MY SUMMER 2000 TRIP TO SLOVAKIA

Sometimes the waiting game with airlines in hopes for reduced fares doesn’t pay off. This was my case this time. Earlier reports in the newspapers indicated that the European charter sales aren’t doing that well. So I decided to wait a while with my booking, anticipating drop in price. Well I waited and was constantly checking CANADA 3000 Charter airline web site, until my flight was sold out. My idea was to go to Slovakia only for three weeks, open my author’s exhibit in Liptovska Teplicka, do some ancestral videos and research and to return home on August 11. Now, I was only able to book still on my anticipated departure date, but I had to change my return to August 25th and pay CAD$1100.00 all taxes included. As I was bringing two recent issues of our Slovak Heritage Live newsletter to members in Slovakia, I had 14 Kg more weight than maximum allowable on this charter airline, that is 20 kilograms, extra weight added $50.00 and the Vancouver airport improvement fee of $15.00 The flight was fantastic, however this charter airline doesn’t offer free bar service (so I was only on orange juice), but they play movies non-stop throughout the entire flight. I seen 5 movies on the way to Europe and five different ones on the way back. The food was like on any other airline, no complains. We arriver in Munich on time. This time, I booked my trip again through my favorite agent Sandy from Pacific Sun Holidays 1-604-688-0444. Sixt Budget Rent a Car has parted their cooperation with Budget and there are now two companies. One is called Sixt and the other who else than BUDGET. My wholesaler for car rentals works with BUDGET, so now I rent from them. Again I booked the economy least expensive car with hopes they won’t have it upon my arrival. My prayers had come trough and I received a Hundai Accent. This is category higher then Corsa, and I didn’t have to pay extra. I feel power wise it is glorified Opel Corsa, but it had air conditioning and power windows and that was enjoyable through the hot summer. Of course after putting my suitcase in the trunk I searched the glove compartment for technical papers and the Green Card proof of international insurance. I didn’t find either of them. So I had to go to the check out counter again and get the necessary documentation. They don’t realize that if they check the car at some border crossing that may be 1000 miles away from Munich, they won’t let you into the country. It did happened to me once when I tried to enter Poland, I had the green card, but it wasn’t filled out. So they turned me back from the border. Later on I filled the card by myself and they let me in at different border crossing. This has caused me a great deal of inconvenience.

Soon I was once again sailing the German Autobahn. I arrived in Bratislava early evening. Right away after unpacking I went to see my niece, who works part time at garden pub “Montana Grizzly Bar” under St. Michael’s tower. Had Krusovice King’s beer and went for a walk through the medieval part of the town, stopping at my favorite place where I always meet some old friends, ESPRESSO AMSTERDAM close to famous Bratislava’s KORZO, at Presporska Street 4, phone 5443 5911. Bratislava really lives at night these days.

Next morning I went to visit my family and my godson in Borsky Peter or as we call it BURE, located past Malacky.

This was also the weekend of Folklore celebrations in Velka nad Velickou in Moravia, Czech Republic, just a short drive from the border close to Senica and Vrbové. I arrived in Velka nad Velickou early morning on Saturday. Went to see the open-air market-HORNACKY JARMAK at the Towns Square. There were many folk artists displaying and selling their works. Early afternoon as usual there was a procession of folklorists from near by villages in their folk costumes accompanied by several folk music's. I met many friends of mine in one of courtyards of local krcma. Of course Jirka Tomanek was’t missing. Couldn’t believe how inexpensive everything was. I had few beers and soon I was heading to the amphitheater above the town to see a program dedicated to the 75 year life jubilee of folklorist Prof. Zdenka Jelinkova who was one of the founding members of the Hornacky Festival in 1957. I spent the night in Bure and returned to Velka nad Velickou Sunday morning as the festival continued in Kuzelov at a side of old stone wind mill called Vetrak. Here I enjoyed the singers and the music of Martin Hrbac. Stayed another night in Bure and returned to Bratislava Monday morning. In evening I met two of my friends at Cafe Amsterdam, Daniela who just returned to Bratislava from British Columbia after visiting our friend Maksi Dubrovay in Cariboo and Stefan Zima, my long time friend and the president of the Folklore Union of Slovakia. It also happened to be my name day so we did celebrate. Next day I went to Stara Lehota near Piestany where my brother in law Ladislav Cisarik and my sister have a summer home in hopes that he would be able to come with me to Liptovska Teplicka and help me set up my photo exhibit. Instead he gave me a crash course in setting up a photo exhibit as he was leaving next day to Germany. So the next day I went to Martin to visit my friend and at that time still the director of the Slovak National Museum PhDr. Martin Messa, to ask him how to hang the pictures on the wall using large document clips. I found him in the conference room as they were unveiling theatrical curtain whose author is K.V. Masek, that is being currently restored. This is the largest theater curtain in Slovakia that was given to Martin by Artistic chat group from Prague “To Slovak Brothers” on Christmas 1891. It used to hang in the National House until the 50’s when it was exchanged by curtain painted by the famous Slovak painter Martin Benka. Restoring of this curtain is in its beginning stages. The curtain was straightened, stiffened and stretched on a frame and now Academic painter Jozef Dorica will be restoring is as soon as the museum will get some financing for it from the government. So far the work was financed by Pro Slovakia and personally by Mr. Dorica, because this is the largest oil canvas in Slovakia.

