Easter in Berlin!

We spent Easter in Berlin this year.  The Slovak holidays for Brian were Good Friday and Holy Monday, so we were able to have a four day weekend together.

On Friday, we drove through Prague to Berlin.  We got there around 3:00 and found our Hotel (aletto Jugendhotels).  It was a Hostel/Hotel that was very nice!  It had bunk beds for the boys and a really nice breakfast included.  After unloading our stuff, we went to the underground train station and rode a few stops into the center of the city.

We walked down the street, had some ice cream and looked at "crap stands" (Hayden absolutely loves these), and then took pictures with Darth Vader in front of the Brandenburg Gate.  We walked through the gate and then walked on the line of bricks in the street that is the line of the old wall, until we reached the Holocaust Memorial.  This was one of the best memorials I have ever seen.  The ground undulates, the pillars undulate, it is mazelike, and it felt a little disorienting, yet peaceful.  

Next, we stopped for dinner at a little cafe.  Brian got to eat his first serving of currywurst (many others to follow - he would eat it for every meal if he could).  We then walked toward the hotel, stopping at the Gendarmenmarkt and Check Point Charlie.

In the morning, we took the boys to the Legoland Discovery Center.  It was a good half day adventure.  We saw a mini-land of Berlin made entirely of Legos, rode several rides, and got to make test cars.  We also got special souvenir bricks and one on a keychain that we had engraved with "Sapp" and "Berlin" for a Christmas Ornament.  

After that, we went to Duncan Donuts (these are all over Berlin) and had a donut to help us walk to lunch. We walked around a bit more and then went to lunch at Curry 36, a small stand near our hotel - but EXTREMELY popular.  The line was all the way down the sidewalk!  It was good - turns out that it is pretty famous.  Funny - on the LonelyPlanet web page, it is rated as #1 of 795 things to do in Berlin and #2 of 11791 restaurants in Europe.

After lunch, we bought tickets to ride the City Circle Sightseeing Tour.  We got on at the Jewish Museum and the bus was packed!  We had to stand until we got to another stop.  After trading busses, we got to have seats and headsets.  And, as it got closer to evening and there weren't many tourists still riding, we were able to ride on the top in the beautiful weather and not have the sun so hot!  We ended up doing the circle almost 2 times.  It was a nice way for us to see the city, hear a little about the history, and the boys have a break from walking (and we were able to buy the discounted 1/2 day tickets).  

We found a restaurant called Cancun for dinner.  It was really good (not to mention a good break from currywurst)!!  Authentic Mexican food, not EasternEuropean-"Mexican".  Even had some Margaritas - Brian had frozen, I ordered mine "on the rocks" but it came warm - I guess Ice isn't big in Germany either.  It'll be nice to have a fridge with an ice maker again!!

Overnight, the Easter Bunny came to our hotel room and there were Kinder Eggs and Lego Mini Figures for the boys.  After breakfast, we drove around the city a little more - had to see the hotel where Michael Jackson dangled his son out the window, an old giant pile of rubble from the war, and the wall!  Then we headed toward home.

For lunch, we stopped in Dresden which is just before crossing the border into the Czech Republic.  We could eat and use Euros to pay - a big plus!  The Czechs are still not on the Euro.   

Dresden was beautiful.  The city was mostly destroyed in the war and has recently been rebuilt.  We really liked this town and will definitely go back.  For lunch, we even ate at a Vietnamese restaurant that was excellent!

Then we drove through Prague and home.  Saw some hail and rain - dang Brian for jinxing it - he kept saying all weekend, "I can't remember the last time it rained in Bratislava."  

Click Here for the pics from the trip!

Paris-In-A-Day!

Brian had a trade show in Paris all week, so we flew in to join him for the weekend!

We got into the airport and then rode the train, transferred to the tram, and then walked the rest of the way to the hotel.  We all got to bed around 11:00pm - Brian, Owen, and me in the big bed and Hayden in a bed made of chairs right next to us.

Our adventure begins:

The boys always get up early, so we left the hotel and walked down the street to get some croissants and pastries at a local shop.  Unfortunately, since it was Saturday, the shop was closed.  So we went to the closest train station and bought 2 adult and 2 child Day Passes (19 euros) and rode the train down to the Eiffel Tower stop.  We walked down toward the Eiffel Tower and found a restaurant, Le Castel Cafe, to eat in a block from the tower.  We had 1 Cheese Omelet (came with fries), an American Breakfast Special (1 hot beverage + 1 cold beverage + fried eggs + croissant), and a Breakfast Special (hot beverage + cold beverage + rolls with butter + jam) all for a large price.  The prices in Paris were more than Bratislava or Vienna.  Drinks were even more than in Italy!!

