Somewhere in Austria

Noma in the sandbox which Hannes put together just for our visit to his beautiful home

After our working vacation in Slovenia, taking care of Quinn (nice work when you can get it), we extended our time off by accepting an invitation to join Emily and family at the home of an old friend of Jos' in southern Austria. Hannes and Tamzin spend much of their time in London, where they work as actors, some of their time in Vienna, where Hannes has an apartment, and the rest in Hannes' parents' home in the Austrian Alps close to the Italian border. It is just two hour's drive from Ljubljana. His parents are now too elderly to take care of this amazing place, but lived and worked here into their nineties.

Austria is completely landlocked, bordered by eight other countries: Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia and Italy. It isn't too far a stretch to imagine Heidi living in a chalet here with her good old grandfather, which is just how it seemed to me. (I pictured Shirley Temple as Heidi.)

Hanne's farm is located in a emerald green valley, surrounded by high peaks, with acres of land, bubbling brooks, a swimming hole and alpine trees in abundance.

The house itself is ringed by a fence to keep the horses out. Two, who belong to the family, wander freely outside.

Even though the temperatures were still quite high, the grass was lush.

We had met Hannes before but had never seen him in his native habitat. Here he starts a fire where later we will roast fish and lamb.

Tamzin is British and met Hannes in London. She was a wonderful hostess and served an entire house full of people meal after meal, dressed always in an assortment of lovely sundresses.

Hannes' 14 year old son Max was also there. We became very fond of him. When asked what he wanted to do when he grew up, he said he wanted to live here and would be studying to be a veterinarian. This did seem the perfect place to grow up.

Emily, Jos and Quinn stayed at Hannes and Tamzin's house, along with the McBurney family, Simon, Cassey, Noma and Teyo. Simon and Jos went to school together in Paris and co-founded Complicité, a theater company in London. Simon has acted in several movies you may have seen, The Last King of Scotland, Friends With Money and The Manchurian Candidate to name a few.

His wife Cassey is a gifted concert pianist. You can hear her perform here. She was in Austria to perform at the Salzberg Arts Festival. We had the happy opportunity to hear her perform at a nearby music school.

Cassey is also crazy about her own children and everyone else's, the three little ones followed her as if she were the pied pipper.

Feeding the goats in the morning was one of Quinn's favorite activities.

He also took advantage of a plastic bucket and sprinkler to cool off.

All meals were taken outdoors. It was a jolly group and a very relaxed few days.

Be sure to click on this photo taken at sunset one evening. It really is evocative of the long lazy days and evenings we spent there.

Although we spent our waking hours with the group at Hannes', we didn't sleep at the house as there were simply not enough beds for everyone, so we took a B&B room close to the lake, which is at the bottom of their mountaintop. The first morning when we awoke, I saw this beautiful mist which clung to the land.

We took several outings, as the entire countryside is extraordinarily beautiful. The view from one mountain gives a sense of the majesty of the alps, foothills and alpine villages tucked into grassy valleys.

One of our favorite adventures, was taking a boat ride from one end of the Weissensee Lake, to the other. This is a particularly unspoilt lake, with very little of its shoreline developed. Our cruise was over an hour long, providing magnificent views along the way.

Our pilot gave us a bit of a history and geology lesson along the way, which Jos translated from the German for us. Very little English is spoken in this part of the world.

The color of the water changes as one travels down the water. It is a narrow, but extremely long lake.

At the end we disembarked and had lunch at a lovely restaurant. I had good old fashioned hot dogs with mustard, a Austro/German invention. We were right on the water and Quinn could hardly wait to get on his swimming gear.

It was such a pleasant place for a dip. We all went in. Emily is beginning to show the progress being made towards growing Quinn's brother or sister, due to arrive on the scene early next year.

The lake near our B&B is less dramatic, but just as nice for swimming, and quite a bit closer to where we were staying. We went there every evening without fail.

Another day we went hiking  at Die Garnitzenklamm, probably one of the most beautiful places I've ever been in my life. Miles of trails led though forested pathways, with the clearest mountain stream imaginable coursing past.

