Bled > Kamnik 55km

[Originally posted Aug 16, 2014]

Our theme song, I guess I never shared it before.  To be discussed later.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sfVAbjZo4Y

I woke up this morning in a 6 bunk bed, 12 person, room of a hostel along the lakefront drive of Lake Bled.  (I would assume the word bled has a different meaning in Slovene, because this lake happens to be the tourist destination for all of Slovenia).  I slept surprisingly well considering the 11 other folks in the room, I'm guessing this has something to do with the difficulty of yesterday's ride.

Sleep.  It's an interesting thing, sleep is.  By the time I die at age 90 or so, about 30 years of my life will have been spent lying on a bed with my eyes closed.  For me, that's the equivalent of waking up from a long nap (one that started shortly after birth) sometime next year, having a nice stretch, saying "alright, that was a nice, let's get this show on the road".  For something that consumes 1/3rd of our life, it is very poorly understood.  After 50 years of intensive research on sleep, a famous sleep scientist, William Dement, founder of the Stanford University Sleep Research Center was quoted as saying, "As far as I know, the only reason we need to sleep that is really, really solid is because we get sleepy."  Throughout my life I have had changing opinions on sleep: as a child I hated it, in high school it almost became my only hobby and as a missionary I couldn't get enough of it.  But lately (prior to leaving on this trip) sleep has just seemed to get in the way.  I've often thought if I didn't need to sleep I could get so much done in my life.  (I mean think about it, 1/3rd of your entire life is basically a waste.  Pretty flawed creation/evolution design if you ask me.)  But in the last 6 weeks sleep has taken on an entirely different role - likely the role it was designed for: rejuvenation.  Never before have I laid down at night absolutely exhausted, I mean spent, tired, achy, muscles don't want to move, can't keep my eyes open fatigue - only to wake up feeling like an entirely different person - awake, alert, refreshed, ready to get back in the saddle.  It's been truly amazing.  I'm not sure what is going on, but I like it.

About our day: a morning walk around Lake Bled, a bus ride to Bohinj, an hour in a rowboat on the lake, lunch at Strud'l (great lunch by the way, Slovenian food is HEART-y), hitchiking back to Bled (which means our modes of transportation now include an airplane, cycling, a ferry, rental car, train, bus, and hitchhiking).

Lake Bled

Lake Bled

From the artwork on the church walls, this church must be dedicated to???

Rowing on Lake Bohinj

Yum.

Zgornji Brnik

Then off to Kamnik to stay with Ales (pronounced alesh) and Mojca (pronounced moitza).  They stopped us on the road yesterday (while Katy was using it - but don't worry, she's feeling better) and invited us to stay at their home (and so we obeyed our only traveling rule: never turn down an offer, of anything).    When we reached their home we were greeted warmly (with handshakes instead of the previously customary cheek kissing) and brought inside.  We placed our bike against the hallway wall and were given slippers to wear.  I like this, I thought.  Then, Mojca took her husband Ales by the hand (Ales is blind, for what reason I am not sure) and then after asking permission, took Ales' hands to the bike so he could "see" what type of bike we were riding.  And that really took me by surprise.  With a quick glance, everyone we have passed can learn so much about our bike: what type of seats we have, the thickness of the tires, the type of handlebars, the way our frame bag attaches to our frame, how our panniers are situated, what types of pedals we are using and the list goes on.  But when Ales is told by his wife "they are on a tandem bike" - the window is still wide open for what "type" of bike.  And so for the next five minutes or so he slowly felt every part of our bike - the handlebars, seat, couplers, pedals (feeling very slowly - likely to discover which brand they were and if they had clips on both sides), wheels, spokes, tires - the entire thing.  Wow, how incredible is sight.  And what a different world to live without it.  However, this has not deterred Ales at all.  They own a tandem bike (he rides in back) and he likes riding more than she does.  I started thinking to myself, hmm, I wonder what he likes about cycling - cause I like cycling cause it is a way to go slowly and see so much.  But, take away the "seeing" and what do I like about cycling.  At first I thought that cycling without sight might lose it's joy, but as I thought about it more, I realized this is not so.  The feeling of freedom, wind in your face, the difficulty of climbing a pass, the feeling of accomplishment when the road turns downhill, the benefit of good health from exercise - all these things don't require our eyes.

Ales and Mojca are great.  Dinner was a vegetarian lasagna, fried chicken and a tomato/cucumber salad.  So good.  The best part, obviously, was our first chance to sit down with some people who are Slovenian and ask them so many questions I have about this new country (and how to pronounce these words - so far I am 0 for about 30).  And then we were asked, "is there maybe a little more room for you to eat some more?" Always, I replied.  And so dessert was štruklji, topped with sugary bread crumbs and powdered sugar, a typical slovenian dessert, a dough filled with cottage cheese and then the strange part - wrapped in a wet rag and placed in the oven to cook.  Very different, very hearty, but also very good.  

Lasagna, chicken, tomatoes, cucumbers. Solid.

Štruklji

Tomorrow's lineup: church with Ales and Mojca  (can't wait for Slovenian Mass) and then exploring Ljbuljana (first j is silent, second j makes an ee sound - actually the first rule I made up for this language is that a "j" is a vowel).

Earlier today I was FaceTime-ing my family and told them our very bad news - only 8 months left of vacation.  I don't think I'll ever readjust to normal life.

(Katy is currently in the hallway having a conversation with Mojca about the law of chastity, what the prophet teaches, what Mojca heard from her Pope growing up and how Mojca feels about the importance of church and the bible.  So many interesting facets of travel. Oh and Katy ironed my church clothes. I may look presentable after all tomorrow.)