Slovakia - In the caves

This morning the students went to their respective fish farms and I took the opportunity to have a wander around the local park, where I found some interesting street furniture and sculptures. I particularly like the heart shaped bottle cap recycling bin, which is both useful and quirky.

I also found an odd looking gnome that has a small library, people are encouraged to leave books for others to read, or simply choose a book yourself. There are many benches in the park, allowing you to sit in the shade, disconnect from your screens and have some special me-time, getting lost in a book.

After returning to the lycée, I caught up on a bit of paperwork; checking the students Move Agri blogs (a job that never fails to make me feel like a
gendarme), organising Sunday's trip to Aqua Parc and spending a some time with Michal helping him to plan his visit to La Canourgue. We went through the provisional timetable and then found flights, hotels and car hire firms.

After lunch, we went into the woods. There are lots of information boards in the forest, detailing the flora and fauna to be found; from pine martens to salamanders, preying mantises to badgers.

The caves are also home to 5 different species of bats.

Slovakia has a large bear population, and after reminding the students that there is NO WAY THEY CAN OUT RUN A BEAR, let alone climb a tree faster than our furry friends, we set off to find the Driny caves.

The Driny caves are in the Low Carpathian mountains, about 2km from the town of Smolenice. The entrance is at an altitude of around 400m and 550m of the caves are open to the public. They are limestone caves with some spectacular stalactites, stalagmites and stalagnates (where a stalagmite and a stalactite meet).

The caves also contain some underground "lakes" - although they really are more like pools due to their small size. The guide spoke some English but she also had a recording in English that she played for the non-Slovak speaking visitors. The temperature of the caves was around 7•; lovely and cool inside.

We finished our tour, returned to the cars and made it back to the lycée in time for dinner.

I then had the pleasure(?) in berating the students for not completing their blogs and I grounded them until they had done so. It's amazing just how quickly they can write 150 words in English when the threat of not having any free time is on the table!

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