Lovin' Luxembourg

Many of you who are new to my blog might question, “Why Luxembourg?” And who are Mike and Ernest?  

Well, just to give you a quick synopsis: twelve years ago, I began searching for information on Marty's uncle who went Missing in Action in February of 1945. My persistence in attempting to find some closure for his family led me to Ernest Kirpach in Luxembourg. Ernest was willing to devote time and energy to help me with the numerous questions that I would send to him. I don't want to go into too many details here, but I welcome you to take a peek at my website which describes the years of effort that I put into this search.  

http://home.comcast.net/~geisler27bam/The_Search_for_Private_Frederick_W._Goempel/Welcome.html

Mike used to work for the Museum of Military History and he is the “hands on” man who has actually unearthed several German soldiers while searching for military artifacts for the museum. I contacted the museum curator about four years ago, asking if he could put me in contact with Mike. I'll never forget the e-mail: “It's me. How can I help you?”

Well, that was the beginning of an interesting relationship, and Mike and Ernest have been working together since, in the hope of locating Marty's uncle's remains. My years of research, in combination with the help from these guys, led to JPAC sending a search team back in September to analyze the situation. Believe me, that never would have happened without these guys actively working on my “dream”.

Marty and I visited with these guys in May 2010, but we only stayed 2 days in Echternach. So, we decided to come back and visit this beautiful country for a week this time. Both Mike and Ernest were excited to hear of our plans, and we have been having a blast since arriving. I have to admit that it has been interesting watching the two of them come up with ideas of things that we need to see here in Luxembourg. We've had some great laughs at some of the suggestions.

On a serious note, we do plan on going back out and visiting the crossing site, since Mike seems to have come up with some new information. I'll keep you posted on that.

In the meantime, today found us back at the Museum of Military History in Diekirch. 

 I forgot how huge this place was, and Ernest told us today that it holds an original of every single piece of World War II military equipment from American and German forces. It is primarily devoted to the Battle of the Bulge and believe me when I tell you that it bursting at the seams with military items.

There are numerous dioramas set up in the museum, and what is really interesting about each of them is that they are accurate interpretations of particular events that occurred. Every one of these dioramas features a scene that was either taken from an original photograph, or it was put together under the direction of one of the soldiers who would have been in the scene. Every piece of clothing that is worn, and every item in the diorama is original to World War II. There are no copied uniforms. 

 Ok, so the turkey in the Thanksgiving scene isn't original, but you get my point.

Here you can see this famous photo looking out over Echternach:

And here is the diorama that features the photo:

And, let me share just one more thing with you.  The museum has a photo of St. Willibrord's Church in Echternach taken in 1945:

Amazingly, here is how the church looks today:

I still get chills when I think of what the civilians must have endured during this difficult time.

After several hours of walking through the museum, we lunched at the Grille in Diekirch. The meal was fabulous, and we were all very full when we left the restaurant.

After a quick walk through the main plaza in town, Ernest drove us off to Vianden to see the restored castle there.

Upon approaching the town of Vianden, one comes around the bend and suddenly this beauitufl structrure comes into view.

Amazing, don't you think?

Ernest parked the car and we walked down into the town only to realize that the entrance to the castle was in the opposite direction. But, I was glad for the detour because the town is enchanting, and except for the high traffic along the road, I enjoyed the sheer beauty of this town.

Once at the top of the castle, we realized that there was a lot more going on than what we had anticipated. Apparently there is a Medieval festival going on, and believe me when I tell you that there was just way too much commotion going on.

The castle opens its doors to vendors selling their wares, and although they attempt to maintain an aura of the medieval atmosphere, I didn't enjoy the crush of people or, as Ernest put it, the “made in China” items available for sale.

So, the castle in itself, was a bit disappointing, but the day as a whole was, indeed, remarkable.

This evening, Marty, Amy and I took a walk around this lovely village of Echternach.

Yep! We sure had a great time!

A Day of Exploration

Sunday was yet another gorgeous day here in Luxembourg. After breakfast we attended Mass in the huge Gothic Cathedral of St. Willibrord. It was in Latin, as it had been last week's in Vienna, so we felt that we could at least participate a little. One thing of particular interest is the number of altar servers. Picture this: 6 on either side of the priest, wearing long white robes, the tallest nearest the priest and the shortest on the end., standing with their hands folded and tucked into the opposite sleeve. They face the congregation and, as a result, the huge sanctuary is spanned from side to side,

short to tall, priest, tall to short.

I don't know the significance, but I thought it was pretty impressive to see so many young people serving during Mass.

