Astute readers may remember that me y la familia went to Košice back in December. Even though I'd been there, I wanted to go back, sometime when it was not so frigid and more things were actually open. So yesterday a few of the teachers from Tisovec and two American teachers in Poland met in Košice with one the teachers there and a very helpful Slovak friend.
The first place we went was the zoo. It's up in the hills outside of Košice, in a nice location with good views. We didn't see all of the animals, but the ones we did see we saw very close. The last zoo I went to before this was the San Diego Wild Animal Park, where the animals get to wander around big enclosures, which is obviously nice for them, but which makes it a bit difficult to see them from a distance. At the Košice Zoo I figure we were about ten feet away from a pair of lions, who were fortunately very laid-back. When I actually thought about how close we were, and how little was between them and me, I was slightly terrified. We also saw a little goat escaped from its corral, and lots of bears. People were throwing food into the bears' pit, and at least one of the bears has learned to wait patiently for such tidbits.
Near the zoo there's a bobsled ride, which several members of our party enjoyed several times. Then we had a picnic before we headed back down the hill to the old town. Since it was Saturday, and the weather is still nice, we saw a lot of freshly-married couples having their pictures taken. We also saw several wedding parties going into and out of St. Elizabeth's. We ducked into the cathedral for a few minutes during one of the weddings, and our questions were how long each wedding is allotted, and how much must it cost to get married there. Not long and a lot are probably the respective answers there.
This time, the underground "museum" was open. On one end of the main square in Old Town there's an area where you can walk through some of the early fortifications of the city and its walls. There are also decorated bits of old buildings and a few former gargoyles. It is unspectacular, but not in a bad way. Below is a gargoyle in situ on Jacob's Palace.
After our subterranean exploration, some of us sat and watched the fountain between the State Theater and the cathedral, and some went looking for souvenirs. Then we went to a chocolate shop/café for a quick snack. The menu claimed to have milkshakes, and that is what I ordered, knowing that "milkshake" could mean almost anything. It turned out to be really, really good chocolate milk. Shortly thereafter we had dinner together at an Italian restaurant. After that it was time for the Tisovec kids to go to the bus station to catch our ride back home.
Sometimes you have those days where you end up thinking, "Well, that was unexpected." This was one of those days. The lesson is that good company can make all the difference in the world.
The first place we went was the zoo. It's up in the hills outside of Košice, in a nice location with good views. We didn't see all of the animals, but the ones we did see we saw very close. The last zoo I went to before this was the San Diego Wild Animal Park, where the animals get to wander around big enclosures, which is obviously nice for them, but which makes it a bit difficult to see them from a distance. At the Košice Zoo I figure we were about ten feet away from a pair of lions, who were fortunately very laid-back. When I actually thought about how close we were, and how little was between them and me, I was slightly terrified. We also saw a little goat escaped from its corral, and lots of bears. People were throwing food into the bears' pit, and at least one of the bears has learned to wait patiently for such tidbits.
Near the zoo there's a bobsled ride, which several members of our party enjoyed several times. Then we had a picnic before we headed back down the hill to the old town. Since it was Saturday, and the weather is still nice, we saw a lot of freshly-married couples having their pictures taken. We also saw several wedding parties going into and out of St. Elizabeth's. We ducked into the cathedral for a few minutes during one of the weddings, and our questions were how long each wedding is allotted, and how much must it cost to get married there. Not long and a lot are probably the respective answers there.
This time, the underground "museum" was open. On one end of the main square in Old Town there's an area where you can walk through some of the early fortifications of the city and its walls. There are also decorated bits of old buildings and a few former gargoyles. It is unspectacular, but not in a bad way. Below is a gargoyle in situ on Jacob's Palace.
After our subterranean exploration, some of us sat and watched the fountain between the State Theater and the cathedral, and some went looking for souvenirs. Then we went to a chocolate shop/café for a quick snack. The menu claimed to have milkshakes, and that is what I ordered, knowing that "milkshake" could mean almost anything. It turned out to be really, really good chocolate milk. Shortly thereafter we had dinner together at an Italian restaurant. After that it was time for the Tisovec kids to go to the bus station to catch our ride back home.
Sometimes you have those days where you end up thinking, "Well, that was unexpected." This was one of those days. The lesson is that good company can make all the difference in the world.
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