I continued to my favorite place, Pension DOLINKA  in Liptovska Teplicka, stopping at the mayor’s Jozef Mezovsky offices only to find them celebrating another name day, today it was Anna. Anna is a very wide used name in Slovakia for females and about as often as Jozef is for males. I stayed with them for a while and went on to Dolinka.

Next morning I had to dull all the edges on about 36 plates of glass, as many of my pictures were to be displayed behind the glass. The ones that were to be on permanent display at Pension Dolinka. This took me almost entire day. Next day we got some panels and decided to install the exhibit at the local school, right in the center of the village. I had several helpers including the director of the school Mgr. B. Bardyova and her husband. With their great help we finished the installation in short time. Still I thought that part of the exhibit during the festival would be at the Pension Dolinka. Then we all realized that as Dolinka is far away at the end of the village, not too many people would come to see it during the festival. So we decided to install the whole exhibit at the school. As soon as were finished we invited our friend and supporter Dr. Vladimir Pohanka and his family to be the first guests to view the exhibit as the next day they were leaving with their granddaughter Katka to Greece for vacation.

Next day I had a genealogical job in Nove Mesto nad Vahom and then I went to Piestany where my friends, the folklore group DUBRAVA from Presov was to have an evening performance. I arrived really early and this gave me opportunity to walk through Piestany, which I haven’t done for a long time. After a while I discovered where their performance was going to take place. You see the Piestany spa is located next to the old town and also on an island on the river Vah. There are some fine hotels that cater mostly to foreigners as Austrians, Germans and Arabic Nationals. Performance was to be in the congress hall. So I waited for my friends to arrive, which they did, just prior to their performance. The performance was excellent. I have seen their performance many times, but always through my viewfinder, either still or video cameras. This time I can say I watched the real thing and it was great as I wasn’t taking pictures nor videotaping their performance. They had accommodations in Trnava near by, in student dormitory. It was a real task to find it without a map on rainy night. I took my friend and singer Lucia Stasikova to Bratislava. Next morning we went to Vienna to my favorite Naschmarkt market, had some seafood at NORDSEE fast food restaurant, went to the old town, viewed the St. Stephan’s Cathedral and had some really great Ice cream at Kartner Strasse near by. We returned to Bratislava and went for a walk in the old town. It was great and very hot. On Sunday, Dubrava was to have another performance, this time in near by resort town at the man made lakes in Senec, but due to the bad weather in Senec their performance was cancelled. In Bratislava it was sunny and warm, we went for a walk again through the old town and decided to go to Vienna again, just for ice cream. Later on in the evening we went to Trnava where Lucia joined her group to travel to Prague later on in the night for two-week engagement at 11th Folklore Festival held at the Municipal Library Theatre. From Trnava I went to Bure again and returned to Bratislava the next day. I had a message from a former schoolmate of mine who came for a short visit to Bratislava from South Africa where he lives with his family for 32 years and we decided to go for a dinner with few more schoolmates. It was really nice to see old friends after long time.

