Day 3:
Farewell Denise, I’m so sorry Connie sat on your book with her naked butt. I hope you look back in your time with us with some humour and sympathy. You were an excellent roommate.

After rescuing a few other passengers from the train toilet we arrived relatively bright eyed and raring to go. There’s something special (I recognise this is sad to many) about getting on a new metro system and Budapest’s is great. Easy to navigate, air-con, and lots of stops so it feels like everywhere in the city is in reach.

All we needed was a quick journey out to get the hire car and we headed north towards the Slovak border. Having looked at the weather we switched up our plans and went straight to a water park. Lasted about 1 hour before it shut because of the rain, wind, thunder and lightning. Maybe not the best move but the kids loved it and it was perfect after 2 days of relatively sensible activities- the kids got to run around like loons for a bit.

Yummy traditional Hungarian lunch in the little town of godolo. Actually not sure cold mango soup is traditional but it was good.

Got ourselves a parking ticket too. Mhmm.

Kids were awesome in the back of the car for another few hours before we got to our little hostel/hotel in Strbske pleso. Saved some pennies by sharing a bed with Connie. Won’t make that mistake again. Small but very wriggly.

Day 4:
Rain rain rain rain rain

There’s not a whole lot to do in Strbske pleso if it’s raining, it really exists only as a jumping off point for walking in the tatras mountains and skiing in the winter. I’d visited in 1998 before when I think I actually tied my skis on with rope!

Drove to Spis Castle which is a remarkable imposing feature across the landscape. The boys visited the torture room though Connie and I sat and ate biscuits in the car instead. To wet. Lunch in Presov, a cute eastern Slovak town. Cheap as chips lunch which was pretty tasty and a short respite from the rain meant a wander through the town with an ice cream and Connie demanding we visit all the gawdy shops.

A successful day marred only by me nearly crashing the car twice. (1- Forgot to use the clutch reversing it the supermarket 2- thought I was on a dual carriageway. Steve reminded me I wasn’t as he clocked the cars rushing towards us on the same side of the road. Thank you steve)

Day 5:

10k walk up to Skok Waterfall. The boys were mountain goats all the way, taking every chance to find another route off the well trodden path. Connie needed a “little” more encouraging but the waterfall at the top was worth our efforts and we had time and energy for a rowboat around the lake afterwards too. A gorgeous day.

Day 6:

I felt surprisingly nervous about a visit back to the town of Lucenec where I taught English for a year. Looking back as an adult I realise what a formative experience that was as an 18 year old. Lots of random memories coming back…. Spaghetti with jam for school dinners, teaching kids who were older than me, getting frostbite in the tatras…

Turns out though that the town has changed so so much I didn’t even recognise it at all so the nostalgia trip was short lived unfortunately.