Well, there's about half an hour left of Monday night here in Bardejov. It's hard to believe that tomorrow will mark the end of our first week here. I guess we're finding the old saying to be true: "Time flies when you're having fun" Today was no different..........
Around 11:30 this morning, Ed and Wendi took us (along with Shaylee as the older four kids were in school today) down to the town square to tour the huge vintage catholic church. We first stopped at the famous Bardejov underground restaurant to sample one of Ed and Wendi's favorite lunch spots. Of course the food was nothing short of incredible! I had halusky (a traditional Slovak dumpling/noodle) with paprika chicken in a gravy sauce. I also had bubbly water, which was similar enough to tonic water that it made me think of Uncle Hod.
After we finished at the restaurant we began our tour of the church. The catholic church at the bottom of the Bardejov town square is gigantic! It is definitely the landmark you look for to orient yourself anywhere in the city. Its bell tower can be seen from miles around.
With the bell tower being the main attraction, we decided to see that first and started the long trek up the narrow, winding, stone spiral staircase. After climbing the stairs for what seemed like several minutes we finally arrived at the top. We had a wonderful panoramic view, high above the city, of everything from the town square to the rolling hills and the countryside stretching all the way to the horizon. We all took lots of pictures from the top of the bell tower, capturing the incredible beauty of the aerial view from high above Bardejov.
When we finally descended the spiral staircase we took another half-hour or so to look around the ornate catholic sanctuary. Once again, many pictures were taken (especially by Phil) of the many beautiful statues, paintings and decorations crowning this cathedral-like room.
The older Rumbold kids got home from school around 3:00 in the afternoon and upon Gage's suggestion we all got out the train-track set upstairs and went to work creating a masterpiece of a rail-line. With Phil's engineering skills coming in handy, we put together many twists and turns, ups and downs, and overs and unders before stepping back and taking a few more pictures of the finished product. Oh, and I think the kids had as much fun playing with the train-tracks as we did building them.
Dinner tonight was a classic outdoor cookout! Ed grilled burgers and Wendi made party potatoes, chocolate chip cookies, a fresh veggie tray and homemade hamburger buns (Mom, if you're reading this you NEED to get that hamburger bun recipe from Wendi).
Tate commented that he felt like he was at a Getz picnic! Everything about this meal was incredible! Even the weather was about as ideal as you could ask for for an outdoor cookout! (After a week here, I'm not entirely convinced that they ever have anything but perfect weather in Bardejov).
Tonight, Grant, Phil and I did a little more research on our destinations for the post-Slovakia part of our trip. Grant was able to skype a little with his friend from Paris who's planning on showing us around when we're there and we worked towards shoring up some connections we have for our time in Germany as well.
As I was typing up this post I just finished talking to my cousin Jon Getz on facebook. He'll be leaving in about a week for an engineering trip with Vanderbilt University to Northern Ireland. If any of my readers are interested in following Jon's adventures there, he's also chronicling his travels at http://jongetz.blogspot.com/.
We'll that's all for tonight folks. It's about 12:30 and time for me to hit the hay. I've been sleeping over 9 hours a night here and often times napping during the day. All that fun and excitement can wear a guy out! Wouldn't have it any other way though. I'm loving Bardejov and will be forever grateful for the tremendous hospitality and cultural experience that the Rumbold family has shown us.
This is definitely a once in a lifetime trip!
Until next time, this is Ben signing off from Bardejov.
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