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Published: December 15th 2007
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Our Boat On Bled
Note the water in the left boat, that was ours... Today we got up early so that we could get to lake Bled and get back in time for the ice hockey match we had bought tickets for. After enjoying another buffet breakfast we made our way to the bus station, although we were unsure as to where it was. I had seen that it was in front of the train station from the map but had no idea where to buy tickets; we went into the train station, I went to the ticket desk and Steph to the information and we both found out that it was the kiosk type thing outside. Joining up again we bought our tickets and also some bread and water for our budget picnic.
Once in Bled we walked down to the lake and although the mist partially hid the scenery the view was rather amazing; behind us were snow capped mountains, to the right stood the white spire of a church and above that, watching the crystal clear lake, was the castle. The lake was very still with no boats visible which put a dampener on our plans to row to the island.
We walked round towards the tourist information to find
it closed and so we wondered how to rent a boat. We popped in to a four star hotel, with the lack of information, and they advised us to ask a 5 star hotel further up. We were informed that they rent boats but only until October. from within the lounge with views spanning across the lake, we were told that for €20 we could be taken across on by someone on a larger boat. With this out of the question we carried on round the lake.
A bit further along we found a sign declaring that boats could be rented and after a small exchange of money we had ourselves a boat. First it was emptied of water using a bucket, which unnerved steph slightly. After I pointed out how water was leaking in through the side she got a bit worse. A few claims of reassurement and she got her sea legs and climbed aboard. I joined her and cast off, only to realise that my right arm knew how to row but my left was less confident. A little mental encouragement and we were off roughly towards the island. Soon Steph wanted to have a turn;
a few unsure steps later she was next to me. With Steph rowing on the left and myself on the right we zig-zagged along and aproached the island. I took over and steered the boat to a landing site and slowly eased it in and tied it up.
The island was pretty with its church at the top of the stairs and paths covered in leaves and lined with lights. Although when we approached the church we saw that there was an enterance fee; we've been in many churches but have never rented a boat before so we didn't bother and returned to the boat. With a little more joint rowing we were off back to mainland and mostly intact; Steph managed to get a blister from rowing. Although we were worried about getting to the bus in time to see the hockey game we carried on with our walk around the island. Whilst walking we made our sandwiches and ate them without stopping fearing that we would not have time. Each time we thought we were getting close to the castle another cove appeared which took another 5 minutes to walk around and so time edged away so
we kept up the pace. This was twarted by the appearance of a few ducks and a fish - a very large fish.
The ducks decided to cross our path without caring that we were marching towards them and so naturally we had to stop and offer them some bread. One cheeky duck even took the bread from my hand! After wasting too much time with the ducks, we continued only to see somthing large splashing around in a stream. Steph thought this unknown thing was a duck, it was that large, but on closer inspection we realised it was a very large fish in water only twice its depth. This fish was fighting against the current and gravity to get up into a pipe from presumingly where it had come from. We watched it try and try to get into the pipe for about 10mins before just as we were giving in, in an almighty splash, it jumped up and then plopped into the pipe. With nowhere else upstream to go the fish then just swam in the pipe quite happily.
We were at lake level and the castle was at hill level which provided a minor
problem. A small path wound its way up the hill towards the castle but with Steph, remembering Kotor, was slightly put off. With both of us needing the toilet somewhat, we headed up to the castle in the hope that they had a toilet. They did have a toilet, but they would not let us use it without paying the heafty entrance fee. Deciding againt this, we went round the castle and enjoyed the view from outside the walls before returing to the town. The bus station was closed and so there was no where to shelter so we nipped into a pub and had ourselves a half pint each, only to realise the price of a pint was only 10p more, although we did not have time to drink that much. After catching the bus we went back to the hotel to go on the internet.
On the internet we quickly swatted up on the rules of ice hockey before heading to the game. The game was in the same place as the basketball and so we were expecting a similar experience; instead we were greated by security checking backs, patting people down and removing bottles of liquid
from people. We lost a bottle of coke and a bottle of water that we had brought for the game which was very disappointing. The stand was a lot emptier for the hockey than the basket ball and the actual sport is less invloving but it was still fun anyway. Strangely there were cheerleaders for ice hockey also, but they were on the steps with the fans and danced out of time at every opportunity which was quite strange. Steph quite enjoyed watching them bitch behind each others backs. The game was fun but extremely fast moving and we were vastly appreciative of our quick read of the rules of the game before hand. Olimpije won the game which we put down to our immense abilities as goodluck charms.
We walked into town and went into a pizzeria for a cheap and easy meal. We shared a vegetarian pizza that wasn't fantastic as the name of it suggested. We ate pretty quickly and arrived back at the hotel well before midnight. After nice refreshing showers, we are both going to sit and complete a few of the more difficult Sudoku before going to bed. Night night. Stob
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