St. Willibrord offers 3 masses on Sunday morning, with the last one being said in Portuguese. Apparently nearly 50% of the population here in Luxembourg is Portuguese. This old church has beautiful bells in a tower that are rung not only while welcoming the people to church, but also during the consecration. That, in combination with the pipe organ and a choir chanting the Latin responses echoing through this huge Gothic Church really added to the unique experience .

After lunch, Ernest greeted us in town and we headed to Irrel, which is only a few kilometers from Echternach, on the German side of the Sauer River. 

 There is a huge museum devoted to the Westwall bunker strategically dug into a hill above the town. We arrived to find Mike already on site, ready to go through and explain the strategy of this amazing museum.

In 1937, Hitler apparently ordered the building of these type of bunkers along the German border. It took two years to complete Westwall, and consisted of 3 floors, including living quarters, a kitchen, bath, etc. It seemed like no detail was missed regarding the strategic function of this bunker. I could not believe all of the rooms and details that were incorporated in this bunker. And it was HUGE!

What is of real interest is that this particular bunker was never actually used to hold German soldiers during the war. Hitler moved his forces to the Ardennes and this bunker was too far south to be of any strategic value when the Allied forces began their offensive move through Germany in February, 1945.

 That is Marty only about 1/3 of the way through this tunnel leading to another wing of this bunker.

The French were responsible for going through Germany and blowing up these bunkers, and although this particular bunker did have damage done, the two floors below the surface were never touched by the explosion, so it was decided to restore the top floor and turn the bunker into a museum so that people could see exactly what some of these bunkers looked like. Amazing, to say the least.

After leaving the bunker, we stopped at a local “Wasserfalle” where we found the parking lot loaded with cars. Quite to our surprise, we found ourselves being “lifted up” in Ernest's car after he pushed some sort of button to lift the chassis higher so as to not scrape the bottom as he drove through some rough road to park in a field. Amy and I, who were in the back seat, just looked at each other in amazement, having no idea that such a feature existed on a car.

Before taking off, Ernest pushed a button again, and the car lowered itself down to the standard driving height. By now it's probably obvious that it doesn't take too much to entertain me.

The “waterfall” reminded me more of “potholers” that we had seen in the Adirondacks,. No drop in height, but certainly a lot of strong whirling water. The area there is quite beautiful.

Mike decided that we needed to see one more natural phenomenon prior to relaxing for the evening. So we headed to Berdorf and soon found ourself parked and looking at a stairway that led up between two giant rocks. We climbed up steps about two thirds of the way, and literally climbed a metal ladder to actually get to the top. I'll admit that this was certainly a first for me. I can't quite figure out why anyone felt the need to put a staircase in between these two rocks, as we walked down around the rock to get back to the car.

But it certainly was pretty cool!

We stopped for a drink in Berdorf.

Then, headed to Echternacht for a lovely dinner in an Italian Restaurant, owned by a Portuguese. Let me just say that they make fabulous Cannelloni!

Luxury in Luxembourg

No, we are NOT in Scotland!  Marty and I are standing in front of Beaufort Castle in Luxembourg.  

Amy and I arrived shortly after Marty flew in from Scotland, and we walked out of the baggage claim to find Marty, Ernest, & Mike ready to greet us!  What a welcome sight!

We packed our luggage into Ernest's care, and found ourselves being chauffeured once again by this delightful man.  We checked into our hotel, where we have a room that looks like it should be in the Taj Mahal.....or perhaps I only think it looks that good in comparison to what we left.

After a lovely lunch at the Petite Poet

We went for a drive with Ernest behind the wheel to Beaufort Castle.

Or course, Marty couldn't resist a quick pick on his i-phone and Amy was ready to capture the moment.

And, here you can see Ernest & Mike enjoying the castle above, and Amy below, with a cute little kid mugging for the camera as well.

We had a fabulous day and were lucky that the grey clouds and rain decided to move out and let the bright blue sky and sun join us for the rest of the day.

And I have the idea that we will be having a LOT of fantastic moments with our Luxembourg tour guides showing us this beautiful country.

Quick question:  I have had several people tell me that they cannot post a comment on my blog.  If you have any advice for them, could you post on this one?  If I hear from no one, then I'll know that something must be wrong.  I did receive 3 comments during my trip, but I generally have a bit more.  So, if there is a secret, please share!

Dovidenia Modra

Although the closing ceremonies to the Slovak Language Course were last evening, we still had class today until noon.  Today Catarina was the instructor, and we really had a great day.  Here Amy holds her certificate while sporting the hat that she was given this morning from Catarina.  Just why we received green baseball hats is a wonder to us, but we appreciated the thought behind the gift.

