A slice of snow

Adrian and I went on a date for lunch today.  Was it gonna be McDonald's for a quick pommes frites?  Or to one of our favoured restaurants in Koliba called Schoppa?  The decision was easy.  Schoppa is a log cabin restaurant at the entrance of the peak of Koliba.  Adrian got his kid's schnitzel and buttered tagliattle.  For me, Tatar Steak or Goose Liver?  The waitress was right when she said I can get Tatar Steak everywhere but Goose Liver is not always available.  So it was slices of Goose Liver with bread for me.

Afterwards, again a decision to make.  Drive up to the peak and take a look while Koliba is full of snow or not?  Ah we can definitely spare some few minutes up there. So off we drove.  The forest was covered with new snow this morning and was a great sight to smell.  Slender trees on white carpet.  As we reached the top, quite a number of people, young and old, try to sleigh on the little hill.  Adrian wanted to make snow balls and after a while, I told him that we do have in the car the little blue flat plate for sliding.  Wiiiiiiiiii!  Off he went!  I calculated he would do it twice as it was some work going up the hill again.  Off he went again!

That was just a perfect warm and white afternoon.

Happy sliding!

The Donovaly Weekend

Donovaly

For two years now we have been skiing in Austria, in a little family friendly ski town called Filzmoos. But during this long weekend semester break  of Adrian, we decided for Donovaly.  It is where one of my tennis partners go to with his family for skiing for the last five years.  Moreover, Id like to  get to know Donovaly as we are living here in Slovakia, shouldn’t we?  Interestingly, once we mention this to Slovaks, their automatic comment is, ‘Why go to Donovaly if Austria is just there?  Service is much better in Austria.’  Very correct!  Still, we went without much expectation.

Weather was predicted at -20°C.  Freezing, cold and chilly.  We arrived in less than three hours.  It was late but the town looked promising. There are two slopes, Zahradiste and Nova Hola.  Zahradiste has only blue slopes.  As beginners, we chose to stay on this side.  Unfortunately, it was really brrrrr chilly, that we did the slope and went up and down and still got frozen.  We decided to have a break at their fast food area where one finds typical Slovak food.  The weather was really not very kind that after the break, skiing was really not fun.  So, we called it a day.

Dinner was spent at the Stodola Restaurant.  I have checked their varied menu over the internet before coming to Donovaly.  Food was good but as expected NOT a single smile from the waitress.  Square  face. But we did not let that hamper us.  The beer was good enough.

The next day was as promising as the previous one.  Lazily, we pulled ourselves together to ski.  After an hour of skiing, there was snow storm, it was just unbearable. Urggh!

Off we went to Almet where they have  bowling alleys.  As it was empty at 2pm, we did not ask for any free alleys.  We took our time, ate pizza, played Air Hockey, some card games.  At 3pm we asked if they have something available.  Sorry, next available slot is at 10.30pm.  Great!  Well, it was disappointing until he told us that we would be able to play sometime at 4.30pm.  That was at least a relief.   Believe it or not, we left this place at 9pm!  Eat, drink, play!  How exhausting!!!

On the third day, it was sunny and still no one was really in the mood to go skiing as temperatures stayed the same.  But I pushed and pushed and we went to the red slopes of Nova Hola.  Now we realized that this is where we should be skiing.  A little bit difficult but manageable and long enough.  In addition, they have Gondolas so one does not freeze on the way up.  Who would have thought we would spend from 11am until 4pm skiing? 

So, Donovaly, I assure you that was not the last time we visited you.

Happy freezing!