Hey there, folks! I was given the honor and privilege of contributing to another travel writer's blog! I was her server at Gadsby's one day a week or so ago, and she asked me if I'd write about Alexandria and give some details about the things she saw since she only had an afternoon. The post is all about George and his Alexandria. Check it out!
http://travelingwithsweeney.com/2012/05/31/alexandria-virginia-afternoon/
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Monday in Prague: The Conclusion of the Matter
Monday in Prague!
Hooray for sleeping in a big, comfy bed! Louise and I had
fun being roommies. We got along great and enjoyed spending time together.
She’s so much fun! We all decided to meet for breakfast at 8:30 and be ready to
leave for the day at 9:30, and it actually worked out that way—go us! I
actually got up to the lounge early so I could blog and do my Trip Advisor
reporting before everyone else got up there. The others trickled in at various
times for coffee and breakfast. Steve and I are apparently the early birds of
the bunch, so we were both up there and alert for a while before time to leave.
And guess who we met… some more Americans! =) I have to say that when I travel,
Americans are the ones who are willing to make friends and talk to others more
than most. You know how much I love meeting people and chatting them up. It’s
what I do when I travel! We met a nice couple from Utah on a tour with some
friends, and another older couple from CA on vacation before they go visit
their daughter in… DC!
And now, onward we go to… the Prague Castle! We decided to
take a cab and get there quickly (since it was uphill and across the river),
then walk our way back to the hotel throughout the day. People always talk
about how the Praha (Prague) Castle is such a highlight of the city, but
honestly I wasn’t all that impressed. The most impressive thing about it was
definitely the cathedral on the castle grounds. It’s incredibly big, ornate,
and impressive. There was a choral group there that I think just decided to
start singing in the church. They may have been on tour from somewhere and were
just sightseeing, but I’m glad they decided to stop at the castle the same day
as us and give us a free concert! Their voices were lovely, and the acoustics
in the cathedral are lent to that kind of music, as opposed to organ music. I
got goose bumps and nearly started crying right there! It was beautiful.
We also saw several of the other buildings and important
sights around the castle, such as the defenestration window—where they used to
throw people out! I think that might have actually been my favorite thing to
see at the castle. =) We also walked through the vineyards and a VERY
interesting museum of the “Story of Praha Castle.” There we could read about
people who had lived in the castle or been important political leaders in
Prague during the 4th-12th centuries. Pretty cool! We
even got to see some crown jewels and other artifacts. I, of course, wanted to
read everything, but you just can’t do that with other people. That’s why I
like traveling along. Not that I don’t appreciate my traveling companions, I
just feel bad for slowing them down. I picked up my pace, though, of
course—there’s so much more to see!
When we did at last finish up the castle grounds, we worked
our way through the “Lesser Town” (as opposed to “Old Town” Prague) and found a
place for lunch. This time I branched out beyond goulash and went for DUCK! It
came with red cabbage (one of my favorite side dishes!) and potato pancakes
(which kind of came looking like a sausage patty, but it was definitely
potato). It was a winner! Everyone else’s looked good, too, but I was one happy
duck. ;) hahaha.
After lunch we walked over the Charles Bridge, which crosses
the Vltava River and connects the two parts of Prague. It’s supposedly one of
the most romantic places in Europe, but this particular Monday, it was also one
of the most crowded! We got lots of good pictures, though, and there were lots
of vendors to choose from who were selling jewelry and other handcrafts,
drawing caricatures, and performers playing instruments—I love that kind of
things around cities like Prague and others around the world! At the end of the
bridge, “guarding” the way through the gate to get to Old Town Prague, was a
knight—sword and armor and all! He was really there for photo-ops… and of
course Louise and I were right on board with that! She and I both got our
pictures with the guy: one threatening him with the sword and one acting all
chummy. =) I like it when people know how to have fun! I wonder if they’re
actually paid by anyone or just work off tips. Either way, it looked like he
was having fun!
