Then Paul's mom needed surgery in England so he set us up with Enrico and Emily. More on that later.
We got to the airport early since we never know how long the bus will take from parking, how long the line is to check bags and how long the lines are in security. It was Tuesday, and we were picked up at our car and taken immediately to Terminal E. No line for checking bags or security. But our gate was not by Jamba Juice. So I parked Bill with the bags and went to the other end of the earth to Jamba Juice and then got us Cheese Enchiladas at Papasitos.
Our flight to Frankfurt was uneventful. The guy next to me had the shade down so I couldn't see Kelsterbach and I was sad. We did have extra leg room which was nice. We watched movies the whole way and didn't sleep. Bill and I timed Drive together so we watched it "together". We got to Frankfurt and were afraid our connection was too tight but it wasn't. We got through customs quickly and waited for our flight. Somehow I mixed up our boarding passes and Bill went through but they stopped me. So I was the last one on the plane. Of course he never looked back We didn't have a window because we were on the exit row and missed the Alps.
We took the bus to the train station from the airport. We get dropped out and can't see the train station but someone points it out. The first train had first class seats but wasn't the really nice train. But for 17 Euros it was great. We get to Trieste and lug our bags about 4 blocks to the hotel. As soon as we get to the room the phone rings. It's Paul and he is downstairs. He was on his way to the airport and saw us lugging the bags. It was great to see him albeit for only a few minutes. We then walked across the street for pizza since we were not going to make it to the dinner hour and then slept.
The next day we have a lovely continental breakfast. They had meats that we didn't not eat, cheeses and fresh breads with lots of jams. Also yogurt and cereal.
Enrico and Emily are there to pick us up. Enrico is an Italian bird guide and Emily is a British birder.
Both were fantastic and we had a great time.
We first went to Monte Srena overlook at the Val Rosandra Rieserve. Wow! Check out this cute church we looked down on. Emily said it no longer has services but people do get married there. She said she knew someone that married there and it was very muddy. We were lucky, the weather was beautiful. There used to be a train that ran through the valley but now there are walking trails.
Here is an olive grove that we could see.
Here is the sign that we are entering Slovenia. We mainly wanted a new country and it was beautiful!!!!We went to Lake Cerknica. Gorgeous! Everything was clean and so beautiful.
We went to a place that was a cave that caved in. It's now a gorgeous rock bridge and waterfalls.
There were so many beautiful small churches. This one had bells in the bell tower,
Lovely reflections of the trees.
I don't know where we saw this sign. Too funny.
We found a dipper!!
Day 2 Emily couldn't come with us and we were sad. The first stop we found a Blue Rock Thrush, juvenile
At Valle Cavanata we found a Kingfisher. The European Kingfisher is gorgeous!!!
The gulls are all different from what we are used to.
We loved watching the fisherman in Duino feed the Mute Swans.
I neglected to put in any pictures of the Grifone Vultures. They are endangered and are cared for at a refuge. It was a spectacular place.
We were exhausted after both days and ate pizza across the street both times!!