I loved the sign at the trail head:

And with good reason. The rocks in this part of the world are enormous and each winter more of them are displaced and pushed down the mountainside by ice and snow.

I have never seen water more clear and pure, nor rocks so beautifully arranged by the forces of nature.

this is another photo worth clicking on for a larger view. The various colors of the stones and the absolute transparency of the water make this a remarkable image.

I guess my idea of paradise is something like this mountain, with its bubbling river, splashing down its side. Of course in the spring this dainty brook turns into a raging force, able to toss boulders around as if they were rubber balls.

All along the trail, one saw little sculptures that a passing hiker stopped to create. The stones did invite endless play.

The beauty of the Austrian alps is supreme. As we drove back to Ljubljana to catch our flight home to Paris, we enjoyed our last glimpses of the charm of the countryside.

Next week I will bring you back with me to France.

I ♡ Slovenia

A narrow alleyway in Piran where one can climb stairs from the sea to the hill.

Piran is the prettiest city on Slovenia's coast. Located just south of the northeastern border of Italy, near Trieste, where the top of the boot curves around,  it retains that very Mediterranean flavor. It was once an important harbor of the Roman Empire and the Venetians influenced it's architectural development.

We didn't have time to spend more than part of a day on the coast, but I really wanted to have a view of the Adriatic, which I had never visited. From Ljubljana, nothing is more than a two hour drive, so we took Quinn and headed to the sea. We were not disappointed.

The Adriatic Sea separates the Italian peninsula from the Balkan peninsula, it runs up the back of the boot. The color of the water is clear blue. All the roofs of Piran are red tile and the buildings are white stucco, making the views over the town spectacular.

We parked at the top of the hill behind old town Piran and had our picnic lunch. We then discovered a labyrinth of small alleyways, schoolyards, backyards and restaurants that led steeply downwards toward the harbor. Stone steps were often cracked and broken away, no doubt having been laid hundreds of years before. All along the descent, we caught glimpses of this idyllic city nestled in its little half moon of land.

The harbor itself was filled with beautiful sailing vessels. The sea was calm and inviting.
Rick and Quinn stuck a toe in the water before we ascended our secret stairway and headed out for our next adventure.

***

When I was young, I had a horse and belonged to the Pony Club, where I learned to ride in the English style, jump steeples and the whole nine yards. I wore the jodhpurs, boots, coat and velvet hard hat. I carried a little leather crop. Every one of my riding buddies wanted nothing more than to visit Vienna and see a show of the Lipizzaner horses. These incredible animals are able to perform choreographed movements which seem beyond the physical capability of the animal.

I had no idea, however, that these lovely horses, which almost always turn pure white, no matter what their birth color, were originally from Slovenia. When I learned that the Lipizzaner came from the village of Lipica, and that they gave demonstrations there on a few days a week during the summer, I made sure we could arrive at the appointed hour and in so doing, fulfill a very long-held dream.

Nowadays, there are many places in the world that raise the Lippizzaner, but Lipica is reputed to be their birthplace. The purpose of the stables is to breed and train the horses for the Spanish and Viennese exhibition centers, where they do their performances. In Lipica, the performances are only occasional and the horses are not yet graduates of the program. Still they were very skilled.

There are various shows all performed to classical music. It's entirely enchanting to watch them go through their paces.

 

After the show we were able to tour the stables, meet some of the beasts and hear a lively story about their history. For all of us, including Quinn, who is already a horse lover, it was a wonderful afternoon. If you want to see them in action, you can view some of their amazing and distinctive movements here and here:

***

By the end of our week in Slovenia, we had experienced some of its many charms. We fully intend to make it a habit to go there. It is less than a two hour plane ride from Paris to Ljubljana. It seems such a relaxed, beautiful and undiscovered playground.

Emily and Jos were happy with the results of their week with Lois, putting wooden objects together in interesting ways. They had a paper river, instruments which were played in mechanical ways, a set of closet doors, suspended from the ceiling which could be made to flap like a butterfly, by means of turning a wooden sifter which animated a row of wooden spoons which somehow got the doors to flying. It was wonderfully clever as an installation, lit to form intriguing shadows. But they also had a musical and theatrical component which brought their theme Holz, alive: wooden objects, all longing to reunite with the forest.