Winding through the cobblestone streets of Old Town, we
stumbled upon our Trdelnik pastry shop and stopped to smell it. Mmmmmm… Since
Brian had been to Prague fairly recently and had seen the sights, and since
Steve had a Top 10 Prague Eyewitness
Travel book, we ladies let them play tour guides for a while and we just
took it all in! We all seemed to gravitate toward the astronomical clock,
probably because it’s the biggest and probably most famous thing in Prague, and
it IS quite interesting. There’s also a cathedral close to the main square that
looks like Melefecent’s castle from Sleeping
Beauty. Jen and I really liked that one! We also went to Wenceslas Square,
which is another famous square in the Old Town. It used to be a place for horse
auctions in medieval times, but was renamed for the famous king in 1848. He now
sits atop a horse for all eternity in front of the Czech National Museum. Quite
a nice little place. I had unknowingly stumbled upon this place on my two-hour
trek to find the Hilton Prague, actually, but I appreciated it more this time
than I did the first. =)
Moving along… the next item of interest was a statue left
from Communist times. It’s one of the only statues from the era still standing,
and it’s a statue of a Czech man kissing a Communist soldier. Weird. But
whatever. I just said it was interesting, I didn’t say it was a highlight. ;)
And up next we had a surprise for Louise… We stopped for
coffee and tea at the Art Deco Restaurant and Café Imperial! Louise had just
recently finished a book based at the hotel Imperial in Prague in the 1940s for
her book club, so of course we needed to stop there and have a little snack
while we were in the neighborhood! It really was a special thing because this
place is art deco at its… finest? Haha. I actually thought it was really
amazing looking. Just like we were back in a ‘20s or ‘30s movie featuring Fred
Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Everything was tile mosaic, flashy, shiny, gold, and
fancy! Louise was tickled, and we just couldn’t stop laughing with her when she
asked the hostess if she could have a bunch of the napkins to take home and use
when her book club comes to discuss the book! Too funny. Life is so much fun!
And then… we were pooped! Back to the Hilton we went. It was
already 5:00 by the time we got there, so we all kind of did our own thing and
got comfortable and rested, then ended up in the executive lounge talking for
the rest of the night. I think that actually might have been my favorite part
of the whole weekend—just talking with my friends till the lounge closed down
at 11! The Hilton folks have snacks and drinks available all day long, so we
never even had to leave for supper or anything. It was great! We laughed about
pictures and things we’d seen and done and just basically enjoyed each other’s
company all evening. Traveling alone has its perks, beyond a doubt, but I am
very grateful for the invite to tag along with the Stuckerts to Prague. I can’t
think of a better way to end my European excursion!
The next morning, we got all ready and were on a plane bound
to Frankfurt that afternoon! We got a bit delayed in Frankfurt, but once we
were off the ground things went fairly smoothly!
Again, thank you for joining me on the journey! Next stop… I’ll
let you know when I get there. =)
Boys vs. Girls: Running Around Prague!
If you missed the pictures in the previous post, please find them here: PRAGUE!
And now comes Sunday—race day for the boys and church day
for us! We had decided to meet in the lobby and leave by 8:30. The race started
at 9:00, and we wanted to see the boys off. We got breakfast upstairs as we got
up and moving around—and I don’t just mean breakfast… I mean a lovely, sit down
meal with people attending to our every wish. I’m not ashamed to admit that I
get excited about things like that! I’d just spent over a week having to deal
with various hostel issues and fending for myself; not that I can’t handle that
or I’m above that, it’s just really nice and I appreciate having someone else
take care of me for a couple of days! =)
At any rate, we got our breakfast and met down in the lobby
at the appointed time. And off we went into the brisk morning! The temperature
and weather were fine for running, but my goodness, it was chilly walking over
there! I’ve never gone to a marathon before, and I really had no expectation of
what it would be like. There was a LOT of energy and even more excitement from
volunteers, friends and family who were there to cheer them on, and of course
from the runners! I didn’t realize what a huge production a marathon is. The
Prague marathon is one of the top 10 in the world, if I remember correctly, so
this is probably not the most “typical” of marathons, but I’d be willing to bet
there’s just as much excitement and enthusiasm at most! Apparently there were
people all along the route in costumes with crazy things trying to motivate
people, and there were bands and music, too, along with food, water, and
bathrooms for breaks. I can honestly say that there was a fleeting moment when
I wanted to run a marathon myself! Maybe I’ll start with a jog around the block
first. ;) Haha. It definitely made me miss running like I used to!