We really felt that we needed one last photo with a shot of some of the bird nests in the background, just to save for our memories.  Not that we would ever forget such an experience.

Last night, at the closing ceremonies, the theme that was continually repeated was "We'll see you next year in 2013."  Well, I certainly do appreciate the invitation, but don't foresee that happening.  We did end up meeting some fabulous people, and learning a LOT of the language, which was our intent for attending.

So, I'd say that the end result was a HUGE success for both of us.  Plus we both were able to work on our patience skills.  Last night, as I reviewed the info for today's class, the Compatriots were out and about, right outside our window, hooping it up to about 1:00 in the morning.  They might as well have been in the room with me, but I just kept plugging away at the language book, and Amy seemed to have no problem sleeping through all of the commotion.  I ended up, once again, only getting about 2 hours of sleep, but didn't find myself alone with that complaint. The Thai woman next door said that she was exhausted having lost sleep last night, and that she even went outside and asked the students to please go inside the building rather than sit outside our windows.  Oh well....kids will be kids.....but I'm kind of old for that, I think.  Actually, if I lost my hearing, it might not be so bad.....But then, I'd have really been lost in trying to hear the language spoken!

Class was really a lot of fun today, and I participated much more than in the past.  I just didn't care if I made mistakes, and Catarina was interested in hearing what I had to say.  When we were leaving and saying goodbye, Catarina told me that I was a unique person and that she knew that she would never forget me.

I'm still trying to figure out if that was a good thing or a bad thing......

At the moment, we're at Helga's flat being stuffed with every type of food imaginable.  I really can't figure out how she thinks we can eat so much.  I'm hoping my pants still fit tomorrow for the trip.

Well....good-bye to Modra.  We made great friends, explored the countryside and learned the language.
Hovorim po trochu Slovensky.  ( I can speak a little Slovak!)

Celebrating in Slovak Style

Here you see Amy and me holding our certificates of completion of the Slovak Language Course.  Actually, we still have one more morning of classes tomorrow.  And, everyone who attended the Slovak Language Program received a certificate, so that in itself isn't really all that impressive.

The woman from Finland had to leave due to some sort of breathing reaction to something in the building.  It was really quite a serious reaction, and we can't help but think that the bird residue may have been a contributing factor.  A couple of other people never finished the course.  So, our final numbers included Anna, the mother/daughter combo from Thailand, the mother/son from Sweden, Albert, Amy and me.  The small class really did help us learn even quicker.

And, Maia, the teacher who really made me nervous under questioning, really lightened up on me. I had given her several items of written text in Slovak for her review, and I think that my efforts showed that I really was comprehending the information, but am unable to process it quickly.  She asked today if my head was filled with goulash, and I told her that it was like a computer that had to process way too much information and was ready to crash and I risked a physical memory dump. That lightened up things a bit.

When class was finished, Maia was actually teary-eyed at the prospect of the class being finished as far as her part was concerned.  We learned a lot about this amazing woman, I can tell you that her life certain hasn't been easy.  And she really does deserve a LOT of credit for continuing to show her passion for teaching people like me......someone who truly is interested in learning the language.  We managed to get a photo with her at the end of the day:

After class, Amy and I headed into Modra for one last visit.  We had missed the bus due to class running late, so we walked in....in the heat....again.  On the way back from town, we were looking at the bus schedule when I heard a man say in perfect English....."Did someone here call for a taxi?"  Well, I immediately said "NO!"  because I figured it was just someone trying to scam us.  I looked up and saw Josef, Anna's husband, who was laughing at me at my abruptness.  I gave him a big hug and told him that he was definitely the best site that we had seen today.  He and Anna had gone out for lunch, in celebration of her Saint Name Day today, and I knew that he could drive us back to our room.

We stopped for something cold to drink before heading up to the school, and Josef insisted that we stop in the winery down the street and do some wine tasting.  Well, he was driving, so we really couldn't refuse, although he did not partake himself since there is zero tolerance for alcohol and driving in Slovakia.
He did take this nice photo of us:

Our afternoon and evening involved sitting through many presentations, all spoken in Slovak.  But much of it was very entertaining and we really did enjoy the evening dinner and music afterwards.

For a brief moment, I thought that the little birdies had flown away on their own, but no such luck.  It looks like Amy and I will be packing up and leaving tomorrow, and leaving little birdies for someone else's enjoyment.

