Täglich Wiederkehrendes Abenteuer

On day 2 in Bratislava, we took a tour, which started at Hviezdoslavovo Square.  Before the tour, we just chilled in the square a bit.  This is where the tour group meets, at the statue of Hviezdoslav.  He was a poet.  There was a statue of an unpopular politician here, but one day they blew it up and later decided to replace it with Hviezdoslav.

The water in these fountains is really blue and you can’t see the bottom of the fountains.  I think they dye the water but I asked the tour guide and she apparently doesn’t think so.  Maybe I’m just crazy?

At the other end of the square is the National Theatre/Opera House.

I decided I needed to go to the bathroom before the tour started.  The public toilets are a bit strange.

There is a woman who cleans the bathroom and gives you a bit of toilet paper.  Then you put some money in a basket when you leave.

On the tour, we went to some places we had already seen, such as the main square of the old part of town.  Apparently, this is supposed to be one of the most beautiful buildings in Bratislava.  I don’t really see the appeal.  It looks a bit pink to me.

We also saw the castle from a distance.  Apparently it survived an attack by Napoleon, but one night some Italian visitors accidentally started a fire.  The tour guide told us the castle survived tons of attack but did not survive one Italian dinner.

She also took us to their “White House.”

Will was amused by their security.

But they had two guards.

This is called the Blue Church, but we can’t figure out why.

There is also another important church, but according to the tour guide, it has extra structural problems because when the communists were in power, they built a highway too close to it.  I guess the vibrations mess with it?

This highway curves to end up very near the church.  As you can see, it’s quite modern.  In fact, some parts of the southern half of the city remind a lot of Minneapolis.

I better you’d never guess it’s Will’s dream to work on this scaffolding.

During the tour, Will got distracted by this car being towed away by means of a tiny crane.

After the tour, we grabbed some food near the hostel.  I had chicken and French fries.  Will had ham filled dumplings with sauerkraut.  After the food break, we went up to the castle.  A lot of European cities involve castles on hills.  Oh hills.  Here’s the gate.

Here’s the castle up close.

There were some neat views.  The tour guide said there is no wind power in Slovakia, so if you see a wind farm, you’re looking at Austria already.

There were some views.

Will was amused by the gates that went no where.

And the windows on top of windows?

And the hill the castle was on was full of lizards and snails.

 

I was amused by the wildlife.  After messing with lizards and snails for a while, we decided to sit down somewhere for a drink.  There was this place that looked comfy that had red couches and blankets.  It was a bit chilly, so I had tea.  Will had a “sexy mule.”  Lime, ginger, vanilla, and vodka.

After we had our drinks, it was time to go back to the hostel to grab our backpacks so we could head to the train station.  Along the way we saw more interesting stuff.  It didn’t take Will long to figure this guy out.

Hey, he found water!  Amazing.

Eventually, we made it to the main train station.  This is actually a different station from the one we arrived at.  The station we arrived at was in a much newer part of town.  The part of town that reminded me of Minneapolis.  This one looks a bit older and there are some weirdos around.

Bratislava is a strange mixture of old and new buildings.  Here’s Will to tell you all about it.

Soon enough we got on the train to Budapest.  On the way, we were asked to turn off the movie we were watching on the tablet or move to a different train car.  We were in the car where the lights would be shut off because it was getting late and I guess the light from the tablet would have disturbed other passengers.  Eventually we were the only people in the car and every so often a train worker would come through with a flashlight.  Soon enough, two guys came with flashlights to check our passports.  It was a bit weird to be asked for passports in the dark by guys with flashlights.  Will showed his while I was digging for mine.  They asked if I was American as well and decided they didn’t need to see mine.

We got to Budapest and there are tons of people bugging everyone about needing a taxi.  One guy gave us a map and asked us if we needed a hostel.  The streets are weird too because it doesn’t look like a good neighborhood near the train station but there were tons of old touristy looking people and young women walking around.

When we got to the hostel, there were piles of junk in the entry way.  But what we couldn’t see in the dark was that there was construction going on in a nearby courtyard and that was what the junk was from.  We got up to the hostel and went to sleep.  Stay tuned for more about Budapest.