Liptovský mikuláš, Slovakia

It's been forever since I've posted so I'll give a quick update before I talk about my hiking trip in Slovakia.

Visit from Home
On the weekend of the 10th my friend Pat from Brockville, who is also a Queen's engineer, came to visit Vienna while on his "Friends in Europe" tour. On Saturday we went to the Wurstelprater, the big amusement park in Vienna, with the intention of going on the Reisenrad, the large ferris wheel built in 1897 from which you can see the entire city. However, it was €8, so we decided to go on rides instead. The amusement park was like something from the 50s or 60s, it almost felt like we were on a movie set. We deiced to go on a horror house ride with paper maché werewolves and vampires, it was so bad that it was well worth the money, if only for the laughs.

Saturday night MA, Pat, and I went to the outdoor movie theater at Rathaus where they play operas every night during the summer. We snuck into the VIP section where we watched 'Carmen' from our comfy padded VIP stools and ate some great food.

The rest of the weekend was basically spent showing Pat everything I had managed to see over the past 3 months, and then some. One of the new things we saw was the Stephansdom catacombs. In the 'old' section there were shelves containing all the priests and bishops since who knows when. There were also lots of containers containing all the organs of the Habsburgs, whos bodies are kept in the Imperial crypts on the other side of the city, and whos hearts are kept in silver jars in another church. The guide said that a few years ago the seal on one of the jars broke and it stunk so bad that it was days before people could go down to fix it. The 'new' section of the catacombs looked much older because it was in its original condition from the 1700s whereas the 'old' catacombs from the 1500s had been cleaned up in the 70s, and looked it. The 'new' section contained large rooms, some filled with stacked bones, and some untouched, filled with the remains of bodies, clothes, and coffins. It was really cool, exactly what I expected to see. The tour guide said they closed the catacombs after one of the plagues when the smell of rotting bodies prevented people from entering the cathedral.

Pat ended up staying until Wednesday morning when he left for Budapest. The weekend was a lot of fun, but it reminded me of what I'm missing, and how hard September will be when everyone else goes back to school.

Hiking in Slovakia
On Friday José (a new trainee from Portugal) and I took the 5.5hr train to Liptovský mikuláš, Slovakia for the IAESTE International Hiking Weekend. Friday night we had a good supper of bread and some Slovakian soup (a lot like the Hungarian goulash, just better and not nearly as thick). That night we drank some decent Slovakian beer and played Uno, it was more fun than it sounds.

Saturday was the big hiking day in the Choč Hills. As there were only about 23 of us, we were driven everywhere in 2 or 3 shifts, which was really cool because you got to see the country from a local perspective. The hiking trail was really long, and it took us most of the day, until about 5pm. The pictures below show how beautiful Slovakia is, well at least the natural part.

At this point in the hike we had to hold onto the chain to prevent falling into the stream below. The path was marked "intermediate" which in Canada basically means no wheelchairs, but in Slovakia apparently means a fairly demanding hike.
About an hour or two in we took a little side path to a big waterfall. Its odd that this photo looks black and white, its just because the cliffs were grey and everything green is in silhouette, classy.
The first third of the hike was all like this, walking up a fairly steep and rocky river bed. Do you really think that the one lone railway tie would stop the large stone walls from moving together if they ever really wanted to?
After climbing up a rocky hill we came upon the second third of the hike which was through sprawling green grasslands. It was hard to understand how the landscape changed so quickly from rocky and steep to wide and green, a welcome change.
On some of the distant hills there were sheep grazing, but other than that it was just green hill after green hill as far as the eye could see.Beyond the fields we found a little village where we stopped for some food (aka ice cream). For less than $2 I got a big ice creme sundae, which we think also may have had some alcohol in it, but we couldn't figure out where.
After the break we continued the hike past an old water mill.
After the hike we were driven to Aquapark Tatralandia which is the largest water park in Slovakia. I went on a few slides but spent the majority of my time in the 38 degree hot tubs just relaxing.
For supper we went to a fancy restaurant where I got a full meal and a beer for €6, which is really cheap. When we got back it was late and we just crashed. However, one room of girls across the hall realized that they'd been robbed! It turns out that while we'd been at the restaurant gypsies had broken into their room through their window and stolen a camera, money, and a cell phone. Things like having your hotel robbed by gypsies reminds you how far you really are from home.

On Sunday we went to the Demänovska caves of freedom. They contained thousands and thousands of stalactites and stalagmites in white, brown, grey, orange, red, and every colour in between. It was so amazing that parts almost looked fake, definitely something to see if you ever find yourself in central Slovakia.
From the caves we raced to the station, grabbing the train only a few minutes after arriving.
However, before I left I bought a pre-packaged sandwich. Bad idea... I blame the sketchy sandwich for the bloodshot eyes, sore throat, headache and cold I've had this week. But, thanks to that sandwich, I'm sitting at home right now writing this blog because I'm too sick to go to work.

Yesterday I went to the Apotheke (pharmacy) to buy medicine. In Austria you can't buy ANY medicine off a shelf, not even Tylenol. You're forced to go the Apotheke, go up to the counter, and ask the pharmacist for what you need. Thankfully normally at least one employee speaks some English. Because you never see the medicine until you've already asked for it, the boxes are oddly plain. Its weird to think that the boxes back home have been designed to catch your attention while shopping, like magazines at the checkout. I'd hope that I'd always chose the right medicine, not the flashiest, but who knows.

This weekend will be the first in a long time where I have nothing planned, I'm really looking forward to sleeping in and going to a store or two. Maybe I'll write another "random Austrian differences" post, maybe.