Jump off a Bridge?!?

 We had our mission-wide Zoom call as per usual on a Saturday when nobody can travel.  President Field reported that his back is feeling somewhat better, although not as good as he'd like.

As we were meeting (on Zoom, so you can look around)  Liz noticed a strange boat tied up on the riverbank outside our apartment.  I told her it is the old-fashioned log-raft boat, and now they give rides on it occasionally.  It has three long oars in the back and it takes skilled rowers to maneuver and move the raft.  She thought we'd like a ride on it, so she went down.  They were not giving rides today - just selling drinks to the holiday crowd.  BUT, the man on the raft told her that at 4:00 this afternoon divers were going to be jumping off the big bridge across the river.  She must have looked concerned, because he also told her it is not just anybody who jumps, but diving teams, and it is all highly organized.

At 3:45 we were sitting on a bench at the riverside - I with my new Nikon camera and the long lens.  I am still getting fuzzy photos with it, and am beginning to suspect that the new lens is not clean.  But here is a photo of people across the river setting up to watch the fun.

The bridge is big and the road above is about 80 feet above the river, by my dead-reckoning.  I took rapid fire photos of several jumpers and here is the best one.

The jumper has climbed over the railing and is standing on the little blue platform the city has mounted for this event.

He is pointing his hands and preparing to jump.
    

He is crouching to get a good leap off the platform

He is now in his tuck, high above the platform and already beginning his rotation

He continues his rotation.

Now he is back to the level of the platform

He is falling very fast now, and is already at the top of the arch.

After briefly struggling to get aligned, he has aligned himself for a feet-first splash-down.

And makes very little splash.

The bridge is higher than any diving board, and it seemed like all the divers did their normal dive, but at the point they would normally enter the water they were still 30-40 feet in the air, so they had to struggle to get aligned during that long, but brief fall.  

After watching the divers, we visited the Old Vine House and looked at the exhibits in the Wine Museum.

The grapes on the Old Vine are almost ripe.  The picking is scheduled for Sept. 20 depending on how the grapes ripen.  They make about 80 bottles of wine from the grapes on the building.

The museum was as interesting as it could be for someone who is utterly uninterested in wine.  The tile floor is the most interesting part of it for me.  It represents the Drava River and various symbols on it depict history and locations of interest to Mariborians.

And then there is a most-interesting bicycle.  This was one of those times when it was painfully borne upon us that we are deaf, dumb, and ignorant to the Slovenians, although they are kind about it.  There was nobody around who could explain in English why so much effort was put into a wooden bicycle.