We then walked over to the Eiffel Tower area.  It was gorgeous weather and all of the flowers and leaves are out.  It sure felt like walking around Washington DC though.....hmmmm.  The Mall was there, the capital, the monument.....was weird deja vu.  (Is that a French phrase, was it invented for those of us who copy them?).  It is a bit odd that spring seems to come to western Europe about a month before eastern Europe because of the sea.  Even northern Germany is way ahead of us.

After walking around and then under the tower, we went across the street to a stand on the river and bought a crepe with chocolate and bananas for a snack.  Then we walked across the bridge, stopped at the souvenir shop on the corner, then crossed the street and walked over the Trocadero/Palais de Chaillot.  We then hopped a train to the Arc de Triomphe.  This was similar to the arches we saw in Rome.  (I actually liked Rome better, but am glad we saw it.)  Then we waked down the Champ-Elysees and stopped in to have some overpriced crap pizza.  We then walked past the largest Louis Vouitton store I've ever seen - not that that is saying much - I really am not in to that.  There was lots of fashion around and many new movie posters - we didn't even know that some of these movies had even been made!!  It is a much more "current" city than Bratislava.  ;)

We were beginning to drag a bit at this point so we stopped at the Louvre and let Hayden take a nap.  He laid down on a bench between us and took about a 30 minute nap while we sat in the sun and watched the tourists.  Watching people take pictures at the pyramids at the Louvre was almost as much fun as the Leaning Tower of Pisa.  Once he woke up, we stopped in a cafe to refresh with some coffee and more crepes.  We did debate whether crepes in Breckenridge were better and we thought they were.  After Owen went into a sugar coma, we walked down to Notre Dame.

We met a nice lady there who was commanding a brood of pigeons who promptly sat upon us for some food.  We meandered around the local neighborhood and looked through the crap souvenir shops which Hayden loves and ended up at the park behind Notre Dame to sit down and relax.  After a bit of rest and Brian continuing to mutter something about a Fiesta Bowl snub, we left Notre Dame and walked across the river.

We ended up shopping a bit (found a really cool toy store) and stopping a couple of times for drinks before grabbing dinner at a local joint in the Latin section.  Owen had been looking forward to some quiche and our restaurant only had Quiche du jour (mmm, that sounds good).  We asked what it was for today and our waitress said "fish".  Owen wasnt up for trying fish quiche, so Brian ordered it and it was excellent.  By this time, it was 830 on a beautiful warm Saturday evening and the streets were packed with young people.  We noticed that we were one of the few people out with youngsters in tow.  We figured our day was rapidly ending so we hopped back on the train and went back to the Eiffel Tower and watched the lights come on (and twinkle on the hour).

We went back to the hotel and had a quiet Sunday morning and a rainy ride back to the airport for the flight home.  All in all, it was a good trip and we got to see all the touristy stuff.  We did notice how much more English you hear in Paris compared to Slovakia....our heads would turn every time we hear English as it is becoming more and more surprising to us.  Even the boys noticed...salut!


You can check out all of our pictures from the weekend here

Weekend in Krakow

We left early in the morning to drive to Krakow for the weekend.  We even were able to go without the DVD player for the whole weekend!  The boys did a weekend - and BEHAVED in the car - with no electronics!  For us, this was a huge success since the drive was a little over 4 hours each way.

Awesome Family Photo
in front of carved Salt

Our first stop was the Wieliczka Salt Mine.  It is a World Heritage Site and has been mined for over 9 centuries!  The tour took three hours.  And it was really amazing!  The kids were occupied the entire time.  The town was super clean and really well marked - it was a really great tourist area.

We then we drove in to our hotel (Hotel Fortuna).  What a great find that was!  It had a huge room with extremely high ceilings, off street parking, breakfast included, and was only 2 blocks from the main square.  It was even a very good price!

After unloading, we walked over to the main square to hit the market for some amber.   We walked through all of the stalls in the Sukiennice (Cloth Hall) in the square.  It is one of the oldest known shopping markets and is now a large tourist area.  Poland is also a really good place to buy amber cheaply.  (Everything was very well priced there!!)

Next we ate on the square at the Sioux restaurant where you could sit in covered wagons.  The atmosphere was really nice.  We didn't realize what kind of restaurant it was until we were inside with the menus - another Mexican one!  It was good though - and very well priced.  We all ate entrees and all had drinks and Brian even had 2 beers - all for around $30 euros and on the square!   The customer service was also excellent everywhere we went.  We really loved Krakow and are looking forward to going back to spend more time.

