Friday, June 22, 2007
Thursday 7th June
We visit Bled, the church on the island in the middle of the lake is the common picture used by the tourist board to represent Slovenia. It is very beautiful and even though the day was dull at best with intermittent rain we could still see the hint of the emerald water, I imagine when the sun is shining it is truly splendid. We enjoyed a 2hr walk around the lake, should take a normal person about 1hr.
Friday 8th June
We head west so we are just across the border from Zagreb (Croatia’s capital) from where Jon is flying out to the UK. As I was to be on my own with the boys for 4 days I wanted somewhere with plenty of entertainment. We stay at a campsite called Terme Catez which has 7 outdoor swimming pools, the water is thermally heated so is pleasantly warm and 2 indoor pools both boasting many slides, wave machines and Jacuzzi’s. There is a pool available for all ages and abilities. The day Jon left Max lost his first tooth, quite literally in one of the swimming pools. I was more upset then Max and determined to find it but to no avail. The tooth fairy still decided to pay him a visit in the night.
All in all we spent a good week here with the boys enjoying swimming and even squeezing in some learning. One down side was having the boys’ new scooter stolen from the swimming pools when we absent-mindedly abandoned it for 10 minutes.
Jon had only planned to be away for 4 days but choose to extend for a few days as there were a couple of British things he needed to stock up on and he needed more time. As it turned out this was a wise decision as it gave him the opportunity to visit his mum who had become ill in hospital.
Driving along the motorway on my way to pick Jon up from Zagreb airport, I congratulate myself on my timing, despite rushing the children though their tea and bedtime routine so that they were fed, watered, cleaned and pyjama’d. I had also managed to tidy the caravan a bit. As I hit the outskirts of Zagreb the weather turned dramatically with heavy rain, lightening and high winds, everyone was crawling along at 60km/hr or less as visibility has been dramatically reduced. I wait outside the airport for Jon’s phone call to say he has arrived with the wind shaking the car and water being driven along the road like a fast moving river. After half an hour of waiting and hoping Jon has managed to land, toilet demands invoke the need to enter the airport and pay astronomically high parking fees.
After wading through the lake that used to be a car park I make it into the terminal and see that Jon’s plane is in overflow, assuming that meant they were waiting to taxi to the terminal and he would be with us shortly. Therefore, I wasn’t expecting the phone call that came 5 minutes later from Jon telling me the plane had been diverted to Split due to the bad weather and they were waiting there for 1/2 hour to get a weather update. At the time of the phone call the rain had stopped and the wind had died down to a gentle breeze. Jon arrives and we have been waiting in the car for 3 or so hours and again the DVD player for the boys was a godsend and kept them happily entertained.
I take the opportunity to buy a British mag but much to my chagrin, I later work out it cost me 10 to read about J-lo’s luxurious house, health and beauty tips (as if I need any!!) and what bikinis are a must for this summer, if you can spare a #100 or so.
