Day Five - Villages, Families and Lots of Laughs

We awoke excited at the prospect of seeing our villages for the first time and meeting family. Our first stop was at Anna Tkacova. Her husband Jozef was related to Dianne and myself. Jozef passed away last year and we had always had a wonderful time with him. Anna was a gracious host, served us with Chlebicky and took us to the old house on the property that her son-in-law refubished years ago. It was made to look like a typical Rusyn house from years ago.

Our second stop was at Anna and Jozef Prihatny's. Anna is my cousin on the Rusinak side. She provided us with chicken soup and then the best pork schnitzel and potato salad. We talked about family and shared stories.

In between family visits we found some time to do some cemetery sleuthing.

On to Milka Denis' house. More Chlebicky! We talked about Maryann Brinda and other family members. We are all amazed at how we are all interrelated!

A new stop for me was the Jedinak household which Nancy and Dianne are related to. No immediate connections were figured out but emails were exchanged and more research is needed.

Our last stop was at the Grivna house. Maria brought out several old photographs for Walt to scan. Walt brought his family tree with him and pretty much narrowed down the Grivna line he is descended from and the one Maria's husband is from along with mine. They both tie back several generations. A small reunion took place when her son Marian and Starosta Gmiterko arrived. They greeted Nina and I several years ago on Bright Monday by dousing us with bottles of water, a tradition. Many shots of Becherovka were exchanged along with a lot of laughs.

We dropped Slavo off back in Stebnik and his head was pounding from all the translating he had to do.

Another night recapping the day's events in the kitchen and planning tomorrow's itinerary. Since it will be raining tomorrow we are opting to visit a couple of museums.

Until then...