We were taken to the Polenec home in Skofja Loka by Henry's host, Marjeta, and her husband Erik. This home has been occupied since its construction in the fifteenth century. Here, our host at the house, Natalija, shows some of the designs in the original tile in the oven.. This stove is in the main room of the house.

Here is the main room in the house for eating and visiting..  The table is opposite to the stove. The tile that Natalija is holding dates back to 1470 and is called a warrior tile.  When she repaired the stove, she left that tile out and used plain tiles. The old tiles sit on the top edge of the stove.  The chairs are replicas of those used in the sixteenth century..

Natalja Polenec and son Janez.  Janez did a great job as a tour guide around the old family house.  He showed us how to open nuts in the small indentation in the table.  We don't have a digital picture of this , but it was a new experience.

These are books written by Mr.Anton Polenec. He wrote books about Darwinism and biology, He also wrote children's  stories and poetry. Mr. Polenec, Natalja's grandfather, really wanted to be an artist, but became a biologist.  He painted throughout his life and his landscapes  and bird pictures are in his brother's house.

We were in the bottom level of the house, where the wine barrels are kept.  These old barrels are no longer used , but are kept for historical relevance.

Erik and Marjeta are friends with Natalja and Marko and have been to the house for picnics. They know each other through the Institute Jozef Stefan. Natalja works in the public relations department of the Institute. This picnic area inside is cool and close to  the refreshments.

Natalja's father in the main room. Behind Mr.Tone Polenc's left arm is a window with small panes.  The original design allowed for all the windows to move sideways into the wall and provide fresh air, but allow for safety.  In one of the pictures there is a grill that is the symbol of Skofja Loka. It is a circle with an  "x" through it.

Natalja and her husband, Marko. We were trying some of the brandy that had been made by Natalja's father with the 400 year old equipment.

The bird over Marko's  head is the weight for the door.  This is a 200 year old idea.  It can also be found in a museum in Kranj. The wood is soaked in water to soften it and this allows the fibers to be splayed out, so that overlapping of the fibers  makes the tail.

This is what was left from the meal that Natalija and some ladies from the town served us .  It was soup with barley and ham and was very delicious.  The next course that we  were served was ham slices and homemade wheat bread accompanied by a great red wine.

This is an exterior view of the Polenec house which is now a museum representing  over 500 years of history !  It was last renovated in 1755. There was a brief period when the Homan family owned the house. Then it was bought back by the Polenec family.    When Natalja and Marko redid the floors they found an old metal plate under the floor indicating that the earlier version was smaller than the present house.

After our great meal at Natalja's house, Marjeta and Erik wanted Nancy to see their house in Komenda.  A picnic in May was planned for there, but Nancy was leaving  before then. They have built this house themselves and it is a very nice place.  The fireplace is to the left and is higher than usual.  The kitchen is behind the tile wall, with the dining and living areas in front of it.

The art work is wonderful .  Erik and Nancy are in a cozier sitting area to the left of the stove.  Erik had closed the house for the week, so he had turned on the heat again and it warmed up quickly.

After coffee and dessert (ice cream and cake) it was time to go back to Ljubljana.  It had been raining off and on all day.  The sun was out as we left Skofja Loka and at the end of the day the sky was filled with clouds and the sun was trying to peek out!  Nancy asked Henry to get this sunset picture.

On the way back to Ljubljana, we stopped at Marjeta's parent's home.  Marjeta gave us permission to take pictures of her parents wonderful art collection.  This is a special treat for another reason.  Marjeta is very modest about the fact that her parents were active partisans in WWII and after Tito's death her father became president of Yugoslavia for one year.  Unfortunately both of her parents have died recently and we are sad for Marjeta and the other family members.  Henry and I would have loved to have been able to visit with them.  In the house in Kominda  there is a great picture of her mother in green battle fatigues.

This Korent, which reminded us of our February trip to Ptuj, is actually a latch rug weaving.

Marjeta's mother and Ivan Cankar.  Ivan Cankar was a writer and a man talking of change and her mother was involved in the changing world of Yugoslavia and its people. Her husband Sergei's uncle was a writer, a physician, and friend of Ivan Cankar.  We attended several events in the Cankerjev Dom in Ljubljana, which is named after Mr. Cankar.

Marjeta's father- Sergei Krajger.  We have been so lucky to be in the company of a couple who had first hand knowledge of the political changes in Yugoslavia. Mr. Krajger had a wonderful library which included several books he had written. His wife had an equally fine library. On both the maternal and fraternal sides of the family have been writers and artists.  For us this visit has been fascinating because of the history of the region and the impacts of all the surrounding countries on the lives of the Slovenian people..  When you visit the castles, forts and rural areas it is obvious that life was a struggle.  People worked hard and enjoyed themselves in the countryside whenever possible.

This was her mother's room.  Marjeta and her daughter are in one picture and her mother is in another.  The needlework pillows were done by Marjeta's sister.

Here is Biljana at the Trubadur in Ljubljana. She kindly consented  to pose for Nancy under her sign. Nancy took our friend Ray Purdom for coffee when he came to visit.    The yellow sign on the right  is advertising "hot horse sandwiches."  We tried them later in the week, but the patties need to be browned a lot more for us to enjoy them.  Back to the Trubadur!!!  Delicious desserts and coffee.

Nancy's dressmakers hard at work.  Their shop is only a block and a half from our apartment.  It took Nancy 3 months to be courageous enough to stop and visit.  She was very lucky , Katija and Bojan speak English. But just in case she had her dictionary. Slovenes give their own words to everything.  There is very little cross-over in language.  For example, red to us is a color, but in Slovene it means order.

Bojan and Katija looking for the prettiest buttons for my jackets..  They have two sons, Uros and Alesh.

Here is Slavka Zagradec, who works for Katarina. She does a great job sewing, but Nancy could not talk to her because she didn't learn very much Slovene and Slavka did not know any English.

Here are Nancy's friends Katarina(Katija) and Bojan.  Katija is an economist by schooling, but sewing is what she really enjoys.

Katarina and Nancy talked about everything. They attempted to solve the world problems in two short days before Nancy left Ljubljana for Kentucky.

Chemistry Department Home Page