Travels in Smolenice

Let me begin by saying that lunch certainly was a big hit with us.  There's nothing like being handed a big blue bag and peeking at its contents while sitting in the bus.  One huge sandwich (and I mean huge), made with cold breaded pork cutlets between 2 slices of rye bread, 2 apples, 2 oranges, 1 nectarine, 1 bottle of water, and two large sugar wafer cookies:  one made with chocolate wafers with nutella layered between, and the other some type of lovely chocolate concoction.  Sure glad we didn't miss out on that deal.

Once again, I awoke early, after tossing and turning all night.  I would blame it on the cheap bottle of wine that Amy and I tried last night, but it's probably much more than that.  In any event, we thought that we needed to be ready for the bus at 8:00.  The realty was that breakfast was at 8:00 and we were leaving at 9:30, which really became nearly 10:00 thanks to some slow moving students.

But, that gave me some early morning time to try to absorb some of the Slovak language.  I'm not sure if the difficulty I'm having is due to having an old brain, or just to sheer exhaustion with all of the commotion that has been going on.

Today we headed out to Smolenice Castle for our excursion. We were supposed to hike in the Small Carpathian mountains, but the plans were changed due to possible storms in the area.   Let me just mention that we never saw even one raindrop until after we arrived back in Modra.

But, we enjoyed our day nonetheless.  I think the women in charge felt bad about eliminating the hike, so they somehow managed to find a way for us to tour the castle.  We had been told yesterday that it was closed and that we could only just walk around it.  One of the women on today's trip spoke English and she was excited to translate for Amy and us.  She was just one big bubbly source of entertainment, and Amy and I really appreciated her efforts as translator.

The view from the top was stunning, and above you can see the highest mountain in the Small Carpathian mountains.

This castle now serves as a source of relaxation for the Slovak Dept. of Sciences Academy .  It sure is easy to see why it would be relaxing.

After our castle excursion, we loaded back up on the bus and headed to Driny cave.  

Above you see the woods that we walked through to get to the entrance.  It was quite a hike uphill to the entrance.  This is apparently the only cave in this area of Slovakia where one can walk through.  Not that I would put that on the top of my list of things to do, but it was interesting, nonetheless, and we had our great interpreter to help us enjoy the experience.

Here's a photo looking down from the entrance.

After we returned to the room, we headed into Modra to attend 6:00 mass at St. Stephen the King Church.

Of course I only understood a few words, but we certainly enjoyed the renewal of vows by a couple who was celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary.  

Afterwards, we headed to a quaint restaurant where we had enjoyed a lovely meal earlier in the week. Here the waiter patiently listened to our botched Slovak language ordering, only to answer us in English.  The meal here was great, and despite having to walk through wind and rain to and from Modra, we enjoyed ourselves very much.

We certainly had an enjoyable day, and we look forward to tomorrow when we attempt to head into Trnava to explore that beautiful city that is supposed to be known as "Little Rome".  We hope to meet up with our cousin, Lubos Mrena, so here's hoping for another great adventure! 

I'll keep you posted.

Dovidenia!

Floating down the river

No classes today due to a scheduled excursion to Bratislava for a trip up the Danube to Devin Castle. Luckily for us, Anna, the English speaking German young woman whom we befriended, mentioned that we needed to be in the lobby at 8:00 to board the bus, not 8:30, which is listed on the schedule.

We mentioned that we hadn't seen any change on the board, and she said that the change was written in Slovak, not in English.  Hmmmmm......

In any event, we were ready to board on time.  We noticed that the rest of the group had blue bags filled with fruit and other items. At this point, Katarina informed us that it would be a good idea for us to register for lunch tomorrow so that we would have a bagged lunch since, tomorrow's trip will not have any place nearby to eat lunch. Apparently, we were supposed to have done that for today.......only no one informed us.  We are definitely out of the loop when it comes to receiving information.  

In any event, please note that I am smiling, because I am really trying to make the best of this situation.  Amy, Anna and I were the only ones to sit up on the deck for the boat trip on the river.  Everyone else was huddled in the lower cabin due to the "cold" weather.  I mentioned that today's temps were hotter than any than I experienced in Scotland, and, even though it was raining, there was a roof on the boat.

We enjoyed the solitude of sitting alone upstairs, and really took in the beauty of the area surrounding us.

We managed to tour Devin castle before the rain began to fall heavily.  One of the amazing features is a well in the center of the castle that is 55 meters deep.  The guide took a cup of water and poured it into the well, and I counted to 10 until we could hear it splash in the bottom of the well.  The sound of the splash echoed up through the well.  Pretty cool, actually.

Here you see Amy standing in the ruins.  That is Anna in the background on the right, and note the sunflowers in bloom in a field in the distance, which is Austria.  It really is a beautiful view.

Above you see the point where the Danube and the Moravian rivers meet.  That is the "virgin tower" that you see jutting straight up.  I'd tell you the story behind the name, but since Amy and I had two different translations from two different people, I'm not quite sure which is correct.  The long and short of it is that the tower involves a young woman who decided to jump from it.  The who and the why are questionable at this point.  

