Last Day in Slovenia

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I am still in Slovenia - for one more night. I have really enjoyed my time here. For such a small country, there is a lot of geographic variety. Yesterday I drove from the centrally-located capital, Ljubljana, north into the mountains to see Lake Bled. It is an almost impossibly quaint mountain lake with a small island complete with a little church. I must have taken twenty pictures, but I will show you just two: the first is from the viewpoint of the castle that overlooks the lake and the second is from the viewpoint of my terrace table at the Hotel Vila Bled where I took a break for cappuccino and a bit of the local cream cake. (Before you ask, the waiter told me that two pieces of cake are the standard portion!) I drove my little rental car further up into the Alps and the scenery only got more dramatic (see photo). One of the reasons I went there was to see the WWI museum at Kobarid which was the front line for the Soca Front when Italy attempted to invade the Austro-Hungarian empire through Slovenia (part of Austria at that time). This is where E. Hemingway drove an Italian ambulance and where he set "A Farewell to Arms". (See photo of museum entrance and the peaceful Kobarid valley today.) In the afternoon I drove to the extreme SE corner of Slovenia where I am currently enjoying a local beer (pivo) while watching the big, gorgeous sun set over the Adriatic Sea. (See photo)

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