Wine & Warhol: What a combination

This morning we were introduced to the basic rules of past tense verbs, and this afternoon Amy and I chose to sit in on the conversation class which is designed to get you to have a dialogue with someone in Slovak.  I can say that I really do know a lot more, but I'm in no way proficient enough to carry on much more than a simple conversation.  I can think it in my head, but it takes awhile for me to process before I actually speak.  Katarina, the one instructor, even mentioned that I was speaking "pomaly"  which means slowly, which is probably a first for me!  And I can just see some of my  friends reading this while nodding their heads and chuckling.

The afternoon excursion planned for today was to the Elesco Wine Park and Andy Warhol Museum.  I didn't give the combination much thought as we have taken trips where we board the bus and go to a second destination.  We no sooner got on the bus,  when the skies broke open and we found ourselves sitting inside it with lightening striking around us and the rain coming down in a deluge.

The Wine Park is only a couple of miles away, but it is off of a country road, with no sidewalks, and it really would be quite a hike from this school in Modra-Harmonia.

A young woman from Romania, who is Slovak, offered to translate for us, as she teaches English and Slovak to Slovaks living in Romania (a lesson for another day).  One of the first things that she told us was that they built the building so that it would fit in naturally with the environment.  I need say no more.

We toured the facility where we learned the process of taking grapes from the field and producing wine.  This facility makes several different types of wine, and their hope is to become one of the best wineries in the world. 

We were expecting to actually taste some of the wine made at this facility, but when the tour was complete, the group was led back to the entrance where we followed a  hallway to another wing in the building that featured museum devoted to Andy Warhol.

No  photos were permitted inside the museum.  What you see here is wall art in a children's play area that must be there for kids to play in while the parents taste wine.

The museum was interesting to say the least.  I found it amusing that I was standing in a museum that was dedicated to Andy Warhol just outside of Modra when I knew there was one in Pittsburgh that I could visit if I chose to do so.  What was the connection between Modra, Warhol, and Pittsburgh?

Well, I can tell you that Warhol was born in Pittsburgh to immnigrants from the eastern part of Slovakia.  There was some discussion between the Slovaks and the Ukrainians as to which country he was actually born in.  That's because the town is located right on the border between the two countries, and the border has changed throughout history.  The funny thing was that the Ukranians said that he was born in Slovakia and the Slovaks said that he was born in the Ukraine.  Perhaps that was due to the translation on the board that stated that Warhol was a weirdo and crazy.  Perhaps neither wanted to take credit.....who knows?

But the fact is that Warhol was never in Slovakia, and his family came from the opposite end of this country, so I have as yet to find the connection between the museum and the wine park.

The museum does feature several Campbell soup can displays, as well as a wall devoted to various screened prints of Marilyn Monroe's face in many different colors.  The building is large enough to display the art so that one can really see the interesting facets of Warhol's work.  But, I wouldn't suggest going out of my way to Modra to visit this museum.  And, we never did get to taste the wine....

As our last opportunity to eat dinner in Modra, Amy and I invited Anna and the three of us went back to the Winery of Ludwig that we so liked.  We had an enjoyable meal, and since the rain had stopped, we decided to walk back to our residence.  You can see by the photos the mist above the trees.

Tuesday in Trnava & Piestany

Today was the planned excursion to Trnava and Pietstany. We left bright and early and headed to Trnava where our first stop was to the museum.

The main building is located in a monastery once belonging to the Little Sisters of St. Clair. The former church here was first concentrated to the Virgin Mary and All Saints in 1255. The tour began with a walk through some rooms that held some truly beautiful and fascinating religious items. The tour was, of course, in Slovak, so I could only understand a few words here and there. Imagine my surprise when we turned the corner and I found myself in a room filled with Natural History collections. I certainly did not expect to be admiring religious figures one minute and walk into a room featuring foxes, racoons, bugs, and the like in another. Not to mention animal bones and a whole wing devoted to minerals. At this point, I realized that we were walking through a museum devoted to much more than the religious order that once lived here.

Some of the highlights included Kroj, folk costumes from various areas in Slovakia, along with ceramics. The museum also holds a collection of church bell gathered from around Slovakia.

We walked through the convent gallery which was built in the 17^th century and featured reliefs dating back to 1690. The collections also included musical heirlooms as well as many other varied items.

Two items that really took me by surprise were gravestones that were clearly inscribed, dating back to the early 1800's, and moved to the museum from the Village of Dobra Voda. This would be a genealogist's worst nightmare! Who would ever dream that their ancestor's gravestone would be on view in a museum in Trnava when the family lived Dobra Voda?

