Day Fourteen - End of the Road!

Our last day in Slovakia held tearful goodbyes to our hosts, Vlado and Dorota.  We headed out on the road about 11:15 for Vienna.  I can't post any photos except a couple taken by Denise as I was driving.  I didn't think it prudent to take photos along the hairpin turns!

Our GPS was supposed to route us on the highway all the way to Vienna however it detoured us for some reason...supposedly a quicker route.  While the time was about the same as the highway it routed us through some of the most beautiful country I have ever seen!  We ventured up and down mountain hillsides through glorious autumn colors.  At some points it seemed as if the trees in front of us were going to fall down upon us.  I have never seen such spectacular scenery!

We arrived safely at our hotel inVienna and unloaded our luggage for the final time.  Michelle and I returned the rental car to the Vienna airport and bade farewell to Paul.  What an emotional experience for me....meeting my first cousin for the very first time!  He fit in well with the group and kept us laughing the entire trip with his British wit!

We took a shuttle service back to the hotel and met the rest of our group in the hotel restaurant for our final dinner.  A few beers later and we are now settled into our respective rooms.  Breakfast in the early morning, a shuttle to the airport and our flight home to our loved ones await us.

It has been an incredible journey with a wonderful group of people!  Thank you all!

Until the next trip...

Day Thirteen - Highs. Lows and Experimentation

Our last official day in the village came with lots of emotion.  We spent the morning shopping in the square of Bardejov where there are many quaint boutique style shops.  Many bargains were to be had and suffice it to say our suitcases are more full than when we came.

Off we were to the village of Stebnik where my grandmothers and Denise & Deb's grandparents hailed from.  What is there not to like about the beauty of this area!

We visited the beautiful church of St Paraskeva where are relatives were baptised.

We were then able to tour one of the oldest houses in Stebnik, one owned by my second cousin who passed away a year ago.  I had dreams of buying this house one day but it definitely fits the definition of "fixer upper" and my delusional dreams are gone!  It looks quaint from the outside but the inside is another story.  Can you say "money pit?"

From here we stopped at my cousin Stefan's house.  He was in Prague babysitting his grandchildren but his wife, Olga provided us a lunch of potato pancakes and homegrown grapes.

She also gave me a boatload of dried mushrooms!!!

A stop at another house found second cousins of Denise & Deb.

Then we were off to see the museum/guest house that my cousin Jozef's son-in-law, Dusan created.

Paul and I on the property where our grandmother grew up.

Probably the best find of the trip was Deb and Denise finding their great-aunt, Anna Reshetar.

After five trips I finally found the old cemetery in Stebnik.  More scouring to do here on my next trip.

Our last evening the ladies of the church in Becherov held a dinner in our honor.  They are most appreciative of the funds we bring to support their tiny little parish.  In the past the monies have gone to replace all the windows in their church and last year it paid for new gold on the cupolas and new paint for their 90th anniversary.

Here is a final picture of our group in the village.  Fun to find out that I am related in some part to most of these people.

The experimentation part was using my iPhone to take photos instead of my camera thus hoping to reduce my load on the next trip.  I think the photos turned out just fine however the internet connection here leaves a lot to be desired.  It was taking far too long last evening to upload the photos and I decided to just call it a night and finish it this morning.  Next trip I will just upgrade my cellular data plan!

We are off to Vienna for our final night in Europe and then fly home in the morning.

Until then...

Day Twelve - The Big Cities

We left early this morning to visit the cities of Presov and Kosice.  We also bid farewell to Matt as he left for home this afternoon.

We spent about an hour in Presov with a quickie tour.  Here are some of the sights we saw today.

A before and after photo....LOL!!!

And now some photos from Kosice...

The beautiful cathedral of St Elizabeth

And the beautiful interior...marred by the tacky neon sign above the altar...really?????

 Our lovely dinner at Victoria's in Presov

We returned home to the pension and are now having a pajama party in the kitchen here while trying to finish up some of our wine and beer that we have purchased.

Below is a photo of Matt in one of his villages.  He met a postal lady...and of course had to have a photo taken!

Tomorrow we will spend the early morning shopping in the square in Bardejo and will then head to Stebnik, our final village.  The ladies at the church in Becherov will host us for a dinner in the evening...our last one in Eastern Slovakia.

Until then...

Day Eleven - Culture & Villages

On the road again early this morning...this time to the Ethnological Museum in Svidnik.  It is a skansen (outdoor museum) where they have brought together buildings from all over Eastern Slovakia to recreate a Rusyn village.

The beautiful wooden church at the skansen

Further up the road were many war memorials including abandoned airplanes and tanks.  The Dukla Pass memorial is a striking one.  Yesterday was the 70th anniversary and the President and Prime Minister of Slovakia were there to dedicate a new statue.  They actually ate dinner in a restaurant in Bardejov that we had eaten at just a few weeks earlier.

Zyndranowa, Poland was our next stop where we visited a Rusyn museum that housed artifacts showing everyday life as well as many WWI an WWII items.  One man has collected all of these things and I was pleasantly surprised to see a brand new building to house his collection and it was paid for the European Union.

Denise & Deb

We returned to Slovakia, stopped for another lovely lunch and went to Becherov where Paul's grandfather and my grandfather were born.  The priest took us into the church they attended and then we spent some time in the cemetery searching for our ancestors.

Our search then began to find Paul's grandfather's childhood home.  After stopping several men in the village they determined exactly which location it was and we drove to the spot.

