2024 Vienna, Budapest, Tatras

In the collapse of Austro-Hungary and then the split of Czechoslovakia, the Slovaks seem to have been left with works by the lesser lights of historical portraiture. The unnatural posture/proportions here were another recurring theme of this trip (along with severed heads), with the Kastiel Betliar chock full of far more distorted portraits than this. Unless like the subjects in the Habsburg Family Reunion print these people actually looked like this, and the Slovaks inherited all the realistic portraits...

I believe the saying is "more inbred than a Beef Wellington".

Another severed head, this one in the cellars of Spissky Hrad.

It being Slovak National Uprising Day, TEZ rolled out a couple of museum cars from the 1950s and 1960s.

The famous outhouse at Chata pod Rysmi.

The outhouse at Chata pod Rysmi.

Possibly the best ice cream I have ever had (raspberry and chocolate). At Morskie Oko.