1 day, 5 hours would be the estimated total drive time during our summer holiday. Estimated by google-maps, of course. Estimated by Hope, we would be talking more like four weeks.
We spent ten days traveling from start to finish, so no individual day was more than five or maybe 6 hours in the car, and we spent at least two nights in three different places. So, slow travel, if you are Jeff.
We spent two nights in Grindelwald, Switzerland, and then four in Tignes France with friends. It was with great sadness that we bid goodbye, and with ringing cries of "See you next year!! Somewhere!!" we headed over the Alps to Italy.
Now, just about anywhere we had been in this trip could have been a week long stop. And as I was planning this journey, in my random plan-less planning sort of way, Jeff suggested that we spend a day or so in Slovenia. I don't know about you, but even in reverse alphabetical order, Slovenia wasn't all that high on my list of "Places I Can't Wait to See." Excellent news, though, I was wrong again! Slovenia, it turns out, is a fabulous place to see. And we'll get there tomorrow with some photos so you can see for yourself.
The tricky bit on getting from France to Slovenia is that straight through, it would have been an 8 hour drive. Through Italy. Now there's a country it's a shame to speed through. Eight hours is a long haul, plus you are starting out in the Alps, so brutal for those who suffer from carsickness. Which, it turns out, is all of us non-drivers when driving through the Alps. Sleep and books on tape got us through without a hitch, but when you start out the ride quietly wondering if root canal would be a preferable option, eight hours is just too long.
So, the plan was to stop Italy for the night. Lake Como beckoned, Venice was within striking distance, but given that our ultimate destination was Slovenia, I decided to book a cheap pension for a quiet nights sleep in a fairly random place with the plan to get on the road early and get to our ultimate destination.
Bergamo was chosen as a reasonably short drive (4 hours) to an overnight B&B, whereupon we would arise early and head to Bled, Slovenia for a two night stop. Imagine my surprise when we pulled into the parking lot of our cheap B&B and it turned out to be an semi-fancy Art Hotel.
It is off the beaten path a bit, and while not really "cheap" in the Li jiang $10US a night cheap kind of way, it wasn't overly pricey for Italy. So, I was fooled. Not a cheap B&B, but an average priced seriously cool kind of hotel. Sometimes bad planning can result in nice surprises.
Hope considers herself an Artist-in-Training, so she and I wandered this really cool space taking photographs of our favorite art work. There were sculptures and paintings and all sorts of arty brick-a-brack (<--clearly, I am not an Artist-in-Training, one imagines the actual artists who discovered their artwork described as "brick-a-brack" potentially getting stabby with their paintbrushes) surrounding us.
Again, I am shocked by the lousy quality of my photographs. Real bloggers learn to take photos. And maybe even spell check. Ah, well.
It was an enjoyable surprise, and we headed off the next morning for Lake Bled, Slovenia.
It's a really, really cool place.
I love the last picture.
Posted by: Monica | July 15, 2011 at 01:31 AM