At any rate, we left the guys to that, and we ladies went
window-shopping around Old Town Prague until time for church! We saw several
cute shops full of marionettes (who knew Prague was known for marionette puppets?)
and other souvenirs, but the thing that caught our attention most was… the
pastry shop, of course! We smelled it first, then we saw what smelled so
wonderful. It’s a traditional Slovakian pastry (that I never saw in Slovakia)
called Trdelnik (ter-DEL-nick, for those who wonder how you say all those
consonants together). I think the concept of the bakery there is kind of like
the taffy and fudge factories in Gatlinburg. You get to watch it being made in
a very traditional way, and of course that makes you want to try it! I got
pictures, which are in the link provided below. They cover this yummy, thin
pastry dough in sugar and/or cinnamon and/or nuts, and then you wrap it around
this big cylinder, probably about 3 and a half inches across. Then you roast it
on a spit over an open flame until it’s golden and delicious! We were still
full from breakfast, but we decided to save room after lunch to enjoy it later.
=)
So now it was time to find the church. We knew (or thought
we knew!) where the church met (the YMCA), but when we got there, no one spoke
English! We tried to convey to the lady who seemed to be in charge that we were
looking for a church that meets there, but we just couldn’t get the right
message conveyed either way—to her or to us! She said something about a “Baby
Center”, but we had to idea what that had to do with anything. So we whipped
out Jen’s iPhone and used the GPS. There was a problem with the way we’d been
putting in the address—whatever, now we were on the right track! We found out
way to the OTHER YMCA in Old Town Prague, just in time to go to the church
service! I’d gotten in touch with a woman named Tami, who’s an American married
to a Czech, and they live just outside of Prague. She was so sweet, and her
husband is the one who translates the service from Czech to English for his
wife and a couple of other English speakers in the congregation. They have two
or three men there who take turns preaching, and that day it was one of the
Czech men. Everyone was very kind and seemed excited to have visitors! The
service lasted nearly an hour and a half, due to the need to translate
everything, but honestly I didn’t think it seemed all that long. I just find it
fascinating the way that other Christians worship and seeing their commitment
and devotion in adversity that we as Americans don’t truly understand. We have
our own struggles that are different from the ones that other Christians around
the world experience. I also just loved hearing the whole thing in two
languages. It’s just intriguing to me!
And then it was lunchtime! So off we went. On our way to
scope out a place, we met a guy standing on the street advertizing for a
restaurant. His name is Richard, and Jen said I have to tell everyone reading
this blog that he REALLY liked me! He was quite complimentary, which I admit I
appreciated. =) We did end up going inside that restaurant, and we’re so glad
we did! It was just like a medieval tavern inside, peasant/servant uniforms and
all! Just like Gadsby’s is to Alexandria, I suppose. This time Jen and her
mother-in-law Louise got some kind of soup (potato, I think), and I got the
old-fashioned pancake with spinach and cheese—which was kind of like a quiche
and was really good! The place was really interesting with old wood and rope
everywhere, and we were definitely sitting on some kind of animal hide on the
benches around the table! We made our way down to the bathroom—because, of
course, no good woman misses an opportunity—and were quite surprised at what we
found! We couldn’t really decide if the place was supposed to be a dungeon,
torture chamber, or simply a basement, but it is definitely a dining area now! The
place went down at least two more floors, all lit by candlelight, and full of
old tools and things like that. Very authentic-looking to us!
So after our bathroom excursion, we decided it was time for
dessert (woohoo pastries!) and to wait at the finish line for Brian (we knew
we’d already missed Steve). We went back to that same little place and get
something delicious. I got an apple-filled pastry of some sort, which was
awesome, and Louise got the big cylindrical pastry thing. Jen just wanted a
bite of that, and we all three decided it was worthwhile! Quite the tasty
little treat, if you ask me!
