And the Mountain Peaks Belong to Him!

So, first a quick 'catch-up' from the last post...... (before diving into our very full weekend!!) 
Thursday's classes went fine, and we went out to lunch with a bigger group of colleagues.  We'll miss the fun of restaurant lunches!!  After school, we went for an hour walk, just around town, because it was a gorgeous day and we wanted some exercise.  It was kind of comical, because it felt just like being in Ankeny ...... we kept running into people we know and stopping to talk all along the walk!  Students, friends from church, colleagues..... fun!  Then we had our adult student lessons, and it was great getting together again!  After lessons, we went out with Marian and Susan, and we all shared a pizza. 

My girls - Tana and Eva - brought birthday flowers and a bottle of wine!   :-)  

Friday was a full day, and we stayed late at school (again - so much to do!)  I walked Tim to basketball, just for some exercise, then I stopped on the way home for groceries.  Both of us also packed for our weekend trip to Spišská Stará Ves, in far NE Slovakia, near the Polish border.  Way back last December there was a holiday party for one class, and the father of a student invited us to visit their village sometime.  Well, they specifically invited us for a weekend in June, but our time was all booked, so they emailed over the summer to set up this past weekend - they were very persistent!   :-)  

And now for our most recent amazing weekend adventure!!  

We took an early train to Poprad, where Martin and his Dad met us at the station.  Then we headed to their home in Spišská Stará Ves for a delicious breakfast.  

After breakfast, we drove to the river to take a 2-hour raft ride on these traditional vessels made of five individual (long, narrow, rectangular) canoe-like boats that are fastened together into a raft.

As we waited, we saw some boats coming by from upstream on the scenic Dunajec River.

They add bench seats across the boats for passengers.  Tim got to wear the boatman's hat for the picture!   :-)

Tri Koruny = Three Crowns just across the river into Poland, but visible from the Slovak side --- very majestic! 

Looking back up the river behind us to the High Tatras in the distance - beautiful!!  

The rafts went through these steep canyons - supposedly the steepest in Europe. 

There were really nice trails for bikers and hikers along the river, originally built by Empress Maria Theresa's workers for her enjoyment.  

Just like at any American tourist attraction, there were photographers stationed along the route taking pictures that were developed and ready to hand to visitors as they got off the rafts!  So we have a fun souvenir of our raft ride along the Dunajec!

Martin's Dad, Ondrej, put us all on a horse-drawn carriage to go back up to Chata Pieniny, the restaurant a few kilometers from the raft docking area.  

Enjoying the views along the river, this time by horse-drawn carriage!  

The views behind the carriage - the rafts on the river - carriages on the road - walkers on the path - all enjoying the beautiful day.  It was a perfect fall day; not too hot, not too cool!

When we got to the Chata Pieniny, our table was right in front of the musicians.  It just so happens that Ondrej sometimes plays with the folk music combo here, so he sat in for a few numbers playing the accordion!  On the right is the manager of the whole complex - restaurant/pub/campgrounds/tennis courts/playground.  Quite an entrepreneur!!  

Ondrej is an amazing musician with a beautiful singing voice as well.  He was playing bass in rock bands in the 70's (with long hair), and has played about every kind of music since then!  What an entertainer!!  :-)

This poster of the Pieninsky National Park shows most of our raft journey, from just beyond the lower left corner, winding around the mountains to the top right corner.  

The owner/manager of the place was a good friend of Ondrej's, and when he heard that we were American lectors at Martin's school, he brought us gifts!

The wooden raft model, the CD of regional folk music, and some other brochures were all gifts from the gregarious owner of the restaurant and recreation area!  

After a delicious fresh trout dinner at the restaurant, we walked along Maria Theresa's path from Slovakia into Poland.  

There was a small historical museum along the path, with displays of wildlife and plants typical of this region.  There was also a neat set of 'then and now' photos of the river, before and after a hydro-electric dam was built upstream.  This set shows the same style of river rafts, before and after a footbridge was built across the river between Slovakia and Poland, about 5 years ago.  

Just outside the museum, along the path towards the Polish tourist town of  Szczawnica.

This peacock flower sculpture was amazing!!  

Heading into the picturesque Polish village of Szczawnica, along the banks of the river.

The river was really low, but still very pretty as we headed into town. 

I had to take this picture because it brought back memories from our 1976 Clarke-Loras Singers choir tour in Poland --- my first foreign ice cream was 'lody'!!  :-)  Tim wanted to buy us all 'lody', but Poland doesn't use the Euro, and we didn't have any zloty's, so Ondrej treated us.   Yum!  

After going through the pedestrian area, we got on a chair lift and rode up to the top of a mountain.  It's an unusual lift because it goes right up from the city center, across the river, and the ski slopes are actually on the back side of the mountain.  

The ski lift took us to the top of the hill where the red roof is, then we walked down the ski slope and up the next hill for some breath-taking views of the surrounding area.  

More views from the mountaintop.  Our leader (Ondrej) decided it would be fun to just hike down the mountain back to the restaurant, where we could catch a shuttle van back to where the car was parked before the raft ride.  It was a long trek down, but we found the right path eventually!

