Today started out cloudy, grey and drizzling, and it never really got much better, but there were a few short bouts of sunshine here and there.
The group met in the lobby at 8:45am to walk to the lake for a Pletna boat ride to The Island (Otok). This is the little island in the middle of Lake Bled where the Church of the Assumption is located. The Pletna boat ride was fun even in the less than perfect weather. The boats are manually rowed by one oarsman and for a special treat we had our very own accordion player. He was a young boy about 14 years old and he was a terrific musician. 
When we arrived on the little island we got off the boats and there were 98 steps in front of us to get to the church. Of course there is a story behind the steps and it goes something like this…tradition says the groom must carry his bride up these steps, if they are successful; they are then fit for marriage.
The church was not ornate inside, but there is a bell and there is a notion that says if you ring the bell, your dreams will come true. When you hear the bell ringing you know the tourists have started arriving on the island! 
After spending a little time in the church and around the island we got back in the boats and headed back to shore. The rest of the day was ours to do as we pleased. CL and I found the Brown Bear Bakery and got a couple cookies, and water and then took off for a walk around the lake. The walk around the lake is about 3.5 miles and we were walking at a relaxed pace and it took us about an hour and a half to walk completely around the lake.
Since the weather really wasn’t cooperating we decided a hike up to the castle wasn’t something we wanted to do. Yes, it probably would have been a nice walk, but it was so cloudy the views would have been obscured. So we stopped and got some postcards and snacks for the next days “marathon journey” to Hvar. Then we just chilled out in the room reading and relaxing.
At 6:30pm we all met in the lobby to go to our farewell dinner. Luckily for us the restaurant we went to was literally right next to the hotel. The restaurant was Okarina Etno located at Ljubljanska cesta 8. The food again was excellent and there were copious amounts of it. We started with wine and little hors’ devours on a little outside patio. Len did a funny toast and we took a group photo with all our glasses raised.
Then we moved into a private room for dinner. On the tables were an appetizer tray of fresh vegetables, ham, salami, and bread. Then there was a buffet for dinner with 2 soups, tomato or barley and a capresse salad. Several entrée dishes were offered and they were, turkey steak with mushrooms, pasta with vegetables, a fish dish that I can’t remember the name of but it was very tasty and potatoes and spinach. And I can’t forget to mention the apple strudel for dessert and that was great too! It was all accompanied by lots of wine. Both red and white were flowing freely. The waiters kept them full and the glasses were enormous. Honestly, I have no idea how much I drank, probably about 2 big glasses all tolled. The waiter was funny about keeping the glasses full…good thing we only had to walk next door to get back to the hotel!
Once dessert was over Etelka passed out little bags of paprika with the recipe for goulash soup…she is such a great lady!
The culmination of the trip began when Ben asked Linda, a retired music teacher, to “do her thing”. Linda had put together little songs about each place we went to using the tunes of familiar songs, that was great fun!
After Linda did her “thing” Ben asked each of us to mention something on the tour that was memorable for us. As I listened to my tour-mates tell their favorite tour moment I was thinking about what I wanted to say and how I wanted to leave my own “imprint” on the group. When it got to be my turn I really threw everyone for a loop and said something I knew they would not expect me to say and it would be funny. In as serious a face as I could muster (remember I had 2 BIG glasses of wine!) I said the best thing that happened to me on the trip was “getting a husband and my parents will be so happy now”! That got an uproarious laugh from everyone because it was so unexpected coming from me, since I rarely mentioned the “faux proposal” and would shrug it off whenever anyone would comment to me about it. But my true memorable moment was walking into the Main Market Square in Krakow at dusk with the buildings lit up and the sidewalk cafes bustling.
As we were all saying our good-byes and hugging each other I realized what a great group of travelers we had in this group. As Ben said, “There are tour groups, and then there are you guys”. I really feel that’s true; there weren’t any grumps on this trip.
By now it was 10:30pm and although not too late by typical standards since we had to get up at 4am the next morning it was time to call it a night. We went back to our room, packed up our bags and tried to get some sleep before the alarm went off indicating the start of part 2 of our Central Europe Adventure!
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