MARCH 7, 2007

Today we drive back to Bratislava and fly back home to America tomorrow.

Our day starts with a good breakfast – the last we will have in Presov.

One of our Christmas gifts was a CD of Slovak Folk Music. Silvia met a friend who told her that this morning, they are putting on a free performance for some of the school children. We are invited to attend.

We were treated to a very professional stage production of Slovak Folk Dance. The men wore traditional clothes of white pants, black boots, and colorful vests. The women in this routine wore three quarter length dresses with high necklines and short sleeves that came up above their elbows.

In this routine the dancers wore skirts that flare up to reveal their legs. Underneath the dress is a short slip.

One humorous dance routine began this way. We are introduced to a Slovak woman whose legs have attracted the interest of this young man. Notice that this man is not dressed in Slovak clothes. He is a foreigner.

A second woman in orange appears. The foreigner now takes interest in her, too. He’s even taken the handkerchief of one of the women.

Soon, more women appear on stage – four all together. The women know what this foreigner’s intentions are, but they play along with his game. Doesn’t this man realize what’s going on?

The women have removed the man’s sash and they’re teasing him. Note the high jump in the photo.

At the end of the routine, all of the women exit the stage leaving the foreigner looking this way.

Palo took some video of some of these performances. This is a little of what we saw.

When Theodore and Tilly-Bear arrived in Presov, they wore their cool looking sunglasses. Dusan’s little brown bear also found sunglasses so all of the teddy bears looked cool. The teddy bears had fun. We had fun. Now we are sad. It’s time to leave.

Denisa’s fiance, Bandy, did not stay with us in Presov. When we arrived on Friday night he dropped us off and then went to Kosice to visit his family. Today he’s returned to take us back to Bratislava. Tomorrow we fly home to the United States. It’s time for us to say “Goodbye”.

Janka hugs Theodore and Tilly-Bear for the last time. She loves our bears. I gave her a big hug. She and I cried. All I could says to her was, “We’ll be back. I don’t know when, but we’ll be back.” I want her to understand this one thing, but she doesn’t understand English and my Slovak consists of about a dozen words.

I gave Dusan a Slovak hug. I said, “Goodbye cousin.”

Silvia was next. She understands English and that seemed to make it easier to say goodbye to her.

After driving for about 30 minutes, we reached our next destination: The Spis Castle.

This was the first day the castle had been opened. There were no tours. Even the WC was closed. We roamed around freely to look and see.

The Spis Castle is different than the other castles we saw. You feel like you’re looking at ruins. When you see a place that was once a kitchen, it’s now just stonewalls without even a roof.

This is the only interior room we saw. This chapel looks like it is still used for services.

After leaving the Spis Castle, we passed the Tatra Mountains going back to Bratislava.

In the foreground are the tracks and overhead wires for the electric railroad trains. The mountains in the background are majestic.

MARCH 8, 2007

We left Bratislava at 7:30 in the morning for Vienna airport. We left extra early to make sure the morning rush hour delays wouldn’t make us late for our flight. After we cleared security at the airport, we traveled for fifteen hours before we got home.

APRIL 2007

To thank our family in Slovakia, we made this special commemorative card and mailed it to each of them.