Lake bled is stunning. The water is clear clean and the prettiest color of aqua blue. Our Lake Tahoe is so blue and equally pretty but it makes you realize that even something like clean water comes in different splendid colors. We had lunch and asked for something traditional from slovenia. A mixed grill of tasty meats and fries. Very good, very inexpensive. We each had Slovenian wine on the menu for only 1.20€ and it was great! By far better than most house wines we pay 7$ a glass for at home. We stopped by a hut for some local home made ice cream. Also 1.20€ a scoop. Tristan had ginger ice cream, it was so different and so good.
We took a boat ride to the island in the lake where a old church from the 15th century was built. The man who rowed our boat was from a tiny village on the lake and his family has lived there since atleast the 17th century. No one can have these boats on the lake unless their family has passed the rights down to them. So his father, and grandfather and so on has been operating these boats for generations. It was all started by Marie Antoinette who instituted the boats so that the villagers could attend the church on the island,but now the boats carry tourists. It was interesting and very pretty.
We'll slovenia may have cheap wine and ice cream but we just paid 15€ for a tax sticker to pass through their country. We stopped at the wrong toll booth and the man was happy to inform us we needed this pricy sticker. Jimmie is not so happy about this. . He says to write about taking an extra 500$ just to piss away to the wind. Cole offered to pay him the 15€ if he would be quiet about it.
The best part of the day as usual is not the tasty treats or the beautiful sights. It's watching the boys enjoy each other. It's watching friendship blossom. Friendship in a family is not automatic .it doesn't always happen naturally . It's something that takes time and attention and sometimes requires separation from the outside world. We all are doing so amazingly well traveling together. Sure there are unpleasant moments of course but few and far between. Jimmie is fast paced to say the least, but he's thoughtfull and kind and so loving, always stopping to tell me he loves me and always so eager to play a game with his kids and give his time and attention to them, it's an amazing quality he has and I admire it so much. His parents are the same way and I love them so much for passing that on to their son. The boys have all been willing to share in the tasks of packing up and moving about every few days. When we did this three years ago I was actually nervous it would make or break us, but this time I knew we'd be good and we need this time together. I'm just so very thankful that we get to do this.
The kids are hilarious with the games they make up to pass the time in the car. One game they made up requires one of them to close their eyes. The other guy takes his hand and puts it somewhere on his body and the blinded one has to guess where. Of course they clarified from the beginning private parts were out, but they of course try to find the grossest place like between the toes or in the ear or in the belly button. They play truth or dare and Brock dared cole to take ear wax from Tristan and use it as war paint. Then of course there's slug bug. Lord knows who invented this one, but they have played it for years. If you spot a Volkswagen car you yell out slug bug and proceed to slug your opponent. Of course in Germany where Volkswagen is made their were zillions of them so fists were flying every minute in the back seat of the car. I tried to outlaw the game. But to no avail. I give up.
So were soon in croatia, I can't wait for some warm weather and sunshine.
What did Jimmy think of the 1 euro wine? Good on the boys for inventing long-journey car games. Me and my sister would invent eye-spy games when we got dragged on drives from Dover to Rome in the eighties in a mark 2 Ford Escort that would break down every couple of hundred miles (with no air-con). Splendid memories :-)
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