Day 5—Bratislava!!!

Slovakia!!

If you’re a little like me, your first thought might be, “Huh?  Where?”  Well, Slovakia, of course!!  Still no help, huh?  This is one of those little places that we often forget listing countries or places to visit, but it is quite nice, actually (even if you have to hunt for it on a map).  (OK, honestly, who’s going to hunt for it on a map.  You’re just going to ask Siri or Google.)

Our ship on the Danube (I thought the Danube was blue?)

The "New Bridge" (1973ish?) comes with a "UFO"
observation and restaurant tower.  I wonder if the elevator has
a light so you get the abduction experience?

St. Martin Cathedral with a memorial for a synagogue in the foreground.

We kicked off the morning with a walking tour of the old city.  For the tours, they have transmitter/receivers and earplugs, so the guide can speak normally and everyone hear even if they are meandering off path.  The ship divides the them by colors, so we just have to grab the same colors as each other.  The last two tours we grabbed the red ones.  We might need to stick with that plan as both times we had the better guide.  The other ones were a little stiff and formal, whereas ours had a bit of humor.  Well, today, he was almost comical.  Most tidbits were capped off with a witty or wry comment.  That kept it fun and interesting as we wove through the old town.

I like the exposed wall cross section!

Picturesque road

More cobblestones!

The rough exposed areas show the construction beneath.

Inside of St. Martin Cathedral

Bratislava was once the place where the King of Hungary was crowned (until the Cities of Buda and Pest were merged and became the new capital).  Vienna was still the main capital, but of Austria (not Hungary).  Since there was one Emperor for the two countries, the monarchy spent time on both places.  Since Bratislava was so important, the empire spent a fair amount of money to construct some amazing buildings (like an Opera House, a Philharmonic, etc).  The archbishop even constructed a grand house for himself, right up until they moved the Capital, and he had to pick up and leave.  So, he sold the building to the city and took all of the furnishings with him.  He left a few priceless ancient tapestries behind, however, so the city kept them.

More gratuitous exposed walls!

A bronze statue from about the 1600s.

Who does this roofing??

Notice the detail to the upper left of the window...three guys watching a fourth do all of the work!
Some things never change!

Free Refills!!

The City's iconic "Man at Work",

If the window was clearer,
you'd see the Opera House!

After our tour, we regrouped, and made our plan for the evening.  We went back to the ship (a convenient 10 minute walk) to drop off some things and grab others.  We did a little souvenir shopping, peeked at some churches, tried to climb the tower for one church (which proved difficult since it is Saturday and the tower is only open M-F), and we culminated with a perfect blend of haute culture!  As you may know, Bill ceased collecting “stuff” and now works on collecting McDonald visits in every country, ideally sampling a unique offering where possible.  They had “rustic fries” (thicker and a little different flavor), which went well with the beer they sold, all enjoyed in front of the Opera house and across from the Philharmonic.  See?  Culture!!  (We’re so classy!)

Franz Liszt gave his first performance here, and made him a celebrity.  Mozart also gave his first performance in Bratislava.

The Opera House...right next to McDonald's!!

The Post Office.  (They were EFFICIENT!!)

We came back to our room to find...another boat!

The Jesuit church where we went to Mass.

We're the big guy.

We made it back for lunch, which included a lamb curry (nice and spicy) and sauerkraut soup.  We had just enough time for a nap, and taking care of some “stuff” before heading back out for Mass at the Jesuit church. 

It was a nice walk to church, including walking through the adjacent square, where a BMX bike obstacle course was set up with some booths and things.  People were hanging about just enjoying the day, and a guy was playing his guitar into a mic with a big speaker.  It all seemed very quaint.  After going into church, and getting settled, we found it hard to focus and get in the right mindset though hearing “Hotel California” on that guy’s guitar, and then a chorus of drinkers singing “Hey hey hey!!  Go-odbyyyye!!”

That's Theresa in between the boats.
Wait...is that my beer?!?

After Mass, we headed back to the ship and Bill headed over the bridge to “see”.  Not much to see on the other side.

We had dinner with Mike and MaryAnne, and Peggy and Paul.  Although, we had to put P&P on warning, since they had terrible service their first night, and we all had bad service together the second night, and…well, there is a pattern here.  And we’ve ascribed the slow service to them.  It’s too bad because they otherwise seem like nice people!  😊  We capped off the night with a live singer in the lounge.

Finally, we want to give a shout out to our friends K&K who are getting married today.  Of course, they won’t be getting this shout out as…well…they’re getting married!  Anyway, it made me wonder about our “Friends”:  M&M(A), C&C, K&K, P&P?  Still looking for Zac and Zelda, I guess.  😊