Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad

So two good things and one bad. The first good? I wrote over 1,800 words today. This vacation is being very generous to my writing. The second good? We went into Trencin today and had a lovely time walking around and seeing everything that’s changed. I have to say that it feels like Trencin is really coming along as a city. The other two times I’d been here, you could still feel the Communist influence on everything–the gray buildings, small beat up cars, and the general poor service you’d get in any store you went into. Now, things are different. They’re repainting the buildings, the cars are Toyotas, Opels, Hondas and the like, and the people feel all around much friendlier–even in the stores. So that’s nice.

It was strange in a way. The last time I’d visited this city, it was in my head as I set a novel there. So now I’m able to come and see where all sorts of things happened in my book. A first for me, and one that I quite enjoy. For some reason it makes me feel like the things I wrote about actually happened–like my characters were or are real people out there somewhere. Maybe that just means I have an overactive imagination . . .

It was just me, wife and son in the city, along with my brother-in-law Milos, who came for the ride. Since he knows about everyone in the city, he’s helpful to have with. And–even better for all of you–I took pictures.


Wife and son at my wife’s elementary school. (I think that’s the kind of school it was, at least. The Slovak school system still eludes me . . . )


Trencin Castle, looking up from the Plague Tower in one of the city’s squares


My son plays in the Vodnik fountain. For those of you who have read my book, Vodnik, this will make sense. For those of you who haven’t, well too bad.


He’s a cute little bounder, isn’t he?


My son also discovered the joys of pigeon-scaring. If there were a Godzilla movie for pigeons, my son would star in it.

The bad? I got too much sun and I have a headache. Poor me. But I suppose that’s a fine price to pay for what I got in return.

4 thoughts on “Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad”

  1. Glad to hear it. You’d have a blast if you ever came to Trencin. Well–if you learned Slovak and then came. Just speaking English here can be rough going . . .

  2. Looks fun!
    Wow, looks like you’re having a super time! The pics are great! The weather looks perfect. Let is know if there’s a time when you’d like to talk via Skype — maybe in another week or so when there’s a lot to catch up on.

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