Walking over to the finish line, we gawked again at the
astronomical clock right there in the center of town, which is an interesting
piece of machinery—still functioning correctly to this day! We even stood in
front of a tour guide and heard her explanation of a couple of the characters
around the clock. =) And there we were at the finish line, waiting and waiting
and waiting, thinking we’d missed Brian already. But not to fear, because he
came right up to the finish just as we were walking down the tour route. Of
course he looked like he was making almost no effort whatsoever, and he even
turned and flexed his big burly muscles at us as he ran by! We met up with him
and Steve a little bit later at the hotel, and we all just kind of sat there in
the lounge for a while, allowing the guys to recover and chat a little. =)
Steve finished the race under his self-set goal of 4 hours (3:51 hours), and
Brian did a respectable job of 5:35 hours as well! Honestly, Brian running a
marathon seems like a feat—he’s so muscle-heavy, he’s carrying a lot more
around than most runners! He does an excellent job at whatever he does, despite
(or perhaps because of) anything that might seem limiting. The whole thing was
quite the task for anyone running on cobblestones! Better them than me, I’d say.
;) At any rate, we ladies were quite proud of our boys!
Suppertime came around, and so we went in search of another
culinary adventure! Brian was so pooped that he decided to go on to bed, but
that didn’t stop the rest of us. ;) We roamed the streets for a while until we
found something particularly Czech—another tavern-type place. So many of the
places around there have murals painted on the walls of the restaurant, and
this was no exception. This place had quite nice little scenes of old Prague.
Something about it made the place seem very homey. While the place was really
cute, the food was just ok. I got Hungarian goulash with bread dumplings, which
is the same thing I was disappointed in the other day in Slovakia. It was
described differently, so I didn’t realize it was the same thing. Oh well. Live
and learn!
When we got back to the room, I called my mom because, of
course, it was Mother’s Day! I woke up my parents from their nap, I think, but
they were glad to hear from me, or at least they said so. =) No worries, I got
her some very nice presents while I was away!
Anyway, bedtime soon followed because we had a full day of
touring ahead of us the next day! Please join us…
Lost in Prague: The Saga Continues
Saturday would be my last morning in Bratislava, so I wanted
to make sure and get the pictures I wanted and see a couple of other things I
didn’t get a good look at before. I made a point to get up by 6:30 so I could
see some things in the morning light… the sun comes up EARLY here! And it sets
really late! I’m a bit confused about the positioning of this part of the
world. I don’t even have any idea what time the sun actually comes up, but it’s
before 5:30, and I was not willing to get up that early!
At any rate, out I went (after a couple of cups of coffee)
in search of statues and post card-type photo-ops! I found several, and enjoyed
the perfect morning weather—not too hot, definitely not too cool, just right
for me! I thought surely some breakfast places will be open by 8:00, just like
weekdays, right? Um, not so much! Breakfast places around here don’t open on
Weekends until 9 or 10! Imagine my hungry disappointment! But that gave me time
to go back to the hostel and check out, put my bags in the luggage room, and
enjoy another cup of coffee. By then it was 9, and I had checked to make sure
Shtoor, my new favorite breakfast place, would be open. =) So I got my yummy
sheep’s cheese on homemade bread again—I broke a travel rule of mine and went
to the same place twice, but it was worth it!—and I also got a thing called
orangeade. Yum! I also caught up on my Trip Advisor reports and blogs, since
they have free wi-fi and comfy chairs there. I really wish there was a Shtoor
in Old Town Alexandria!
Around 10:30 or so I headed back to get my stuff at the
hostel and walked to the train station—much easier to find this time than when
I arrived and tried to find my hostel just a couple of days before! The people
in the train station were much more helpful in Slovakia than in the other train
stations I’d been on during this trip, so I had no problem finding my platform…
except I didn’t know that Prague is actually spelled “Praha” in Czech and
Slovakian! I kept thinking, “Praha? Is that the name of the Prague train
station? That’s what it says on my ticket and on the platform marquee sign, so
I sure hope that’s the right place!” Haha, only later did it click that “Praha”
IS “Prague.” ;)
The train ride was about four hours, maybe a little less,
but it was definitely a bit uncomfortable. I got spoiled with the direct train
from Warsaw to Krakow, and then the private night train cabin on my way to
Bratislava! This was an older train, I guess, with much smaller seats, but it
got me from point A to point B, and that’s what mattered!
