Europe Holiday 2008 Part 10 Venice

Saturday we travelled by train from Slovenia to Venice - Ah Venice - the place where we must return and stay in the city to experience the uniqueness of it. We joined our ship, The Zuiderdam, which was a little out of the way to make quick dashes into the city. However on the Sunday we did a tour which included the Doge's Palace. The courtyard and other images are seen here.

And this is the Gold Staircase.

We walked across the Bridge of Sighs where prisoners were taken to their cells from the Doge's Palaceand I managed this quick snap looking through a small opening.The Bridge of Sighs from another bridge.We then moved to St Mark's square - St Mark's Church and other buildings taken from the square.Wayne and I then took a quick walk to the Rialto Bridge and I managed these photos from other bridges on the way.
Gondoliers are not the only form of transport - this is a rather up market water taxi which I believe is recognised in the cost!
That evening we waited our turn to sail between the Islands of Venice - here is another cruise ship on their way.

St Mark's Square and the Doge's Palace from our ship.
Other buildings and islands taken while we relaxed with a drink.

Europe Holiday 2008 Part 9 Slovenia

On the Friday, our last full day in Slovenia, we did a tour of the NorthWest. We were fortunate that, with our guide, there were only 4 of us in a car so we managed to see more of the countryside than if we were shuttled around in a Bus.

This photo shows the unusual racks they use on the farms for drying hay etc.

And a view of the mountainside.

This was our first view of the Castle at Bled which looks over a magnicent lake.These photos were taken from various parts of the Castle. The island in the middle of the lake has a delightful church which is often used for weddings. There is very strict use of power boats on the lakes and those going to the island are taken by a boat which is powered by people! The lake is also used for international rowing events.We were then taken to the Vintgar Gorge where we had a leisurely stroll down the pathways which were built over 100 years ago.

There was some interesting vegetation on the cliffs of the Gorge.Next stop was back to Lake Bled where we viewed the island and castle from the other side.Then it was time for lunch where we ate at a restaurant overlooking the ski slopes and sat outside in the warm sunshine for a typical Slovenian lunch - which did not include horse which is eaten in this country! These boxes are beehives and I understand each family identifies their hives by the decoration but I'm not sure about the bees!We then drove on a little way to Lake Bohinj where the weather changed dramatically. These photos were taken whilst standing in drizzly rain with thunder and lightening echoing around the mountains. Unfortunately I couldn't manage to catch a lightening strike on camera.And on the way back the weather cleared to allow us to see the snow topped mountains yet again.
After a very pretty drive through many country towns we arrived at Skofja Loka where this modern sculpture contrasted with the medieval city which was across the river.