As we wind down our 3 month stay in Europe

we thought we would share some of our favorites!

We found a home in the Celje Branch of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

We have grown to love the members here and they will be missed.

Our favorite people in Celje!

 The Strauss Family

Ela, Alina, Bostjan and Tina

 Giggles are the same in any language!

Peter Flis

The second son we never had!

 Our favorite people in Ljubljana!

 Igor and Blanka
These two are on the go!

Our favorite treat!

 Donuts at Trojane!

 Finally our turn!

Reminds us of  Seinfields "Soup Nazi"

You wait in a long line...
Choose between marmalade and chocolate...

Pay as they bag them up and then......

 enjoy one of the best donuts ever!
These are big donuts!

Our favorite take out!

(Well the only take out in Celje besides McDonald's.)

 Kebaps!

 Chicken or beef with cabbage, lettuce,onion and
special sauce in a peta like bun.

Our favorite restaurant!

 Koper.

 We love to sit outside and eat pizza

My favorite is mushroom and Bryan's is meat.

Our favorite view!

                

                   Need I say More?

We have grown to love Slovenia, Italy and Croatia.

The people, the scenery, the food and

the beautiful Adriatic Sea.

"Until Next Time"

Celje

My last week in Celje, Slovenia.  One more post to go and then I'm headed home.

My last post will be all of our favorite things that we discovered while in Europe.

Today's post is of some of the sites in Celje, Slovenia.

 The City Center was amazing.  Our apartment was located here.

 One of the many places I found where I could just sit and read.
I found it peaceful.

Sidewalks and roads are built around trees.

Our favorite restaurant had some growing right through the roof.

Here is our apartment.  Ours is the fifth floor balcony with the window open. 

Home Sweet Home!

The  view looking North from our dining room window.

The top floor of this white building is where they have a dance class every
Tuesday night.  We can hear the music and see them through the window.

 More photos of the City Center.

There was so much to look at.  

Every building was so amazing, I wanted to take photos of everything.

It's a good thing they drive small cars.  Here is a driveway to an apartment.

Every city has it's castle...here is Celje's Castle.  

Its name is Stari Grad  Celje.

 Here we were sitting at the library in Celje looking up at the castle.

Celje's Castle is in the process of restoration.  

Very little has been accomplished as it is extremely expensive to restore a Castle.

                                                      

Here is a view from inside the Castle walls.  It dates back to the 12th century.

If these walls could talk...Amazing!

 

This was once filled with water, a real moat.

Here are some rounded stones used in the catapults.

This photo shows how thick the walls are.  

No wonder these things stand for thousands of years.

 This is the view from the Castle tower looking South..

They could see everything that was coming or going.

A view of Celje from the tower looking West.

You can see the old city by the red roofs.  This is City Center.

Venice

Venice, Italy

 St Marks Basilica's famous horses.

St Marks Basilica

 The Grand Canal is called the 

most beautiful street in the world.

It's not hard to see why!

I must agree!

 There are smaller canals all over the city.
Makes walking around exciting...lots of backtracking.

A Gondolier.  

The knowledge of the city's waterways

are passed down from Father to Son.

Gondolas are everywhere.

 Every street could tell a story!

 Street-side cafe...they are everywhere!  

Now THAT's Italian!

We stayed at the Hotel Marconi

near the Rialto Bridge.

The famous Rialto Bridge

The open farmers market was awesome.

 Everything in Venice is carefully displayed!

Everywhere you look in this amazing 

city you see beauty.

This is a must see City!

Ljubljana Slovenia

Ljubljana is the largest city and the capital of Slovenia.  

It has a castle high on a hill overlooking the old city. 

There is a river meandering through the old town with 

many wonderful bridges.  Legend has it that the 

foundations of the city were laid when Jason and the 

Argonauts passed this way, having sailed up the 

Danube, via the Sava.  They finally arrived at the 

Ljubljana River. Here they encountered and slew a 

fearful monster which turned out to be as the story goes, 

the Ljubljana dragon.  It is commemorated to this day on 

the coat of arms,on bridges and indeed pretty 

much everywhere.

 Three Bridges, a walking bridge across the river.

 The architecture in Ljubljana has an Italian feel, 

where as Celje seems more influenced by the Dutch.

The Butchers Bridge is the newest of all the bridges.

Lovers can carve their initials into a padlock, lock it 

on the bridge cables and throw the key off into the  

river to "lock" their love.

 We are going back next week with a lock!

View of Ljubljana from the top of the Castle!

Dragon Bridge

We visited Ljubljana city center one evening last week with some friends.

We had dinner at a charming little restaurant, had a great time walking 

up and down the cobblestone streets and hearing all about the city. 

I went back by myself later in the week, while Bryan worked nearby

and wandered around shopping for a few hours. I had a great time 

enjoying this lovely city.  When it was time for Bryan and Peter

to pick me up, I of course got lost and had to be rescued again.

Seems to be a theme starting......