A Pig, Laughs and Too Much Blue

Everything worked out okay as far as a roof over my head last night. It was maybe a 1/2 star penzione with 4 rooms for rent. The woman who owned it was really nice and super patient with my complete lack of understanding of Slovakian. She showed me where the market was and which direction to go to the restaurant. The penzione was actually a few km from Starý Smokovec in a village called Nová Lesná. There is an excellent electric rail system that runs around the High Tatras. Very cheap too. So we just hopped on the rail, then it was a bit of a hike through this field from the station to the penzione. There was a pig and a few sheep in the field. The pig was running all over chasing people, it was so funny.

I was excited to have a room to myself - the first time in 8 (?) nights. I was going to relax, read my book, go through my pictures and write down some notes on where they were taken (I am days behind). The best laid plans... I got a knock on my door soon after I had started to go through my pictures. It was Lucia (the owner) and one of the Polish guys who was staying there. Lucia wanted to know what time I was leaving in the morning but didn´t know how to ask me so she got the guy (Chris) to ask me since he spoke some English. I introduced myself to Chris and we started to talk. Then his friend Paul shows up. The three of us ended up talking and laughing for over 3 hours. They both spoke English fairly well, even though neither of them think so. These two gave me a whole new perspective on Poland and Polish people. It´s too bad that I didn´t meet them until after I had left Poland! I had been left with the impression that Polish people weren´t very friendly. However, these two were not only super friendly, but we laughed so hard that I am sure we kept Lucia´s family awake. Chris and Paul go in my book of favourite people I have met so far (along with Ian, Jan, and Rosie - the family from Bristol).

The only down side to my home for the night was the shower. It was just one of those hand held ones.. the weird thing was that there was no shower curtain. I turned the water on and realized there was so little pressure that it wouldn´t be a problem. I realized there would be another problem though. The water was ice cold!! I had thought it a little strange that there was two blue coloured taps...