Travel

This country is brilliant. Slovenia is tiny, about a quarter of the size of Tasmania. In fact it's so small that on our wall map of the world it only squeezes in the first four letters- so it is forever known as "Slov"! Anyway, we had heard great things about this place so decided to go for my birthday this year. Slovenia has a pretty chequered history, having being occupied by Croatia/Germany/Hungary and Italy at various points in time, and it was part of Yugoslavia until 1991. It is bordered by Croatia, Hungary, Italy and Austria.

Before we left Bled we called in at Vintgar Gorge. We drove there but you can walk from Bled through the little villages, it's about 4km from Bled. Suspended wooden pathways and bridges follow along the sides of the gorge, through which flows the Radovna River. We went early, which is well worth doing to avoid the crowds. The water is a stunning aqua colour, and combined with the rocks, waterfalls and the filtered sunlight coming through the trees, it is just beautiful.

After Bled we made our way to Piran via Kranjska Gora, through the Julian Alps and the Soca Valley, basically following the Soca River. This is where we had to cross the Vrsic Pass, which is about 1611m above sea level. We were lucky there wasn't much traffic but I wouldn't want to drive there in the wet! I had a great time checking out all the scenery through the winding roads, but Ian had to really concentrate at it really was hairpin bend after hairpin bend!

We arrived in Piran late that afternoon. Slovenia only has about 40km of coastline so it gets pretty busy in the summer. We were not overly impressed (I think it is hard to be impressed by European beaches when you are used to the Australian coast. The beaches that are nice are usually completely swamped with people!), it was a nice enough Mediterranean style town with narrow cobbled streets, but there didn't seem to be a whole lot to do except eat and lay by the water. Not that there is anything wrong with that!

We only stayed overnight (at a lovely hotel called the Hotel Marko) and the next day made our way back to the airport via Ljubljana. We are definitely going back though- there are still so many thing we wanted to see and do like the caves, canyoning, the National Parks, more canyoning!

This one is short and sweet, basically because I was to cold to venture far outside much less take any photo's. Those of you that know me well know I think anything below 20 degrees is cold so -7 degrees wind chill and snow (IN SPRING) was really pushing my enthusiasm! And don't be fooled by the blue sky in the background of some of the pictures, it alternated between blue sky and snow all day. Despite that, Ian, Bianca, Mick and myself all agreed (from the warmth of the pub) that we really should come back in summer... Highlights of the trip were Blenheim palace and um...the pub.

Our trip to Amsterdam was arranged last minute when we both unexpectedly managed to score a Friday off. We were intending to go somewhere warm (as you can see from our photos we are bordering on transclucent after the English winter) but unless you are able to fly at 3am from an airport that may as well be the other side of the country, last minute cheap flights are a bit of a myth. Or maybe we were just not organised! Anyway, we arrived in Amsterdam, city of "coffee" shops and red lights on Friday the 29th February. Unfortunately the weather was not much better than London! Our first impression (after- "damn its cold!") was that there are a LOT of bikes in Amsterdam. Amsterdam is fairly compact, so the prefered mode of transport is the bike. They are chained up everywhere, to railings, post trees, anything stationary. Apparently there are more bikes than residents and approximately 150,000 bikes are stolen every year. Personally I think at least half of these are not stolen, their owners just can't remember where they put theirs!
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(By the way everything I have written here is from memory so it is probably wrong...don't quote me!)
On Saturday we did a free walking tour of Amsterdam with New Amsterdam Tours. They run on the idea that instead of paying a fixed price for the tour you tip the tour guide whatever you can, it does not matter if you can't afford it as they assume you will tell others about it. Anyway, our tour guide was Sean, and for a "free" tour it was pretty thorough- it went for three hours and we had to have a break half way through! We started off in the red light district which is fairly unassuming by day. Apparently back in the day prostitiution was condoned by the church as they believed men would go crazy if they did not get enough (so to speak) so the prostitutes were technically providing a mental health service . Also, after they visitied the ladies they would be so guilt ridden that they would go to church (which was conveniently located nearby) and repent their sins by giving money to the church. A win-win situation! I estimated there were at least 2000 british males there on a stag weekend.
Nearby was also a "hidden church". During the reformation the celebration of Catholic mass was forbidden so hidden churches popped up everywhere. This particular church was built in the house of a wealthy merchant and was so big (for a supposedly hidden church) that it had an organ and seating for 150 people! Further down th canal is De Nieuwmarkt, a busy market square overlooked by De Waag, an interesting building that is now a cafe but originally was one of the gates to the city. It later became a weigh house, and was home to a number of guilds, including the Guild of Surgeons. This is where Rembrandt came for anatomy lessons and to watch autopsies, later painting "The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp". Public executions were also held in the square so there was always a ready supply of victims...

Amsterdam is full of wonky houses. The houses are generally wooden frames with brick facades, and supported by wooden piles. Because they are so old, and built on the sides of the canals, the foundations are sinking and many of the houses have a distinct lean on them! Their solution? Pour concrete down the gap between the two houses and leave it for the next generation to worry about! Brilliant. The houses also lean forwards. Because the houses are so narrow you can't get anything up the staircases, so if you are moving everything goes through the windows. There is a winch at the top of the buildings and the houses lean forwards so your plasma tv doesn't smash against the wall on the way up!


Property taxes were calculated on how wide the front of your house was so one clever person (or not) made their house the width of a door. He was probably an accountant... It's the red house in the middle.