After the museum, we headed into to town to see a few of the historical sites. We were so glad that Lubos had taken us on a tour of this lovely city earlier in our visit, because the women who accompanied us today spoke very little English. Thanks to Lubos, we were already familiar with the churches along today's tour. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that today's tour guides thought that we actually understood them, when in fact, we could only surmise what they were saying from what Lubos had told us.

One thing of note: the altar in St. John the Baptist Church is supposedly the largest altar in all of Europe. I don't know if the photo can capture the enormity of it, but it is truly spectacular to view.

At this point, we boarded the bus, and headed to Piestany, which is a spa town in Slovakia. The students had brought their bathing suits so that they could swim in one of the spa pools, but that was of little interest to Amy and me. We entertained ourselves walking through the town, but with today's high heat, four hours was really a bit too long to be meandering through a town.

The bus ride home was hot, and it appears that we are headed for some more steamy weather. So glad that I bought that fan!

The Best 8 Euro ever spent!

Let me just say that buying that fan was the best 8 Euro was the best investment that I've ever spent!

Last night, we closed the window and ran the fan. It not only keeps us cool, the buzz helps to hide the outside noise, and it acts as a pretty nifty underwear dryer when placed appropriately.

I probably got one of the best night's sleep here in Modra last night, all due to the luxury of my Tesco Fan!

Today was spent mostly in class, and I find myself understanding much more as the 3^rd week begins. We obviously still have a great deal to cover, but I can see that the time investment on my part is finally paying off.

And, there's nothing like immersing one's self into the local culture, like enjoying a Smadny Mnich with our lunch. 

Smadny means thirsty in Slovak.

After class, we headed into town once again, this time finding a better grocery store way off the beaten track, where we purchased some items to enjoy in our room. There is small kitchen with very limited supplies down the hall, but it does have a toaster oven with two burners on top and one pot for the using.

So, along with some Tokaj wine, we enjoyed a yummy meal in our room while listening to the tweeting of swallows that still have not flown the coop.

What a real treat!

Always an Adventure

Our trip to Vienna was a welcome respite from Modra, but Amy and I soon tired of the summer holiday crowds. We had decided to visit the Sisi Museum and the Imperial Rooms in one of the Hapsburg museums, but had not realized that it would be so crowded inside. At one point, we found ourselves crushed between tourists in a narrow hallway with no ventilation, and with no one willing to yield to let us pass by.

We had just completed walking through the rooms that seemed to feature every dinner setting ever purchased in Austria from time immemorial. And one lesson learned: audio guides are a hazard to those without them. Believe you me, we found ourselves the victim of many a protruding elbow as we made our way through the rows and rows of collections. I think every emperor who existed granted some sort of dinnerware to Austria, but, really, how many sets of dinnerware can you admire? They all start to look alike after awhile.

And, we probably would have enjoyed the Imperial Rooms more had we not found ourselves trapped in narrow hallways at the mercy of the speed of the tour guide in the room. We might even have had some compassion for poor Elizabeth who was featured as the forlorn Empress from Bavaria throughout all of the rooms. But I'll admit that it was a bit difficult to sympathize with someone who obviously lived in the lap of luxury and was upset that she couldn't ride her horse alone after her marriage to Ferdinand. I suppose that there are always two sides to a story, but one would think that if one was going to devote an entire museum wing to an Empress, that she would have been reflected in a more positive light, rather than as the constant complainer.

After returning to our room on Saturday night and thoroughly enjoying the solitude, we had decided to take the metro to Stephanplatz and attend mass at St. Stephen's Church in the middle of the square. We knew that we could forget a peaceful walk to the church when we entered the plaza from the metro and immediately spotted 4 tour guides with numbered signs in their hands. 

We somehow managed to force our way into the church, which was filled with tourists who weren't there for the service. One apparently has to pay 4 euro to see the church during non-service hours, but it is free for the taking during Mass times. So, while the priest is saying mass on the altar, scores of people are shuffling through the back of the church to take a peek at the interior. Luckily, the church is long enough that all of this commotion is not that noticeable during the service for those of us in the front pews. 

After Mass, Amy and I felt like we really had had enough of the pushy crowds, so we decided to make our way to the bus station. We easily located the tram stop for our return trip with nearly an hour to spare, much to our relief!

After a couple of stops, it became obvious that we were not following the route on the metro map that we had managed to get at the hotel, and we began to worry. We weren't sure what to do , when suddenly an older man jumped up and started flinging his hands around. It was obvious that the tram driver had taken some sort of detour. Apparently one of the overhead wires has broken and he was forced to take the tram the long way around the city. Since we didn't understand any German, you can only imagine our concern when time kept slipping away to the scheduled departure from Vienna to Bratislava. .

