In Amsterdam on way home

Hello!

Internet hasn't been difficult to find, but super busy. Now at airport and I have 11 minutes, so brief highlights:

Driving in Slovenia is a pleasure, and Skoda cars are nice to drive.

Kobarid is beautiful - outdoor-person's paradise. Cycling, hiking, paragliding, rafting, etc. Its scenery rivals that of the pacific northwest. allison and i hiked to an amazing fall in a gorge

Lake Bled - lovely, touristy also. allison came down with brief cold and it rained a lot - fortunately we were in a room with a balcony view of the lake and it was warm. we hiked up to the castle, took a gondola over the lake ot hte church on the island, and walked around the lake (not much bigger than green lake).

Drive from Kobarid to Lake Bled took us over Vrsic pass in Julian Alps. Simply gorgeous. Never have I driven such hairpin turns while ascending the switchbacks up to the pass. The surrounding mountains are majestic, the day was beautiful. One way up visited Slovenia's only botanical garden that features all the wild flowers that grow in the region.

After two nights in Lake Bled drive 1 hr back to Ljubljana where things relaxed a bit since we had done the city already.

8.5 hr train to Budapest. MUCH cleaner and smoother than when i visited 12 years ago. It was where Bucharest is now back then. So much art deco architecure to view. We constantly looked up while walking to see buildings. Yesterday we relaxed at a spa - amazing! Massage, all sorts of springs, etc. Also visited Parliament building and walked around a lot on our final night. Figured out metro, which isn't hard. It's much more beautiful than in movie Kontrol.

Time's running out. From here to Chicago and then home on Sunday!

Talk soon...

Mark