Beautiful Slovenia

Guess what? I'm on another hiking trip. Not much of a surprise for those who know me. I have continued my exploration of the Balkans and I'm this time checking out Slovenia. I have earlier hiked in Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania (Transylvania). I like to hike in this part of the world. The mountains are beautiful and quite friendly. Not as tough as they can be in other parts.

Once again I'm traveling with my friend Erika. She is as found of hiking as I am AND she also enjoys food and wine. I have travelled with friends that haven't enjoyed the later and that is so boring. So Erika is kind of the perfect travel partner for me.

With that in mind we started of our trip by drinking champagne on the plane down to Venice to celebrate the start of our vacation (we flew to Venice and from there we took the bus to Slovenia) and continued with having a beer in the sun as soon as got down to Kranjska Gora in Slovenian, which was our base for our trip. Just the kind of start that I like.

Since the days are not that very different on a hiking trip: You get up early, eat a big breakfast, prepare your back-pack and go hiking while enjoying BEAUTIFUL views I decided to do it a bit different this time. I will make just one blog post, but a bit longer and with the most important headings. And I will just upload a slideshow instead. Let me know what you think.

Views
When you spend your whole day outdoors hiking, the views are quite important. Luckily the views of Slovenia where amazing. You could see both rough rocks, beautiful grass hills, cozy forest, plenty of flowers and of course many sheep and cows. On top of that we actually got to see 2 countries, since we hiked on the border to Austria. You can sum it up in one word: Amazing! Check it out on the slide show on Youtube. You find the link below.

Hiking trails
I think I have tried it all, except of climbing when it comes to trails. And of course I have developed a certain taste for it. I like the trails to be trails, not roads. I want them to be quite steep uphill at times, but of course I enjoy the flat hikes as well. I'm not too found of trails with a lot of downhill. It hurts my knees and I'm very slow. On this trip I got what I wanted when it came to the uphill and flat, but it was a bit too much of downhill hikes. One of the days our uphill part of the hike was only a couple of hours and then it was downhill for  more than four hours. It was not my favorite. Luckily the views were still amazing.

Accommodation
We stayed at a 4 star hotel, so I can't really complain about the standard, but I found the trip to loose a bit of its charm when everything is so fancy. I like the tents, simple hostels and home stays that I have experienced on the other trips. But of course - everything is a lot simpler when you are staying at one place.

Food
We ate at the hotel every day except one. I don't really like that. You don't get to experience the food of the country then. At the hotel they also had some theme nights (Slovenian, Italian and Mediterranean). So what can I say about it? It was OK. Not fantastic, not bad, just average. And I think I,  the final night of the trip, drank the worst red wine I have ever had. We left most of the bottle on the table.

Weather
When I go on a trip I usually don't have any expectations on the weather. For me the trips are much more about exploring a new place, meeting new people, learning new things than enjoying the sun. But of course I'm happy if it is not raining the whole time. So when the weather report showed, before we started the trip, thunderstorm and rain every day, I got a bit worried. Would my gear even manage that? The first day started of quite cloudy, not too warm and we got to see the sun in between. The second day started in the same way, but just after lunch the rain came. And what a rain!!! I have never seen so big rain drops in my whole life. It was just pouring down for hours. When we finally reached the end of the hike we were all soaked. No rain gear in the world can take that kind of a rain. But the next day the weather changed and it was hot and sunny the rest of the week. So we can't complain about the weather. It just meant that we had to carry a lot more water. :-)

The Group
To travel with Erika is a joy. We seem to be synchronized all the time and we have a lot of fun. But we are not alone on a trip like this. We were in total 15 people including our 2 guides (one in training). The strange thing is that we, this time, didn't have any local guide, which has been the case on every hiking trip I have done so far. I missed the local guides a little, since they always know a lot more about the country in general and the area we are hiking in particular. But I can't complain - we had a great guide. The group itself was a lot of fun and we managed to discuss mostly everything (politics, travelling, work, therapy, love and so on) during our breakfasts and dinners together. While hiking we didn't start any heavier discussions.