Our concern must have been obvious, because another old man next to me began to tell me some sort of story in German while moving his hands around. I held up the map and showed our destination to a man sitting behind me, and he gestured that I should not be concerned because he was also going to this bus station. He didn't speak English, but his facial expression was enough to ease my fears. Except that he didn't know that we had planned to catch the 1:00 bus back to Bratislava, and the time was getting extremely close.

We finally reached our destination with only a couple of minutes to spare. We decided to take the elevator to save time to the pass-through which is located underground, and we were just hitting the down button when an Indian family decided that they would join us. So we waited while the family, complete with Grandma and a baby in a carriage, all tried to squeeze into the elevator with us. Really, we could have been down the stairs by this point, but we were squashed against the back of the elevator, so there wasn't any escaping.

But, as luck would have us, the doors behind us opened on the ground floor, and we dashed up several sets of stairs, and over to the bus, just as it was arriving. I handed the man my ticket, and he tgestured to me that it needed to be stamped in the office. Something that was NOT mentioned to us, by the way, when we purchased the tickets.

So, we rushed over to the little office, where a very kind man assisted us by stamping the tickets, then we ran back to the bus, boarded, and just about collapsed into our seats.

We arrived in Bratislava just fine, and managed to make our connection to Modra-Harmonia with out any incident. We even walked into town for dinner, back to the little restaurant that serves fabulous Bryndza halusky and pirohy.

And I didn't even complain when I ordered the 'jeden' serving of Cervene vina and the waitress brought the 'dva'. She must have somehow known that I needed the double serving!

(Wine is ordered by volume here. Jeden means 1 in Slovak, and dva means 2, so I had a double serving of Red wine...and it was great!)

Co Je Vikend !!

Ok, so without diacritical markings, I cannot do the title of this blog justice.
"it is the Weekend!!!"

A planned trip to Vienna was just what  Amy and I needed to give us a break from bird feathers, smoke and a LOT of noise..  And, the fact that it was pouring rain when we left would have made staying in Modra that much more difficult, even with a winery just down the road.

So, we headed off yesterday after class, and finally figured out how to get a bus from Modra to Bratislava, where we then boarded a bus to Helga's flat.   How happy we were to greet her.

Of course, she made us a fabulous meal and spoiled us last night.  Then, this morning, we headed off to the Bratislava bus station to board a bus to Vienna with Helga's assistance.

Everything was going smoothly until we reached the metro station in Vienna.  Apparently the Red Route, U1, is under construction, so Amy and I just could not figure out how to get to our destination. There were no paper maps, no instructions to be had,  no tellers behind windows to help one with tickets.  We were two people walking around in circles in an underground metro, generally confused and frustrated.

Finally, I spotted a man in a bright yellow vest who was helping a group of 4 purchase tickets.  At least Amy and I had figured out how to do that much!  I flagged the man down, and he was happy to walk us out of the building to a platform outside where we were told to get on tram 68 and take it to the end, then transfer to the red line for the stop near our hotel.

Without this man to help us, I'm sure our feet would hurt even more than they do now!
And, why do they hurt?  Because the map that the hotel gave to us is extremely confusing.  Amy and I pride ourselves on being relatively good map readers.  But we got lost so many times, I gave up counting.

We soon found ourselves laughing as we went through town and noticed that anywhere there was a group of 3 or more huddled together, regardless of nationality, they had a map that they were studying, so obviously, we were not alone!

We enjoyed a great lunch at a side-street cafe.

got lost several times more, took advantage of our metro day passes when we got way off track at one point, then headed back to our hotel.

We are SO enjoying the quiet atmosphere, extremely large and clean room, and I may just take a shower tonight AND tomorrow........... just because I can!!

Despite the luxury of the moment, we will head to mass in town tomorrow, then back to Bratislava and onto Modra tomorrow afternoon.  After all....we've got studying to do!!

Slovak A 0

In case you are wondering, the title reflects the language level that I am presently taking here in Slovakia. It certainly has been an interesting 2 weeks as I have attempted to learn this language.

Friday began with yet another morning of intense Slovak. The pace is extremely fast and words and verbs and phrases are being thrown at us left and right. I spent most of the 3 hour travel time on the bus Thursday, reviewing flash cards that I had made up that list the Slovak word on the one side and the English on the other. You know how that goes....one never remembers the word that the teacher asks you about. Or at least that seems to be my fate.

