A day with Nick

Nick was one of the guys I met back when I was in Hamburg, Germany, originally from Montreal, Canada and on a 6-week vacation. On the last day before we left Hamburg, we realized we were almost on the same route. He added me to facebook and said to keep in touch, just in case we were in the same place at some point. Back when I was in Vienna I sent him a message to check if he was around too, but found out that he was in Budapest. I was supposed to go to Budapest after Vienna, but I decided to avoid the massive crowds, so chose Slovenia instead. On my last day in Austria, we found out that we’d be in Lake Bled at the same time. So we decided to meetup and explore the place together. 

I woke up around 8 am and walked around the lake. Early mornings always makes a difference if you want to explore a place. Dad’s advice about photography was “always try to take shots early morning or early evening”. Makes sense because too much sunlight can make a shot tricky, unless you’re on the right angle with the light coming from behind, shedding enough light on the subject. Early mornings also allows you to soak in the feel of the place, it’s when the peaceful surroundings come more “to life”, for me. It’s when majority of the tourists are still tucked in bed. I had those moments in Lake Bled, although there were a few groups of Chinese who also had the same idea. I didn’t mind though, coz it was just a few of us, and clear shots were still possible, without the worry of having heads suddenly pop up in my frame. 

I was scheduled to meetup Nick at 9 am beside the lake. It was still early so I decided to dawdle beside the boats. There was a bloke from the US who I had a chat with. He mentioned seeing a guy the day before, who caught a big fish. I saw a school of fish staring back at us through the clear water of the lake.

Nick was up the stairs when I walked further. Apparently he arrived earlier than expected. I gave him a map of the place and had him decide what he wanted to do for the day since he had to go back to Ljubljana that evening. He initially planned to get the last bus back, so he could cover majority of the sites in Lake Bled. 

We walked up the Bled castle first and had a chat along the way. He wasn’t really into hiking nor walking,

seemed that he was struggling with a hangover although he didn’t admit to me that he went partying the night before. I actually teased him about the incident in Hamburg when he woke up in a different house, ending up with a girl he met in the pub. He was a little bit defensive though and had to tell me not to get the impression that he was like that, sleeping with a girl in each town that he went to. I smiled and said, it didn’t matter what I thought.

We decided not to enter the castle coz they charged 8 Euros for it. To get a view though from the castle’s angle, we decided to stand on the sidewalls. After that, we walked through the trees and headed to the rowing area. The price for an hour’s rental of the rowboat was 15 Euros. We decided to share on the fee. At that moment, that’s when I told myself, that’s one of the benefits of actually traveling with someone. Sharing the price can definitely help lessen expenses so quick. I thought, had I not met up with him, I would most probably have opted to ride the boat with a group which would have been the same price. 

Nick was in shape, and when I mean shape, his body was really fit which showed that he was conscious of how he looked. We agreed he’d row from the port till the island then I’d row on the way back. I’d never have thought that I’d be rowing in such a romantic setting, let alone, rowing with a guy I barely knew. I didn’t wallow too much with the thought. We got to the island and walked up. Even entry to the church itself had a fee. We decided to just walk around the island instead of going up. The steps were kept clean. At the end of steps was a dude in his knickers, sunbathing in a star fish position. It really looked odd coz he was the first thing you’d notice as you went down the steps. And personally, I think it was a sight for sore eyes. I couldn’t stop myself form taking a photo though. Just to have proof of the oddity. 

After a few minutes, we got back to the boat and I started rowing. Oh boy, how I struggled with it. Well, what made it worse was that the left paddle was smaller than the right one. And it seemed that I was always wading to a certain direction. So in the end I always had to stir differently just to make sure we were on the right course. Good thing that Nick was fine even though we went over an hour. The waves were against me, which made it harder to paddle. But we eventually got there in the end. The lady who tended the rowing area wasn’t a happy chappy one. Oh man, she asked me to row back out and back in again and yelled at us that we should just leave the ores behind. 

We were famished by the time we finished. We looked around the places to eat but found things a little bit expensive. So we decided to find the nearest supermarket and make ourselves a sandwich. I bought the veggies and he got us the meat and cheese. We decided to head back to my hostel and have a picnic outside. It was really cool and we just talked whilst eating. I learned a few things about Nick which was good. 

After eating so much, Nick got magnetized so quick to lean to a corner while I was washing the dishes. But he got shy and helped me out to clean up. He then told me that he decided to take the 2nd to the latest bus ride back to Ljubljana. I said that was fine. I felt like he wanted to sleep already. 

We decided to go for a swim, so we found ourselves a spot that was free. At the far end of the side of the lake was an area of grass where a few kids were jumping off from. We decided to choose that spot and sat down. I was all up for jumping so I quickly joined the kids. Nick was still checking how cold the water was. I was already in the water then…. Woot! I realized I liked fresh water than salt water, although the lack of buoyancy always made me struggle with my strokes. It was good that Nick was a sport and said he’d jump too. That was cool. After some time he dried off though, and I was still in the mood to jump. He was so sleepy that he curled up so I suggested to find a more shady place coz his white skin was so red at that point

After a few minutes of walking we found a spot, I let him choose coz I wasn’t really fussy about it. 

He had a nap and I just watched the people pass by. I was smiling coz it's been a while since I've had my mind so peaceful. I didn't mind anything at all. I loved the fact that I was able to swim again and the heat of the sun was just right for the plunge. 

When Nick woke up he decided to take the next bus back to Ljubljana. He was so weak and tired, I figured he had a late night... I wasn't bothered at all. 

I walked him to the bus stop up the road and we had a chance to talk about stuff. He asked if I was thinking of moving to Canada. I said, depends if I get a job offer.

The bus was late, but anyway, I hugged him goodbye and went back to the hostel.