Day 4

 Adam again! 

After we finally got the kids down for bed last night, we had to do some late night planning just to confirm what we wanted to do today. We've been closely monitoring the weather and the latest update showed that today was actually going to be a nice day for the most part (instead of thunderstorms as previously forecasted), so that meant it was going to be a busy day with lots of sightseeing!

Because this was one of the busier days that we had planned, we had an early wake up call. I had gotten a head start on making breakfast (sausage and potato hash using leftovers from last night), and once we got everyone fed and dressed, we were out the door around 6:45am on our way to Kosice, the second largest city in Slovakia! It is approximately a 2 hour drive to Kosice, which is in the southeastern part of the country, just 10 miles north of the Hungarian border, and 50 miles west of the border with Ukraine. Along the drive, I had planned a stop about halfway at Spis Castle so we could stretch our legs and I could get in a quick drone session. It is one of the largest castle complexes in all of central Europe. 

After the quick 15 minute break, we were back on the road. Our first stop was just outside the city of Kosice and was something that the kids were especially looking forward to - the Kosice Zoo and Dino Park! Anyone who knows Luke, knows that dinosaurs are his absolute favorite thing in the world, so he has been looking forward to this for weeks if not months. To build the suspense, we spend some time in the zoo first and saw many birds, a lion, bears, different types of deer, boars, goats, monkeys, and even a couple seals. It was surprisingly a very nice zoo that was spread out over a large area and had very large/natural spaces for the animals to roam about. Finally, we could deny him no longer and we arrived at the Dino Park located at the very back of the zoo - the furthest point from the entrance. Once we got in Luke immediately ran off and started interacting with all the dinosaurs. Across the Dino Park, there was probably in the neighborhood of 50 different realistic dinosaurs that appear to be living in their natural habitat. Some of them even moved and roared. Others were eating or being eaten - very exciting. There were also numerous photo ops and a dino fossil sandbox which Luke spend some time digging around in. After about 45 minutes or so, we had seen all there was to be seen and we were able to finally convince Luke that it was time to leave. 

It was a long walk back to the car, and it was only getting hotter outside. From there, we made the short 15 minute drive into the city of Kosice and were quickly able to find parking. At this point, Ryan was getting a bit fussy with all the going in and going out of his car seat, so we had to calm him down before setting off to find a place for lunch. We settled on the Central Pub which was located right on the main street. Since it was nice outside and we were in the shade, we opted to sit outside on the patio. Jessica ordered the ground steak with egg and french fries and I went for the classic Liptov-style pierogis. The kids shared a kids meal of dinosaur chicken nuggets (sticking with the dino theme) and french fries. As we were eating our lunch, we kept seeing people walk by with ice cream cones which looked very yummy on this warm day. So, naturally, after we wrapped up lunch, our first stop in the city was the ice cream shop a few doors down. 

Kosice is centered on one main street and in the middle of the street is where the state theater, a few park areas, and a cathedral are located. So, we basically just started walking up and down this street. While Luke played around a fountain in the middle of park, I walked over to the Church of the Holy Trinity. Once inside, a nice lady told me that entry was 2 euro and that it came with a personalized guide of the church and its history. I paid and told her that I just wanted to look around quickly and that no guide was necessary. I don't think she understood me because she immediately went into the 500 year history of the church and continued on for about 10 minutes to take me through the entire history of the church. The baroque-style interior was amazing, however, so I was glad to have visited. We then continued up the main street and after taking some pictures of the huge St. Elizabeth's Cathedral, I joined back up with Jessica and she pointed to the stroller and low and behold, both kids were fast asleep. Not to let this opportunity go to waste, we enjoyed a nice walk through the rest of the main street along, a visit inside the St. Elizabeth's Cathedral, and a stroll down a couple side streets before ending up back at the car park. 

The itinerary may have had additional options, but we were done and ready to head back home. After a quick stop for gas, we were back on the highway and made it back in a quick hour and 45 minutes. We stopped quickly at a Lidl grocery store to get some quick ingredients for a pasta dinner since we know we would be too tired to head back out to a restaurant later on. Once back at the chalet, we let the kids get some energy out in the backyard - bouncing on the trampoline, chasing soccer balls, and playing in the sand pit. I cooked up the pasta for a quick dinner and then it was time to start putting the kids down for bed. Now we are enjoying a few minutes of peace and quiet before we go to sleep as well.  

Stay tuned!!