In addition to memorizing the words, we have to keep in mind that there are three genders: male, feminine and neuter, each having a different ending when used in a sentence. Also, each verb has a different ending depending on the 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd singular and plural. So, there are 6 different forms of the same verb in the same tense.

The possessive pronouns are also dependent upon gender. For instance, if I want to say “My son”. I say “Moj syn” ; My mother: Moja mama; My child = Moje diet'ca.. Feminine words generally end in a, but child is an exception and is a neuter word.

Your (singular) son: 'Tvoj syn'; Your mother: 'T'voja mama'; Your child: ' Tvoje diet'ca'.

“His” is “jeho” for all genders and “ her's” is “jej”.

The word changes for “Our” and “Your” (pl), similarly to the singular.

The verb ending change depending on the ending of the infinitive. If the verb ends in “at”, then one changes the ending to “am”. So, to play “hrat'” becomes (without the diacritical marks): hram (I play), hras (you play), hra (they play); hrame (we play), hrate (you, pl, play) and hraju (they, pl, play).

Cestovat' means to travel. It becomes cestujem, cestujes, cestuje; cestujeme, cestujete, cestuju.

I have to remember that “c” is pronounced “ts” c with a diacritic is “ch”. “j” is pronounced as “ya”.

So “I travel” would sound like “Tsest oo yem.”

So, just a simple sentence like 'My son travels' would be “ Moj syn cestuje”.

My daughter travels would be: Moja dcera cestuje.

I travel would be “cestujem”. My son and My daughter travel: Moj syn a moja dcera cestuju.

My intent here was not to give you a Slovak lesson, but to show you that in order to form a simple sentence, there are many variables to take into account. So, you not only have to know the vocabulary, you need to know the gender, think about which possessive pronoun to use, and what verb ending to use where.

So, I'll admit that my brain takes a few minutes to process all of this. When the teacher asks me a question, I don't always answer right away, because my brain is attempting to figure out the word, but she is ready to move on, and in the process of rushing me, I get flustered.

Yesterday, she wrote a sentence on the board and used the word “zo” instead of “z”. “Z” means 'from' in Slovak. She wrote the Slovak equivalent of 'someone from Sweden' first writing “z Svednsky” then she changed the z to “zo”.

Well, I asked “Preco zo?” (Why “zo”,......I keep my questions simple.) She told me, in English, that I knew the answer. (do you really think that I would have asked had I already known?.) Then, she asks Amy if she knew the answer, and Amy nodded. (Amy took a Slovak class before) Then she asked Albert (again, who knew more Slovak walking in than I will probably know walking out), and he said yes.

At this point, in my younger days, I would have been rather embarrassed. But, I just looked at her and said “Well, apparently I'm the only one here who doesn't know” which probably isn't the case because no one was offering to tell me why.

Simple answer. It is too difficult to say “z Svedsky”, so the say “zo Svedsky”. But they can say zmrlzlina without any problem. Go figure.

In any event, it has become obvious to me that this course is merely a stepping stone to speaking Slovak. I am getting the basics explained to me, with many exceptions to all of the rules. I can read it fairly well, if I know the vocabulary. And I can write it somewhat. But I am terrible at speaking the language, because I have to figure out which word to use. My understanding is better, but I must say “pomaly” which means slowly, in order to comprehend what is being said because Slovaks say “Co je to?” Which means 'what is that'? Pronounced (Cho yae toe) which, when said quickly, sounds like Choe yatoe, which really could be an entirely different word for all I know.

So one good thing that might come out of this is that I might just be talking slower, which will make Marty happier since he says that I talk to fast for him to understand me.

We have one more week of classes, but with that great winery down the street, I'm not sure how much time I'll be putting into studying.......Just kidding!

Bojnice & Trencin

Do you remember the promised 3 day excursion that was suddenly cancelled?  Well, I will admit that I did voice my unhappiness during "Slovak Singing" class when the announcement was made that the trip was no longer an option.  I did not get angry, but when Rustov broke the news, I just couldn't help but tell him that I was extremely upset by the decision.  He certainly does not know this, but Amy will tell you that it was the excitement of this 3 day excursion to the High Tatras that sealed her decision to stay and not just pack up our bags and high-tail it out of this place.

Amy is certain that it was my reaction to the news that prompted Rustov to plan a day trip to help to satisfy those of us who were denied this trip. After all, some of the money that we paid for our stay here was delegated to the foregone trip, and that has become extremely obvious as days go by and we participate in small day-excursions and are not expected to pay.

