Wrapping Up and Welcoming In: Apr 13-19
- kristineturko
- Apr 19
- 2 min read
This week was a mix of travel, finishing projects, and getting ready for visitors.
I started the week with a quick trip to Venice. It was busy, but still easy to see why people love it. I spent time wandering through side streets, crossing more bridges than I could count, and making my way through the major landmarks before finding quieter corners away from the crowds. A visit to the Peggy Guggenheim Museum ended up being one of my favorite parts of the trip.
Back in Ljubljana, I wrapped up work with the first group of children and graduate students at the Institute for Autism. It is hard to believe how quickly eight weeks went by. The students were thoughtful, engaged, and eager to learn, and it was rewarding to watch their confidence grow over the course of the project. Saying goodbye to families and children that I had worked with each week was harder than I expected.
With the first phase of the project coming to an end, I also started looking ahead to my next big event: my mom's visit to Slovenia. After months of talking about it, her trip was finally here. Of course, international travel had other plans. A missed connection in Zurich turned into an unexpected stop in Zagreb and a very long travel day before she finally made it to Ljubljana late Friday night. She handled it all remarkably well and was ready to start exploring almost immediately.
Before she arrived, I managed to squeeze in one more Open Kitchen afternoon and dinner at Raw Pasta. The city is definitely waking up for spring. The streets are busier, outdoor tables are full, and every sunny day seems to bring more people out to enjoy the river and city center.
One of the funnier moments of the week came when a friend and I realized we had gone to different locations of the same café for coffee. Apparently there are multiple versions of the place and we had each picked a different one. Eventually we figured it out and laughed about it over coffee once we were finally in the same location.
Saturday was my mom's first full day in Ljubljana and it was a good introduction to the city. We walked along the river, enjoyed some food and wine, wandered into St. Nicholas Cathedral during evening mass, and ended the night with dinner at Most. Not a bad way to start a visit to Slovenia!
Comments