Heather and Brett come to Croatia!

We are so grateful that our children want to visit us while we're serving a mission in Croatia. Also, we're so thankful to Kevin and Lori Whitaker, Brett's parents, for babysitting Tucker and Leila for 7 days one week prior to their leaving on a mission for our church to Florida.
   
     We picked up Heather and Brett in Trieste, Italy which neighbors Slovenia and we headed to Kranjska Gora, Slovenia.  We stopped several times in the Soča valley with the unique aqua-marine water (due to limestone rock).  Kranjska Gora is a very quaint ski town with incredible mountain views.  On the way, we drove over the Vrsic pass and stopped to see the Russian chapel built in memory of the Russian prisoners of war who built the mountain switchback roads around 1913.  We stayed the night next to a lake where Brett and Heather could run in the morning.

We had a yummy dinner of Deer steak and goulash in Kranjska Gora.

Most of the mornings Heather and Brett went for an early morning run. The next morning we drove to the gorgeous town of Bled and toured the castle. We went on a short but pretty steep hike to get the view of Bled you see below.

The next night we stayed in a beautiful old home on the edge of the lake (see picture below, with Victorian-type home on the edge of the lake).

We went on a hike above Bled Lake and on to Bohinj where we went up the ski tram to the top.  We could see the Slovenian Alps, including Triglav (the highest peak in the five countries, where Perry hiked to the top during the summer).

On Saturday, we drove to the beautiful city of Ljubljana and enjoyed the pretty walking street along the river.   Brett got to try the Melko-mat--fresh-from-the-farm milk out of a machine.  We saw the dragon bridge and brought Heather and Brett to taste our favorite gelato.

We then drove to our city of Rijeka and had palačinke (crepes) with our Rijeka missionaries- Elder Beck, Elder Stastny, Sister Roberts and Sister Gittins. Brett served a mission in Russia and has enjoyed hearing many Croatian words similar to Russian. He enjoyed briefly speaking Russian with one of our church members. On Sunday, Brett gave a talk and shared a very meaningful experience from his mission and Heather sang. It really added to our Easter Sunday. We had a branch luncheon and it was neat for Heather and Brett to meet some of our terrific members.

We then visited the unique old village of Vrbnik on the Island of Krk. We took a walk high above the sea coast. In the evening we played 4 rounds of Code Names sitting on the balcony, overlooking the beautiful Adriatic sea.

Our last town to visit was Rovinj since it's the closest to Trieste and their return flight. We've been so thankful that we've had perfect weather for their visit except for the last day. Rovinj is beautiful even in the rain.  It used to be an island, walled off from the world.  It was isolated so that it kept the plague out centuries ago and became a location that everyone tried to capture over the centuries. 

     We discovered that Salma Hayek and Samuel Jackson were filming a movie (The Hitman's Bodyguard 2) right beside our apartment. They were filming a segment standing in a pontoon boat beside the dock for a couple of hours.  We could watch them from our apartment terrace.  On his trip to get yogurt and pastries for us Perry talked with a very nice film editor.
     We went on a bike ride on a beautiful new walking/bike path on the sea. We found an amazing pizza restaurant.  This is one our most favorite Croatian cities.  It has a history going back almost 1,000 years. 
   

 Next to Rovinj is Pula, where there is the sixth largest Roman Colosseum in the world and one of the best preserved. 

We climbed the bell tower of the Church.  It is a fun adventure as the narrow, wooden slats for steps have gaps in them (see the picture looking down the tower center).  Not for the faint-hearted.