Today's trip only cost us the admission fee, as the bus had already been paid for by the funds collected from us during the enrollment of the class. And, the fact that Rustov mentioned at least twice today that he hoped that today's trip would help to soothe our disappointment, convinced me that my comments did make an impression on this young man. So, I am glad that I decided to just come right out and tell him my feelings rather than get angry and not mention my disappointment.

Today we headed out to Bojnice Castle, which took us about an hour and a half by bus. Much to our surprise, we found ourselves boarding an air-conditioned bus, which was pretty nice considering that the temperatures rose again to the high 80's here in this area.

Rustov requested an English speaking tour, and he actually thought that the tour would include both English and Slovak, but was surprised to find that only English was spoken by the guide.  It was certainly great for us, as it was the first tour where we actually could learn a great deal about what we were seeing.  I do realize that I am in Slovakia and should not expect the tour to be geared for me, but Amy and I did enjoy finally being able to participate in one of these tours, and about half of the people with us did understand some level of English.  Most of the others were kids who just talked through the other tours anyway, so although I did feel a bit guilty about it, I decided to enjoy the moment.

Marty and I actually toured the castle in May 2010 as part of our trip to Slovakia. We tagged along a tour with a bunch of school -age kids, and made our way through the castle under the direction of a Slovak guide. All I can say is that we sure did miss a LOT of details that Marty will find fascinating.

One was a room with a black and white marble floor. Sure, it was beautiful, but little did we know that it was decorated in such a way so that the black resembled fish tails, something that was supposed to bring good luck. Who knew?

Also, adorning one of the beautiful blue turrets is a gold gilded crown of thorns. Rather large, as a matter of fact. I don't know that I actually realized that it was a crown of thorns when we toured in 2010, But it stood out strikingly today when the young man mentioned it.

Apparently Palffy, the owner of Bojnice, was in love with a French woman whom he wanted to marry. His plan was to give her Bojnice Castle as a wedding gift. But, the required repairs took 20 years to complete. In the meantime, this maiden became tired of waiting, and she decided to marry another. (Really, can you blame her? 20 years is a pretty long time to wait if you ask me!)

Palffy was heart-broken, and he had the golden crown of thorns added to this turret to symbolize the pain and suffering that he endured as a result of this breakup. He lived to an old age, never marrying another. Sad story, don't you think?

As we were walking through the castle, Amy and I spotted a female tour guide, dressed in 18^th century fashion, leading a group of children and their parents on a special tour. But she was not alone. Along with her was a muppet who looked surprisingly like Gonzo. Many of you may not appreciate the humor behind this, but my children will be excited to know that Gonzo is apparently Slovak, because this woman was carrying what appeared to be Babka Gonzo. We weren't permitted to take photos inside the castle, but I did capture this shot of a sign in the entrance way.

We had a lovely lunch in Bojnice, and I enjoyed some lekvar pirohy that were sprinkled with cinnamon, and, to be honest with you, laden in butter as well.  Probably terrible for me, but I enjoyed every bite nonetheless.

Around 2:00 p.m., we loaded up on the bus and headed to Trencin for a quick walk around town. We were only given an hour to explore the place, which certainly wasn't enough time to actually take in any of the sites, but considering that the skies broke open right about the time of our meeting place for the return, we won't complain, since our touring time would have been cut short due to the weather.

While we were waiting for the group near the designated meeting place, Amy and I decided to relax on a bench in town.  We no sooner sat back on the bench when two men came to us and one of them began to address us in Slovak, obviously asking directions.  Amy told him that we didn't speak Slovak, and he went on his way.

About 2 minutes later, another man came along and began to tell us that it was going to rain. He was showing us the gray skies and going on and on about something that neither of us could understand. We just smiled and nodded our heads and he threw his hands up in the air, smiled, and went on his way.

Amy commented that we may not be able to speak the language, but we must look like we are Slovak since this seems to happen to us frequently.

On the way back to Modra, Rustov pulled out his guitar and had a Slovak sing-along which really was quite entertaining, even if I didn't know the words. 

After we returned from the trip, Amy and I headed to Modra for dinner, and ended up being caught in a pretty intense thunderstorm. We decided to take the bus to the stop up the road rather than walk through torrential rain. By the time we got to our room, we were both soaked, despite having rain gear.

So, as I write,  our room is decorated with laundry washed in the tiny bathroom sink because the so-called laundry facilities that I had asked about in my original e-mail, can only be accessed via key request, during the day, when we have class.

Really, does that surprise you? (Thanks, Stacey, for the Tide to Go....it sure came in handy!)