MARCH 4, 2007

Today is Sunday. We wanted to go to church with the family even if the service was entirely in Slovak. Slovakia is 60% Catholic, 8% Protestants. The Miklus family is Lutheran.

Most stores are closed on Sunday so the streets looked deserted on our way to church. In this photo you can see a pair of overhead wires used by the trolly buses.

Every church we saw in Slovakia had a crow’s nest from which the sermon is preached. In this photo, we sat on the right side underneath the arch.

The church was very cold and I should have dressed warmer.

The church was nearly full by the time the service started. It was difficult singing unfamiliar hymns in a language I don’t know.

The minister is shown here preaching the sermon from the crow’s nest.

After church the family posed for a photo. (Left to right) Denisa (Lance’s cousin), Janka (Denisa’s mother), Dusan (Denisa’s father), Silvia (Denisa’s sister, one year younger). Notice how warm everybody dressed.

Under partly cloudy skies we walked around Presov. There were no crowds and it was fun to peek into the windows of the shops.

In one window was this display of religious items.

We stopped at a coffee shop that was part of a hotel. Notice how the sky has gone from partly cloudy to completely cloudy. The weather was like that our whole time there.

In the photo above, Dusan and Silvia are looking at the menu. Most restaurants have menus available in English, or the menu is in both Slovak and English.

I ordered Vienna coffee and was surprised it came with a small glass of water. Dusan explained to me that the water was to clean your palate so you can enjoy the taste of the coffee more.

Dusan’s sister, Bozena, prepared afternoon lunch for us.

(Left to right, back row) Bozena, Janka, Dusan. (Front row) Denisa, Lance, Dianne. Bozena began our lunch with homemade chicken soup. It was the real thing. In Slovakia they seem to eat chicken like we eat beef in America.

After lunch we sat around the living room and talked for over three hours. (Left to right) Lance, Daniel (Bozena and Jan’s son), Jan Scholtz (Bozena’s husband), and Dusan. Jan, Bozena’s husband, brought out a bottle of plum brandy that Dusan’s father made 10 years ago. I only took one very small sip of it. You really feel it going down. They said is was 65 proof but after 10 years I think something must have happened.

When we got home, Silvia served Lance his favorite Slovak dish: Pirohy which she made herself from scratch. These Pirohy were filled with potato and bryndza (special Slovak cheese) and had bacon bits on top. Pirohy are always sauteed in butter, never margarine.