Trips

Sun., 6/17/18 - Ljubljana

This morning ten of us went for a boat ride on the Ljubljanica River. We went south then north under the town pedestrian bridges and to the steps to disembark. There are wonderful old trees and a wide path on the west side of the river. It was peaceful and quiet at 9 AM this morning. We were greeted with champagne and crackers at the end of the ride.

Riding the Ljubljanica River
Boat dock	We missed this
Nice sculpture	Franciscan Church of the Annunciation
Triple bridge	Butcher's Bridge love locks (from below)
The other side of the triple bridge	A Nutria along the river
Marge and I then took the funicular up to the Ljubljana Castle on the rocky crag above town. In the castle are several museums, cafes, and view points. We climbed to the top of the tower to look out over the city and visited the Slovenia ethnology, puppetry, and dragon museums. Puppetry was reintroduced here in 1944 as a relief from the horrors of war. On display were many marionettes and we watched some TV animated puppet shows. The dragon is the symbol of Ljubljana and the museum had poster presentations of the mention of dragons in Egypt, the Old and New Testaments, and all throughout our history. The point is that dragons have always stood for evil or peril and also for the “dark” parts of a person’s psyche. Another area had paintings of dragons from myths like St. George and the red and white dragons in Wales.
Funicular to Ljubljana Castle
Puppets in the museum	Pinocchio
Puppets in the museum	Marionettes
	Dragon Hall
Great views from the walls of the castle
Model of the castle	Another view of the building I like
Congress Square	Franciscan Church of the Annunciation in Trg Square
Soviet Era Brutalism	Soviet Era Brutalism
Castle courtyard	City view
View of the river	The spiral steps down from the top of the wall
	In the History Museum
Counter-balance for the funicular	We walked back through the market stalls in town to the hotel and ate up our peanut butter and repacked our suitcases.
Market stalls	Market stalls
Cheeses	Meats
Fruits	Our Farewell Dinner was at a local restaurant and we were greeted with cherry brandy and traditional folk dancers. Three couples were dressed in Slovenian costumes and danced to accordion music between each course. We (I) got to dance in a chain dance and the funniest entertainment was a swap-the-hat elimination contest which was like musical chairs. We laughed a lot.

 

Mon. 6/18/18 - The Long Trip Home

We got up at 3:45 AM, and left for the airport in Ljubljana at 5 AM for our 7:20 AM Adria Airlines flight to Munich. The Adria flight took off and after 10 minutes the pilot cut back the power to the engines, did a 180, and headed back to Ljubljana. We landed with a “technical problem.” It was “fixed” in half an hour and we then flew uneventfully to Munich.

We arrived in Denver on time (a 10 hour flight) at 2:30 PM and customs and passport controls went smoothly. It poured rain, with lightening, around 6 PM as we were driving north on I-25, but the canyon was clear. We got home at 7 PM, ate soup, and were in bed by 8:30.

The trip was great. Lots of interesting places and history, etc., but now we have a lot of yard work and catching up to do, as well as prepare the house for the realtor to show!