I plan my days in Slovakia well ahead and the next day I was to do some research work in the most western part of Czech republic, but even after several long distance phone calls I wasn’t able to get hold of the people I was to see. So, I had a day for myself and decided to go to Prague. There is a great highway going from Bratislava through Brno, all the way to Prague and I must tell you it is build very well. There was no problem in reaching Prague in three hours. I went to the student dormitory where DUBRAVA was staying, woke up Lucia and we went to near by King’s Castle KARLSTEJN. You have to park your car at the parking lot near the main road as no cars are allowed to go directly up the steep hill to the castle. The walk to the castle was a bit disappointing with several makeshift stands selling anything and everything that had nothing to do with the castle or history of the area. Big signs at the entrances are advising you that taking of pictures is not allowed inside the castle. So I asked to see the director and I was granted a blanket permission to photograph the exhibits, without any problems. I guess it is worth to have International Press Pass. I did mail a set of pictures and CD with the pictures to the director of the castle Ing. Jaromir Kubu.

Later on in the afternoon we returned to Prague and went by metro to the old part of town and visited the Jewish Museum located in the former Jewish Ghetto. We visited the Old-New Synagogue built in early Gothic style in mid 13th century, the Spanish Synagogue built in 1868, the Pinkas Synagogue that was after the Second World War turned into a Memorial to the Jews of Bohemia and Moravia murdered by the Nazis. In 1968 while I studied in Prague for a brief period I did visited the Jewish Museum and I remembered seeing very touching exhibit of children drawings from the concentration camp in Terezin. I was happy to find the exhibit again upstairs in the Pinkas Synagogue. Among Terezin prisoners there were over 10000 children of whom 8000 were deported to the East and only 242 survived wartime suffering. The Jewish museum has over 4000 original drawings by these children in its collection. They provide a moving testimony to the cruel fate that befell the children and for the most part are the only relics of those who didn’t survive. In the old Jewish cemetery established in early 15th century. Today one can find almost 12000 tombstones, but the number of persons buried there is much greater. The most prominent person buried in the Old Jewish cemetery is great religious scholar and teacher Rabbi Liva ben Bezalel, known as Rabbi Low who died in 1609 and who is associated with the legend of robot “Golem.”

I returned to Bratislava late that night. Here I stayed for few days visiting friends and relatives and taking some pictures, as the weather was great.

Next day I was off again through Zvolen and Banska Bystrica to Liptovska Teplicka. As there were no last minute changes to my exhibit and everything was ready, next day I went to Eastern Slovakia to take some photographs in Hazin near Michalovce and to do Ancestral Village videos in Osadne north of Snina and Hencovce near Vranov nad Toplou.

Upon my return I had some wine with the director of the Liptovska Teplicka cooperative, manager of Dolinka, Slovak Radio personalities Sona Ludvigova, Janko Valentik and Vladimir Dobrik and Mr. And Mrs. Stefan Jancar, director of Schaumann fertilizers corporation for Slovakia. As we were sitting in the back patio, someone was knocking at the front door of the pension. So I went to see who it may be and to my surprise it was my friends from Bratislava Mr. And Mrs. Dula who arrived a day early. No problem as I had three unused beds in my room.
Saturday August 5, at 2 PM was the opening of my exhibit. I was very exited the whole morning and we arrived at the school early. There were many of my friends present already and I was really happy to see them. Shortly after 2 PM the Mayor of Liptovska Teplicka, Jozef Mezovsky opened the exhibit and his remarks were: Dear ladies and gentlemen I sincerely welcome everybody to the beginning of our festival that begins today in non traditional way and that is with the opening of photo exhibit of my friend and a friend of Liptovska Teplicka Mr. Vladimir Linder. In these photographs you can see the endeavor of the folk groups, individuals and organizers that were performing and were involved at the previous folk festivals in Liptovska Teplicka. Festival Liptovska Teplicka is very demanding for our village. In amateurish way we prepare this festival now in it’s fifth year and it is really hard but despite of all this we feel that the way we are following is good one the right one. I would like to thank Mr. Linder for these beautiful pictures that we have in front of us and we are trying also in this way to show the world what we have to offer in the name of our forefathers, our customs and traditions. I believe that these photographs will show also our people and children of Liptovska Teplicka, the beauty that they don’t realize exists here. They will perhaps realize the beauty once they view the pictures taken at Kralova Hola that show us the beauty that we have here from God. So once more time Vladimir I would like to thank you for everything.

