Even though our ski season is at a close I wanted to fix my boots. My feet are stupidly flat and wide thanks to years of jumping on them in various formats. The past three days I have been hoping what the boot guy said was true "in three days they will have shaped to your feet". In light of Ewa actually really hurting herself I seem a little bit girlie complaining about my feet.
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| Glasses and smoking in a cab! who's girly now? (not sure this is legal here either but the driver insisted) |
But they do sting a lot, my little toe goes numb then a couple of hours later the bit where I have my naginata cracks starts aching like crazy and I have to take my socks and boots off and stand in the snow for a bit. This attracts attention so I am going to get it fixed. I went back to the shop I bought them from and, very wisely, took my receipt.
Equipment Review: Ski Boot Fitting
sportrysy.sk
Egidia 77, Poprad
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| Oh foot porn! Even in that niche fetish I suspect my feet would be niche. |
A few false starts due to my excellent Slovakian and our little team was assembled. Daniel as lead "I can tell you what to do" guy and an engineer so cool he didn't need a name (actually I am just an awful person and forgot to ask before he had run away, I did say thanks in three languages, one must have been intelligible).
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| Team "Make Boots Awesomer" |
For my own future reference my boots are size 28 Salomon X Pro 110 and cost 299 euro (which is a little pricier than getting them online but turned out to be a wise choice as the fitting and everything I did here was free except I paid 45 euro for the new insoles).
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| Egidia 77, Poprad, my two stop shop for boots |
If I had got these online I am not sure I would have had such an easy or attentive experience (that's not completely fair, the guys were great and probably would have done the same if I hadn't bought from them but I like to play safe).
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| The inserts are colour coordinated with the jacket, no one can see it but I will know I am fashionable |
Inserts are heated up and I stand on a vacuum pack to get the shaping right. Daniel thoughtfully gave me tips on how to make my 360 degree slides work: if I fall over the skis aren't flat enough. If I lose momentum I need to lean forward and back more accurately, forward for the first half, back for the second.
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| He also managed to get one of the goofiest photos of me ever. |
Then the boots get heated and pads were stuck on to make my feet even wider. Daniel advised that it was not insane to claim that the bad fit of the boot might have caused me to fall over. It took a lot of prompting as he was initially inclined to side with Ewa that speed and incompetence were more likely the cause but eventually conceded it wasn't impossible my boots did it.
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| My inability to put socks on without knocking the pads off was used as supporting evidence for the incompetence argument |
Some ten minutes wandering around with toasty warm boots to stretch them and it was proclaimed that we had gone as far as technology could take us and all future falls were to be laid at the feet of my competence levels.
Rating: 10/10 (I do need to actually test them obviously but even now they feel like foot gloves)
I returned to the hotel happy. Ewa was perhaps less happy. We are activities people and being forced to sit in bed all day with only BBC World News or the worst Polish TV channel to entertain her was not high in her ratings. I believe even my worst drunken rants rate higher.
Translation Humour: Foot Fetishists
Ewa assures me that it means "Under Cupid"
But all I see is Foot Fetishists hiding behind Latin.
I didn't tell her that every time I see Cukiernia I see "A place for sucking" because I don't want her to think too lowly of me.
Rating: 6/10 (it was in a train station so any amusement was worth finding)
As I am caring (and sensitive) man I took my Lady out to dinner (her Valentines gift is train tickets back to Białystok so I need to do something romantic). As a bonus my vivacious bonhomie seems to have warmed Poprad up and there is not much snow on the walkways anymore which aided in crutch work.
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| The local ducks like me too, this waterway was almost completely frozen when we got here. |
It wasn't all selfless though. The nearest food place happens to have two items we need for our Quintessential Slovak Food & Drinks list.
Food & Beverage Review: Koliba u Stefana
http://www.penzionustefana.sk/
ulica Športová Poprad (directly opposite Aqua City hotel)
Bryndza (3 on the list) already tasted but which I thought would be better in pierogi (or pirohy in Slovak) and two types of Lokše (6) are on the menu.
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| I like the relatively common custom of adding a preserved fruit chunk related to the drink. This is prune in Slivovica (Plum Brandy) and at the second ski place I got some pear in my hruškovica. |
The restaurant itself is in the traditional furnishings style I like. Service is good and English is well understood as is Polish. Mangled Polish is stoically tolerated.
Bryndza is definitely better in pierogi with sour cream and bacon bits. The tangy cheese becomes a lot less sharp and a lot creamier. Salty bacon round it out nicely for texture and flavour. 7/10.
I recall Wikipedia telling me Poles love duck and then having Poles tell me Wikipedia is full of it. Not that they hate duck but it isn't the secret desire it was made out to be. Slovakians don't hate duck either. Lokše with a strong flavoured duck meat and spring onions filling. Kind of like Peking Duck if it was made by Slovakians. This was the winner of the evening. 9/10
We eventually figured out this has poppy seeds in it. In theory I knew as I read the menu and ordered but I forgot. Basically a pancake with chocolate in it, I think it was meant to have cherry as well but I couldn't taste it. It was really chewy for some reason. At first we thought the chocolate has set but eventually worked out it was the cooked poppy seeds. Wouldn't get it again but it wasn't awful. 5/10
Overall the place is good value for money (AU$30) and the stuff we liked we really liked. If they had the open fire in the middle of the room it would be great but they only do that when the musicians are in and we don't like those guys so the two things balance out.
Rating: 8/10 (The waitress walked by with plates at one point and looked like she was coming to our table with them, we were petrified, the above is plenty of food for two)
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| It even looks like a proper foot thing! |
I got to display my creativity for this little jaunt. It might be warmer outside but still cold for an exposed foot on crutches. No socks would fit over the cast so I made a foot warmer from my scarf and heart rate monitor strap.
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| I need to get a scarf that coordinates with the jacket though. Maybe a black one with flames or skulls on it. |
I was proud of myself and I think I got Best Boyfriend points for it too.
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