Summary
So how would I rate the Slovenian hiking trip? I would give it a 4- out of 5. The long down hill hike and the lack of charm and great food at the hotel took down the grade. The views and the great company provided the plus points.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lg72R2MXF-k&feature=youtu.be

I'm convinced - it is the most beautiful city in the world

When I did my trip trip around the world 2011, I had a stop in California. I then wrote in a blog post about San Francisco that it might be one of the most beautiful cities in the world.  Today we spent the day in San Francisco and I'm convinced -  it is the most beautiful city in the world. It is the combination of cute victorian houses built on hills, surrounded by water that is doing it. It is just so cute and wonderful.

We started off our trip with a visit to Georg Lucas new film studio close to Presidio. We wanted to pay a visit to Yoda. It turned out, that Yoda lived in a cute little park with a coffee place. So we spent a couple of hours there.

Mr Yoda and my family

Linus on top of the world... or something. Note the Golden Gate Bridge in the background.

Then we continued the trip by just strolling around in the city checking out the architecture. There are so many cute houses to look at. It was a nice long walk in the wonderful warm weather, which is unusual in the normally quite "cold" city (normally around 18 degrees C, today around 24). 

Cute houses everywhere

After all that walking we needed to fill up the batteries. We decided to go to Mel's Drive in, which is a sister diner of the one that appeared in the movie American Graffiti (Sista Natten med Gänget). We ordered my favorite american dessert: Hot Apple Pie a la mode. It tasted soooooo good!

Waiting for the pie and feeling tired.

Hot Apple Pie a la mode

After the apple pie we went back home via the bridges. First the new Bay Bridge (the old one got destroyed during the earthquake 1989, but it has taken a long time to build a new one), where you could see the old one being dismounted next to the new one. Then we took the San Mateo Bridge, which is a very long low bridge over the bay. It was a long a nice drive home, but we came home feeling quite exhausted. It is hard to have vacation. :-)

The new Bay Bridge

The old Bay Bridge being dismounted next to the new one.

After the San Fransisco Sightseeing, we just spend the rest of the holidays relaxing at my sisters place. We don't get to spend that much time together as a family, so we better make the best out of it when we have the chance. Now we will see when we have the possibility to meet F2F again. But before that I will make some more trips on my own.

Enjoying American Traditions

There are a couple of things that I think is typical for USA: barbecues and pic-nics in the park. Combine the two and you are really taking part of an American tradition. We didn't combine them on this trip, but we managed to do both - separately.

My sister Monica arranged a barbecue party at a friend's house during the weekend. It is a beautiful house in the hills close to my sister's apartment. The house has a big patio with, of course, a big gas grill. It also has an imported Chinese teahouse, a cinema, a big bar and so on. In other words - a real party house. We were around 20 people enjoying a fantastic american barbecue and nice evening together. It is always interesting to meet new people, especially people from other countries, so there were a lot of interesting discussions ongoing during the party.

On my way to California I had a stop in Frankfurt. There I passed a shelf with champagne. In the corner of my eye I saw that they had Dom Perignon. It is supposed to be one of the best (and most expensive) champagnes. I couldn't resist it. I bought a bottle for us, so we could celebrate our 170 years (60+60+50 years) birthdays'. I didn't want to bring the champagne to the barbecue party, since (if I'm being honest) I didn't want to share it with other people than my family. So the day after the party we decided to have a pic-nic in a close by park. It was a wonderful pic-nic and the champagne tasted FANTASTIC, especially with the fresh strawberries.

With this we close the section of American traditions.

Pic-nic in the sunset in the park. The champagne was fantastic!

