We went skiing in Sappada over the weekend. Sappada is a cute little ski town in the Dolomites about 2 hours from us. We always stay at the Hotel Haus Michaela. The owner is so kind and helpful and the kids love her. She always gives them a bag of candy when we check-out and will customize their gelato order. That is service!
This was last year’s ski trip. They’ve grown a lot!
Sappada has a perfect ski hill for kids. I’m not sure if Clara will ever really take to it, but Benjamin is really flying now. Wish I had pictures of him in action.
We also enjoyed Nevelandia – which translates to snow land. It’s just a big snowy play land. They have bounce houses, an ice skating rink, sledding and tubing, trampolines, and a lot of room for snow angels. I wish I had taken more pictures, but picture taking with cold weather gear on is no small feat!
Finally a legit snow angel!
I went to look for Clara at one point and found her in this little cave.
We were lucky and got about 4 inches of fresh snow the night we got there.
I love the little alpine huts!
This was Clara’s favorite ride ever! I think she went around in this tube for 45 minutes. I thought she was going to sleep!
We even got to play in a real igloo!
We picked up this hand carved wooden mask at a local shop. These masks are used for Carnevale and are typical of this area.
I love this mask! The carver had even burned his name and date into the interior.
We just happened to be in Sappada for Carnevale last year. This is the full costume and a sample of more typical wooden masks.
We had a long weekend for Easter so we decided to check out Slovenia. I can see why everybody raves about it. It’s very clean, the people are friendly, and almost everybody speaks perfect English!
Ljubljana was our first stop — and this time didn’t get lost or drive through a pedestrian zone! Ljubljana is charismatic and picturesque.
The Franciscan Church was beautiful inside although we busted in on an Easter service. Whoops! I would have enjoyed watching a little, but definitely not with the kids!
Franciscan Church of the Annunciation
I’m always a sucker for accordion street performers. He looks delighted to be there! Haha!
We stayed at the Union Hotel which was especially nice and with Preseren Square a few steps away, the location couldn’t have been better!
Benny and Clara loved the Dragons everywhere.
Next stop was the Ljubljana Castle. We hiked to the top of the castle towering over the city. Why we were hiking when they provided a functioning funicular was beyond me. I wasn’t prepared for it. I was wearing flimsy ballet flats and carried Clara the entire time! It was pretty much straight up the mountain. Benny was a trooper.
Reaching the top made for some fantastic shots of the city.
We had fun wandering around the grounds and looking inside the castle. The kids loved spying for bad guys.
After the climb back down to town we were ready for an aperitivo!
Next stop… Lake Bled! It was about a 45 minute drive from Ljubljana.
When we arrived we took the boat ride out to the island. The kids love any boat ride and the views are breathtaking!
We were greeted with this staircase upon our arrival to the island.
After the trek up, we visited the Church of the Assumption (the only place to visit on the island). The top brought gorgeous views of the mountains, a perfect place for an appetitive, and open grassy area perfect for rough housing!
This looks a little daunting… but there is only one way down.
And as always…there was a lot of crying and a lot of whining!
So long Lake Bled. We’ll be back this summer! There is so much more here than we had time for — including sampling the famous Bled cream cake. I won’t rest until I’ve sampled it! We’re moving on to the ski town of Kranjska Gora.
Kranjska Gora was a charming little sleepy town in the Julian Alps.
The kids and I loved these little Easter bunnies!
The kids enjoyed digging in what was left of the snow.
We stayed in a small, family-run motel called Hotel Kotnik. I think only one man was in charge of the motel and the restaurant! He stayed busy!! They had these little wooden benched carved outside of their door.
And for some reason, the kids decided to put their shoes away (this is definitely a first)!
We tried this awesome dessert. I didn’t catch the name of it, but it was sort of like a warm cream puff served with ice cream. One between the four of us did NOT cut it.
We spent the next day skiing. Benjamin had his first lesson. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much snow at the resort, but the hill was perfect for Benny.
He was so excited to learn, but things went downhill fast when Derek tried to be his instructor. I was fairly certain it could sour him on skiing forever. He seemed to do much better with the actually instructor.
This is what I did while everyone was skiing… I was possibly the only one enjoying myself.
I think Derek managed to get a few good runs in despite the fact the snow was minimal and the hill wasn’t the most exciting. As for Benjamin … only time will tell if he’ll ever recover from his traumatic first lesson.
