Arkada Levoca

... and no fear of heights.

While in the Polish part of the Tatry you can hike any time of the year, in the Slovakian one there are more restriction. Between October and May, entering the Slovakian Tatra National Park is prohibited. As far as tthe Polish Tatra National Park, the rescue team always puts a note both in each mountain hostels and at every entrance to the park about the level of the avalanche danger.

... I have seen way too many Germans and French in other countries not even trying to speak the local language, and I become quite annoyed. At the Merry Cemetery in Romania, a group of French tourists were speaking to the elderly cashier in French and not understanding her overly animated, very obvious answers. As they became exasperated with the old-timer speaking her native language, one of the tourists turned around to me and said something sarcastic in French, as if I ...

... I had gotten better rest the night before.

After perhaps five hours, we made our way down to another town. It was at this point that we realised that we had no idea where a bus stop was or if the old bus schedule we had seen in Oaza was correct. However, we did find a bus stop [eventually], and the bus did [eventually] come.

... It's not that there is a whole lot to do in the town, though the church is an interesting visit if you have the time. (The nearby punishment cage once used for public humiliation of children is also a laugh.) It is simply a nice, laid-back town that happens to be very near Spišske Podradhie, a town of no consequence but for Spiš castle on a nearby hill. Spiš was once used for defense, like most castles, and was badly damaged ...

... upon one of those pensions that put a smile on your face and keep it there mean that this is as far as I go this trip. In the last week Ive investigated one of the largest castles in the world at Spisska Podhradie just oustside the town, taken the funiculee-funicular train up above the snowline in the Tatra mountains that loom over this part of the world and on the other side of which is Poland - a destination for a future I hope and trekked back back down footsore and ...

50 pence a pint and two nights accommodation for 18 Euros, Chris is a very happy man! We spent a couple of days walking in the Slovensky Raj National Park, which was a real treat. They are part of the lower Tatra's and have ...

... our guidebook about some of the Roma in Slovakia living in medieval squalor was not an exxageration. It put a bit of a damper on what was otherwise a very good day. I'm not really sure how some of the strucures managed to stay upright. We stopped in a few other villages near the castle, and then went up to Marianska Hora--the church we could see from our hotel room window. There's a pilgrimage here ...

... private joke to begin with; I don't wish to cause any offense to humourless people stumbling across this blog, so I have removed a section here. I don't think Spisska Nova Ves is particularly ugly, it's just not as attractive as other places in Slovakia.) The one good thing about staying in Ugly Town was that it did make the pretty places nearby seem that much more appealing in comparison. One such trip was out to a town called Levoca ...

... area and enjoy the musical water fountain with a little bit of a light show going on. The Barcelona one (for those of you that know) can be quietly confident that it will not lose heaps of tourists to Kosice's ever impressive water fountain....you could say a little tacky. Anyways....whilst sitting down enjoying the show we were accosted by some young gypsy girls who thought it was hilarious when she was trying to ...

... entries in Krakow, I kept forgetting to say that there's a sportswear store there called The Athlete's Foot. I also saw a sign for a beauty salon named Tipsy, advertising "Tipsy manicures & pedicures". Would you let them anywhere near your appendages? At 5:55 this morning, when my alarm went off, I was dreaming (what about, I forget) when the person in my dream, who may or may not have been G, said, very gently, "Your alarm is ringing." And so it was! As I ...