Wow... pretty amazing few days. I left Bratislava at 12:30 on saturday, to a place called Poprad. Was about a 6 hour train trip. And yet again, I stood up for the greater majority of it, as there were no seats. I had only just made the train and it seems people get there earlier than 2 minutes before the train leaves..... It wasnt so bad.

Got to Poprad at 18:30, and found where my bus left from. I also found that my bus didn't leave untill 21:30. So I played the waiting game, looking up into the Tatra Mountains which was to be my destination. Got my bus, and it was about an hour and a quarter to where I had booked accommodation, in a place called Zdiar. Got dropped off at the bus stop, and I gathered Zdiar was quite a small place, as there were no lights and it was quite dark. Apparently my Penzion was not far from the bus stop. So I got out the wind-up torch which Lloyd had given me for christmas (which might I add is a cracker). Picked a direction and amazingly found a sign to my Penzion. Buzzed the door and was addmitted by my rather grumpy host (it was now past 23:15). Got my room, which was extremely cosy, with my own shower and toilet, which is complete luxury after sharing dorms, showers and toilets.

Got up in the morning to my delicious brekky, paid for the accommodation. Now it worked out at 500 slovak crowns per night, which is about $25. I payed about $20 for the hostel in Bratislava, which was a 8 bed dorm with shared everything, and no brekky. So all in all I was completely stoked with my deal and surroundings. I bought a map of the Tatras, picked my walk from Zdiar. To a place called Kopiscke Sedle. Took about 3.5 hours of semi-difficult hiking. In places it was sheer rockface, with safety chains bolted in to pull yourself up. As I got to about 1700m there was ice on the ground whih was fun, and I skidded my way on up (the skidding was much more fun downhill). Crossed the saddle, and was immediately hit with the view of the Tatra range. Absolutely mind-blowing... the size of these things... I stood staring for a good 10 mins and then walked on to a higher point further up. It is extremely hard to convey the enormity of them with photos, it is quite an art I'm sure. I sat up there for a good hour, ate my fruit and packed lunch, and headed back down. Arrived back at the Penzion completely b*****ed, had a siesta then went down for dinner. Got a mushroom and potato soup, and rabbit with rice. was delicious!!! So this morning, I got up, had my brekky, and moved to a bigger town where there are many more hikes. Looking for accommodation which is not easy. I'll upload the photos now, and hopefully they will show you something of the Tatras :)