The older house has been torn down and replaced with a newer one but we believe this is the old foundation.

Another successful day!  Half of us went back to the pension to relax while the other half went out for dinner.

Tomorrow is another full day touring Presov and Kosice and we bid farewell to Matt as he leaves to return back to the US.

Until then...

Day Ten - Exhausted!!!

We had a very busy day yesterday (and my apologies for not posting last evening...just too tired)!

Matt met one of our tour guides, Michal Razus and headed to his ancestral villages of Circ, Kyov and Sarriske Jastrabie.  We did not reconnect until later than evening when we all returned to the pension but he was able to find out quite a bit about his family, their travels, took photos of tombstones (and a Slovak Postlady) along with meeting a distant cousin.  I am trying to download some of the photos he sent me via Facebook Messenger but I am on a Mac and I can't find how to download them.  If any of you readers are Mac users please email me and let me know!  rusynakova@gmail.com

The rest of us went to Chmelova (yes it's hard to pronounce) in search of Biros and Sivanich ancestors of Dennis & Michelle.  Seems they can only pronounce the name correctly after they have had a few shots of Slivovice!

Dennis with a woman from Chmelova and our translator Janka.

We stopped in for our first visit to my cousin Anna Rusinakova Prihatny (more about that later) and she showed us a photograph of her family that is in the Chmelova book that Stephan Krusko published.

Rusinak relatives

The next stop was to the lovely church in Chmelova

An interior photo of the iconostas

We scoured the cemeteries for our relative's gravestones.

After not having much success finding the correct line of Biros' the mayor gave us a tip that a woman down the road might know something and that she had been working on their family tree.  We left the rest of the group in the Krcma (tavern)...big mistake...while Dennis, Michelle and I went to the woman's home!

Korczma in Chmelova

We finally had some success in finding some Biros relatives.  The woman turned out to be their second cousin and a bonus was that her brother lived next door and also came over.  A two for one bonus!

After leaving their house we went back to the korczma in search of the others.  They were nowhere to be found.  We drove up and down the village roads unable to find them.  I finally stopped at my cousin's house to see if they had seen them and there they were.  My cousin had seen them sitting on the bench outide the korczma waiting for us and felt sorry for them so invited them over.  If any of you have ever been here before you will know how hospitable these people are...and how free-flowing the Slivovice is.  Needless to say they were quite the happy bunch when we found them!

We headed back to Bardejov and went to the El for dinner.  Helena Jamroscovicova (say that three times fast) joined us along with her niece and husband.  Helena and I became friends on the Rusyn Facebook page.  She is the mayor of Resov and very interested in her Rusyn culture.

Helena and Polly

As you are reading this today is Tuesday and my blog for today will follow shortly.

Day Nine - Appendix

As promised...here are some photos from yeterday...

Some of the singers and dancers from Tichy Potok (and USA).

The mayor of the village greeting us with the traditional shots of Slivovice!

Some of our group dressed in the traditional costumes of the village.

Day Nine - Some Days I Hate Technology

Morning arrived early and we headed to our respective churches...some to the Catholic church in Bardejov, some to the Orthodox church in Becherov, and others to pray by themselves.  I can only comment on the Orthodox church as that is where I attended.  Denise, Deb and I made the short erie to Becherov attended Liturgy this morning.  The service was beautiful and moved along quickly.  Although a small church it is beautiful inside and out.  It was exciting to see the new gold cupola and exterior painting they finished in time for their 90th anniversary.  It is comforting to know that the monies donated by several parishioners at St Mary's in Minneapolis helped them achieve this goal.

We were greeted by Monika Pilko (Fr Jan's wife) and two children after the service and were treated to some lovely baked goods.  We will return here on Thursday evening as the ladies of the parish wanted to provide us with a dinner.

After heading back to the pension, we quickly changed clothes and were on our way to Tichy Potok for an afternoon with a cultural twist.  I have known the mayor of Tichy Potok for several years and each group I bring to Slovakia has the pleasure of visiting here.  They go all out for us....we start out with a wonderful dinner (including Slivovice).  Afterwards members of our group were able to try on and wear the village kroje (folk costumes).  We headed to one of the oldest houses in the village which they have turned into a museum and small gift shop.

After that their singing and dancing group provided us with a reenactment of a Rusyn wedding celebration.  We watched as the new bride was give her hat to wear which indicated that she is now a married woman.  The women sang while the men danced and then it was time for dance lessons for our group.  Everyone enjoyed the time spent here...especially me as it was a reunion with our foreign exchange student, Ivana Tomalova and her family.

We then headed back through the mountains to Bardejov with a stop at the local Tesco to pick up some grocery items and some clothing.  Several of us managed to set off the alarms as we exited the store!  The security guard came by and removed some of the electric tags and again we continued to set off the alarms!  He finally just waved us though.

Once we arrived back at the pension our next door neighbor, Miro, came by to visit.  He grew up in Stebnik and has been an invaluable interpreter and friend over the past several years.  We gathered in the kitchen of the pension for some food and drinks and the end to a very good day!

So now on the technology part.  You may have noticed there are not any photographs on this blog.  I attempted to download my photos and an error message appeared saying there was a problem.  I saw a few of them start to download before this message appeared.  And yes...there WAS a problem.  It erased all of my photos and videos from the day.  ARGH!  So hopefully someone from the group that was also taking photos will email me a select few and I can post them tomorrow.

In the morning we will be heading to our ancestral villages to hopefully find family, visit gravesites and visit with the villagers.

Until then....