Synagogue Sounds

The concert at the Jewish synagogue on Wednesday was awesome.  We went to a concert there a year ago as well, and this one was better!  It seems that Liptovsky Mikuláš is an annual venue for "Bridges" concerts, bringing together artists from Slovakia, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary each year.  There were TV cameras there recording the concert for broadcast later, and there was a huge crowd again this year.  We arrived to stand in line at 6:45 for the 7:30 concert, so we did get decent seats, though the front 2/3 of the middle section was all reserved, so we were on the side.  Alenka, our colleague, and her son, Saška and her three children, and another basic school teacher were all there, and afterwards we ran into two of our students who had also enjoyed the concert.  

This is the stage area before the concert, and the program.  The same candles as last year were set up all around the stage again.  

These two guys started things off with some really beautiful rock ballads.  Their music kind of reminded us of Simon and Garfunkel stuff.  

Then they added a younger trio - drummer, lead guitar/singer, and amazing bass player.  But the older guys were definitely featured as the stars of the show, and rightly so. 

It was a big and enthusiastic crowd, and this year they even opened up the balcony for standing room.  

The featured performers were classic rockers from the 60's and 70's, and they were really talented musicians.  People told us they were really famous back in the day, and we can see why - we really enjoyed their music, and they haven't lost their chops! 

After a mostly cold and sometimes rainy September, October is bringing some beautiful fall weather.  The early cold weather must have helped the trees start turning vivid colors too.  This was our view of the autumn trees and the mountains in the distance, on our walk home from school this afternoon.  

This tree has those bright orange bunches of berries, and the leaves are scarlet - such a burst of bright color!!  

Tonight I walked Tim most of the way to basketball, then split off to get groceries since we haven't been uptown all week.  It was so warm - almost balmy - and it really smells like fall with the leaves to walk through.  We may have missed out on all the hot summer weather in both Iowa and Slovakia, but at least we're finally getting some pleasant fall weather!!  I'm very thankful.     :-)