First few days in Bled

We are well settled now into our new apartment, and Vicki has had to go home to go back to work.

 We had a slight issue with the internet for a couple of days after a particularly violent thunderstorm, but the landlord has got it back up and running since yesterday.  The thunderstorm was overnight on Tuesday - Wednesday and was the biggest I've ever seen.  We had to leap out of bed to get all the windows closed as the wind and rained howled around our top floor apartment, and the lightening just didn't stop.  It reflected around the hills and just kept going.  It reminded me of that bit at the beginning of the War of the Worlds film with Tom Cruise, when the aliens are arriving via the lightening.  Flash after flash after flash.  Then a big roll of thunder.... After looking out the window I decided if aliens were invading I'd rather be comfortable in bed and went back to sleep!

Since we've arrived we've had to sort a few chores - like finding the tax office in Radlovjica to get a tax number (this will allow us to open a bank account), looking for various bits that the apartment needs such as a colander, spatula, crockery drainer for the sink, and sussing out the local supermarkets to find out if Slovenia does our favourite foods and bits.  On the positive side we found Heinz tomato ketchup, Persil washing liquid and some nice cheap wine, but couldn't find any baked beans!
Also, we've had a chance to reacquaint ourselves with Bled. Richard had a go at rowing us to the island, and I insisted on having a go too! 


We've been swimming in the lake several times and have started to acquire a tan.  Although we've had a few thunderstorms it has been mainly hot and sunny.  And when it has rained we've usually managed to find a friendly bar to shelter in! 



We did the hot walk to Vintgars gorge, and walked over the hill after - stopping in a superb gostilna for lunch, best salad I've ever had.













Richard's new hat!

Also, walked up the hill to the castle in temperatures of 29 degrees.  Views are pretty and sprite is excellent when you are that hot!

We managed to get the Wii set up and I'm very good at the bowling, Vicki and Richard had fun with the tennis.  There seemed to be a lot of cursing of remotes... 
I've put up the few pictures and ornaments I brought with me and all the lovely leaving cards that I got, so the place feels more like home, and we've started to figure out the cooker.  The recipe book is getting good usage, as they don't have ready meals here, not even oven chips!  Had one disaster with some pork chops getting used to the grill, but since then the meals have got better.  It is fun trying to find the ingredients in slovenian.