On the way home, we drove through Auschwitz and Birkenau.  We had not planned to go, but since we were that close, we decided that we should see it.  We drove by Birkenau and saw groups of people walking the path between the two locations.  There were not many tourists there - mainly busses of students from Israel.  The weather was dark and damp too - made the whole experience even more somber.   We then drove over to Auschwitz and walked in to the entrance.  The way the signs were written, we needed a guide and also they didn't really want kids under 14 to enter.  So, we didn't go in, but drove around the perimeter and the rest of the town instead.  The web does say that the guide option is a change and may only be during certain times, and that children under 14 aren't "recommended" (different than the wording on the signs at the entrance) - so maybe we'll go back a different time.

All in all, we really liked Poland!  The money was still in Zloty instead of Euros, but that may have helped the prices.  Everything was just so much more reasonably priced - it really made us realize how expensive it is here in Bratislava.  We'll definitely be visiting Poland again!

Facebook Album of Krakow Visit 

Italy Vacation - Part 4 Pisa & Ferrari

So we bailed out of Roma and headed up the coast to Pisa.  Rome gave way to country side very quickly and we had better views of the Mediterranean Sea.  It was good to be out in the country, but bad for finding breakfast.

We made it into Pisa and really felt like tourists now.  Accosted by watch salesmen and everyone else wanting to make a few Euros from us.  The Tower was okay - the better part was watching everyone else take a photo of the tower.  It was good to go there once.

We then took the long drive up to Maranello to see the Ferrari factory.  This was the worst drive of the trip as the views weren't nice and the traffic was bad.  We made it to the Ferrari factory around 4 and paid the over priced entrance fee to the museum.  We took a look around and let the boys play on everything they could.  We then checked into the hotel where the Ferrari technicians stay when the come to town for training before they go work at some dealership somewhere.  This was rather cool - the best rooms of our trip and reasonably priced even with wifi and breakfast.  It was great to stay in a western style hotel for a change.  We scouted around town after checking in and went to the local grocery to stock up on wine and cheese.  Brian nursed a giant chunk of parmesan from that grocery for a month until it was gone.  We went to the hotel restaurant for dinner and had a good meal including the "Farmer's Fried Plate" for my Dad.  It included a multiple meats, but also fried custard, fried pear and fried strawberry.  It was fantastic.

We then hit the road home.  We took the long way back as we wanted to see the mountains so we went by Lake Garda (foggy) and Innsbruck (snowy)....and never really saw the mountains until we were near Salzburg.  We got off the motorway there to grab lunch as Brian was still preaching about Curry Wurst and he wanted to share it with us.  We ended up finding a roadside Wurst stand in a warehouse parking lot that was run by a nice old Austrian couple who were surprised to have some toursits in.  The special was wurst, covered in a mound of chopped onions, jalapenos, mayo, mustard, ketchup and curry powder.  It has been and will be Brian's preferred European meal.  We even had to save that warehouse parking lot as a favorite on our GPS so we could make it back there.

Long drive back to Bratislava, but it was good to be home for some laundry and hot chocolate.  Great week in Italy.

Italy Vacation - Part 3 Rome

We drove up to Rome Tuesday afternoon after hiking up Mt Vesuvius - the drive wasnt long and it was nice to move further north as the chaos of the road begins to lessen as you get north.

We stopped along the Appian Way to take in one of the old catacombs and peruse the old road.  There were some amazing ruins along this stretch of road in addition to some still lived in houses.  The catacombs were cool though Owen did get a bit freaked out in them once he realized they held bones.  As it was late, we searched for dinner and luckily found a McDonalds.  Now, McD's might not be your idea of good Italian dining, but the boys had done a lot in a few days so we let them choose...and the McDs we found was right next to a crap market.  We looked through the crap, didnt buy any crap and then went to our hotel.

Our hotel was another F&F score and we settled in for the night to plan our assault on Rome the next day.  We got up early (now Wednesday), ate a Nutella filled breakfast at a gas station and bought some transit passes.  We took the bus about 20 minutes down to the Vatican and got off at the Vatican Museum.  Since we were there bright and early, we breezed in, bought tickets and started walking through.  Some of you might be surprised, but Brian rather enjoyed the Vatican and didnt blurt out insults or jokes at any time during our tour or walking through the incessant gift shops (none of which had the Pope hat that Brian wanted).  Only my Mom was chastised for taking an inappropriate picture inside the Sistine Chapel. We went through the tour and walked back outside and the line to get in was huge.  Score 1 for the early birds.

We walked into St Peter's square and walked right back out.  Nice window the Pope has.