Vladimir’s remarks: First of all I would like to thank the mayor for making this exhibit possible. Perhaps you may start thinking how did I get here, how did I find this village and why did I fell in love with it? Until few years ago I didn’t know anything about Liptovska Teplicka, then one summer I did some genealogical research here and then one day while visiting my friend Dr. Kapasny in Vazec, I learned about the Festival Under Kralova Hola in Liptovska Teplicka. It was summer 1997. Since then whenever I am in Slovakia I always come to Liptovska Teplicka and take pictures whenever I can, when the weather is good and stay in Pension DOLINKA. But I wrote myself a little note about Liptovska Teplicka:

“Liptovska Teplicka? Yes you are right, a village where the world ends, and a village at the end of the World, Behind God’s back. If you ever dreamt about a place where you can really feel good and would like to find out how would you feel in absolute silence in a place where you can hear the wind and splashing brook Teplicka, where you can look at the stars and in the morning being waken up by the bells of the passing cows and singing of different birds, Liptovska Teplicka is the place where all what I mentioned exists.”

I would like to thank everyone for coming and please enjoy the exhibit.

The response to my exhibit was unbelievable. You could see the people trying to find themselves on the pictures, you could see many smiles and many tears.

After the opening there was an official opening of the festival for invited guests at pension Dolinka and also there was a christening of a new book monograph: “DIALECT OF LIPTOVSKA TEPLICKA,” by PhDr. Gejza Horak and Mgr. Maria Stancekova.

The official program started at the amphitheater above the village at 5 PM with beautiful songs and dances by the local folklore group TEPLICAN, followed by groups from Velky Folkmar, Sunava, Zavadka nad Hronom, Strban and Janosik from Svit. Janosik performed at it’s best as few days later they were on the way to another festival in Great Britain.

Later on there was a fun program of group DRISLAK from Presov and this was followed by disco in the amphitheater grounds till the late hours.

Sunday, as it is tradition here during the festival, starts with a procession from Roman Catholic Church in the middle of the village to the amphitheater where the open air Roman Catholic Mass is held. Many groups were singing through the mass, but the unbelievably crystal clear voice of Monika Kandracova brought tears to many faces, including mine. She has a fantastic voice and sings with such an ease. Her husband playing accordion and her two sons playing violins accompanied her singing. One of the festival moderators, Vladimir Dobrik sung PANIS ANGELICUS by Cesar Franck and he was fantastic as well.

Shortly after the mass and lunch at the local house of culture, procession of all participants of Liptovska Teplicka 2000 started. This year there were many additions showing us the old farm tools and ways. I believe all the villagers participated. The show was definitely stolen by three elderly ladies two of them dressed up as doctors and one laying in bed as a patient, playing field hospital, to a point where they did cause a traffic jam of the procession. Sunday’s main program started with what was to be a direct broadcast for Slovak Radio entitled “Peasants Chat,” but the signal wasn’t strong enough, so they had to tape it and broadcast at a later date. Participating were Teplican, the best singer of Upper Hron Region songs Jan Ambroz, Folklore group Telgart, Monika Kandracova, Folk music Furmani from Spisske Vlachy, another folklore group from Liptovska Teplicka TURNICKA, that celebrated it’s 45th anniversary earlier this year. Groups that caught my eye were Teplican, Sliacancek from Liptovske Sliace, Telgartcok from Telgart, folk tale story teller Janko Valentik, folk group Telgart, my good friends folklore group HAJICEK from Chrenovec-Brusno.

Near-by village Vychodna was represented with great program of their folklore group Krivan and they were great. There was also a performance of Slovaks from Vojvodina by their folklore group Jednota Kos Hozany.

Folklore group MOSTAR from Brezno had their full repertoire program and they were fantastic, singing and dancing from all regions of Slovakia, finishing with “VALANY” dance from Detva.

At many festivals in Slovakia at 8 PM on Sunday, everything is quiet and you could possibly tell that there was a happening at the festival grounds from the garbage left behind and the drunks that lie around in the complex. What is rarity among all festivals in Slovakia is that the last program in Liptovska Tepicka starts at 8 PM Sunday night. After a year of absence Jan Ambroz, the famous and the best interpreter of the Uper Hron songs returned for a triumphant performance. The whole amphitheater was singing along every song. I don’t thing there is a folk singer in Slovakia that is loved more than Jan Ambroz. With his warm personality and beautiful voice he gets everybody boiling and going. And that was just fantastic. At the end of his performance Mayor Jozef Mezovsky thanked all participants and the people of the village that helped to make the 5th year of Folklore Festival under Kralova Hola-Liptovska Teplicka 2000 a great success.