Wine, wine and more wine

There are some things in life that I appreciate a little bit more. Hiking, running and singing are some of them. To drink great wine (not wine in general - it has to be great) is another. The last time I was in California with my brother and nephew I didn't make it to Napa Valley. So this time I stated it from the start - there will be a trip to Napa Valley and everyone has to come. :-)

Before we went on the trip I called my friend and sommelier Michel to ask for some tips. He gave me a list of 3 vineyards to visit: Chateau Montelena, Duckhorn and Darioush. He also gave us the tip to visit the hamburger place Gott's Roadside. So we made a plan with all these places and then we added one more winery: Clos du Val.

The weather was, as always, beautiful in California. The sun was shining from a clear blue sky and we headed off from Silicon Valley to Napa Valley in my sisters very nice Lexus SUV. My sister's friend Jerry came along for the trip.

The first stop in Napa Valley was Gott's Roadside for lunch. I LOVED my burger. It was pure angus beef with cheese, avocado and a nice mixture of chopped tomatoes and onions on top.The other's seemed to be happy with their burgers, but not extremely impressed. (There are many great burger places around)

Linus and Jerry look, at least, like their enjoying their burgers.

Next stop was Chateau Montelena. I just had to visit a winery that almost has my name. It was a funny place, which looked like a castle, but it was just the fasade. Behind was just a big house. We tried 4 different wines: Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot and their famous Montelena Estate Cabernet Sauvignon. I loved the last one, but for 150 dollar/bottle I though it was just a little bit to expensive for me.

It looks like a real castle, but it isn't.

Wine tasting in Chateau Montelena

At Duckhorn we tried 6 different wines were 4 of them cost around 90 dollar/bottle. In other word quite expensive wines, but ooohhh so good. Here I loved the Merlot Rector Creek for 95 dollar/bottle. Again I wasn't sure it was worth that much for me. So I didn't buy any.

There were a lot of discussions about wine going on....

The wines we tasted at Duckhorn

We spent the night at Holiday Inn Express. I thought it would a very simple hotel (since we only paid 112 dollar/night/room), but it had big rooms with all the things I want to find (hair dryer, iron/iron board, big nice beds and so on), fitness room, pool & jacuzzi and even a good breakfast. Of course Linus and I enjoyed the pool & jacuzzi in the afternoon.

The next day we continued with Darioush where I only tried a couple of wines. Both good, but not as mind blowing as the ones the day before. The architecture was interesting though, since it looked like a persian temple.

The final stop was at a winery that my sister's friend Jerry proposed. Clos du Val. He had been there many times before. He also knew the guy that took care of our wine tasting, so I think we got better service due to that. Here we tried in total 9 wines and ended up buying some. I bought a bottle of their Three Graces White (Sauvignon Blanc/Roussane/Viognier). Jerry bought the same wine, but also an additional Three Graces Red. The Three Graces White is an excellent white wine for 35 dollar/bottle.

On our way home we stopped at a fantastic italian restaurant and had lunch on the balcony. So we were 4 very tired happy people that fell into bed in the evening.

The Basketball Family - or not?

My brother became a basketball coach 1972. Ever since then I have heard about basketball at home. When my brother's son was 7 years he was introduced to the sport and immediately liked it. Now basketball was even more present in our family gatherings. I think that I, just because of this exposure to the sport, never got really interested in it.

Last time when the three of us went to visit our sister/aunt in California, it was outside the basket ball season. So already before we decided when to go on this trip, it was decided that it should be within the NBA season.  An NBA game was a must. I wasn't really up for it, but decided to tag along anyway.

On Monday night - it was the night with an capital B for basketball. It was time to see the game between Golden State Warriors - Minnesota Timberwolves.

We headed off to the game more than a couple of hours before the game started. The idea was to be there early, so we could experience the pre-party. I don't know if there was that much of a party, but it was nice to be there before the big crowd.

