This is our new palm. I hope the cats don't climb it. They'll definitely have a nibble here and there, but probably nobody will notice -- they're pretty close to the ground.

The Eagle's Nest

This is the view from just under the waterfall looking back in the other direction. That's why the Eagle's Nest is now jutting out from the rocks on the left side of the picture. While we were up there, we saw for the first time live, two avalances in the white area above and to the right of the hut in this picture. Actually, we first heard them, because they were quite loud. Luckily, we were on a different mountain, so we weren't in danger.

Rinka

The waterfall Rinka
To the right is the Orlovo gnezdo (Eagle's Nest) hikers' "hut"

Matej sending an sms back to Zagreb

Eva

Above: Anja and me
Below: Nata, Eva, Anja, and Matej

By the hotel is a waterfall that we couldn't remember seeing when we had been there before. That's because it freezes up during the winter months.

This is a view of Logarska dolina. I took the picture right after we got out of the bus at Hotel Plesnik. If you look carefully, you can see a waterfall just above the white house in the center of the photograph. It was raining slightly when we arrived, and it was just cold enough for me to be wishing that I had brought a hat and gloves. We had come here a few years before during the winter. Imagine this view with a snow-covered meadow.

As we came closer to our destination, we realized that it would be much colder than we had expected. We hadn't thought of the possibility that the 30% chance of precipitation that the weather report stated could also mean . . . SNOW!

Slovenia has lots of beautiful churches. Here is an interesting Baroque church that I saw on the way. Unfortunately, the bus's trash bins got in the way.

While Natasha was the only one of us besides me who enjoyed the beautiful architectural and natural surroundings.

Matej and Eva slept for most of the trip . . .

Laško is the home of the Laško brewing company, which brews Zlatorog (Golden Horn). After a "pit stop" at the bus station there, where a few older participants in the tour tasted the local products and Natasha had coffee with a newly made friend, while Anja, Matej, Eva, and I enjoyed 20 minutes of being locked on the bus, we continued our journey. After Laško most of the fields are used for growing the most important ingredient of Zlatorog -- hops. Hops are grown on tall strings. Since it is only the beginning of the season, the plants are only just spouting.

Yesterday we took a day-trip by bus to a valley in Slovenia called Logarska dolina. It is at the foot of the Savinja Alps, and the Savinja River, a tributary of the Sava River, runs through it. This is a rainy bus-view of a town on the Savinja that we passed on our way there, before we stopped in the town of Laško.