Slovakia

I spent a nice few days in Ireland catching up with my friend and all that’s been going on in her life, doing a spot of shopping, but not too much, the dollar is so weak right now, that my eyes just bulged when I did a rough conversion of Euro to Dollar and realized what the fabulous boots would cost me in American terms. Sorry fabulous boots, hopefully you will make an appearance Stateside and then I will not hesitate to snap you up. I also got to pop in and say “Hello” to the family. Can’t really go all the way to Ireland and ignore your own family now can you?

But alas, I have moved on again and this weekend finds me in Slovakia. I’ve never been to Slovakia before so I was pretty excited about the trip and so far its nothing like I imagined. First of all it’s hot. Yes, as in tempeture wise. With sunshine. I really was not expecting that. For some reason I was picturing darkish, overcast, grey days, with depressed looking building and people, all wrapped up in long wooly overcoats and furry hats. For some reason it’s always winter when I think of places like Russia, Czech Republic, Slovakia and all those eastern European countries. Maybe I’ve watched too many World War 2 or communist movies. Anyway, it’s nothing like that. At least not the part I’m in. Think Sound of Music and you wouldn’t be too far off. Lots of mountains, lakes, trees, rivers, amazing old castles on top of hills and towns that look like their right out of the pages of a Renaissance book. So pretty.

Our hotel is amazing too, but in a very modern way. It looks a little out of place in this old fashioned town to be honest. Think Spanish villa on this one. But the rooms are huge and every room has a balcony that overlooks a pool and Jacuzzi area. Give you one guess what I’ll be doing after my race? Pool and Jacuzzi maybe? And all the balconies are connected. You can literally go out and take a stroll from balcony to balcony without having to scale high walls or building. What a great way for us to get to know those who will occupy the rooms and balconies next to us. Whoever designed this hotel was a very sociable creature.

So that’s a brief update of where I am and what I’ve been doing over the past few days. I’m looking forward to running Sunday. It appears the Slovak people are big into their track and field, which means a good crowd at the stadium.

Here are some shots of the town I'm staying in.

Ok, this is our hotel. See what I mean. Costa del Solvakia.

Nice pool and jacuzzi though.