Seems simple but the security we had to go through was unbelievable. More so than for the Royal flight. Duncan (the BBC cameraman) and I went through last as we had the most luggage as usual. Finally through we waited in the VIP lounge which was straight out of the 70's - very atmospheric. At last we were allowed on the plane - before the red carpet was laid out. Climbing the stairs and looking down at the tires - they were interesting. Bald kind of interesting. The fact that you can see the braiding under the rubber all the way round was a nice effect. Glad they did if for the Presidents plane as you wouldn't want him to have a blow out on landing now would you.
I sat at the back next to one of the emergency exits.
Never guess but we did land safely.
Up at the High Tatras - it was cloudy to say the least. Here we waited for the Queen and Prince to come up on the vernicular railway. Hill tram to you and me.
Every now and again the sun burn't through the clouds to warm us all up a bit while we waited.
And then the cloud seemed to come back in force again. All these peopel had walked up. Sadly we didn't have that luxury we came up in a mini bus....
Finally just before the Queen arrived blue sky's appeared revealing stunning view up to the Tatras themselves.
Ever present was security - though once again they didn't seem to do much about the snappers getting in the way of us and the Royal party so they couldn't see where they were going.
Finally she arrived and all went well - despite the distinct lack of snow - a few patches were around. To get from one position to the next before her we had to run around the back of the cafe building which involved clambering up a 10m bank - it must have been the altitude as I was panting so badly when we got round the other side.
Trying to not to fall down the mountain, I was perched on the very edge, was bad enough - until more of those pesky Slovakian Photographers came and asked it I could move a bit more. No being the answer - and they didn't want to go down the hill, they just pushed in. Sam in the mean time was really having kittens.... just didn't do what they were told - and through out it all she kept smiling - absolutely fantastic!!
Back down in Poprad for the last engagement before the Royals flew home we met back up with Sam and made our way to the Ice Hockey ring where the Queen would drop a puck starting a Hockey match. We couldn't go through the main entrance as the red carpet was out so we headed to a side entrance with two huge goons in place. Goons is exactly the right word. Cunjure up a pair of big fat Eastern European secret police thugs and that's what we were confronted with. Sam explained who we were and what we were doing - and we made our way to go in - - all 10 of us with official passes. The answer was no! We tried again. No. Sam was getting frustrated as the Queen would arrive soon and there would be no British press there at all. No no no no NO! That was enough - we turned around and wait straight through the main entrance - saying hi to one of the British Security detail - who had no problems with us at all - along the red carpet and then ran round the ring and on to the ice to set up.
Still happy, the Queen enjoyed the the game, we said bye to Sam who was flying back on the Royal flight. And just to make sure they knew we left via "goon exit" smiling all the way.
The package done and lives done we had a few hours to kill until dinner... Hmmm staying at a hotel called Aqua City built on the site of hot springs. Having secured a new pair of trunks I ventured down to the spa area to meet the girls for a quick Sauna.
I'm not sure whether it was to mask the sulphur smell or just for effect but each sauna room had different herbal infusions in the steam which made each room really refreshing. Not as invigorating as the ice plunge pool though. Jesus it was cold.
Have been revilatised we headed to the out door pools - a nice 34'C - the same temperature as the pool in Delhi - but in the cool mountain air much nicer. Best of all they had an aluminuim cylindrical bouncing pool. OK so I don't know if there's a proper name but its a 6 foot cylinder standing upright in the pool a narrow entrance and a bowl shaped bottom. I went in with Rose. We stood on one side with three guys on the other. To start off you take turns jumping up a down and with the water acting like a see saw you start getting higher and faster - to see who wins or rather who goes out of sink and gets water up the nose and very wet. Unsurprisingly they were very determined and in the end we had to give up from the shear voracity... dignity all still intact though.
All in all a very good trip.
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