Ljubljana with Flat Susan

More Adventures for Flat Susan 
Here she is on her way up the funicular to the castle in Ljubljana. I must admit we held her ever so tight, and her legs shook, as she was a wee bit scared of heights!

She was happier at the top where we sat in the sun, enjoyed cake and coffee then later an ice cream. Dolores missed the treats (just look at those cakes!) as she had to go into work that day.

Here she is on the ramparts with me and I'm wearing the lovely top Dolores bought me in Italy, for my June birthday. She kindly allowed me to wear whilst I was there. Thanks so much Dolores, I love it!!

The market was just near the bottom of the funicular and was interestingly different to ours in England.

We bought delicious dark cherries from the lovely man who'd had picked them and in the bag there were lots of "twins" like this one. 

It was amazing to see vegetables in such bright colours...look at those pink speckled beans!?

The inside market sold cheeses, meats and bread away from the outside heat.

There was also a stall selling glasses of wine and these were often in shopping centres. Never short of customers.

I love the door of this church...

This is the portal of a bank!

The fantastic doorway of the parliament building

There seems to be a tradition to throw training shoes high up in certain places onto cables. WHY?

A beautiful yet a quaint capital city with so much to see and do and a lovely atmosphere. It's so vibrant and sophisticated and it's hard to believe only 2 million people live in the whole of Slovenia!

Still to come the trips to the caves and the lakes. Flat Susan was having so much fun!

WOYWW 4th Anniversary

It's almost 3 years since I first joined in and posted, ..(ie., owned up, confessed to,)  my crafty, ....(ie., messy, arty, creative,) desk,....(ie., space, bomb site,) for WOYWW, but it is a whole 4 glorious years since it all began. 

Our Super Leader, Julia, certainly didn't know then just what she had started with her idea to share our arty workspaces, but I'm sure she does by now. There have been so many wonderful friendships made all over the world, friends who have met up and friends yet to meet. 

Thank you so much Julia and thanks to everyone who has participated, commented, inspired, shared art, shared ideas, given so much friendship, love and support etc., and I am so grateful to have been a part of it all.

You can find out more about WOWWW and all who take part each week by visiting Julia's Stamping Ground Blog.

There'll be celebrations on Saturday at the WOYWW Crop but I'm so sorry I'll have to miss it, but know you'll all have a whale of a time.

My work desk this week is my dining table where I am finishing off a few crafty bits and I am joined by my new friend and travelling companion, Flat Susan, with balloons, waving her flag in celebration!

I've added to the journal pages I started in Slovenia last week during my super stay enjoying the fabulous country, thanks to the super hostess with the mostest.... my lovely WOYWW friend Cardarian.

I've been getting my ATCs ready to join in the swap and I've got quite a few extras to exchange if anyone would like one. Just leave a comment and email me your postal details. 

If anyone has a Clas Ohlson store near them they have a craft section with some items at a very good price which you may find interesting and rather desirable. My latest find is their new range of washi tapes..... 3 reels in a pack for around £3.50. There are other designs too.

I also made a tag (that's in the RH bottom corner) to send to the next hostess of Flat Susan..... the special little lady who is travelling the world, on a free ticket, in her own tiny suitcase. 

Pop over to Hickydorums, Neets blog to find out all about her. 

Mille Miglia Italy

On the next leg of our adventures we took Flat Susan to the Mille Miglia in Brescia, Italy. We stopped a couple of nights in Potenghe on Lake Garda. 

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The Mille Miglia, or thousand miles, was an endurance race that was organized 24 times between 1927 and 1957. Participants raced with their Gran Turismo cars over the open roads of northern Italy from Brescia to Rome and back on an 8-shaped route. Due to frequent fatal crashes the race was banned in 1957, but since 1982 it was revived as a touring trip for old-timers.

http://www.losapos.com/mille_miglia

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Before the race starts, the ancient streets are lined with almost 400 vintage cars dating from 1921 to 1957 and for car enthusiasts, like our fellas, it was a sweetie shop. I must admit it was fascinating to Dolores and me and took me back to childhood days when Stirling Moss was racing. We even spotted a couple of cars he had raced during his career. 

