Day 15 & Thursday Doors, 15/4/21: Kranjska Gora & Planica

• Manja Maksimovič

Today I combine my parents, as the prompt asks, and doors because it’s Thursday into the memory of when we were together last: over the three wonderful days in August 2020 under the Julian Alps in Slovenia.

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Prompt 15: “Think about a small habit you picked up from one of your parents, and then … write a piece that explores an early memory of your parent engaged in that habit, before shifting into writing about yourself engaging in the same habit.”

Not such a small habit, this poeting.

Once a year or so I branch into a full-blown sonnet, as one does. It’s in the Italian style, as I prefer them. 

Legacy

My father shared the stage with bards most noted
and published poems, but then had to marry. 
His verse is soft, of love, nothing too scary,
romantic without being sugar-coated. 

My mother is a rapper, non-promoted.
When she hits 80: festival, not dairy! 
She writes for those who in her heart she’d carry,
to children’s poems she is most devoted.

No wonder that I, stuck between both comets,
fail badly when I try to cut this tension,
and sometimes run behind my muse’s bonnets 

in vain. And just as I choose my intention, 
my uncle, who is known for writing sonnets,
will ask why he was not given a mention.
  1. One poem by my father, in bilingual translation;
  2. One poem for children by my mother, in my translation.

This is one of those posts where doors are an excuse for showing you what a wonderful time we were having.

Honestly, I barely thought of doors those three days but they were everywhere, as it always happens, following me, daring me to click. If not doors, there there were ramps, a goal and a hotel with such an unfortunate name that I didn’t even approach to see its doors.

I already posted from this trip on three Thursdays: I showed you some pretty houses and a rabbit cage from the day of arrival, the day when we visited the valley called Vrata which means “door”, and the Russian chapel on Vršič built by Russian prisoners of war.

Today we have a look around Kranjska Gora where my parents, amore, bestia and I were staying in hotel Alpina. The quickest way to reach the town was by foot down the hill across the meadow. Then we pass Podkoren when Alpine ski races are held, and the Zelenci nature reserve with its beautiful water colour. Finally we land in the Nordic centre Planica tucked in the northwesternmost corner of Slovenia, with Italy to the left and Austria above, where they fly on skis. Why? Some would ask. Because they can.

Those days were the best and the last that we have spent together, for now. But there will be others.

  • The day we arrived it was covered.
  • But it got better in the next days. Our hotel Alpina on the right.
  • People’s Home. (Not quite sure what they do in there.)
  • An old specimen, not quite un-Italian.
  • And then there’s this. Universe of fun.
  • Not a good name for our times.
  • A bathroom door in a restaurant.
  • This was the dining room door in our hotel. That’s tall!
  • Our hotel had this kind of revolving door. Bestia was not impressed. Mother looks worried.
  • A kind of door…
  • This is Podkoren, the finish of slalom and giant slalom Kranjska Gora race. In the winter, that is.
  • The inn at the Zelenci nature reserve. We didn’t enter. I think it was closed.
  • Zelenci: A door into nature.
  • Here we go: Planicaaaa, Planicaaaa! ♫♪ Luckily the car door allows me to post it on Thursday. The tallest ski jumping hill is even higher up on the right. We took the seat lift to there.
  • Behind this building is the start of the seat lift.
  • Decidedly not Italian.
  • A bar with the zipline behind it. You can walk up to its start over these steps. We had coffee and watched them come down. Not in a million years.
  • Sister joined us for the day. This is the entrance to the Nordic centre with a surprise.
  • An indoors all-year Nordic practice ski run!
  • I’m not sure but I think it was built as a garage and then someone had this brilliant idea.
  • The view from the roof. In Slovenian we call the goal “vrata” as well, meaning door.
  • Taken during the seat lift ride.
  • We had a late lunch at Finisterra in Kranjska Gora, which used to be the Slovenian Railways holiday home and we spent many New Year’s Eves here. It was brilliant to hit the slopes the first thing on January 1st.
  • A welcoming door for goodbye.

For Thursday Doors challenge hosted by Dan at No Facilities

and for:

NaPoWriMo 2021 Button with black background

40 thoughts on “Day 15 & Thursday Doors, 15/4/21: Kranjska Gora & Planica”

  1. We came through Kranjska Gora in June 2018 via Vrcic Pass. It was the end of our trip around the Adriatic Sea as well as the Greek Peleponnese and we just wanted to go home. When I read your post I regretr we didn’t stay longer. But at the time… Thanks for showing!

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  4. Beautiful pictures, Manja. Makes me want to go over again, we mostly cruise now that we are OBE (as the Ausies say, “Over Bloody Eighty”. Probably we will stick to Provence, France, any of Italy, and then to Spain and the British Isles. We’ve been to most all of Western Europe and a lot of Eastern.
    I like you poem too, your (or your poet’s) rapper, my dad called Mom a Flapper from the old late 20’s and early 30’s. You wrote about both, I mentioned both parents but then shifted quickly to my beloved Grandfather.
    ..

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  5. Great memories about the Alpine landscape, although mine was in Austria:) I almost gasped when I saw the name of the hotel. Wow, what a conundrum that must have been for the owners about the name of the hotel! great view of the ski jumps.Love the design of these huge wooden doors in the beginning!
    Smiled at your wording :”Don’t know what they do in there” (about the people living there) What did you have in mind they were doing in there? (that would be a typical question for my previous psychology job).
    Can’t believe you have such a good instinct for the most wild free wordpress themes i never see, chuckle. Jesh

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    1. Thank you, Jesh. 🙂 What I meant is that I’m not sure what this kind of people’s home is used for. All kinds of activities, I suppose. I’m really glad that you like me theme instinct. It will be soon time to choose again…

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  7. These are wonderful photos, Manja. I think I remember reading about this trip and your having had a delightful time. I think I like the doors (building) that you took from the lift ride, the best. It’s good to see people gathering together. I hope we can all look forward to doing that soon.

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    1. Oh yes, Dan, I hope that too. Last August was quite relaxed in Slovenia, we just had to wear masks in the hotel at all times, except by the table eating. And yes, I posted three times from this trip for Thursday Doors already. You probably remember that Russian Chapel.

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    1. Hihi, Gory is your nickname for it, Jo? 😉 Gora means mountain in Slovenian. Yes, it can get really cold. The coldest it was when skiing there was -14. And I’m really glad that you can tolerate my poetry. We are halfway. April will finish at some point…

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      2. Ahh, I see! I didn’t know it was similar in Polish. In Slovenian it is ‘gore’ for plural and ‘gori’ if there are two (yes, we have dual grammar case). Y is not in our alphabet. Thank you for your effort and here I thought it was autocorrect! 😉 (Do you know more Polish words?)

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      3. Dad was Polish, remember, so I learnt a certain level to try to communicate with aunt and uncles. Sometimes I try to think of a Portuguese word and it comes out in Polish 🤔💕

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      4. Ahh, I didn’t know that! A half Slav sister! 😉 I believe smetana is cream, right? The same in Slovenian. I don’t know many Polish words at all. I was never there nor do I know anybody who is Polish.

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    1. Thank you so much, Nataša! Yes, I translated them into English and amore did father’s into Italian. I know that I took some liberties with mom’s poem. 😀 And yes, it’s true, I’ve been blessed this way.

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  16. Pingback: Day 15 & Friendly Friday beneath our feet – An Embarrassment of Riches

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