Friday, October 27, 2017

Ljubljana is pronounced Lee-ub-lee-ana, I think

In Slovenia, there are pretty castles and churches to remind you it's Europe.
After Iceland, I was relieved to be back in a civilized climate.
This is lake Bled. If it's not August, you can boat across it or hike around it. But if it's August, which is was for us, you get crowded out by German, Austrian, Italian and Dutch tourists.
So we went back to Ljubljana to enjoy the wine. They have orange wine, which, incredibly, is a secret new kind of wine tasting like no other! We were big fans.
We saw the secret Canadian society's emblem.
And the Door of Six Cardinal Heads, which I found funnier than I was supposed to. Why are only their heads 3D?
Ljubljana has great, inexpensive food.
I recommend the savoury beet ice cream with cheese.
But we didn't try what appears to be an imitation restaurant.

Saturday, October 21, 2017

Viking Time

Here in Iceland, I was still waiting for summer, while Barry was decidedly more comfortable.
To warm up, we went to the Eimverk distillery!
We tasted interesting things like gin smoked in sheep's dung.
We did a thorough job of appreciating the local spirits.
Afterwards, we found this sign quite funny.
We actually stopped at the Ali pork factory just to marvel at the religious insensitivity of the name.
We learned from the Viking museum though, that though a lot of people believe in elves, they are officially Christian.
We learned a lot of other things about Vikings too, some of it violent.
Barry tried to fit in.
But this little kid did it better.
So we tried the hotdogs, which is what Barry came for, and agreed they're the world's best. It must be that Ali pork.

Saturday, October 7, 2017

Desolate landscapes

Iceland is cold, desolate, and largely treeless, covered in lava rocks and blackness.
We saw a geyser (humans shown for scale).
And a waterfall.
But my favourite thing was the lava fields covered in moss.
Your feet sink in like a shag carpet. Mine at confusing angles.
Barry was less keen on this post-Armageddon style landscape at first.
Speaking of desolate, it was 12C and chilly in mid-summer.
We kept warm near the geothermal activity.
But even that is a big haunty-creepy.