Jo finished the furniture and boar wrapping (using bubble wrap – we bought 100 meters) around seven in the evening. Scott is excused from much of the labor because he is ill, having run a fever on the weekend and still hacking from a lingering cough.
Our original plan was to finish off getting the place ready for the builders (ironically their first job is to demolish) on Wednesday evening and move into town. Jo sees that Manchester United and Chelsea are going to be on Slovak television for the first leg in the semi-finals for the Champions League. There’s no television reception at the flat. So we remain at the Chata one more night.
We find one last steak in the freezer (the rest have been moved to the very nice deep freeze at the flat) and Jo gamely makes her famous French fries after all that wrapping, while Scott grills the steak (big enough for two) on the Weber.
United wins.
We both sleep really well until the alarm sounds at six-thirty a.m. We are up and grumbling about (Scott) getting the last touches done at the chata, in anticipation of the builders coming early. TV and dvd player out to the car. Computer and printer out to the car. Bed clothes off the bed, into the car and the now naked bed covered over with plastic.
There is a reason for the plastic wrapping: the builders will begin the job by using a jack-hammer on the living room floor in order to ‘cut a hole’ for the new stairway. Everything will be covered in plaster, tile and brick dust.
Last into the car is Sisi’s bed and Sisi, and we’re off to town.
We haven’t moved very much since the flat is furnished, but Jo insists on bringing her kitchen stuff: plastic cooking utensils just don’t belong in any kitchen. Copper pots do a much better job than Teflon.
We’ve also brought two each of our red wine, white wine, champagne and martini glasses. There’s a fine china cabinet here that cries out to be filled with Austrian Riedel and Slovak Rona crystal.
One other useless but most important thing she transports is her reproduction of Vermeer’s “The Milk Maid,” which she purchased in the Louvre gift shop in 1968 on a summer trip to Europe. This little picture has been in every kitchen that Jo has lived in as an adult. That is not about to change, even for two months.
As we put the final bubble wrap over the kitchen buffet that holds many of our cook books (Tony Bourdain, Daniel Boulud, Cook’s Illustrated and Joy all come with us), the builders arrive.
Sure enough, the jack hammer is the first thing out.
Sisi, as you may know, hasn’t had a happy relationship with the car. Her very first time in our car, she threw up twice. She was just eight weeks old and the long trip from her warm and happy litter life to a strange new one in a new country (she’s Czech by birth) was memorable only by her puking on Jo’s boiled wool coat. At least she knew enough to pee and poo outside. Since then, car trips have not been high on her list, though as she matures, she is less comatose; just hyper-alert and hyperventilating.
These past few days, however, as she watches us pack the car up and take several trips without her, has put it in her head that she might need to come with us to supervise, especially when her own bed and favorite chew toy are finally put into the car.
We have no trouble at all getting her to leap up onto her beddybye in the back of the car.
Our first day in the flat is memorable: Sisi is attacked by a devil German Shepherd off his leash (those muzzled thank god). He doesn’t hurt her but scares the pee out of her. The owner, a diminutive and actually quite genial woman, gets her dog under control and moves on. She is genial – Jo had a halting conversation with her the first time Scott took Jo to the flat. We were waiting outside the building for the landlord and this woman strolls up one of the steep hill roads with her unleashed monster dog. He is a clear devil dog you can tell right away because he obviously likes to intimidate people walking along the same road. He does nothing to humans but sniff at them and be big and brutish looking. The lady was interested in our moving into the building and asks where we are from. Jo endears herself by commenting that her dog is a dobrý pes (Slovak for ‘good dog’).
Jo meets her again with dog, when she shows her Slovak tutor the flat. The lady remembers Jo too.
The third time is not so fun. It’s Sisi’s first time out the door of the building for a walk and we get blind-sided by this monster right on the stoop. I try to stay between the monster and the empress but Sisi tears away in terror, running around the corner with the monster in hot pursuit. The diminutive owner finally gets her monster on leash and Sisi cowers in terror, whimpering but unhurt really. Just scared pee-less.
Having lived in big cities most of our lives, we enjoy being back in town. Banská Štiavnica is the main reason for our move to this part of Slovakia and it is fun to actually live right in town for a while. We watch the sun set over the hill to the west and the sun rise over the hill to the east. We discover new walking routes we didn’t know about. We watch the ‘weather’ come in and just generally love the views of this town from our windows.
Although we enjoy it, Sisi has had some getting used to ambient street sounds, people talking as they walk by; other tenants in the building opening and shutting doors. She barks at every new noise.
Adding insult to injury, we take our Sisi to the vet the very next day for a hysterectomy.
Jo remarks that we’ll know when she’s back to normal after the anesthetic wears off when she starts to bark again (it’s been a very quiet day so far).
Everything wrapped in plastic looks all to familiar to me...and you will probably still wonder how on earth dust got through the plastic onto everything you so carefully wrapped. But it will be well worth it when it is completed!
Posted by: Karen | 04/08/2011 at 04:46 PM
Love your photos and journal. I look forward to hearing more!
Posted by: Carol | 04/09/2011 at 08:10 PM
Two months, eh? How frequently will you visit? Garden?
I wish for you patience & a sense of humor. <3
Posted by: Nancy | 04/10/2011 at 10:02 PM
Jo and Scott:
I was just showing Reilly (the 7 year old) your plans, photos and I'm telling her all about you too, who we love and admire for your continued zest for life. Your Mom is right Jo, we have no doubt that such a wise woman would produce such a gem like you. But, all all the explanation and photos being shown to my Reilly, her greatest interest lies in knowing more about SISI!! She loves dogs and now is in love with yours. So, send us more of SISI. Oh, Reilly is reading my note over my shoulder and just said "send us SISI!!. Love, The Duggans
Posted by: maryellen duggan | 04/16/2011 at 08:32 PM
Awww, poor thing! It's never easy, feeling sick during those car trips. It takes a lot of time and patience to get used to riding. Well, here's to hoping that Sisi didn't feel too bad during the drive.
Posted by: Tari Ledsome | 01/05/2012 at 04:03 PM