On Sunday morning, September 4th, after breakfast, Mary Joy and I went first to the Franciscan Church of the Annunciation, the big pink church on Preseren Square, but it was jammed to the gills and mass had already started, so we went to the Cathedral, which was practically empty until just before mass, and then it suddenly had many more people. There was a male choir singing what sounded like a 19th-century German Romantic mass setting, in Latin. At the end, the priest thanked them with “Danke schoen!” so presumably it was a visiting choir from somewhere in Germany or Austria. We’ve found that in Europe in the summer at Sunday mass, you’re more likely to hear a foreign choir on tour than the choir of that parish.
We had to scramble to meet other people from our group for a boat ride on the river, narrated in both Slovenian and English. It was pleasant, but while I’ve been on more boring boat tours, this was definitely not anywhere near being exciting.
We had lunch at the same restaurant (named Sokol—which means “falcon”) where we had eaten the previous evening.
We went up the funicular (not nearly as short as the one in Zagreb!) to the Castle. The most interesting thing there is the Puppet Museum, which is very hands-on. If we’d had time we could have put on a puppet show! Marionettes are apparently a very big thing in Slovenia. This museum is less extensive but more fun than the one in Lyon.
After we went back down, and Mary Joy washed her hands at a fun kangaroo water fountain at the foot of the hill, we went back to our hotel. On the way, Mary Joy thought that there was a concert going on in Annunciation Church, but it was only the end of the late-afternoon mass. After freshening up, went to have a Farewell Drink with the group and, talk about the tour, giving Ivana feedback.
Then we walked into the Old Town, where we were surprised to find ourselves met by costumed dancers, dancing outside a pizzeria! This was the restaurant for our Farewell Dinner, serving a Slovenian Dinner (okay) with dancers who got us all dancing. There was a funny game, where a group stood in a circle, all wearing hats, and to the rhythmic music and clapping each would take the hat of his right-hand neighbor and put it on his own head, going faster and faster, until someone goofed it up and was expelled from the circle. Neither Mary Joy nor I won. It was a fun evening.
When we got back to the hotel we said goodbye to most of the others, who would have to catch a taxi to the airport at 5:00 a.m. Mary Joy and I, on the other hand, wouldn’t have to leave until 1:30, and Ivana had been kind enough, without prompting, to get the hotel to let us keep our room until 1:00.
We had to scramble to meet other people from our group for a boat ride on the river, narrated in both Slovenian and English. It was pleasant, but while I’ve been on more boring boat tours, this was definitely not anywhere near being exciting.
We had lunch at the same restaurant (named Sokol—which means “falcon”) where we had eaten the previous evening.
We went up the funicular (not nearly as short as the one in Zagreb!) to the Castle. The most interesting thing there is the Puppet Museum, which is very hands-on. If we’d had time we could have put on a puppet show! Marionettes are apparently a very big thing in Slovenia. This museum is less extensive but more fun than the one in Lyon.
After we went back down, and Mary Joy washed her hands at a fun kangaroo water fountain at the foot of the hill, we went back to our hotel. On the way, Mary Joy thought that there was a concert going on in Annunciation Church, but it was only the end of the late-afternoon mass. After freshening up, went to have a Farewell Drink with the group and, talk about the tour, giving Ivana feedback.
Then we walked into the Old Town, where we were surprised to find ourselves met by costumed dancers, dancing outside a pizzeria! This was the restaurant for our Farewell Dinner, serving a Slovenian Dinner (okay) with dancers who got us all dancing. There was a funny game, where a group stood in a circle, all wearing hats, and to the rhythmic music and clapping each would take the hat of his right-hand neighbor and put it on his own head, going faster and faster, until someone goofed it up and was expelled from the circle. Neither Mary Joy nor I won. It was a fun evening.
When we got back to the hotel we said goodbye to most of the others, who would have to catch a taxi to the airport at 5:00 a.m. Mary Joy and I, on the other hand, wouldn’t have to leave until 1:30, and Ivana had been kind enough, without prompting, to get the hotel to let us keep our room until 1:00.
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