Pension Boca Banska Bystrica

... happy to have some dodgy Great British bums in town Maxi decided that if he pretended to be reading (at 3am in the morning) then they would not be suspicious. When we woke up at 8.30am the next day Maxi was a little red eyed and we couldn't help but laugh at his story. We made a quick getaway and headed for the mountains intent on going for a bush walk in the mountains. As you would expect we never found a track and after 4 attempts at walking along various tracks (what ...

... is found next to the full-flush button on many toilets around the world and is designed to be used when the size of the deposit into the toilet does not warrant a complete emptying of the cistern, thus saving water. * To North America and Australasia, from England (and others probably), we present the orange traffic light. Not the one from green to red but from red to green. This allows your drivers to ...

... in the mountains by town. After a quick check into our hotel room (first night out of our van) us lads meet in the tennis court for a good old game of back yard cricket. Then there was a quick lunch and a haka practice for zeke garath mads marty and I (we planned to perform that night at the reception) then it was a scrub up for the big event. Once everyone was glamed up there was photos and then into a big ...

... the day of departure. I bought Michal his train ticket as he was running late buying new hiking boots with plans to meet on the train in Zachodnia train station. This was not to be and I ended up taking the train to Katowice in southwestern Poland with a train packed with passengers standing in the aisles, the empty seat next to me, and the engrossing best seller "The Sixteen Pleasures." Once in Katowice I met Michal at the station as he had taken the doubly expensive express train ...

... smile and smile. It occasionally made my blood pressure race excitedly. Reality was centered on the ground. In grassy valleys, sheep and solitary trees hung above the hills. A mountain stream sprang through the woods, like a mystifying fountain. In the pastelle-colorful center of Liptovsky Mikolas town, quiet like all Czechoslovakian centers, the wide town hall building, trees, statues, and benches erupted from the flat ...

... putting to stand on level ground and look straight at it; I felt like I was falling over. The only disappointment was the lack of people around in the evening, though I suppose it was a wednesday, not normally a big drinking night. We seemed to be sharing a pub with a group of 14 year olds getting drunk on the wallet of their teacher. Disturbing. All in all, a mistake in destination I was very glad we made.

... strange how things sometimes work out? Bit of an epic journey for such a pathetically small distance. After all that, at least it was worth the journey. Described by someone I met as being like Cesky Krumlov was ten years ago, I can now understand that. A small and peaceful ex-mining town, it has a similarly sleepy, laid back feel, as if the outside world doesn't touch the place and they don't really care. I imagine it would be very easy to get caught up in the feeling if ...

... almost in bed when we heard the others crashing along the square. Our suite was awesome - huge and modern, with all sorts of rooms, a flat screen telly, etc, but we just wanted to go to sleep, so we did. Overall it was just about a perfect night, every bit as good as I had ever hoped for. Guests had fun, people got drunk, the music was fantastic, there was plenty of food, Slovaks mingled with English speakers, the traditional games were really fun and we have plenty of stories to tell.

... was spent with wedding-related working bee activities and, in the evening, we wandered out to meet Alenka, our old roommate from Toronto, who lives in Krivan. We met at the Duvoks Motel/Mechanic for dinner and drinks. Exciting news awaited us upon our return to the house - Maria's bag had been located in Prague and would be delivered tomorrow. This was a great relief to Maria and to those of us who would be the beneficiaries of her improved mood.

... was what you could say a little...dodgy. It was a student accommodation dorm room, it amazes me how anyone could live there. The first thing that I would do if I had to live there would be sterilise the whole place. The shower even had moldy "material" curtains - that just doesn't work. Saw our first bid of Olympics here as well - seems as though everyone knows who Ian Thorpe is. Bratislava is a nice city but not as pretty ...