Forgot to mention yesterday that our trip to the villages was delayed a bit in the morning. It seems that Fr. Jan Lakata arranged for the local television station to come and interview Archbishop JOB for TV!

We left early this morning to head to Levoca and Spis Castle. We took the scenic route on the way there through gorgeous mountain roads complete with hairpin turns. Though the weather was a little overcast, we still viewed some magnificent scenery. I might add that it took a little longer than anticipated to get there as those of you who have been here know...roads are not well marked in Slovakia. They are not used to many foreign tourists so you really need to know where you are going! A side benefit however was the gorgeous scenery and some lovely entertainment. By that I mean....most villages have speakers mounted on top of poles. They date back to the days of communism when they were, and still are, used for announcements. Today however, we drove through the village of Dubovica and the speakers were blaring wonderful Slovak folk music around the noon hour. We all rolled down our windows and some of us were tempted to get out of our car and dance!!!

We arrived in Levoca where we met Jan Dzugan, Todd and Pollys exchange student who took us on a tour of St. Jacobs Cathedral with its exquisite baroque carved wooden altar, the tallest in Europe. After our tour we met Jans parents for lunch at the Three Apostles Restaurant.

After our lunch we waited outside to say our goodbyes to Jan and his family. Mike had to use the restroom before we left and as he was doing his thing at the urinal he looked over and saw a nun in a blue habit washing her hands at the sink!!! Only in Slovakia!!!

We then drove to Spissky Hrad, the largest castle in Europe. It was an imposing sight. Some of us ventured up to the top and others chose to stay at the base. Either way we had an impressive view of the area.

For Jim Brinda...I have found out why the pronunciation for the village of Becherov...and others...is different. Here is how it was explained to me. In Slovak the first syllable always has the most emphasis where in Rusyn the emphasis is usually on the second syllable. So I have been calling it the Slovak way...and you have been calling it the Rusyn way.

Tonite we were treated to a slide show presentation by Vlado, our host. He has followed us around with his new camera since we arrived and we saw the results this evening. He even gave each one of us a CD with all the photos on it!

We said goodbye to Karen Varian this evening as she headed off to Presov to meet her bus to Ukraine tomorrow.

We head for a day of sightseeing and shopping tomorrow in Kosice. Hopefully there will be no more nuns in male restrooms there!!!