We walked across river and to the Pantheon which was stunningly cool.  It had great scenery to it as well as good street musicians.  There is no need to try the overpriced coffee or gellato shops there though.  We had lunch in a small shop in one of the alley ways nearby....more wine and pizza for lunch.

We then walked down to the Colosseum and had a great view of ancient Rome along the way.  A few more Euros and we walked through the Colosseum to learn about gladiators and what not.  The Colosseum is fascinating as it is still falling apart and you can really walk through almost all of it.  Really, really cool.

We also walked to the Forum and the old Roman baths where Hayden and Brian laid down under a tree for a siesta.   The afternoon was getting cold and windy (still sunny) so we found some solace inside the subway and took a train up to the main Rome train station.  We walked around the neighborhood a bit and finally ran into a nice Italian restaurant.  The limoncellos this time were not very good.

We hopped back on the subway to ride out to the hotel.  This involved a train out to a station (the boys were really dragging by now) and to catch a bus (#247) back to the hotel.  When we got off the train, we found the right exit to catch the bus and went to the bus stop.  By now, it's about 8PM and traffic is a stand still and the wind is howling.  We waited probably 30 mins in the cold for our bus - this was the only time the entire week we were all frustrated.  We then got on the bus and slowly crawled our way to the hotel for showers to warm up.

On to Pisa and the home of Ferrari the next day....

All the pictures are here and here.

Italy Vacation - Part 2 Sorrento

We left Venice in the morning for a full day of highway food and Italian highway taxes.  We were driving south along the coast of the Adriatic Sea.  We only got a few glimpses of the sea though, not as many as we would like.

We noticed a couple of things on this day:

- Italians like road construction.
- Italian road construction crews like tunnels.
- Brian wants a divorce so he can travel with Italian football hooligans full-time.
- You will lose your retirement savings if you buy diet coke in Italian gas stations.

One shock that we had was that Italy's mountains aren't the only big, snow capped Alps.  The whole country north to south is mountainous and we had several views of large, snow capped peaks as we worked south.  We cut over from Vasto towards Naples and crossed this divide.  This area of Italy is desolate and relatively poor.  There was also a difference in middle ages defensive strategy.  In Slovakia, castles are built on top of hills with the town down below.  In Italy, the entire town is built on top of the hill.

Once we crossed the country, we entered the chaos that is Naples.  We drove all the way through Naples (not necessarily the nicest of towns) and wound our way up to Sorrento which is out towards the Isle of Capri.  The roads got incredibly small and crowded with scooters.  Across two days in Sorrento, we personally were hit by two pedestrians and saw one pedestrian get hit.

Our hotel was a B&B we found which was excellent....our first turn into it was pretty poor though.  We turned into a dark garage entry under the sign of our hotel and this turned out to be the basement of another hotel.  It was so tight that we had to send everyone out of the basement to move the van back and forth to get out.  That poor clutch smelled for days.  We checked in and explored the grounds - lots of fruit trees.  We took the hotel's recommendation for a local family restaurant that was pretty good - though the waitstaff was more interested in the Napoli football game on that night than us.  We wrapped up dinner with a limoncello which was perfection in a shot glass.

It was raining and raining hard when we woke up the next day (a Monday morning).  We ate our breakfast and decided to take the long way to Pompeii which was our primary destination since it was raining.  We then drove to Almafi which was breathtaking.  Lots of great views and unique houses.  By now, Brian was putting Slovak driving skills to good use and taking advantage of the slow, polite (not) southern Italians.  Pictures barely describe the landscape along the coast.

We went up to Pompeii, in a somewhat sketchy part of Naples as we began to get flagged down by gentlemen who didnt really want to get us a great parking spot.  We found the pay parking for Pompeii and after a quick lunch, went in.  We nearly had Pompeii to ourselves as it was a Monday afternoon in February even with good weather.  Pompeii stretched on forever and we took our time looking around.  The boys liked it very much as we learned how the ancient Roman empire lived (hot tubs, cooking pots, stepping stones in the street and lots of prostitution).

After a long few days traveling - we hit up a grocery store for some bread, meat and cheese for dinner and met Brian's need for parmesan cheese.  The hotel had some great common areas for us to use as well.

The next day (now a Tuesday), we packed up and checked out and headed out into Naples' rush hour traffic.  We commanded the road in our French minivan with Austrian plates, or not.  We tried the one road up Mt. Vesuvius we knew of and were turned back about halfway up...apparently there are two roads and we chose poorly.  We then had to go into Torre del Greco and look for signs...a few mintues of turning down streets that we were sure only going to end with 6 missing American tourists, we found the road up to the top.  We drove up and hiked the last bit (300 meters elevation gain) to the top.  The caldera was a lot deeper and more active than what we expected.  Great views of Naples, Sorrento and Capri too.

