I know, it seems like 700 year since I posted something.....
We have been traveling each weekend. Two weeks ago we went to a city in Slovakia
called Trencin. The city was smaller
than Nitra (which has at last count just under 100,000). We took the train, which was very nice going,
and difficult returning. Going we took the IC, which is a nice train in that it
is modern, clean, quiet and well modulated.
They spoke English and Slovak to explain the stops. Returning, however,
we took a regional train. It was over
crowded, with people sitting in the aisles and we could not hear the
stops. The announcements were also not
in English. This is the trip that caused me to purchase the printer I refereed
to in a previous post.
We encountered an interesting phenomenon while in the train
station. I am so used to not understanding what people are saying, that I just
tune them out. I can’t understand, nor do I attempt to when people are just
walking by. I part because its not my
business what they are saying to friends, and in part because it makes my head
hurt to think so much as to understand anything!
Anyway, I am used to tuning out, when all of a sudden I
realized that there was English on the loud speaker! Caden and I were so shocked we just stood
still and stared! It was the first time
we were able to understand, and it took us a minute to even recognize that
English was being spoken! This wonderful situation was in the train station
where IC and ICE trains come through. We
so happy!
Trencin was nice. I
have included some pictures. The primary
site to see is the Castle. It is the
third largest castle in Slovakia, and sits in the middle of the city on a hill.
The castle was built and rebuilt many times- such that original walls were
included in each new castle. In fact, we climbed a staircase that was over 700
years old! It was steep and very narrow,
and quite short. I had to duck many
times.
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| Pedestrian Area With Strange Trees |
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| Castle |
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| Old part of the castle |
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| A Royal Chair |
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| Cannons! |
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| View from Hotel |
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| Castle Gate |
One of the factoids that I learned really stuck with me…I
guess because it was about clothes! We
went into a chamber that was a closet. Yep, this entire room was dedicated to
clothing and accessories for the lady of the house. The room was probably 25 x 25 and was behind
guarded entries. Apparently clothing was
so expensive that people would guard the clothing as they would gold and
silver! If this was not enough, through
another door was the bedroom of the lady of the house. It was a 12 X 10 room. Seriously. The clothes ad more room than the
living area did!
Two other things really stuck out about this side trip we
made. One was the hotel. It was FABULOUS! I included pictures here, but they don’t
really do it justice. The room was
large, airy and included breakfast. It was under 50 Euros, and they had a
relaxation center on the first floor- that included a hot tub, massage and
solarium. Caden and I both got massages,
for a total cost of 18 Euros! That was
amazing! The location was perfect also,
as it was directly attached to the pedestrian zone and about 200 feet from
where you took the path to the castle.
The last thing that stood out was the fact that a 15-minute
bus ride took you to one of the most famous Spas in Eastern Europe. The town was completely dedicated to the spa
(fed by natural thermal springs of course).
We went swimming in a thermal heated pool in the middle of winter. The pool was a typical Europe pool, with
whirlpool, rapid area, bubbles and in pool sitting. I had experienced European pools before, but
Caden was very impressed!
Enjoy the pictures!
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