Slovakia isn't as pudgy as Iowa

Administrative note: using another keyboard where there are extra letters and the ones I use all have new homes. I changed it to an English keyboard, but now I'm have to go one wrote memory to know where things are. Things could get dicey.


VIENNA! Got here last night about midnight due to a little problem with the train. We missed the bitch, to clarify. But we're here.

To recap what's been going on. We left Budapest and went to Bratislava. For you boys that just giggled, it's NOTHING like Eurotrip and even after a dozen Slovakian beers, it's still not funny. Misgauged that one. Don't even mention the movie Hostel.

So, we got to Bratislava and met up with Hom. He was at the train station. We just hopped on another train to go to Zilina. Everyone's following along on their globes, right? If so, this one might be tricky, ccuase it's near the Polish border, best I can guess. So another 2 hour train ride... and we're in Zilina.

Went out with some one of Hommy's co-workers [shout out to Susanna!] and about half a dozen other people. Susanna did most of the translating for us because no one else really spoke English. After some drinks and a few bars, it comes out Susanna's cousin not only speaks English, but does so REALLY well. Like really well, but it's Australian. Lots of "mates" were being thrown around. And she knows all the words to "I Wanna Dance with Somebody". She's a fun gal.

Slovakian drinking night before led to 4 hours of sleep and miserable hangover. But Hom's a trooper and got up at 8:30 am. LW & I were forced to go along with this stupid plan.

Leaving Zilina for Terchova, an hour by bus. We get there and here's were the plan starts to unravel. We miss the 20 minute bus we need to get to the cable car to take us to the top of the mountain. Oh, and it's raining... and out here NO ONE speaks English. That's like looking for someone in LaGrange to speak Polish. Ain't happening.

So, we're kicking it around Terchova trying not to be mad about our day and I wanna see the church. Here my friends, we find trip redemption. A nativity scene. I took a video of it, cause it was so awesome. A VIDEO OF A NATIVITY SCENE. Let that sink in for a minute. It's all carved in wood and moves. Think large music box. But everything has to move, including one manuever that makes it seem like the Virgin Mary is going to head-butt baby Jesus. Joseph gets her under control. It was 6 hours of travel roundtrip from Bratislava to see that nativity scene.

We ate dinner in Bratislava... and we ate well. As we have most the trip. I'm totally turning Boticellian. We tried traditional Slovakian hulusky. It's basically macaroni and cheese with bacon on top. I like how the Slovakians think. Then we walked around for a bit, which caused us to miss our train to Vienna.

Alright, the kids are up... so more later. And Hom will make his first post tonight. Promise.