Uk and Slovenia

We spent the night in a hotel at Heathrow before catching an early flight to Prague and a connection to Brnic just outside Ljubliana.
When we arrived Natalija's cousin Ida and her husband Janez were waiting for us and they recognised each other instantly. We picked up our hire car then followed them to an aunts house where the rest of the family had arranged to meet.

Janez and Ida.

Bogdan and Marko

I felt a bit left out at first as they were all speaking Slovene and I didnt understand a word but I got used to it pretty quickly. They hadnt seen each other in over 30 years and Natalija's aunt scolded her about not feeding me well enough as she thought I was too thin. I didnt understand a word but I got the gist of the conversation from the hand signs. She would have been horrified if she knew I did most of the cooking at home. The rest of the family must have taken this as a hint to fatten me up as every where I went they fed me. I have never eaten so much in my life I was in pain most days from being fed so well.

We spent the rest of the day just chatting and looking at photos and being introduced to other relatives. Later after a few beers, more food and the compulsory grapa we returned to Janez and Ida's house where we were staying for the week. I was stunned by the view from the dining room it was postcard material a perfect view of Triglav mountain. We had some coffee and more food then went to bed.

Triglav from the house.

In the morning we ate breakfast then packed lunch for a day in Triglav national park. I have seen some pretty amazing places over the years but this place stunned me I fell in love with it instantly.
I could happily live there the mountains were awsome and so close and easy to get to. Everyone was so friendly and said hello, we stopped for a rest at a little chalet and had a beer and strudle.
It looked out over a nationaly famous rock formation that looks like a face.

The face rock

We spent the rest of the day hiking around the park and marvelling at the scenery before heading back to town and having dinner in a small tavern.

Over the following days we went to Postonja cave, Kranska Gora, and loads of other beautiful places I cant remember the names of.
One day in particular we went out early and hiked in the mountains before crossing the border into Italy for lunch. Then travelled back through Nova Gorica for dinner and a traditional dance in the town square. I got roped into a traditional hat dance with some guys and then another with a woman in traditional clothing. Her husband took the opportunity to dance with Natalija and we all had a great time.

Italian border in the mountains

The couple in Nova Gorica

We walked down the cobblestone streets and shopped in the market. Janez pointed out an old car and told me I should buy one as they were a great car, I burst out laughing as soon as I saw it. Natalija was wondering what was so funny as Janez and I were curled up laughing at the car. Ida had to explain that the car was an old East German Trabant and was famous for being the worst car ever built in the world.
We went to Trzic and visited a woman that had looked after Natalija as a child and had lunch with her family at their taverna.

Milka's Taverna
Then to another couples house in the forrest by a stream where they still used a water wheel to power a sawmill. They brought out a big jug of home made wine that was rather nice. It had some side affects though and after 2 glasses I felt uncomfortably hot and flushed, my face felt like it was burning with bad sunburn. It had the same affect on Ida and we left well after dark.

On my last day we went to the castle at Bled and explored, I even found an ancient painting of Bodium Castle on the wall. We got a boat across Lake Bled to the Island Chapel and had lunch there.
We then took Janez and Ida out to dinner before going back to their house for a few drinks. I was catching a plane home in the morning and Natalija and Jack were staying another couple of days.

Lake Bled

After being invited to attend a cousins wedding and a quick check of the bank account I headed to the travel agents to book the flights. We would be flying to london via Brunei and Dubai
then staying with relatives for a few days. After the wedding we decided to visit my 96 year old grandmother then fly to Slovenia via Prague to visit relatives there.
I flew home from work late on a Wednesday night before flying out of Perth the following morning. We arrived in Brunei around lunch time and had an hour wait before boarding the plane to Dubai. We landed in Dubai around 11pm local time and after a quick refuel were on our way to London landing at about 9am Thursday local time. We got a shuttle bus to the car rental area and picked up our hire car then drove to my cousins house in Stanford Lee Hope about an hour and a half away.

After the usual hand shakes and hugs we settled down to a relaxing day of beer and catching up. The following day was spent much the same way. We had an early night and a long sleep in the following morning before getting ready for the wedding that afternoon.

Sarah's Wedding.

Me and Sarah.

The wedding was held at Stockbrook Mannor and was great, the reception was just as good with the younger kids amazed by the chocolate fountain. We left at around midnight and went to bed as soon as we arrived back at my Uncle's house.

Sunday morning we had a late breakfast before heading out to visit long forgotten places from my childhood, Our old house, my grandfathers village and local pub, and numerous other places.
I was rather surprised to find our old neighbours still living in the same house and after a couple of phone calls they had their daughter over. I hadnt seen them in 31 years and a lot had changed from what I rememberd but they filled in the gaps.

Grandads local pub.

Monday was spent driving down to Rye on the South coast to visit my Granny and we arrived mid afternoon. We visited Bodium Castle on the way as it was a favourite place of mine as a child and my sons first visit to a real castle.

Bodiam Castle

My parents had booked us into a B&B not far from Grannys house as they had arrived earlier in the day. We spent the afternoon wandering around Rye and Grannys village, where my son soon discovered blackberries and stinging nettles.

The B&B was a nice little place overlooking a valley that stretched towards the coast and in the morning it was covered by fog giving the impression we were above the clouds. We ate breakfast and arranged to meet my parents and Granny in Battle for lunch. My son has a fascination with Knights and castles so a visit to Battle Abbey and a history lesson seemed apropriate. Jack was amazed that the battle of Hastings had occured nearly a thousand years ago and that the tapestry depicting the battle survives to this day. We walked along the sea front at Hastings as I had done as a child. Jack was rather surprised there was no sand on the beach only pebbles and after getting his feet wet we could not convince him to go swimming. We had lunch in a Pub across the road from Battle Abbey before driving back to london.

Battle Abbey.

Hastings Beach