We're still in Slovakia and I started to write this last night because we were parked in a really dull place at a truck stop. Nothing to do here other than watch cars go by, ad since it's Saturday there aren't many trucks on the road either

We're safe here no worries

Mom says the history of the countries around here is very interesting and complicated, at least it is for her.......we Googled and we choose some facts to share.

Slovakia is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the southwest, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's mostly mountainous territory spans about 49,000 square kilometers (19,000 sq mi), with a population of over 5.4 million. The capital and largest city is Bratislava, while the second largest city is Košice

Mom did plan to visit Bratislava but she changed her mind after the Castle visit she did today, she came back pooped out after that tour..

more about that later I got a few more things about Slovakia

After World War I and the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the state of Czechoslovakia was established. It was the only country in central and eastern Europe to remain a democracy during the interwar period. Nevertheless, local fascist parties gradually came to power in the Slovak lands, and the first Slovak Republic existed during World War II as a partially-recognized client state of Nazi Germany. At the end of World War II, Czechoslovakia was re-established as an independent country. After a coup in 1948, Czechoslovakia came under communist administration and became a part of the Soviet-led Eastern Bloc

Are you with me so far?

Attempts to liberalize communism in Czechoslovakia culminated in the Prague Spring, which was crushed by the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in August 1968. In 1989, the Velvet Revolution peacefully ended the Communist rule in Czechoslovakia. Slovakia became an independent state on 1 January 1993 after the peaceful dissolution of Czechoslovakia, sometimes known as the Velvet Divorce.

Slovakia is also home to eight UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The world's largest per-capita car producer, Slovakia manufactured a total of 1.1 million cars in 2019, representing 43% of its total industrial output

 Slovakia became a member of NATO on 29 March 2004 and of the European Union on 1 May 2004. On 1 January 2009, Slovakia adopted the Euro as its national currency.In 2019, Zuzana Čaputová became Slovakia's first female president.

So this morning we left the camp with clean clothes and a cleaned up Lucy on our way to Bratislava, but first, we're going to see a castle the Bojnice castle

The idea of setting up a museum in the Bojnice Castle came from its last noble owner, Count Ján Pálffy. In his will dated November 14, 1907, he expressed his wish that the castle be made available to the public and that the works of art remain in their original places for visitors to see. The Bojnice Museum is a specialized art-historical museum with nationwide scope. Bojnice Castle is one of the oldest and most important monuments in Slovakia.

So of course this was one of those no-dogs places, I don't get it they used to have horses in there and what can my soft pads do that's worse than a horses hof? 

Mom bought the tour that was starting an hour later, so we went for a walk, and look at this tree!!!!!

just clusters of flowers

 The tour of the castle shows the original furniture, various artifacts, and paintings like the late Gothic collection Bojnice altar by a master of Florence from the 14th century. The tour also includes a visit to a stalactite cave under the castle connected with the 26-meter-deep castle well.

The guide was a sweet girl but only spoke Slovak, English, or German speaking guest got a pamphlet to read about the rooms

Bojnice Castle is a medieval castle in Bojnice, Slovakia. It is a Romanesque castle with some original Gothic and Renaissance elements built in the 12th century.

Unfortunately, someone thought it was a good idea to add Disney figures  to a 13-century castle and say Disney got the inspiration from this castle ............hmm

Several very ornate tile heaters

This tour was going at a very fast speed and there wasn't much time to read the pamphlet look around and take picture

gold gilded bed 

The golden room is the most famous one in the castle Its ceiling is cut from pinewood and decorated with gold leaf There are 183 angels looking down from the ceiling each one with a different expression. This was a room Mom would have wanted to stay a little longer 

Lots of beautiful paintings and chandeliers, especially this one. 

The numbers are there to mark places where they had found an older painting underneath.........

 This floor is made from yellow and black marble in the form of fish scales

 Thi painting

The large room is divided into two with a wall with heavy carvings of six animals representing the six deadly sins; gluttony, arrogance, greed, envy, anger, and laziness, and the bed symbolizes the last sin, called lust.

The legend said one owner had the castle built for a French countess with whom he fell in love. She got tired of waiting and married someone else and as an expression of his grief, he crowned the tower with a thorn crown.

There's a well and a cave 26 meters below the fourth courtyard where finds from the stone age were discovered

Many steps later the almost 2-hour tour was over puuh/

There were no elevators so now I understand why Mom was so beat by the time she came back. The parking lot we were sent to wasn't around the corner either

Right now we are in Hungary but Mom thought we were in Slovenia so she bought a toll vignette for Lucy haha Hope the money goes to filling a few potholes.

We are camping by Hungary's biggest lake named Lake Balaton:  It is a freshwater lake and is the largest in Central Europe and one of the region's foremost tourist destinations. The Zala River provides the largest inflow of water to the lake,

It's getting late Mom is tired time to go to bed. It looks like a rainstorm is on its way because all of a sudden all the birds got quiet.

great sleeping weather 

Wet Kisses

Henry

As nice as it was at this camp we had to move on to find a washing machine so we left this place that was named ?

We are now driving west admiring the gorgeous snowcapped mountains 

A caravan of these green trucks was heading somewhere and we were hoping they will be safe knowing we aren't all that far from the Ukrainian border.

We finally found a place where Mom could do her laundry, they had a washing machine, but no dryer so even if this isn't a very pretty sight, it has to do, and Mom loves the way her clothes smell hanging outside

The name of the place is Camping Trusalova and is located a bit away from the main roads but it's so beautiful the extra miles were worth it. We stayed here 2 nights just relaxing parked next to this gorgeous waterfall.

It's still low season for tourism here so it's not crowded at all, still the second night someone decided to park between Lucy and the waterfall?

There's a small restaurant here and Mom thinking it must be a "Mom home-cooking" type of place decided she MUST have a goulash supper before leaving. It was good but nothing spectacularr

No English is spoken and very little German so it's not all that easy for Mom 

I on the other hand have no problem communicating when this pretty girl came to visit.

I sniffed her, she sniffed me

and then we were friends

Her Mom called so I followed her over the bridge, but then MY Mom called and the obedient dog I am I had to leave her.

But now I knew where she lived so I talked Mom into going to get a beer so I could see her again.

and we did, 

Unfortunately, my girl had already left, and only a hissing cat was there 

The beer was still good though

It's now 6 am and it's going to be another sunny day 

I don't know how far we are driving today but I'm sure it'll be great