After hiking down, we did road side grill again for lunch and hit the road to Roma...to be continued

To see our complete pictures, click here and here.

Italy Vacation - Part 1 Venice

When revolutions happen, lives change.  When Egypt held their revolution, our Egyptian vacation had to take a break.  So, with a few days to prepare, we set out to explore Italy.  Our primary issue was that we have a 5 seat station wagon, but needed to take 6 passengers...so we went the rental route.  We got a 7 seat, Peugeot,  MANUAL mini-van with lots of big windows.  You may ask yourself, why didnt you guys take the train to get everywhere?  Well, we wanted to be as flexible as possible and not get trapped on a late Italian train with whining kids....the van turned out great though, good mpg, good top end on the Autobahn, lots of French-ness.

We set out on a Friday morning and had breakfast south west of Vienna and lunch even further south west.  We stopped mid way to see the village where Arnold Schwarzenegger was from.  It was way off the beaten path outside of Graz.  There were no signs except for an "A" and "S" on the door.  Apparently, only a few tourists come this way in Austria.

As we were taking the motorway southwest into Italy, we crossed the Alps and once over the crest, the sun came out and the air dried out.  The Italian side was very interesting in that there are significant erosion control issues that they must plan for.  The valley floors are all river beds with very few flat places to build.

Once we got down into the plains east of Venice, we got smoked on the motorway by a black Lamborghini as a welcome to Italy.  Turned out to be one of only two really good sports cars we saw the whole trip.  You see more supercars in eastern Europe than in Italy.  We also began to pay the incessant Italian road tolls ending up giving Silvio Berlusconi a couple hundred Euros (at least we know he puts it to good use).

We got into Venice late in the afternoon at our hotel (scored a great Friends and Family rate at a Holiday Inn).  We got a recommendation for a local family pizzeria a few blocks away and went to check it out.  Of course, it being now roughly 6 or so, the restaurant wasnt yet open.  So we hit a gellato stand instead for the first of many ice creams while on vacation.  When we finally hit the pizzeria, we got great pizza and bread and ordered a litre of house red which was on tap.  All was good in the world.

The next morning, we skipped the hotel breakfast (11 Euro each) and ate at the gas station across the way.  For 11 Euro total, we all had something good.  We walked a few blocks away to catch the bus to Venice proper.  Literally we waited one minute and hopped on the bus (the first of very well timed uses of Italian mass transit)....and about 10 minutes later, got off at the main terminal on Venice.  Brian favors punctuality and being a morning person - hence we landed in Venice by about 830 along with the rest of the commuters.

We walked a couple of blocks and purchased 12 hr water transit pass for unlimited use of Venice's boat bus system.  After walking a short bit, figuring out how to get to Murano, we hopped aboard the Murano direct boat and quickly had a nice view of the Alps from the sea.  We stopped in Murano and spent the morning exploring the island of glass makers.  It was sunny but a bit chilly so we stopped for coffee and hot chocolate a few times.  Lots of glass was purchased.  We didnt see much being made (it was early) but the next time we go, we'll definitely explore some of the glass furnaces.  We had a quick few baguettes for lunch and hopped another boat back to Venice.

This boat trip wasnt on a direct boat so we got a good tour of the islands on about a one hour boat ride.  It was a good time for Hayden to take a nap too.  We pulled into San Marco Square and were met with hoards of tourists.  Where we had the sidewalks to ourselves in Murano, we were now surrounded by stereotypical Venice.  We walked for a bit through the tight alleyways, had some more gellato and saw some of the sights.  We hopped back on a water bus to go up and down the Grand Canal as the sun was setting.  Finally, we took the bus back over towards our hotel and found our pizzeria from the night before.  The waitress smiled at us as she was surprised to have the American tourists back two nights in a row.  Another litre of house wine (white this time) and we went to bed.

If you want to see all of our pictures, check them out here and here

Vienna, Austria

Brian wanted a day of rest from traveling, so he stayed home with the boys while I took my parents to Vienna for sightseeing.  We walked up the 343 steps of the south tower of St. Stephens Cathedral.  It is a spiral, stone stair that begins about eight feet in diameter and ends about 6 feet in diameter.  One gets dizzy ascending or descending; and it’s two-way traffic, so it’s really hard to maneuver on the narrow inner part of the tread.  


We then walked the Kranier pederstrian mall to the opera house and on to the Burggarten.  We walked from the gate of the Hofburg through the courtyards and into the area where the Venna Boys Coir performs an on past the Spanish Riding School into the Michelerplatz where the Roman ruins are displayed.  We had a wonderful lunch at the Chamaleon restaurant, bought Lipizzaner torte to bring home, and drove around the ring road before steering homeward.


