Bike2see

Hello world!

I will be working on a very exciting, life-changing project for the next few months and will therefore be much more active on another blog.

Please, come take a peak: www.bike2see.com

Barbi

Curly’s 10th Annual B-Day Gig, October 27th, 2010

Monika & Dan, October 26th, 2010

The First Annual ROOST RIOT 2010

Terra Firma Theatre Company kickstarted the first production of their new company with great musicians, featuring Sarah Nisch, World War, UZIMON, The Majorleans and Less the Band.

 

Intermedia Photo Shoot

Spent a great afternoon with Intermedia employees. Thank you all!!

Bear Mountain and Indigo Girls

After reading Bill Bryson’s book A Walk in the Woods, I was very curious to get a taste of the Appalachian Trail myself. Definitely not all 3.500 kilometers of it, but at least enough to get a nice exercise. Beautiful fall Saturday morning seemed a perfect time to make this happen and Bear Mountain, being the closest, was exactly where we went. Had a wonderful walk through forest and rocks and finished the day with Indigo Girls at Carnegie Hall.

Lenny’s Christening, October 9th 2010

On a beautiful Saturday morning of October 9th 2010, Lenny put on his beautiful white suite, was baptized Leonard and got admitted into the Catholic Church. After the beautiful service he invited us back to his house for some delicious Polish food and fun time with his parents, relatives and friends.

The Feast of Saint Francis

On October 3rd 2010 the Cathedral Church of Saint John Devine, the church that owns the title of largest Cathedral and Anglican church and fourth largest Christian church in the world, welcomed many different kinds of animals, as well as their owners, of course. Dogs might have taken over in number, but I would dare to say that the camel, proudly walking down the altar, got the spotlight.

Tastes of Slovenia (Part II)

Friday, September 17th – Recovery day and Grand opening of the Rain Marathon

Recovering after Triglav with lots of rain, giggling with cute babies, visiting relatives and driving around flooded roads, trying to catch a multimedia presentation about an amazing woman who traveled the world by herself, broke many stereotypes and widened the horizons of many.

Saturday, September 18th & Sunday September 19th — Taking it easy…

…with good food and spectacular jumps through the puddles.

Monday, September 20th — Basketball, Palacinking and Trespassing

Traditional life-or-death basketball game with Sanja. Sweat, blood and tears. 1 ball, 2 players, no mercy. The winner takes it all. And I did. We also introduced Ira to a fun game called Palacinkanje and she mastered it in a second.

Tuesday, September 21st — Postojna Cave and Lipica

21 kilometers long cave, created by the Pivka river, home to many blind, colorless creatures, including endemic olm, the largest trogloditic amphibian in the world.

Lipica stud farm was established in 1580 and it’s the origin of the beautiful Lipizzaner horses.

Wednesday, September 22nd — Soca Rafting

Another survival test sponsored by my mom. Adrenalin was pumping while we were rowing across the lively rapids, testing our team spirit in a raft, experiencing the Soca river and admiring the valley which the river has shaped throughout millennia.

Thursday, September 23rd — Metting with the capital of Slovenia

Ljubljana. Small and cosy with construction going on on every corner. Climbing to the castle with M&M’s girl and having fun with Pulko, Carr, Rozi and Dax right on the embankment of Ljubljanica river.

Friday, September 24rd — Goodbye day

While I was very happy to see Nina & Luka I think Laika bit me up to that. Which is understandable–she got her favorite bag of cookies! After all the packing there was one last thing I needed to do–visit my neighbor and her lovely cats. All that was left after that was catching the plane back to New York.

(The End)

Tastes of Slovenia (Part I)

Thursday, September 9th & Friday, September 10th – The Departure

On the day of the big departure my only plan was to make myself extremely tired by going to the gym and biking around Central Park like a lunatic, so I would be able to snooze on the 9-hour flight to Paris without even having to worry about finding a perfect sleeping position. I would just drop on my seat, in a dead-like style, skipping all the delicacies of the plane food and woke up in France, ready to bite into a fresh croissant for breakfast. Instead, I was playing ‘Who wants to be a Millionaire’, trying to figure out who spread a wonderful fragrance around the plane by taking off their shoes and watching documentaries about babies and the Doors. Sleep deprivation and chronic tiredness always produce great ideas, so I convinced myself I need to steal a pillow and a blanket from the plane and use it for my next sleep attempt–6 hours wait on the plane to Ljubljana. I quickly figured out that lying on the terminal floor of Charles De Gaulle airport, trying to keep your eyes closed and ignore all the noises of the lively surroundings, makes you even more tired than just simply being awake. So I abandoned my pillow in hope it will be used by someone more fortunate with finding rest and went to bite into that croissant. On the way home from Brink (I will never use its real name, even under death threats!), I was looking at the familiar scenery framed in the back car window, dreaming about horizontal position and wondering if I’ll be able to fall asleep under the pressure of knowing that I have to wake up at 4 am the next morning. But by 10 pm I was already dancing with the Sand Man.