On the way to the game - we took the train. :-)

Excited faces - waiting for the game to start

The sugar on the cake of the evening was that it was a FANS NIGHT - some kind of celebration of the Warriors fans. This meant that T-shirts were handed out to everyone, there were lots of Fan-lotteries, Fan-activities, video from the players to the fans and other stuff.

Fan night with special fan t-shirts

During the game I mostly looked at the cute guys, followed the show (and listen to the screaming fans) and tried to follow the statistics of the game. (Numbers usually interest me), but I wasn't really impressed by the game. I thought it was just me, not understanding the game. But after the game I was surprised to hear that both my brother and nephew felt that the game was boring and not played with a full heart. The players seemed to have done exactly what was asked of them, but there was no enthusiasm in it. In the end - it was still fun to have seen an NBA-game. At least we now know what it is all about.

As always - there is a lot of show added to a sports event in USA

The final shot by the cutest guy and the best player - Curry.

A short hike

On our third day in California we had to cancel our plans to go to Napa Valley today (due to my brothers bad back). Instead we decided to go to a vista point and a park close by. Monica's friend Jerry who was familiar with the places came along for the ride and to guide us.

First stop was Windy Hill - a place where you on a clear day can see both Silicon Valley and the shore line. It was a short hike there, only 2 km back and forth. But unfortunately we didn't have a totally clear view. We saw Silicon Valley, but the shore was hidden behind a big cloud. 

I would have loved to run on these amazing trails looking down on Silicon Valley, but my new, equally amazing hiking boots are not really made for running. :-)

Somewhere under or behind that cloud you will find the Pacific Ocean.

The second stop was the Castle Rock Park. A park with many trails, but since the present company was not in the best shape and my nephew was tired and wanted to stay in the car for a sleep, we ended up taking a very short hike, only about 1,5 km. :-) (Not a lot for a girl that did 29 km hikes with a back pack on the last trip.) But it was just nice to get out in the forrest. The main attraction in the park was a collection of strange looking rocks. The rocks are great for climbers that want to try out different grades of climbing. We hang around for a while to check them out. I think it was the first time ever I have seen climbers in the forrest carrying mattresses. 

The cliffs were excellent for the the climbers to practice on, but they were also quite funny to look at. For example the giant nostrils made me giggle.

The land of Shopping

The second day in California was a light variant of the first day. I just went to ONE store, instead of one huge mall. But what a store. It is my favorite store in USA - REI. It carries outdoor - and sport clothes.

Since last summer I haven't bought any hiking clothes or equipment even though I needed quite a lot. I waited for the California trip. Especially I needed boots. Hiking boots it's a sensitive thing. They have to be bought with a great deal of care, since you know that you will have a long relationship with them. My first pair I had for 7 years and my second pair I have had 8 years. 

So it was with great expectations I entered the shop which I planned to spend a couple of hours in.

First I got slightly disappointed! I was off season, so there wasn't a lot to choose from and there were not much left in the "Clearance" either. But I found a nice young guy that could help me to find at least the basics that I needed: Hiking pants with zippers (which they have stopped making for some strange reason), wool T-shirt, Fleece and hiking underwear.

And then we stepped into the boots department. I think I tried hiking boots for more than one hour. And finally I found my pair in the correct size (which was a struggle to find since the translation from European to American sizes were different from one pair to another). A pair of Assolo, light weight Gore-tex , with good Vibram soles (and only a hiker understands the last sentence). I was happy!!! The young boy that helped me was also happy - I was his best customer that day. And I managed to finish almost my whole shopping list in 2 days. Only a few minor thing and pair of jogging shoes left. Pretty awesome to feel on top of the shopping schedule. 

We have one BIG issue on the trip. My brother hurt his back a few weeks back. It was getting better before the trip. But the long flight here and the first long day of shopping completely destroyed it. So now we mostly see him laying down and he has a hard time to move and can't sit in the car. This meant that the planned trip to Napa Valley today had to be moved until Wednesday. Hopefully he will feel better then.

My brother's normal position at the moment