More wanders in Kosice

Yesterday afternoon we were planning to go back to the bobsledding track but we found out that the bus schedule really didn't work. Instead I spent some more time wandering around the Kosice city center. I went to St. Elizabeth's Cathedral and asked to go up the Royal Staircase inside the church. At first the woman was confused about what I wanted. Most people ask to go up the bell tower so she thought that was what I wanted too. I showed her the guide book and she understood. The other man helping with entrances came and unlocked the very small old wooden door to the bottom of the staircase for me. He waited at the bottom of the stairs while I went up and explored and took pictures. For some reason my camera wasn't cooperating and so many of the pictures are blurry.

After visiting the Royal Staircase I wandered around until about 5pm. At 5pm there were some bells ringing for a church service to begin so I followed them into a church. I wandered into a Calvinist service! I had never been to a Calvinist service before and it was interesting... oh wait, maybe interesting isn't the right word for it. The church is very plainly decorated. There were five songs that were sung accompanied by an organ and in the middle of singing them a female minister spoke/read. I of course had no idea what she was saying since it was in Slovak but a couple of the songs were similar to the Lutheran songs I am used to. After the service everyone shook the minister's hand as they left the church.



This morning I also visited the city center on my way to work. I got a later start than I had originally planned so I didn't stop to get a melon. I found the House of Art, The Oldest Preserved Synagogue, parts of the old town wall, the New Synagogue, and the 12 Apostles building. One interesting thing about the old town wall sections is that when they were discovered and restorations were underway on them they left sections of the road paved differently to show where the old walls were located. This was done in the 1990s. I didn't read this in any of the historical literature but figured it out when looking at a section of the wall yesterday.