More Pictures of Vienna

Zetor Plant Tour

I drove my parents to Brno, Czech Republic for a scheduled tour of the Zetor tractor factory which was one of the only things that my Dad had requested.  After the rain yesterday and last night it had gotten below freezing so there was a rime covering on all the fields and plants.  It was beautiful in the morning sunlight.

On the way, we saw our first tractor in the fields, plowing.  They use hillside plows even on flat ground.  This was a brand that I hadn’t heard of – non-articulated four-wheel drive with a six-bottom plow.  The landscape is relatively flat to the Czech boarder and then becomes rolling with large vineyards on the hillsides.  

This was my first foray into the Czech Republic, and even though Brian’s car already has an annual Czech toll sticker, I wanted to stop at the first gas station and get some Czech crowns (they are not yet on the Euro) to buy lunch for our tour guide; and, even more importantly, for paying an immediate fine in case we were pulled over by the police.  We stopped at three gas stations before Brno and didn’t find an ATM.  

At the factory, I think my dad had a good time questioning our guide Petr Novak and translator Dagmar Dziadkova.  Again due to the poor world economy, this factory is only producing about 5000 tractors per year, is only about one fourth its former physical size, and now employs only 800 rather than 10,000 in its heyday.  Petr and Dagmar declined a "thank you" lunch that we would have liked to take them to, perhaps because they would have lost pay for the time they were away from the plant.  

From the Brno billboards it appears that Bauhaus is the big home improvement store there, but they have all the other names familiar in Bratislava: Ikea, Tesco, Nay Electronics, etc.  We passed a Caterpillar dealer that had more Challenger equipment on display than I have seen at any dealer in the States.  There was a combine and five tractors of differing sizes, all with tires and none with rubber tracks.  We thought we saw a paper plant from the highway.  There were evergreen plantations around, but there was no smell like from the Westvaco plants in Luke, Maryland or Covington, Virginia.  We had made this comment also when we saw what we thought might be a paper plant on our trip to Donovaly.

Modra Pottery

My New Brie Pottery

Brian is traveling a lot while my parents are here for the month of February so that I can have the car to do things with them.  Today we accompanied another car of women parents from the American school to the pottery, Slov Ludova Majolika, in Modra.  Modra means “blue” in Slovak, so a major theme of the hand-painted pottery there was blue.  We went to see what was there, and ended up all buying gifts like the stated purpose of the other women.  I did buy a couple of things for myself too.

After making our purchases they also gave us a tour of the plant.  The downturn in the economy has crippled this plant.  Where they had seats for nearly 20 painters, today only two were working.  They have huge electric kilns that would take at least a couple weeks of production to fill each one for economical firing. 

Modra is also a famous wine region.  We found a very nice restaurant for lunch.  Luckily some of the women were more fluent in Slovak so that we could order, because no one at the restaurant spoke English.  Both the meal and the company were great!

Dog Sledding

Although the wind and moisture made it uncomfortable in the open yesterday, the temperature was in the high 30s Fahrenheit, and it apparently was never below freezing during the night.  We awoke to a heavy drizzle.  We packed the car and were ready for the group breakfast at 8:00.  

Instead of the standard European breakfast buffet of meats and cheeses, we were served a "special" breakfast – two hotdogs, mustard and bread.  The whole group was dumbfounded, but gamely nibbled at or heartily ate the wieners.  Of course any liquid was extra and very slow to arrive, we ended up going back to our rooms for our water bottles.  

When we all left the hotel lobby at 9:00, the drizzle had turned to light rain.  We split again into two groups, and I was feeling well enough to go dog sledding.  The dogs were mixed breeds, and not large.  The snow conditions were not good for sledding, especially on the uphill jogs.  There were three mushers who first took us on rides with six or eight-dog teams.  

Not long after we started, the rain ceased and the sun tried to peek through the clouds.  After everyone had rides, we could drive the sleds, first with the mushers as passengers; and, if deemed talented enough, alone with a four-dog team and lighter sled.  We did this for nearly two hours until it began to rain again, so we went early to the lunch rendezvous point, the Koliba Goral.  

This restaurant was a replica of traditional construction with hewn logs and roped shavings chinking.  We had traditional Slovakian country dishes for lunch.  Mom had cabbage soup and Halusky, which looks like macaroni and cheese, but is really tiny potato dumplings in a sheep cheese sauce and evidently bacon grease for extra flavoring.   The big meal in Slavakia was traditionally lunch and a big part of that meal is soup.  

