We started a beautiful day traveling to Barnbach where we could admire the church, which the famous Austrian artist Hundertwasser designed. New shapes and forms surprised our knowledge on churches. We improvised a nice little ceremony with the church's priest who was full spontaneity. We lit one of the candles from our torch.

We were honored and blessed by him as we sang our World Harmony Run Song just in front of the shrine. What beautiful acoustics!

Once outside the priest ran with the torch.

Our onward journey led us to Piber, which is one of the most famous breeding areas for the noble Lipizzan horses. Dr. Max Dobretsberger gave us a very kind welcome to the stables. Our song was sung as usual, but I can say it is different where ever we perform. I am most grateful to have experienced it here in a unique way of oneness, as "We are the oneness and fullness of tomorrows sun".

We had a guided tour through the area of 550 hectares. We took a picture with one of the beautiful white Lipizzan horses that are famous around the globe.

On the ranch the horses stay for holiday or retirement or if they are lucky to be one of the chosen few who can go to the Spanish horse riding school in Vienna. It is there that they start to be trained on a very high level to become horses for performances around the globe. Harmony between horse and rider is a high tradition there to achieve the strong bond that is needed and practiced over years. We were shown the stables where some of the young horses were housed. They are born black and then later they turn white!

We left the gorgeous stables after Dr Dobretsberger and our guide ran with the torch.

We all ran to the Austrian-Slovenian border.

At noon cheerful policemen and the mayors of the neighbouring cities received us at the Austrian-Slovenian border. Many local runners from Maribor and Ljubljana received us while the Austrians bid us farewell. In her speech the Austrian mayor said she believes the WHR to be a great opportunity to bring us closer to each other, to bring closer the different cities and countries and finally all men on earth to work together in harmony for a peaceful goal.

We boarded to fly to Maribor! Welcome to Slovenia! Well, we ran so fast it was if we were flying. Maribor, Maribor! What a beautiful name! What a beautiful town.

The mayor, Boris Sovic gave a wonderful and heartfelt speech. He stated:

"Let us all establish the message you carry. May many more people and people who decide to accept your message of Harmony, Peace and Friendship which goes beyond suffering and good times."

The honored mayor was glad to see the young going for these goals and handed to us the medallion of Maribor. To say goodbye he wished the team a full success and he ran with us quite far.

After a delicious lunch and lot of sweet desserts provided by our host runners we went on deeper into Slovenia.

It is very easy to run in beautiful natural surroundings and a few worries came up when we left Austria because we were heading towards "the unknown". Of course it was only unknown to us as some run for the first time here, but all our worries vanished as we settled into the Slovenian atmosphere. Our road went alongside the slow meandering Drava River so everybody enjoyed the run.

The countryside here is very fresh and beautiful! On some of the lucky runners fell raindrops. It was welcomed rain on these hot days!

The representatives of Seinica ob Dravi eagerly ran with the torch.

Along our route there were many dams and turbines, and our Zoltan tried to turn it but with no success.

We ran ahead of schedule prior Radlje so we played football, stretched and ate chocolate ice cream.

At Radlje the mayor greeted us outside our hotel accommodation, kindly provided by the town.

A cute young blonde girl held the torch.

We had our first Slovenian day after some good chocolate ice cream and then went more or less directly to bed. Today we had to cover only 59 kilometers; tomorrow will be more than double... Lets see!

Distance: 62km

Team Members:
Anete Klavina (Latvia), Anna Lesmann (Germany), Anne Schulze (Germany), Dipavajan Renner (Austria), Edmund Blab (Austria), Janusz Wiewior (Poland), Mark Collinson (England), Martin Prettenhofer (Austria), Ondrej Vesely (Czech Republic), Petar Mihaylov (Bulgaria), Petr Machacek (Czech Republic), Pratul Halper (Austria), Terezia Hammel (Hungary), Veronika Kuliskova (Slovakia), Zoltan Theobald (Hungary).

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