Monday I planned to stay in Dolinka, just resting. But you know me better than that, I couldn’t resist the beautiful morning sunny skies, so I went to take some pictures above Dolinka, hay sheds in the village and then I went through the back roads south towards Kráľová Hoľa, an area where I have never been before and that offered me some beautiful views for pictures. They will be on display next year, as we decided to have a photo exhibit every year, with giving some space to local photographers who will offer their views of the area and festival to the public.

Monday evening there was a thank you dinner hosted by the mayor’s office for the village participants and practically the whole village was present. It was great to se so much enthusiasm. Towards the end of the evening we sang folk songs and one lady went home to bring a men’s folk costume for me. The guys dressed me up in behind the curtain and soon I emerged as real Tepličan. Boy, the pants were really scratching. We danced and sung more songs and I promised to learn the unofficial Liptovska Tepicka anthem “POD UBOCOU- Under Uboc” by next festival. The good news is that since my return home I am practicing every day and now I know the song by heart. Tuesday I had Ancestral video job in three hamlets near Turzovka. It was really hard as I discovered that the latest tourist map published by the Army Cartography Institute in scale 1:50000 isn’t correct at all, and it is mixed up. If I didn’t ask the locals for directions I would still be looking for the hamlets. The job involved filming hamlets at three different locations high in the mountains and Town of Turzovka, all in Kysuce region, which is in North Western Slovakia. I returned to Liptovska Teplicka very late that night.

Tuesday morning I traveled through the back roads around a man made hydro electric dam on river Black Vah and took a long way to go to Vazec, to visit my friend Dr. Kapasny and from him I learned of their upcoming festival celebrating the 720th anniversary of first mention of the village Vazec, to be held this coming Sunday afternoon. Next day I went to Bratislava visiting my friend Rastislav Haronik in Vysehradne near Nitrianske Pravno, Majka Rybarova in Bojnice, who was just getting ready to write her final exams at University in Nitra. I am happy to say that she made it and she is already in Sydney, Australia, attending English School and having a great time during the Olympics. I also stopped in Bošáca where I was to pick two liters of the FINEST BOSACKA SLIVOVICA. However I didn’t find my contact home. Then I went Mnesice, now part of Nove Mesto nad Vahom as I had a genealogical research job there. No luck this time, as I didn’t find what I was looking for. In Bratislava I had a telegram message, result of my letter to Hrabistin near Sumperk, made a phone call and the next day I was on the way on another genealogical research job, all the way past Sumperk in Czech republic, to Hrabistin.

I returned to Slovakia via Makov in Kysuce region of Slovakia, through unbelievable rain, hail and lightening storm. Made it to Zilina with no problem and I went to Vysehradne again, where I took pictures of Rastislav Haronik’s latest ceramic works. I stayed in Vysehradne over night.

Saturday morning I went to Kokava nad Rimavicou where the 10th year of the KOLIESKO festival was held. Here I met many of my folklorist friends again including Jana Kuzbelova, an owner of PARTA folk store in Detva, also my friend Jiri Tomanek from Straznice, whom I seen last time few weeks ago in Velka nad Velickou, PhDr. Milan Lescak a professor at the University of Jan Amos Komensky in Bratislava, Igor Kovacovic, first secretary and deputy of Matica Slovenska, my great friend Tibor Kucera, folklorist and writer from Zvolen and many others. Jana Kuzbelová had her shop set up as usual in the local library. Here I learned that my friend and the choreographer of the best amateur folklore group LUCNICA, Prof. Stefan Nosal just published a book under title: “ My life LUCNICA.” She gave me autographed copy and told me, to my surprise that professor Nosal mentioned my name on page 197 when he is writing about Lucnica’s visit at EXPO 86 in Vancouver. That is a great honor for me. I had a photo shoot at Betliar manor house forest park and later on I went to a reunion of our group at man made reservoir in Uhorna near Krasna Horka Castle. Here may of my friends were having a reunion camping afrer over 30 years and it was great to see them. I returned to Kokava nad Rimavicou later on in the afternoon.

I was very disappointed by the fact that one visiting member of the folklore group ZELEZIAR from Kosice was disturbing the 35th anniversary program of folklore group KOKAVAN by blowing practice grenades (petardy) during their program. By his actions he made sure nobody could enjoy this well prepared program. Perhaps the director of folklore group Zeleziar and my good friend Vladimir Urban should talk to this guy and perhaps put this individual under lock and key, and throw away the key, during Slovakia’s folk festivals, so this NUT won’t be able to disturb the spectators as well as the performers at the festivals anymore. I wonder how would the members of folklore group ZELEZIAR feel if I would do the same thing at their Kosice Folklore Days this coming December during their performances? I may just do that as I do plan to attend.