We all hoped that the weather would turn in Donovaly, because they are to host the world dog sledding championships next weekend.  They are expecting over 800 dogs from all over Europe.  Without more and dryer snow it will be a disaster.  After tourism, forestry seems to be the largest industry in the mountains.  There are very large agricultural fields in the mostly flat area all the way back to Bratislava.  

There were many vineyards, a few larger than 100 acres.  All rural houses are in villages, rather than scattered with the land holding as in America, and each village house usually has its back yard plowed for a garden of partial fruit trees/vineyard and part garden.  Although the fields are very large and most have been plowed (there is some corn stover exposed, and a few fields look like they have winter wheat planted) all farm equipment is stored out of sight.  

We did see two equipment dealers at Nitra, and Dad had to stop to take a picture of the “foreign” combine and tractors.  There is a good deal of road construction around Nitra, and limited crews were working on Saturday and Sunday.  Caterpillar was heavily represented, as were Volvo, Kamatsu and Hitachi.  There was a Caterpillar dealer in Branska Bystrica.  It was 52 degrees Fahrenheit when we got back to Bratislava.

Snow Shoeing & Thermal Pool

It was a cloudy day, but we left early for a Boy Scout outing to the Tatras, the mountains near the border with Poland.  My parents had come on 2/2 (my birthday) and were also going with us.  It was a three-hour drive and since our Volvo holds only five, my mother rode with another family from the American school.  We drove to Donovaly through Nitra and Branska Bystrica.  Donovaly is at about 3000 feet elevation and once the road started into the mountains it looked a lot like being in West Virginia.  There was about three inches of very wet snow on the ground.  

We reached the central parking area at noon and after a picnic lunch that we had packed, the tour service Tara Well split the group in to snowshoeing and dog sledding.  I was recovering from the flu that I got on 2/3, so our family opted for snowshoeing because I was hoping to be able to participate the next in dog sledding.  

Brian, both boys, and my parents snowshoed for 13 km and 3 hours through the picturesque town of Bully.  The houses there are now rented for winter tourists and the trails were groomed much like U.S. Forrest Service roads that are utilized for cross-country skiing.  I had no idea it would be that long -  I am still so proud of them for doing it!

After their super long hike, we left directly from the parking lot where everyone was gathered for a mineral pool spa in Bessenova.  The waters in the outside pools were of different temperatures, but we liked the two pools at 38 degrees C. The air temperature was seven degrees C, but the coldest part was walking on the wet pavers around the pools.  

After two hours in the pools, we went to a buffet dinner (it’s now 8:30 and very late for all these small kids) at Koliba (Chalet) Greta with traditional fare and traditional music.  Then it was back to the Hotel Donovaly by 10:00 to find only tepid water to wash off the minerals before retiring.  Needless to say many chose not to bathe in the tepid water.

Click Here for More Pictures

(Ghost Writing Provided by Carl Winters - Thanks Dad!!)

New Skates!

We went to Tesco yesterday for some groceries and we found Ice Skates on clearance!  Everyone knows I can't pass up a good deal - especially one that will last for several years!!  The skates we found are adjustable for 3 to 4 sizes.  And, Hayden's are even dual purpose - the blades can come off and be replaced by roller blades!

The rink opens at 10:00, so we got there a little early, but the ice wasn't quite ready yet.  So, we went down and each got a drink at the bakery close by.  Hayden chose Fanta, I got tea, and Owen got his hot chocolate with whipped cream that he missed out on from the field trip.

Hayden's friend Eidyn and his dad, Peter, met us down there too.  It was chilly though - below zero C - and right on the river & cloudy, so pretty humid.

The boys got their skates on and then took off onto the ice.  It is a pretty crowded event - even on a Sunday morning.  It is free if you have your own skates and parking is also free, so it is worth it!  By the end of our fun, Hayden could run across the whole rink out away from the sides and Owen was practicing gliding!

The sun came out just as we were leaving, so we had a nice hot lunch at home of Grilled Cheese sandwiches and soup while we sat in the sunshine.

Pictures Here (the last 10 pics of the album are from today)

Ice Skating School Field Trip

The school took the kids Ice Skating today!

There was a slight snafu when we first got there.  The 5, 6, and 7 year olds all went first and the rink didn't have enough small size skates.  So, we took the 5 year old class around the corner to a Bakery for some hot chocolate.  It was nice and warm inside and they got to eat cookies and have real (not Swiss Miss from a packet) hot chocolate with whipped cream on top!  Then half way through their allotted hour, we took them back out and got skates from the older kids who had been skating first.  It all turned out just fine in the end - they got a treat and got to skate!  

The rink has these little penguins and bears that you can push to help you learn balance - Hayden ended up under it several times.  He actually did really well especially for his first time, by the end he was in the middle without holding on.  He can't wait to go back again!  

