Patince pending

Day 10:

Start: Komarno

End: Patince kupele

Kms: 17

Wounds opened: 1

Our bike path along the Danube continued in its soft sleepy way and so did the unseasonably hot weather. 

We have been walking long enough that we have gotten into a routine that aims to maximise speed while minimising whining. The first hour or two of the day Zadie sleeps in the stroller while Tova plays beside her or listens to music and Sophia and Aurora do verbal school with Jakob or me while taking turns on the scooter. When Zadie wakes up we take a milk break and then Zadie goes in the wrap (where she pretty much stays the rest of the day) while the other girls take turns walking, scooting, hearing stories and sometimes whining, until eventually both Sophia and Tova are back in the stroller playing, or doing learning games on the iPad, Aurora on the scooter chatting with us and our speed picks up for an hour or so. At this point Tova usually gets restless and starts annoying Sophia in whatever way she can, so we make everyone walk again taking turns on the scooter. Oh yeah and we usually stop to eat lunch. Given our trail and routine we have been able to be done walking by early afternoon so our afternoons can be spent exploring our new destination, playing, and doing written school work.

Also, Tamar has a secret Bag o' Prizes - every day around lunchtime the girls get something interesting: a bag of elastics for bracelet-making, small airplanes to assemble, a 3D helicopter jigsaw, some mazes, today a small solar-powered windmill kit...yet another way to associate this walk with fond memories in the girls' minds (and keep those minds from turning into mush). 

Today we ended for the day in Patince kupele, a resort town with mineral pools. The town was only half open and was a reminder that I am not the biggest fan of the resort vibe. We walked directly to the swimming pool which was surprisingly but refreshingly frigid and smelled of sulphur. It was nice to go for a swim after our hot walk. On our 5 minute walk to get popsicles Aurora took a bad fall and is now sporting a large gash in her knee. Although bloody it seems to be mostly a flesh wound so hopefully walking tomorrow isn't too hard for her.

One of the more popular Prizes

Today's lunch break