Several days later Zuzka, Zane and I drove into central Slovakia where there is a beautiful mining town in the mountains. It has an expansive history, filled with big names and important events, but that is when the gold and silver flowed from the earth here, now those days are gone, only the beautiful town and the many empty mining tunnels beneath it remain. Upon arrival Zuzka and Zane check into their hotel and I check into my hostel which is just up the street from them. We go to a brewery and I have a craft 1L beer for 5€ while Zane has a .5, he was bummed because he thought he was getting the large too. They have some chicken wings and bread and then we decide to leave the pricey establishment. They go to rest in their hotel while I go straight to the super market to get another liter of beer and some garlic bread, both sub par by far, in comparison to the restaurant we just left, but it kept me going.I return to my hostel and decide to hang out in the office, where I end up watching one of the Georgian volunteers there play World of Warcraft, with his Ukrainian girlfriend looking very bored and annoyed on the couch behind him. We talk about Warcraft and then about Russia and it's involvement in both Georgia and the Ukraine in recent times. They were nice kids. I was supposed to meet Zane and Zuzka at around 8 at this one bar called strange girl, but it was 8:10 by the time I realized and I had to run down the street to meet them. It was quickly apparent that they really didn't serve food there so we went to a place called Arch Angel, where vegan fast food is delivered, Vegan fast food? Never had that before. I ordered the stir fried wok noodles and carrot, ginger soup, totaling 5€, it was nothing special, but it did the trick. The next day it was snowing almost the whole time, the mountain town became very picturesque and pretty cold too. Zuzka was really hankering for some sweets, so we went to a little cafe so she could buy coffee and cake. From there we found the office that organized tours into the mines and walked to the meeting room where a Slovakian family of four were seated patiently listening to the guide. Then we donned our rain jackets and hard hats to descend into the mines beneath us. Naturally we had our 20 minute history lesson and safety briefing by the burly Slovakian man first, who of course only spoke Slovakian. Which is a real shame because I thought lots of his jokes were very well delivered, funny how you can tell those things even though you don't understand a single word. Zuzka said she'd translate what he said later, but that never happened. The mines were accessed from the street through a famous metal clad door that mine workers, tourists and Slovakian Presidents alike have all walked through. It was dark down there, very dark and wet, with water seeping from the stones and dripping down from stalactites. Its a very good thing Zane had his hard hat on, because if he didn't he'd likely be a vegetable now. He was hitting his head all the way down and all the way up. Being 6'4" really has it's draw backs I guess. The most interesting things we saw were the hallways leading to collapsed shafts, crazy looking fungi and frightening, big, black and red spiders with long powerful looking legs. We thought we heard bats too, didn't see them though. The tour only took an hour, but if you've ever spent time underground, you know time flows at a different pace there, and we were all happy to be outside again, even if it was still cold and snowing. Before going out to dinner we returned our gear and thanked the guide, who told Zuzka we were the first Californians he's ever taken down into the mines. We went to a pizza place that had modern decor and synchronized alternating lights beneath the bar, on the ceiling and the floor. I asked for a veggie pizza without cheese and I must say they did pretty good. I devoured the whole thing before either of my friends even halved their own pies, so that must mean it was good, right? But I'm known for inhaling food, so who can say?We walked to the first engineering University of Slovakia where they have a large garden that is home to special varieties of plants found throughout Slovakia. We had a snow ball fight there and in several other places in the town, that was pretty fun. Next we return to their hotel for bowling and gin and tonics. I wreck Zane the first game, while I'm sober, the next game he wins by a little and the last two games he mops the floor with me. We play one really fun game of fusball that I lose by one point, and then I walk up the street to my hostel and fall asleep.