We started the day traveling along the blue green glacial river of Soca. Parts of the river seemed peaceful, and parts were traveling very fast. The water must have been warmer than the air, because many parts had 3 feet of steam above the water. We say people kayaking, and rafting. We stopped at one point to see the river first hand. There were two younger people in wet suits resting by their kayaks by the side of the river. I chatted a bit, and they said they had been on the river for two hours this morning. They were from Austria, and love to come to Slovenia for river kayaking. The water then seemed very chilly.
We next stopped in a small town called Kobarid, as 'mentioned in Hemingway's Farewell to Arms'. There was a WWI museum there. Seems there were many battles in the mountains around this town. Regretfully, I did not get much from this visit. The rooms were warm, I could not understand the guide or movie, and I dozed a bit every now and then. The little town was beautiful, like most villages in Slovenia. Yards neat and clean and lots of flowers.
In the afternoon, Janez, the bus driver, took us through the Julian Alps and the Triglav National Park and over the Vrsic Pass and pass the Russian Chapel, which was created in the honor of the Russian prisoners of war that died while building the road that goes over the pass. The sights and all the switch backs were amazing. Janez had to use both lanes of the road to navigate the roads. We only had one close call when a maintenance truck was impatient, and tried to make the curve while we were in it.
We ended the day in beautiful town of Bled. The circumference of the lake is a 6 km walk, which we did not have time to do. The town is on one side of the lake, and the castle is on a cliff on the other side of the lake looking over the lake and town. There is an island in the lake on one end, and there is a lovely small church on the island. 'Plenta' boats will take visitors to the islands, or there are row boats for the do-it-yourselfers. Looks like the Plenta boats can carry about 20 visitors and the 'drivers' of the boats paddle to the island. A person becomes a Plenta boat driver through family heritage. Swans and ducks swim in the lake, and there most be some fish, as we say fisherman sitting on the shore.
Nora, Pam, Matt, and I had dinner this evening at the neighboring 'Pension' restaurant next to the hotel. A 'pension' in Europe is like a Bed and Breakfast in the US, but it serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner which may be included in the price. We all had the daily dinner, but I had a full trout, and they had pork ribs. It was very good. The waiter seemed to tease Nora, so he brought us some complimentary orange liquor at the end of the meal.
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