We started the day with American eggs (scrambled with cheese) that our hotel host had prepared. The Jenga game that was the packing of the car was Tserka’s territory. Normally I take great pride in my packing skills but he had a method that worked great! There were no major plans for the day because it was a travel day to get us up to the Italian Alps and the Dolomites. We left Slovenia around 10:20 am and made it to our hotel in Italy before dark. Along the way Steve found a pottery shop to stop at so we could buy our requisite coffee mug souvenir. I’m not sure what tiny Italian villa we stopped in but we did find the shop. It was closed but had a sign on the door to inquire at the cleaning supply business that shared the same building. We assumed it was just closed for the winter and that the other business might have some to purchase. It turns out that the pottery shop has been closed for NINE years! The nice lady from the cleaning store took us over and said we could buy whatever we wanted but apologized for the small selection. I wish we had gotten more of the story from her about the potter who had made the items. Steve tried to search her out on the internet but wasn’t able to find anything. It was just one of those funny random things that makes traveling so fun and interesting! I’m sure the lady who helped us also had a good story to take home about four Americans who showed up and wanted to buy old dusty mugs!

Pottery secured, we made our way a little further down the road and then stopped for a coffee. It was a proper Italian espresso and treat. The bar had 3 old guys standing around sipping wine and chatting.

Up next was the challenge of finding dinner. It was the magic hours between 3 – 6, when most of the local eateries closed their kitchens and only offered drinks. We finally found a kebab place that was open and the food was quite good! This is one of the faster food options that I wish we had more available in Indiana. After food, it was back on the road to our hotel, driving deeper into the fancy little ski towns. Josh had picked a hotel that was on the outskirts of the main resort area and even then, it was noticeable that we were the odd ones out! Fancy cars, fancy dress, and us rolling in with our rental car and hiking clothes. After checking in, we walked the town and checked out the few places that were open. One fancy gear store came with our own lady who followed us around staying no more than four feet away! Like I said, we stood out from the other customers! Josh and Tserka found the magnets they wanted and then we found a gelato shop. Since we had missed the ice cream in Slovenia, we didn’t want to make the same mistake here and opted for an appetizer of delicious gelato! They even had dairy free versions, which was a nice surprise.

Post gelato, we headed back and made reservations for dinner at the hotel we were staying in. That should have been our first clue but it wouldn’t have really changed anything since none of us were traveling with fancy clothes. The other diners were dressed much nicer, except for the kids across the way wearing lounge pants. The dinner menu was our second clue, it had sections for starters, first course, second course, then dessert. I took Hannah’s advice and just went with the house red wine and was not disappointed! We shared a starter charcuterie board, then three of us opted to have pasta which was a first course option, and Tserka went with the lamb shank, a second course dish. I’m not sure how one person would have eaten both the first and second course on their own! It was probably the fanciest place I’ve been to dinner in a very long time!