I’d missed my opportunity to get nighttime photographs of the island on Lake Bled, but I figured I had one last opportunity to photograph mist on the lake, or maybe a sunrise. Unfortunately it had rained heavily overnight as we got another thunderstorm, and it’d only stopped briefly when I headed out.

When I reached Lake Bled there was no mist on the lake. The rain had started again, and the sunrise seemed a waste of time. I decided I’d run further around the lake, just in case the area with heavier trees would have some mist - but it didn’t.

It wasn’t until I was on my way back that the first signs of mist appeared, just as it started to brighten up. This was short-lived as moments after arriving back at the apartment the rain started once more. We now had three hours to have breakfast, pack, and check out. Easy.

With the continuous rain coming down we were in no rush to go anywhere. Not that we had anywhere to go. We’d been given permission to leave our bags in the owner’s house until our transfer six hours later, but first we had to wait through the rain.

After vacating the room we sat with the others in the hallway whilst waiting for the rain to ease off a little. Nobody wanted to go anywhere with the rain that heavy… but then the son of the owner turned up and offered the others a lift to the bus station. They’d not pre booked anything so were able to take a public bus to Ljubljana far earlier than us.

It took two trips, but he got them all to the station without them getting wet. He then offered to drive us down to the other house to drop off our luggage, and was going to lend us two umbrellas so we could walk into town.

It was very kind of them as it allowed us to use up some of these hours we had to spare. At first we looked around shops aimlessly, and then walked around the lakeside. After an hour of this we stopped in a cafe near the Hotel Park for a panini and drink.

Whilst in the area I tried to take a picture of the hotel from the same spot my Dad had thirty-six years before so they’d be able to see what changes there had been in this time. It’s almost a shame we never got to use the restaurant there.

Our intention then was to walk around the lake counterclockwise once; but after about a third of the way around we encountered the Bled Triathlon. We stood and watched the start of this, and the brutal swimming lengths they had to do which included getting out of the water and back in.

After a couple of laps they then changed over to the cycling segment, which gave me the opportunity to photograph cyclists passing by. The rain however had picked up considerably so we abandoned our lap of the lake and headed back slowly, navigating our way through the event village.

Just before we got back to the Hotel Park area of the lake we found some cover with seats so sat and waited there for another thirty minutes. During this time we decided we’d head to the supermarket to get some cake, though before we reached the supermarket we decided on a cake from the bakery instead.

At this point we knew we’d not have time to see the lake again, and sure enough this was the time that for the first time in two days, the sun came out. Typical. I’m sure if we’d turned back to see the lake in the sun it would have rained before we got there anyway.

The taxi to Ljubljana turned up early, and got us into the city by 16:30. The check-in for the hotel was nice and easy, though a bit of a walk from where we were dropped off. Maybe it wasn’t the best hotel of the trip, but it was nice enough.

When we ventured out into town we passed Sue whilst looking for Marion. It’s strange how you can bump into people you know in a foreign city. Marion had been on a city tour whilst we’d been in Bled, so now she was able to show us around parts of the city we hadn’t originally planned to see in addition to a few fancy bridges we had planned.

There were various buildings that looked good on the north side of the Ljubljanica, and good views back of the cathedral and castle. We passed a market square, but it was now closed for the weekend. On the periphery of this were vending machines for milk and cheese - something I’d never seen done before. They also have free recycling bins, but then the general waste bins require a card that will charge the user of them. It’s a good way to encourage recycling I think, though it would be a little difficult for tourists or the poor to dispose of their rubbish cleanly.

After a lap of these places we found somewhere to eat - they had a lot of local Istrian choices. The one I went for was ravioli, and an apple strudel for dessert. Whilst we’d been eating the sun had set, so our remaining wandering was in the dark - we did however need to find an ATM so had no choice.

The one we found seemed to be on the opposite side of the city, but it’s what we needed to make it through one more day of sightseeing. The last night of our trip was at an end.