Here's a selection of my favourite cars from more than 50 I managed to photograph.

Bugatti 37, 1926

FORD A Roadster Deluxe, 1931

Sales of umbrellas soared that day and Italian style went out of the window when we ended up resorting to buying silly plastic ponchos and big brollies in an effort to beat the weather.
The rest of the weather for our holiday was perfect, comfortably hot and sunny!

Alan, Dolores and Dave with a

Lagonda M 4.5 Rapide, 1934

Almost had a catastrophe after fastening Flat Susan to my camera strap whilst looking an utter drip (pun intended) in my poncho, PANIC, PANIC, how would I tell Neet that we lost her???.....

but after a search, utter relief when we found her half drowned in a puddle on a marble slab,

I'm relieved to say that she made a good recovery and we all dried out after lunch in a great little cafe nearby....

Flat Susan certainly helps to make friends as people are so fascinated by her and the story of her travels around the world. The cafe owner (below) was so friendly and asked about her smallest ever customer!

Ciao!

Mercedes-Benz SSK 1929

The rain poured and the wind blew turning so many brollies inside out

that every bin was stuffed full of dead umbrellas .

Lots of famous people entered the race... Sir Chris Hoy, Daniel Day Lewis, David Coulthard etc., and here's Yasmin Le Bon co-driving a

Jaguar XK120 OTS, 1950

Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 Sport, 1929

Bentley 4 1/2 Litre Supercharged 1930   

Rally ABC 1929

I loved the flying Hippo on this..

Lagonda M 4.5 Rapide 1934

Lancia Lambda serie V11, 1927

All of the shop windows had themed displays and I would have loved to bring this one home for a special little boy!

There were so many photos of old racing stars in the shop windows, but I just had to snap this fabulous one of my childhood hero, Stirling Moss.

Arrivederci Brescia!

Battle of the Atlantic Commemoration

Our city is decked out in patriotic bunting as Liverpool hosts the national commemorations of the 70th anniversary of the Battle of the Atlantic and what a superb event it is. Still time to be part of it all as  it continues all weekend and Monday too as it is Bank Holiday, so get here if you can!

even the shopping centres are in the mood and here is the top terrace of the new "Liverpool One" centre. 

We went down to the river front Pierhead where the parade of veterans was to be held.

It was so emotional to see these old seafarers marching so proudly wearing all their medals as the crowd cheered and clapped them.

There were many captains and commanders from home and abroad with the Lord Mayor

This old sea dog was so funny and had the crowd laughing with his hat saying "Knackered Seaman"!!

Here's the Mersey Ferry alongside some of the many visiting ships on parade.

The Pump House and the Albert Dock host another ship

Alongside the canal basin by the new Museum of Liverpool Life several children's bands played everything from pop to classical, jazz to music from the shows.

Street entertainers were everwhere and here, in front of the famous Liver Buildings, this super robot character interacted with the crowd to spectacular background effects.

The sea cadets scared the wits out of me with their displays on the rigging

This stilt walking tea lady was so amusing and was the star of the show and Flat Susan loved her Irish wit and charm. She had a ride on the top of the trolley....she's there on the top shelf ...

and a dance on a china cup and saucer! Luckily they were all glued together and we used Flat Susan's safety harness (an elastic band) to keep her safe!

Only managed to capture this snip of the Spitfire and Hurricane flying past. 

Another of our new waterfront buildings ... just look on the roof....

where they had the best bird's eye view of the event! The white building is the tip of the beautiful 1930's Art Deco Ventilation for the first Mersey Tunnel (we now have two tunnels)

It was such a good atmosphere and I'm so sorry that I didn't manage to take more pics of Flat Susan in all the excitement.
This is just a taster of all that's happing over the weekend and there's still time to get down to share the atmosphere and pay respects to those who served.... but do remember.... Liverpool is still worth a visit at any time of the year!
Next episode of Flat Susan's first holiday in Italy later today.