Saturday, September 11th – Venice or Who wants to swim on Piazza Saint Marco?

Before jumping on the boat to Venice, we took some time to grab a feel of the charming Piran, its narrow streets and compact houses and to feel the gravity of Saint Bernardin’s church. The first thing arriving to Venice was to stay as far away from the tourist groups as possible. Because I was the only one, out of three of us, who have ever been to Venice before, I confidently took the initiative of guiding us to the Piazza Saint Marco. Never mind I was there 14 years ago and that after almost an hour of walking into the direction of what I though should be Saint Marco, I was quietly loosing hope and it took a gondola ride, a map and a couple of finger-points from the locals, to finally agree that, in fact, I had no idea of where we were going. But isn’t that how all the great adventures start? Although we now knew where we needed to go, it didn’t get us there any faster–there is no way you can speed up through those narrow labyrinth streets, packed with people. We were still more than fashionable late for our lunch with Nejc, who jumped on a train in Nova Gorica and had to swim across Piazza Saint Marco to meet us. Life got a little bit better with two giant pizzas, a nice bottle of wine and a tower of gelato. Just as ladies in Venice do, we jumped on a water taxi and from there on the boat that took us back to Piran.

Sunday, September 12th - Church Day

A family gathering for my cousin’s Confirmation. Long prayers and lots of food. Quite a bit of kissing also.

Monday, September 13th – An intense Triglav preparation with cevapcici, running up the hill and Nordic walking

Tuesday, September 14th - Steklarna Hrastnik excursion and Relaxation day at Bled and Bohinj

Before the real Triglav expedition it was time to relax the muscles and distract the mind with beauties of Bled. Probably not a very enthusiastic hiker/climber I had no idea what I signed myself in for when agreeing to bite my knees to see the view from the highest mountain in Slovenia, so I wanted to make sure, I will survive and be able to lift up my feet for a zillion times and more, not to embarrass my dad, a dedicated alpinist for many years now. My hopes were sent to the bell in the church and lifted up to the sky. The power of my success was now in someone else’s hands, so I went to enjoy a big kremsnita.

Wednesday, September 15th - The Expedition begins

Started at Slap Savica and up the Komarca to the first glacial lake of Triglavski narodni park, meeting fish with extraordinary taste and continuing through forest with much easier path and some abandoned mountain pastures, until the next lake and the Lodge at Triglav Lakes. Fueling up with water and calories, I was shocked to realize that after all that sweating and walking, we hardly came anywhere. So, off we went again. Whenever I wasn’t joking with my sister about not understanding the whole concept of pushing yourself to the top of some mountain, I was battling similar thoughts in my head, trying to understand what lies behind all of this. I’m not sure I found it while I was stumbling across those rocks, with heavy backpack on my back, but I have a little bit deeper understanding of this hiking thing now. But then again, it is easy to throw your mouth around, sitting on your ass, looking through pictures. Seeing a lodge on Dolic after 11 hours of walking sure brings a splash of different emotions. And that’s also the only splash you get, since there is no running water in those little wooden shelters.

Thursday, September 16th - Into the fog and rain

Slept like a baby on a mattress wrapped in foil on the floor and made another remarkable achievement right after breakfast. I’ve never been prouder. Anyway, the early morning was far from welcoming but we decided to be brave and climbed up to Planika in thick fog, rain and wind, hoping it will look better higher up. The capricorn we met on the way filled us with hope but, 400 meters below Triglav, we had to turn around and hike back, wet, cold and disappointed. Thoughts from the previous day appeared again–Why??! I decided to use my frustration to increase the speed almost to the maximum. The faster I walk, the faster it will be done. That was my motto, my mojo, my everything. 7 hours down the mountain, first through rocks and send then through wet soil and giant tree roots, all the time accompanied by rain. Let me just explain that nothing was really hurting, except for the bottom of my feet that I proclaimed dead and useless on the last part of our dismount. My mojo was failing me. Actually it was the feet that were failing my mojo and me. I started hallucinating of buying one of those electric scooters used by fat people in America and never make another step again. At that moment I believed that was the brightest idea I’ve ever had. At least it got me to the end of that day’s walk–in order to get one of those scooters I had to at least make it back to civilization, right?

(End of Part I)