Kosice

So, we got back to the train station just in time to catch the morning train to Kosice, a city in very eastern Slovakia. We were in for a big surprise. As the train pulled into the city we all looked at eachother dumbfounded; all there was were Communist Bloc buildings. It was something that you see in pictures but don't ever really expect to see. It was pretty eerie.

We trekked across town to the hostel we were going to stay at and then rested for a bit. It was pretty freaky because there was almost literally no one walking around. We figured it was because it was a Sunday but it was "post-apocalyptic" as Pat said. We also stumbled upon this huge Communism memorial that was really bizarre. It was weird to see something from that time; something that was praising Communism. Freaky. So as we were all deciding that we made a mistake in coming to Kosice we found the main square and it was awesome.


There was a great church there and an opera house. We stopped at the "best ice cream in Kosice" [which was surprisingly cheap] before wandering around some more. It was really interesting because once you crossed the street it was back into the obviously Eastern European. We stopped at a bar called Relax that had lots of pool tables and we played some more cards. And I got lucky because they were showing the Arsenal game. So of course we had to have a late dinner, the others were very obliging. After the game we went to dinner at a little place that was really delicious. We were all pretty tired so we decided to call it a night, espescially since Pat and Andy were leaving the next morning to return to Prague before heading on to Rome. So we all decided that although Kosice isn't Stola, it was still pretty neat, and interesting to see. Definitely the furthest east I have ever been.

The next morning Beeler and I walked around a little more before getting a doner and then heading to the train station to catch a train to Banska Bystrica. When we got our tickets the ticket lady didn't speak English, not one word. So we did a lot of pointing smiling before getting our tickets. We then realized that we had no idea where to go. So we did some guessing and then decided that wherever we ended up is where we were going to stay. Thankfully, the maintenance lady was clear enough in her very slow Czech and we were on the right train. It was a great feeling. Halfway through the ride we thought that we had arrived at our stop. We well hadn't and then we lost our seats so the ticket taker in the train tried to talk to us but we aren't proficient at Czech so we were lost. But my great German skills came in handy and she was able to tell us in German that there was room in a different car and that we should go down there because we still had a long time. Good things my darling German friends taught me so much. So Beeler and I were pretty proud that we actually made it to Banska Bystrica.