 

This is the recreation area across the road from the restaurant - with wooden sculptures, a playground, tennis courts, camping and picnic areas, etc., etc.  

After getting back to the car, we drove to the hydro-electric dam nearby.  This is the lower lake, looking down the overflow spillway.  (We walked up all those steps on the right to reach the dam from the parking lot below - who needs stair master??)  

The two castles, one in the foreground and one to the right in the distance, were fortresses guarding the edges of each kingdom, across the river from each other.  Now they are across a lake, formed by the dam.  

On top of the dam is a street painting that is foreshortened to create an optical illusion of the lake being filled with water.

After our big day of sightseeing and riding multiple modes of transportation, (train, car, river raft, horse-drawn carriage, ski lift, transport van, and of course our feet!) we went back to the Marhefka house for a delicious supper, conversation, and music.  Finally, Martin and his dad walked us to the Penzion where we stayed (owned by a friend of theirs), but first we went down into the cellar bar area in the building.  I didn't get a picture - bummer - but it was really neat!  It was all original stone, and the walls/ceiling were shaped in an arch.  After a glass of wine, we all headed to bed about 9:30 for a good night's sleep. 

They picked us up at 7:45 to go to mass at the nearby village of Majere, where Martin was the acolyte and Ondrej played organ.  It was so nice - the priest welcomed us in English and wished us a good Sunday too.  And Martin read the scriptures in English after they were read in Slovak.  

As we headed back into Spišská Stará Ves, mass was just ending there, so we went inside the Gothic church there.  (It's a town of about 2,500 - about 99% are Catholic, and the mass was packed!)  It is a beautiful, ornate church and altar.  

The organ is huge, and it is in the process of being refurbished, but it still sounds awesome.  Martin's brother was finished playing organ for mass, but his dad had him play something for us just to hear the instrument.  He played our wedding recessional!!  :-)     

Then we went back to the house for breakfast - kielbasa, bread and veggies - delicious!  We had to be well nourished for our day of hiking ahead.  

We parked on the Slovak side, then headed across the footbridge to Poland on a bright, sunny day perfect for hiking!

There were many big houses in Poland, with beautiful flower boxes.  

When we saw these two women in traditional costumes, Ondrej explained that it is normal attire for going to church on Sunday.  

Starting our ascent - at first it was easy walking through the canyons.

As we continued, the path got steeper, and steeper.  We were moving right along, and I didn't even get any pictures of the really steep parts!  

There was a clearing near the top with beautiful views of the High Tatras.

The final portion of the hike was up this metal staircase - one way traffic only!  

And here we are with Martin at the very top of the peak!  We made it!! 

It was a clear, beautiful day to see views in all directions!

Looking down at the river below, where we had floated the day before.  Červeny Kláštor ('Red Monastery', which we visited with Marian, Janka and Livka) is below, on the left, with the red roof.

Trying to capture how steep the slopes were, nearly straight down!  

Looking out across the lake where we were the day before, at the dam.

On the way back down on the metal stairways and walkways - gorgeous views!

Martin's mom brought us all sandwiches and cherry tomatoes for lunch on the mountaintop.  

We made it to the top of the Three Crowns (Tri Koruny)!!  

Heading back down the path through the woods.

Finally back down at the bottom again - whew!!  See that tallest peak on the right?   Yep, that's where we were!!  

At the bottom, there was a little restaurant with outdoor tables, so we rested a little while after our descent.  The two tall, thin peaks in the middle are the tallest, and the next picture will show a close-up shot of them.

If you look closely, you can see the teeny-tiny people at the very top of the smaller of the two peaks, which is the tallest spot on the Tri Kurony.  WE WERE THERE!!  

Heading back across the bridge into Slovakia, we saw more rafters going by.  

The hike took about 2 hours up, and of course less time on the way down, but we were really moving at a pretty good clip.  It was amazing to see how many people were making the trek and enjoying nature's beauty along the way!  After the hike, we were treated to yet another delicious home-cooked meal, this time a Goral region specialty which Ondrej cooked - potato pancakes topped with pork pieces in gravy, then another pancake and a dollop of sour cream on top.  And finally, it was time for the 50-km ride to the train station in Poprad for our journey back to Liptovsky Mikuláš.  What a wonderful weekend!  

Štrbské Pleso and the High Tatras, as seen from the train window on the return journey.  We really love train travel, watching the scenery go by the whole way!  

Our daily devotional for last night happened to be from Psalm 95.  Verse 4 says ".... and the mountain peaks belong to Him."  How meaningful those words are after all the mountain peaks we saw and climbed this weekend!!  God's beauty in His creation was so awesome and so obvious for us as we spent two amazing days surrounded by the mountain peaks!!   

P.S. - Please forgive any typos tonight - it's late and I'm too tired to go back and proof-read such a long post tonight, but I wanted to publish the post anyway.  I'll proof-read tomorrow, but in the meantime, just ignore any goofs!!  Thanks!   :-)