It has now been several weeks since coming back to France and normal daily life continues to provide lots of interesting tales, but I'm not quite finished recounting our vacation. Next week I'll share some photos and stories of Austria. After that, I'll bring it all back home.

Quinn discovered a bunny suit at the house we were staying in.

Slovenia Blue

After Finland and Sweden, Slovenia is the most forested country in Europe. About half of its territory is covered in trees. It has the happy distinction of being a small country nestled between the Adriatic Sea and Alps, creating a huge diversity of habitats, including stunning lakes and rivers. We spent some of almost every day in the water.

The most famous lake is Bled, a spectacular turquoise blue, warm lake, perfect for swimming and boating. At one end, on a forested little island is a beautiful church, and towering above, on an impossibly steep and narrow cliff is the Bled castle.

Almost every shot I took could have been a picture postcard. Bled is also a resort town, attracting many visitors, especially on a hot day in mid-August. There are numerous activities, splendid walking paths next to the lake, and hiking trails in the mountains above. One can swim, rent various types of boats, eat in a variety of restaurants from the humble to the exalted, gamble in the casino or picnic and sun bathe on the shore. It didn't feel crowded at all.

Swans and ducks posed for photos and eagerly accepted handouts. Quinn found this quite enthralling as the swans were almost as big as he.

We had wanted to rent a sailboat, but changed our minds as the sun was fierce and we were a bit concerned for our lily-white charge. Besides, we had heard that there was another even more beautiful lake further down the road, so after a couple of hours we decided to push on.

We ditched the crowds and headed for Bohinj, another lake at a slightly higher elevation which was reputed to be colder, but more secluded. We went eastwards up the mountainous road.

When we got to the lake, Quinn had fallen asleep, so we continued on up the mountain. We went as far as it would take us before the road ended in a large parking area. This was a trail head which led up the mountain next to a crystal clear stream. We managed to transfer Quinn into his backpack and headed up the trail.

Anyone who knows me is aware of how much mountain rivers and streams thrill me to the very core. I can almost see the sprites and fairies dancing along the surface and singing along with the rushing water. This one, with its incredibly huge boulders, looking for all the world as if a couple of giants had been tossing them carelessly around, was particularly charming. The air was hot and the water cold, a perfect combination.

When Quinn woke up, he was anxious to get down to the water's edge. He scrambled around the boulders like a little mountain goat and we followed behind as fast as we could. He isn't old enough to be afraid yet.

On our way back down the mountainside we stopped at Bohinj lake for a swim. I'm not sure if it is prettier than Bled, but it was quite pleasant to spend a few hours on its banks and dip ourselves into the water. After the icy cold river, it seemed quite warm to us.

Quinn had his water wings and floating alligator. He positively adores the water, just like his mother before him. Once, when Emily was about ten, a friend of mine dared her to stay in a very cold California lake by telling her he would pay her one dollar for every minute she remained in the water. I knew he was making a huge error in judgement. After twenty minutes I told her she really had to come out, my poor friend would likely have gone broke. She could have stayed in forever.

After Quinn's dip, while we were sitting on a blanket in the shade watching him, he performed a kind of conducting ritual towards the water, as if to cast a spell.

Any trip through the Slovenian countryside is bound to take one past numerous enchanting little churches. There is one on every hillside and in every village. Their steeples look rather Russian in influence to me, you see nothing like them in France.

On another hot day, we went to the Iska river for a splash. This little area is only a twenty minute drive from Ljubljana. It was positively crammed with cars and people, but again, no one got in our way and no one made the crowd seem too crowdy. There was no loud music, no screaming children, no annoying behavior of any kind. We all just found our corner of the riverbank, and staked out our section of water and got on perfectly well together.

The water was so low that everyone used it like a road, just walking down the center. I love the rocky river bottom, it encourages the making of bridges and dams.

We all had our water shoes on, as without them the stones are a bit hard on the feet. Quinn floated and cavorted and in general had another wonderful watery day.