A Restful Rest Day

Bratislava, Slovakia

Hello, it's Dex again.  Today I woke up later than I have been for the last few weeks, I slept all the way until 7:30!  We had breakfast at the house, rolls and hot chocolate that Mom had picked up at the market.  Kylie and I had also been able to convince Dad to get a free coloring app on his phone that we had fun playing with, while Mom and Dad planned the day.

About 9:30, we decided to go sightseeing.  We went down the steep hill from our house (89 steps) and walked to the old part of town -- it was hot and humid.  On the way, we saw an EU building with all the flags.  We had fun trying to remember which were which.  Farther down the road, we saw the presidential palace and cooled off in a big fountain.  We looked through some souvenir shops and picked out a deck of Bratislava cards for our collection.  It was weird that the queens are Ds and the jacks are B's.   Cool, but hard to get used to.

How many do you know?

The Presidential Palace

After all the work of picking out the cards, we were hungry, so went to a restaurant called the Green Budda.  Luckily, Dad was feeling good enough to order and eat full meals now.  Kylie and I had so-so Tom Kha Gai, but it was way too sweet.  Dad and Mom, however, had good meals.  While we ate we played cards and discussed options for the rest of the day. We settled on swimming and a movie. [Dad’s note: Dex confided in me that he was not having much fun on this trip. He had liked the fact that for our last two major bike tours we had clear destinations -- in Europe, Björn and Annica’s House in Sweden (plus Axel’s and Marion’s in Germany) and in the US, our house. “This time, we’re just going to Belgrade. What’s in Belgrade? Nothing. There’s no point.” And, of course, we all now have been in Europe three times in four years, so the castles, churches, and small quaint towns are "not as much fun."]

After a long hot walk back home, we were completely ready to jump in the pool, just up the hill from our place.  Unfortunately, when we got there, we found a sign that said it wouldn't open until July 1 (thank you Google translate).  Mom pulled out her phone and found the next closest pool.  Sadly, the bus we needed only ran every 20 minutes, and we just missed it.  By the time we referred to the second bus and found the pool, it was an hour later.  We were hot and tired and ready for the pool.  Looking through the gates, it looked like a dreamland to Kylie and me -- blue water, slides, and lots of kids laughing and playing.  Kylie and I could hardly contain our excitement.  We found a spot to drop our stuff, then ran into the water.  Kylie and I made up some games in the kiddie pool that was only about a foot deep, and really hard to see in, I wonder why?  It was basically, tag, except neither person could open their eyes above water.  And, since the pool was big, about 20 ft by 20 ft. it was hard to find the other person (even with the occasional peek above water.)  We also played on the slides and made a competition of seeing who could shoot the furthest from the slide.  After about an hour and a half, Kylie and I were tired, cool, and happy.

Getting bus tickets

Apparently, Mom and Dad had been doing some research and found a theater playing Men in Black (in English) at 6:00.  So, if we got on the right bus, we would get there in time.  When we got the theater, we ordered a snack of nachos and popcorn (health food) before settling into our assigned seats.  It was immediately clear that it was not like movies at home.  There were no ads on the screen, just some old-timey music in the background.  The movie advertisements, started when the movie was supposed to, but only lasted about 10 minutes.  During the movie, we all laughed a lot and I thought it was very good.  We discussed it afterward on the walk to the bus stop.  After fifteen minutes of waiting, we decided to walk to another bus stop.  Since Mom was the only one who had a phone,  and it was at a measly 7%, we were getting concerned about getting back home.  Fortunately, it worked out.  At around 9:30, we returned home.   We were all tired, so Dad picked up a couple pizzas that we had for dinner.  I think this was the best rest day so far this trip.

Pets2: The movie we wanted see but it was dubbed into Slovakian

Snack time!

Cool mural