Here you can see Austria in the distance.

After our trip through the castle, we boarded the bus for a ride to Bratislava.  We separated from the group to enjoy lunch in the restaurant on the castle grounds.  We had several hours on our hands until we needed to meet the group for the return trip, but it was pouring down rain, so we headed to Tesco, now called My', pronounced Mee in Slovak, to buy some things. 

The best buy of the day was a fan!  Only 8.9 Euro.  How is that for a steal?

Tomorrow we head out for a trip to a Castle that is closed, and a walk through a cave.  Sounds, exciting, don't you think?  I just hope that we signed the right list for lunch, or we are in big trouble.

A Walk in the Woods

Today, after our regular classes, Amy and I decided to attend the Slovak singing class.
We sang Slovakian folk songs while be accompanied by guitar, and I was surprised to recognize one from years ago that I remember hearing on a record.

The experience was certainly entertaining, but would probably have been more entertaining had I just not read on the bulletin board that the 3 day excursion that was planned for our group had been cancelled.  This certainly does not make for good public relations when it comes to promoting the program here in Modra.  They showed us this exciting trip that was planned for us, complete with photos and an actual itinerary.  It looked too good to be true, and apparently it was.

Needless to say, that didn't make my day.
But, after our singing, we headed out on a hike to an area that is actually the spot of a fortress that had been built in the 7th century.  None of the structure remains, but the view from the top was outstanding.

The climb up was a bit challenging, but the view from the top was well worth the effort.

The weather is cooling down a bit, which is really much welcomed relief.

Until tomorrow........Dovidenia.

Hanging in there

The post will  have to be brief because I am having great difficulty grasping the language, and need to get back to my room to try to find some way for my brain to accept this challenge.

In the meantime, one quick story.....

Today, we headed to the "Red Castle".  Now, I'm sure that there is a better word for the name, but that is the English translation and, quite frankly, I don't have time to research it to give you the correct name.  Amy and I headed out the door at 3:00 and boarded the bus that was already nearly full.  Prior to entering the bus, I asked the one professor  what her name was (in Slovak) after introducing myself, and asked her what town she came from.  (the reason for the question was because she bears an amazing resemblance to one of my relatives...but I'll have to elaborate on that in a later blog.)

In any event, it was obvious that I didn't speak Slovak.

We headed out to the castle, and when we disembarked, and headed into the castle grounds, there were some confusing moments when it became obvious that we had boarded the incorrect bus.  What is rather amusing is that the one instructor actually did a head count three times.  Besides Amy, there was another young woman with us, which should have increased the numbers by three, but somehow, these women missed that fact.

During the tour, the one instructor came up to me and began to converse to me in Slovak, asking me the typical drill questions for newbys.  I am proud to say that I could converse with her through about three questions:  my name, where I lived and my profession.  Also told her that I was pleased to meet her.  That was certainly exciting for me as I continue to fall short in the classroom when it comes to answering questions.

Oh, one exciting thing for the day:  Amy was interviewed by the Slovak Television crew and should be on television tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m.  That would be 1:00 p.m. Eastern time, not that any of you would pick up Slovak television to see her, but thought it would be worth mentioning.


I'll leave you with some photos of the day.

Slovak Language Course: Day 2

Just thought I'd share a photo of our Slovakia home these next few weeks.  It really does stand out in the countryside.

We're still having a tough time sleeping despite daring to keep the window and door open at night to try to get some sort of air circulation in the room.  We've been told that the weather is supposed to get cooler....so we are definitely looking forward to that.

Our classes went fairly well today.   For those of you wondering, we are not the only mother-child attendees.  We have a Swedish mother and her son as well as a mother and daughter from Thailand in the class along with us.  And I hear tell that there is another mother/son in the other set of classes.

We do have a great group of participants, although the other American,  (a retired man was born in McKeesport and claims to have a Slovak town named after his Slovak ancestors) has been a bit annoying.  Actually, he seems to feel the need to answer any question that I direct to the teacher in a very condescending tone.  I thought that perhaps his tension was only felt by me, until Amy mentioned to me that she noticed his abruptness as well and was going to say something to him about just leaving me alone.  Not to worry....I'm up for the challenge.

I can't quite understand why this man is in the class if he already knows Slovak. And, to be quite honest with you, if there is a town named after his Slovak ancestor who supposedly was an earl, then why did he emigrate to America?   If one had a entire village named after him, I'd think he was pretty important and wouldn't decide to go trotting off to another country.  Don't you?

Lunch was certainly a surprise.  We have to order out meals the day before so they know how much to prepare.  I have had a difficult time finding items that do not have peppers in them.  (Remember that I am violently allergic to green/yellow/red peppers.)  So, I ordered the fruit for today.  Sounded safe.  And it was:

Yep...that was all mine.  4 Bananas, 4 nectarines, 2 oranges and 2 apples.  Obviously, I didn't eat it all.  Amy ordered a ham dish that actually was pepper free as well.

So, we shared her meal, ate a couple of pieces of fruit, and brought the rest to the room for snacks.  

