From Liptovský Mikuláš we hitch-hiked to Žilina to see a couple of castles there. There were two old guard castles (maybe keeps or forts I guess). One closer to the town which required a paid tour to see, the other further down which didn't. We just walked by the first one and went to the other which is called Starý Hrad, which means Old Castle. Which was a good choice. It was a bit of a hike up into the forest but we were the only ones there. It was a full on old castle ruined being reclaimed by the forest. Totally awesome. And we could climb all over it and throughout it with no one around. One of the best ruins we saw. After this it was getting late so we just caught a bus to Prievidza which was the only place we could find a host. Here we had homemade Halušky and fresh grapes. We continue to be spoiled on this trip.

Friday, the last day of our trip. We were planning on going to Beckov castle from Trencin. But due to sleeping in a bit longer than planned again, having an awesome breakfast, taking longer to hitch than we would have liked and not being able to figure out the right busses on time we ended up not making it and just decided to get a bus back to Bratislava.

Which is where I am right now, finally writing all this down. I was up at 6am this morning (Saturday) to watch the AFL Grand Final. After spending most of the first quarter trying to get an Internet stream to work I gave up and went to McDonald's to use their wifi and get breakfast while I was at it. Disappointing result, but a pretty good game.

Tomorrow I'm off to Munich for Oktoberfest!