Holiday Inn Zilina

... I was in Parnica I noticed that one thing which runs through a large percentage of Parnicians is a high blood alcohol content. Despite the alcoholism the people I have met are wonderful, a little more communicative in the evenings than the mornings but nevertheless, good, welcoming people... a big shout goes out to Olo and his twin brother for keeping the pub in business and entertaining the crowds.

Ryan´s ...

... road winds between cliffs and rivers. Densely wooded slopes flank either side. Every thirty minutes or so, we passed a castle or ruin balanced precipitously on the top of a rocky outcrop. Slovakia is definitely worth another visit. We really didn't do it justice this time.

It also appears to be in the Euro zone. I have yet to see a Slovakian Krona. Indeed, the price in Euros appears far more prominently ...

... impressed with my chivalry, so much so as to launch into conversation........it was rather one-sided. I smiled and said "English, Italiano".. after a few seconds a woman handed me a telephone....apprehensively I took said telephone and spoke to a newly awoken man who spoke Italian but had nothing much to say as it was obviously far to early for him.

After an hour or two ...

... most of the people playing knew the game well enough that we didn´t have to know how to read the cards. The second day there happened to be my birthday, and it was really fun. We took a trip up to Donovaly, which is a ski resort. We didn´t spend a lot of time there, because there wasn´t a whole lot to do. We took a different road back, and Miki decided to show us a "shortcut ...

... dark brown wooden homes decorated with white patterns based on the embroidery that the villagers stitched onto their clothes. It's basically a bit of a time warp - great to have an insight into a past way of traditional rural Slovak life. Got talking to a very friendly old man auf Deutsch - hadn't realised how useful a (very rusty) knowledge of German would be in this area. As we might have expected it's really only older people who live here as all the young people ...

Got train to Zilina with english couple we saw in the Tatras and found accommodation togheter at the local hostel. It was certainly cheap but not entirely cheerful. It was 10min walk from centre via underpasses and narrow alleyways. The building was a communist looking blcok which may have b een a "facility" of some sort, with bars over lots of doors ...

Got up at 8am and after breakfast walked down to Obchodna and caught a tram up to the main train station. Caught the 9.30am train to Trencin. Arrived in Trencin from Bratislava at 11.30am after a slow train trip. Walked into the town centre past the Piarist Church and the Town Gate and had lunch from a small sandwich shop in the main square. Walked up to Trencin Castle and took in the ...

... the lack of food. Jane jumps into action and she and I run to all the eating establishments looking for some takeout food. We find a quiet restaurant and spark them awake with an order for sixty 'hamburgers'. The hamburgers are more like day-old baguettes with some meat in them, but they fit the bill. Afterwards, the younger folks straggle back to the 'hotle' for a few more drinks and to play some pool. Friday, September 8 Very quiet day today with no specific ...

Having adopted a small English PE teacher, who we'll call Gash Hunter, we head to the station in Krakow with the intention of getting on the 13:30 to Budapest. With time to spare we stand in the information queue for 30 minutes and ask for tickets to Budapest. She tells us there's a direct train to Budapest ...

... 10 at the bus station and get the bus to Terchova/Vratna. When I got to Zilina I tried calling the chata (like a mountain hut) in vratna, but the woman only spoke German. I used my German skills (of which I had none before the trip) to deduce that there was a room for one person for two nights. Really I had no idea, but I decided to chance it and hop on the hour long bus to Vratna, assuming there would be a bus to bring me back later that day if ...