When the classes were complete, we headed into Modra as part of the program, by foot.  But it really was only a walking tour with a group, then we were on our own.  Amy and I decided to eat dinner in town since dinner here is limited to one choice and it was not pepper free.

We had some great Bryndza pirohy, 

and I enjoyed a glass of wine, which, by the way, only cost me .5 euro for a glass!

Nope...I'm not shocked by the price.  I'm actually trying to open my eyes wide enough so that I don't look so tired for the photo!

After dinner we walked along the town.  For now,  I'll say Dovidenia while leaving you some photos of Modra to admire.

Was it a Sign?

Yesterday, Amy and I decided to walk around the area to escape the heat of our room, and we looked up and saw this lovely rainbow among the clouds.  We were certainly surprised to see it since there was no sign of rain anywhere.  But it sure did bring a smile to our faces.

The area around us is really quite lovely.  We are amidst some famous wine makers here in Slovakia. One can see grapes growing for miles.

The morning began with the chirping of little birdies demanding their breakfast.

Look carefully and you can see their little heads at the top of the nest.  I was entertained for awhile watching their mommy come and go to feed them.  Whatever type of bird this is, it moves in and out very quickly, making it difficult to capture a photo.

I want to clarify that the birds are OUTSIDE of our windows, not inside.  And, the staff was sure to hose off the area around the rooms to keep any type of birdie debris from building up that might cause sanitation issues.  So, no bird flu to worry about, OK, Becky?

Our intro to the Slovak language began today, and I can tell you that they don't beat around the bush here, that's for sure.  We have a delightful instructor who had us laughing and kept us interested for several hours. I'll have to keep this brief since I need to go and study what I learned today.

Actually,  if I had not already known some Slovak, I think  I would have been truly lost today. Our class is small.....only 7 other people.  2 Swedes, 2 from Vietnam, one German, a man from Great Britain, and an American fellow who is considerably older than me.

It dawned on me today that it had to be easier for me to learn this language since the woman would speak in Slovak but then followup in English.  If I didn't speak English, I would have certainly been very lost!

We had a lovely "ice breaker" this evening with a Slovak group entertaining us while we were finally given some information and a schedule!  Yeah!  It looks like we'll be quite busy and there is an excursion planned for nearly everyday while we are here as part of the exposure to the Slovak culture.

Tomorrow we start with class in the morning, then head to Modra in the afternoon.  Amy and I actually walked into the town tonight.  It is about 3 km from here, but the air had cooled off and it was a great break from the heat in our room.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that when we "registered" today at the desk, I was informed that I only owed 37,54 euro instead of the 44 euro that I had been expected to pay.

You have to admit....change is really a great thing!
Dovidenia Zatra!

The Jury is Out!

Amy and I are presently at the UJOP University Center on the outskirts of Harmonia in Slovakia.

Pretty much in the middle of nowhere.

At first glance, the room seemed nice enough, although there is no sign of air conditioning anywhere and no fans in sight.  The room does have large windows....but there are no screens.  Which would normally not be a big deal here because we have noticed that there are not many flies in Slovakia, so screens really aren't necessary.  Except, Helga did warn me to always keep the sheer curtains drawn over the open window to keep the birds from flying inside. Now she is on the 6th floor where there are limited bird hangouts, but she still exercises caution.

I entered the room and walked over to the window to open it to see if I could get some fresh air, and I spotted several of these:

At first, I though they were hornet nests, but when a bird came flying at high speed, and suddenly disappeared into one, I realized that these are bird nests.  And there are several within a couple feet of the window.  So, contrary to the conditions at Helga's regarding birds, the possibility of feathered company is much more significant here. So, dare we keep the window open with so much activity going on?

To be honest with you, the birds do seem to be primarily interested in the nests and not in random flying patterns. But considering our propensity for experiencing unusual events, I really don't feel too comfortable keeping the windows unattended.

Amy was pretty down in the dumps, so we decided that, despite the heat,  we would walk to the nearest little town, Kral'ovce for some lunch.  After scouring the menu for several minutes attempting to determine what fare was being offered, Amy asked the waitress if she spoke any English.  She went back to talk to two other women, and suddenly we heard some commotion and "Nehovorim po Slovensky?"  which means, "They don't speak Slovak?"  The waitress then came back with an English menu which, quite suspiciously, had different prices for the same food.  There had been several items that I could identify in Slovak, and the same items on the English menu were 1 euro more.

But there was no going back now.  And, the difference certainly didn't break the bank.  But, I'll admit that Amy is not very happy and she suggested that we just bail on this program, change our tickets and meet Marty in Scotland in a week.

I've suggested that we at least give it a try and see what tomorrow brings.  She seems calmer knowing that there is a back up plan in place.

In the meantime, we do have a refrigerator in our room, so we can open the door periodically to cool down.

And, thanks to Helga, we partook of some laughing cow treats this evening.

And, to be quite honest with you, I could probably use some calorie control after the last few days of feasting at Helga's.

I'll keep you posted!  Dovidenia.