Wow, what a holidays we had. The Sankar-Gorton clan, i.e. Gregg, Pamela, Eliza, and Jedd, teamed up with Whitney, for a 17 day Euro-adventure. The trip had it all: celebrations for Gregg's retirement, exploration of family history in Slovenia and Austria, the surprise addition of Venice to the itinerary for Whit and I, driving through the snow with Liza to visit Hallstatt, late nights in Budapest ruin bars, early mornings in Budapest spas, surprise fantasy football revelry, and a whole bunch of sausages.
Venice came as a surprise. Pamela (mother) was planning on finding her way to Trieste, where we could come meet her and shepherd her into the motherland. Instead, upon her arrival in Venice, she realized that her bags were too heavy for her to comfortably get them to the bus station to make it to Trieste and wondered if Whit and I might want to come over and meet her in the lagoon city and carry her bags on the return journey. We, of course, obliged and were off to Venice about 36 hours later and 72 hours before we thought the whole holiday adventure was to begin. This was NOT a bad thing. Several incredible 4-5 course dinners later and we decided we liked Venice very much. Not to mention the fun of exploring all the little alleys and astounding history. We ended up finding our way into a 600 year old clock tower on a tour and discovered that digital clocks initially meant clocks that represent the time in numerals, "digits", that switch as time changes, instead of a clock hand pointing to them in order. Who knew? Another highlight was the fish market, where we found a small shop with many people milling about an outdoor counter top where you ordered amazing little sandwiches and glasses of wine to eat and drink at your leisure on the outdoor benches. A more pleasant way to spend €12 at 1 in the afternoon after a late night has yet to be found.
From there we transitioned, actually in a rather painful fashion that I will not delve into because it sucked big time, to Ljubljana, where within a day, 3 became 5. Liza and Gregg arrived and we set to fully embracing the Christmas spirit that dominates downtown LJ. With our top-floor airBnB apartment feet from the old-city center, the river, countless cafe-goers, and an amazing light display, enjoying the time spent there was simply a matter of walking out the front door. We went to the farmer's market to buy ingredients for several wonderful dinners, we attended a concert with traditional mandolins around the corner, we walked along the river and up to the castle above the city to take in a sunset, and we drank a fair amount of mulled wine. A true high point of the trip was driving up to visit my host, Irena's, mountain cottage outside of Tržič. Truly up in the mountains, we were welcomed with homemade schnapps of various kinds, an incredible lunch, and excellent views. The hospitality was overwhelming and effortless. What good hosts these Slovenes are.
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| Whitney, Jedd, and Pamela transporting Christmas presents along the river back to their apartment (Photo credit: Gregg) |
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| Ljubljanica River (Photo credit: Gregg) |
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| Ljubljanica River with the Christmas market stalls (Photo Credit: Gregg) |
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| Mid dinner surprise picture (Photo credit: Gregg) |
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| Before entering Ivan Cankar exhibit at Cankarjev Dom |
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