I packed my photo and video gear through the performance, had a coffee with my friend Jana Kuzbelova and went to Liptovska Teplicka. Sunday I went to the church and later on I went to Vazec to see their 720th anniversary celebration and folklore festival. It was small, but really nice with folklore group VAZEC from Vazec and MOSTAR from Brezno being the main performers. Later on that night I went to Bratislava and Monday I was off to Italy. First to Venice, continued San Marino and from there to Arezzo to see magnificent frescoes by Pietro  della Francesca, The Legend of the True Cross, in the church of St. Francis. Then I went to the Riviera Amalfi coast south of Naples. Here in a tiny coastal village called Praiano I stopped to have dinner in the Trattoria S.Gennaro “Da Vittorio.” What an experience of seafood. I had frutti di mare antipasto, clam soup, deep fried squid and shrimp, and spaghetti ala frutti di mare. Next day, first thing in the morning I went for a swim, and continued to Pompeii where I spent the whole day. In evening I went to Rome.

Stayed in great hotel on Via Apia Nova and in the morning I took subway all the way to Vatican and yes I finally seen the Sistine Chapel and the greatest work of art in the world, The Last Judgment by Michelangelo and the Vatican treasures. Nothing in the world will top this experience. The feeling I had walking through the side door to Sistine Chapel. I shivered and cried and with my mouth wide open I looked and looked at the ceiling, the sides the front and back, in disbelief that I am actually here. Vatican museum closes at 2:30PM on Saturdays. After a short walk I was at the Piazza of St. Pietro. I entered the St. Peter’s Cathedral through the sacred Holy door that is only opened through the jubilee years. Went to view Michelangelo's Pieta and the grave of St. Peter. I strolled through Rome the rest of the afternoon, visiting Fontana Di Trevi, Partheon, Piazza Navona, and Spanish Steps, Monument of Vittorio Emanuel, spending some time at Forum Romanum and enjoying the Triumphant Arches and the Coliseum. Then I went north and stopped in Perugia, Ancient University town.

Week later I returned to Bratislava, made another visit to Vysehradne and Martin and went to Liptovska Teplicka. I had another job in Udol near Stara Lubovna that also took me to Bardejov and a small village called Regetovka, which is north of Bardejov past Zborov. I also visited my friends the Stasik family in Vitaz. Later on I returned to Liptovska Teplicka, called my friend in Poprad, Norika Gaskova and we went for dinner at Slovak Restaurant in Poprad again. Norika used to live and work right here in Vancouver and for a short time she also lived at our place, and we became really good friends. Unfortunately she returned to Slovakia and lives there. Should she decide at that time to stay here she could have been Canadian Citizen by now. The one thing she really misses from Canada is the Cheez Whiz by Kraft, one of few things you can’t buy in Slovakia, yet. So I am bringing her a mega jar of Cheeze Whiz in October.

Wednesday morning I went to Bojnice, Prievidza and got hold of my friend in Bosaca and did pick the two liters of the finest Bosacka Slivovica. In Bratislava I learned from my friends that my long time friend and advisor to the minister of Culture of The Slovak Republic, PETER MARAKY will be celebrating his 50th birthday at the Slovak National Museum cafeteria in Bratislava, Thursday afternoon. As I had plenty of time I went to visit my friends Zuzana and Martin Vais that I met during Lucnica’s visit to Vancouver in 1986 during EXPO 86 and we remained very good friends ever since. I haven’t seen them for few years and It was really nice to see them and their three boys and to see how much they grown. I went to Peter’s party for a very short time and I wasn’t drinking at all as I was going to Munich later on that night. 

I packed and repacked my suitcase and soon I was on the autobahn sailing towards Munich, Germany. Boarded the CANADA 3000 airplane and arrived in Vancouver on time. And that is how my summer 2000 Slovakia’s trip came to an end.

GO BACK TO TRAVEL

Published in the Slovak Heritage Live newsletter Volume 8, No. 3, Fall 2000
Copyright © Vladimir Linder 2000 
3804 Yale Street, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada V5C 1P6
The above article may not be copied, reproduced, republished, or redistributed by any means including electronic, without the express written permission of Vladimir Linder. All rights reserved.