We explored old town Ljubljana today, walking the one mile from our apartment to the main train/bus station, where we caught a bus to the old town section.

We crossed the Ljubljanica River that winds through the center of the city, several times in our travels today.

Scenes from Old Town! Top left; The fountain in the square next to the river. There was a Sunday flea market going on, with tables of glassware, old pins, photos, books and nick-nacks. Beyond the fountain, under the trees there was an oompah band playing rousing music! Everyone was jockeying for a spot in the shade! Top right; The town hall, richly decorated with frescoes in the inner courtyard. Inside the town hall there was an art gallery exhibiting photographs of avante-garde theatre that was interesting. Bottom left; A church with a rather modern frescoe painting. Bottom right; Lunch! The original pig in a blanket! A sausage wrapped in sauerkraut and mustard then baked in a flaky croissant pastry!

From down in the old town you can look up to see the Ljubljana Castle on the hill overlooking the town.

We hiked up the hill, thankfully in the shade of the forest canopy, to the Ljubljana Castle to see the almost 360 degree view of town.

Looking down on the red roofs of the old town.

We caught a bus back to our apartment and were happy to get into the air-conditioning!

We woke up early and had to leave our B&B before breakfast to catch the bus down into town to catch the train to our next destination, Ljubljana (pronounced “Lube-lee-Yana”), Slovenia!

A beautiful sunrise in Innsbruck. The Ski Jump is lit up with morning sunshine!

We had two train transfers, one in Schwarzach-St. Veit that went smoothly. I had booked the second transfer in Villach, Austria with an over 2 hour layover, just to insure we had time to find the platform, maybe have something to eat and make the next train, otherwise it would be a short 9 minute transfer! It turned out we could have made the 9 minute transfer, but the train looked very crowded, in fact quite a few passengers from our previous train rushed to fill up this ongoing train! We opted to wait the 2 hour layover for the next train, get some lunch and try to stay cool in the over 90 degree heat! It turned out to be a great decision! The next train was newer, with a 1st class car, and we could board a half hour before departure and enjoy the air-conditioning!

The many trains we traveled on today (except the vintage one)!

Traveling through Austria afforded us fantastic views of little villages at the base of lush green mountains!

Even a castle (or maybe a church?) up on a hill!

Today we leave our wonderful friends in Geneva to travel east into Austria. We said goodbye to Raymonde and then Michel joined us on our early morning bus ride to the train station.

The bus stop is just opposite their house, so we didn’t have far to walk!

We had time at the train station for a coffee before we waved goodbye to Michel as the train left the station. Our route took us along the shore of Lake Geneva before it turned northeasterly towards Zurich.

The excellent Swiss vineyards along Lake Geneva!

My “window on the world” as we traverse the Swiss countryside.

Before we left Switzerland we had wonderful mountain views along Walensee also known as Lake Walen.

A beautiful park along the lake.

 

We crossed the tiny country of Liechtenstein and entered Austria. We traveled through valleys surrounded by mountains and dotted with small villages set in emerald green fields and meadows with darker green forests spilling down the mountain slopes.

We haven’t seen greens this vibrant since we were in New Zealand!

We reached our destination, Innsbruck, home of the 1964 and 1976 Winter Olympics, at a little after 4pm. It took us a little while to figure out the city public transportation, but it was necessary since our B&B is located up in the hills above town!

The view from our B&B room overlooking Innsbruck! In the distance, left of center you can see the Ski Jump!

We settled in, for only one night, with minimal unpacking, then had dinner at the Inn’s restaurant. It was still light out after dinner and we had purchased a 24 hour bus ticket, so we caught the bus downhill into town to see the sights.

The bus crossed the swollen Inn River and we disembarked at Marketplatz, a popular square alongside the river, filled with young people and tourists! The pastel painted buildings across the river compete with the mountain skyline for your eye’s attention!

We joined the throngs of tourists and wandered through the streets and squares of the old town, admiring the architecture and decoration.

The Triumphal Arch or Triumphpforte framing the mountains.

We caught the bus back up the hill at dusk and had our last view of Innsbruck before we slept!

The Ski Jump is lighted up in red on the left!

We visited Yvette and her partner Pierre today for lunch. It was a wonderful reunion! Yvette served us a salad, ham and au gratin potatoes, dessert of merengue with double cream and a cheese selection.

Always elegant and delicious!

We had wonderful conversation over wine and food! All too soon we had to say our good-byes.

It was a lovely, but hot, day!

Back at Michel & Raymonde’s we enjoyed memories of our times together with the aid of the books Raymonde put together of their trips to the US. The trips in 2009 and 2011 were when Yvette joined them and they visited Bend again and met all our friends!

2009, First One
“Important trip, because this is Yvette’s first vacation in the USA.”

Aaah, we were so young and beautiful, now we’re just beautiful!!

We took the bus into Geneva early this morning on an errand to the train station to ensure that we have the proper reservations for our next journeys that will take us through several countries. We finished our chore and with paper reservations in hand we made our way back to Vandouevres and dressed for our lunch today at Le Cigalon.

Anticipating another wonderful meal with our good friends!

And it was!