lake, we rented a row boat. You have the choice of going out on the pletna boats with all the tourists but we thought this would be more fun and it was. Bill rowed with some help from the kids.....adorable.

We rowed out to the island and walked up to see the church and of course the views. We also saw a swan sitting on her eggs in her nest. The kids thought that was super cool.

On Saturday we drove to Ljubljana, the capitol of Slovenia. It is a beautiful city, and quite small so it is easy to do in an afternoon. This picture is in Preseren square and you can see the famous tri-bridge in the background.

Dragon Bridge which has become a symbol of the city.

Day three, a short drive to the spectacular Postjana caves.



The tour is about an hour and a half and includes a 2km train ride deep into the mountain.

Right up the street is the coolest location for a castle. This is Predjama Castle. It was impressive to see and it also has extensive caves under it. Bill and the kids climbed to the bottom of the castle and checked things out.

Near the bottom and a secret door!!!

I had to include this. After seeing the caves and castle, we were intent on getting to Zadar, Croatia for sunset. It takes four hours to get there. We started driving in the mountains and right before we go through the customs check point, a blizzard starts. We had to laugh.

We made it!!! It snowed for about three hours and then as we got near the coast, it let up and our hope for a sunset returned. We found our hotel and made our way downtown to the sea organ and Salutation to the Sun. This is Katie on the sea organ. The sea organ is actually an organ that an architect built under these steps and it plays a song as each wave rolls in. It was as peaceful and beautiful as anything could be.


Play the video to hear the Sea Organ

And the sun did set, and it was so beautiful.



The kids had a blast playing on the Salutation to the Sun which was also designed by an architect. The solar panels collect the sun’s rays during the day before using them to create a spectacular light show at night.


Katie and Nolan had fun trying to catch the lights!

The next day, we woke up and walked around the old castle and enjoyed the sights.

And climbed a tree, of course.

We drove to Split today. We saw all these old women on the side of the coastal road selling something. We realized that it was a bunch of asparagus. We slowed to take a picture of this oddity.

We stopped in a small coastal town to get lunch along the way.

We found a little camp site with a nice dock and the kids fed the fish.

The first picture in Split in front of Diocletians Palace....wow!!

One of the days Bill was at the conference, the kids and I drove out about to Solin, Diocletians home, about 15 minutes outside of Split. The anciant ruins are right there and ripe for climbing. There was not another person there and we had fun in the sun checking out the ruins.





"follow me"

Then we drove to Trogir, a small sweet village on the water. The kids are here at the entrance.

One of the evenings we walked to downtown Split (about a 15 minute walk from our hotel) and toured Diocletians Palace...it was impressive.

On the Riva.





We checked out of our hotel in Split on Friday morning and took Bill back to the ruins to explore more. The poppies in the field were a hit with Katie.

Climbing on the ruins at Solin.



A tremendous highlight of our trip, Plitvicka Jezera National Park. We parked the car, walked a couple hundred meters, and our first glimpse was this.

The walkways are right at water level. The water was a beautiful shade of blue-green and so clear, you could see the bottom.

How cool is this???



It took us about three to four hours to walk almost the whole length including one great boat ride across the largest of the lakes. This place is nature at it's best.





We stayed the night in a nice B & B and then the next day, drove to Ptuj, Slovenia, and then Graz, Austria. We saw this on the side of the road. It is the future home of the Croatian Homeland War Museum.



We basically went to Ptuj, Slovenia because it was on the way to our hotel in Graz, Austria and we heard they make great wine.

This room held one of the finest and rarest wine collections in all of Europe. It was blocked off by a giant cask and hidden from the Nazis when they came through town. The Pullus staff is very proud of this fact and we thought it was super cool.

Waiting to buy wine.

We were thrilled to see how adorable downtown Ptuj was.

Final destination, Graz.



Graz is a beautiful, and quite large city.