Owen's class came next.  They had to wait a couple of minutes for the ice to be cleaned, and then they took their turn.  Owen took lessons for a little bit in Evansville when he was 3 or 4, but I don't think he remembered any of it.  He still had fun though and it was nice for all of the kids to get out.  His class actually got to go on a field trip to the Museum of Natural History the day before - I went too, but forgot to take my camera.

Exciting week for school!

Click Here for Picture Album

Pinewood Derby!

How Exciting - Our First Pinewood Derby!!

The kids all did a great job on their cars.  And, the parents did a great job putting together the track and setting up and making sure everyone had a good time.  There was even a computer program to keep track of heats and winners, and also to ensure that all cars raced in each lane to make sure it was fair.  It was very nice, laid back yet exciting, and lots of fun!

Owen and our neighbour, Alex, won 2 of the top 3 positions and even got trophies!  A big thanks to them too for helping us out with tools since we didn't bring many.  Alex is in Webelos and got 2nd place in his group as well as 2nd place overall.  Owen is in Bears and got 1st place in his group and 3rd place overall.

Even after taking multiple pictures, this one is the best.
They were in a hurry to get to race for fun - no time to pose!

Poor Brian didn't get to go - don't feel too bad for him though, he is in the US spending time with his parents, sister and Deuce.  It is sad that he couldn't be here for this, but I am glad that he is getting to see family and pick up some shopping to bring back!!  He'll have to be here next year though because he's already been signed up to help!

To see pictures of the Pinewood Derby (and some pictures from last weekend) click here.

Here is a video of one of the heats:

Catch Up!

The boys are now back in school and things are starting to return to "normal" around here.  Over break, we took some drives and tried some new things.  The sun came out this week - for a couple hours.  And now Brian's getting ready for his trip back to the US next week.  We've also got company coming in February (YAY)!

After Christmas and Hayden's Birthday, we took a drive to a town called Sap.  It was tiny and near the border of Austria.  It was nice to drive around and see more of Slovakia.

We also got to spend some time with our neighbours.  They had us over for dinner after Christmas - it was Fancy!!!  They cooked a real Salmon - not just the fillet part like I would   :)  And, we had great vegetables with it - potatoes, carrots, parsnips and brussel sprouts.  I actually thought they were all good - I think it is the first time that I have had either parsnips or brussel sprouts.  We even got to partake in a Slovak tradition of Oblatky (crispy wafers) that we sprinkled with honey and garlic.  An unlikely combination for us Americans, but was actually quite good!

Then we also incorporated some English (that's capital "E" for UK English) traditions - crakers (you pull on them and they make a boom and a toy comes out) and Figgy Pudding.  Well OK, it wasn't called that officially, but that's how the song goes - "We won't leave till we get some."  Everyone really liked this - even the kids!  We'll have to watch for it to go on sale again next year at the English Department Store Marks & Spencer.

And of course, we had to bring some American items - we roasted Marshmallows in the living room fire place.  The kids had the most fun with this.  Their youngest daughter was super cute and kept coming back for more and more!  Then we all played some fun Wii games together - Michael Jackson's Experience & Big Brain Academy.

A couple of days later, we went got back together with our neighbours to go to the Transportation Museum. It was very nice - a little cold since it is in a large, old station with not much (or any) heat and a several trains outside.  We'll definitely go back when it's warmer and we also can't wait to take Ken & Curly there!  There were Trains, Motorcycles, Bikes, Cars, Tanks and also some really neat displays of how the whole train system used to work - communication, track switching, etc.   We may have to convince Kala to go back with us for Ken & Curly though, to help translate the signs!  :)

After checking out all of the cool trains, we made our way downtown to a mall.  We had hot chocolates at a cafe and then the kids got to race some really fast slot cars.  Then we all had dinner together at the food court.  We each got to eat what we wanted and still enjoy a meal together.  It was very nice.  We're really glad we lucked out and got to meet the Earls and live by them!

We also took a drive out toward Poland to see the Tatra Mountains (this made us all a bit homesick for our Rocky Mountains).  There were little stands on the road along the way selling Honey and also Eggs and Cheese (goat).  We ate lunch at a "Tex-Mex" restaurant which wasn't so much "Tex-Mex," but we had to try!  We'll have to go back and spend more than one day there.  We're actually planning to go up to the Tatras for a weekend in February with some families from the Boy Scout troop - we're going to Snowshoe, hit the Hot Springs, and go Dog Sledding!

Here is a link to all of the pictures:  FaceBook Pictures
And, I'll try to get back into a better routine of posting again!!