The shots we took of the balcony restaurant should perhaps include an interesting little tale. Elenka and I both ordered roast duck. When it arrived it was cold and somewhat tough. When the meal was over Elenka complained to the waitress. I threw my best Slovak into the fray saying the duck was probably old. The waitress replied, in Slovak of course, which I had absolutely no understanding of, saying that the chef would never cook an old duck. After I'd dig...

    When I am not walking up and down the hills of central Slovakia, I spend the better part of my day surrounded by groups of Elenka’s – see ending regarding name change – relatives. They must think I'm peculiar as I sit for three, sometimes four hours smiling with them and listening to them. They know that I speak no Slovak. What they don’t know is that it's because I’m on an entirely different plane, not really listeni...

Ellen and I arrived in Brusno, Slovakia almost two weeks ago. We're staying with Ellen's cousin Mana who lives on the upper level of a large two storey cream stucco house. We eat breakfast with Mana's always-on-the-go mother Teta Marka who lives on the ground level. Teta Marka has never strayed beyond the Slovak border, except for perhaps the odd shopping excursion into Poland, so dealing with an English speaking foreigner like me has her at her wits ...