And then came the challenge… finding my way to the Prague
Hilton. I got a quick snack and changed my money over to Czech Koruna, then
went dutifully to the information desk, thinking that would be the place to get
the best information—boy was I mistaken! I stood in line for about 20 minutes
before anyone was available to help me, and then the girl gave me the incorrect
directions! She said to turn left out of the train station and keep on
Wilsonova, but I should have trusted my gut and gone right! I ended up walking
30 or more minutes in the opposite direction, and by the time I figured that
out, I wa already on the other side of Prague! I went inside a hotel to ask
directions again, and the woman was so rude! My first experience in Prague was
definitely not a good one—walking through the “bad” part of town and meeting up
with rude receptionists!
At any rate, I did get a map and the right directions (she
gave me the information begrudgingly, but I was carrying all my luggage and had
just walked a long way—I didn’t care how rude she was as long as I got the
info!), and so I set out again! Back past the train station, over the bridge
(it was actually not pedestrian-friendly, which surprised and disappointed me
being in Europe! But after two hours (and a few tears later), I made it! Again
with the confusing roads around here—not my favorite!
On to nicer things! Jen had left me a note at the front
desk, so I was able to check in and get my key, dumped my stuff, and went to
the Executive lounge to meet up with everyone! Jen, Brian, Louise (Brian’s
mom), and Steve (Brian’s marathon-running co-worker) were all sitting there
waiting for me! Jen said some of them were getting worried about me, but Jen
assured them I’d just navigated my way around Europe and would be fine. ;)
And off we went! We roamed around Prague and got some
pictures, we looked around at where the guys would be running the next morning,
and we found a great place for supper—hooray for Czech food! I don’t remember
the name of the restaurant, but I got the goulash in a bread bowl—very Czech! It
was excellent, and I was really hungry, too, from walking so long, so I’m sure
that helped with the taste as well. =) I also tried some of Jen’s dumplings
with farmer’s cheese and fruit in them—which were so good! That was actually on
my list of things I needed to eat while I was here, so that put me in a good
mood and got the Prague leg of my trip off to a good start.
Please see the pictures HERE!
Monday, May 14, 2012
Devin Castle and Bible Study with the Bratislavans!
So, after that good night’s sleep, I was ready and rearing
to go exploring! I got a sub-par breakfast (but filling, nonetheless) and
headed over to the bus station so I could get to the Devin Castle ruins, about
20 minutes away. I was really confused about the buses, and I don’t think I did
everything right as far as my tickets are concerned, but I didn’t get arrested,
so the day started as an overall success. =)
When at long last I made my way to the castle, with the help
of some kindly Bratislavans, I started getting really excited! I am just
fascinated with castles, and particularly with ruins. It’s just amazing to me
that anything can be that old. And castles are only for fairytales, right? Not
here! It was only about 3 Euro (a little less than $4), which I thought was
quite the deal! There was a one-room church at the foot of the big hill leading
up to the castle, and a couple of houses/workshops, too. The castle itself was
used from the 9th century, and owned by people up until the mid 20th
century. The last family who owned it acquired it in the 17th
century, and I guess they’re the ones who let it get into a state of ruin,
although I’m not sure what the circumstances were. There was an interesting
exhibit all about weaponry and defense systems for fortifications and castles
back in the day. They actually had stone cannons, hand-made bullets, tools,
swords, maces, torture devices, arrows and crossbows, and lots of other things
all on display—the biggest of which were not behind glass or in any kind of
case! This would not happen in American for several reasons, but it’s pretty
cool to see that stuff up-close and personal here! =)
Another interesting part was the well. It still has water in
it! It’s 55 meters deep, which is about 170 feet or something close to that.
The lady there talking about it dumped a mug of water in and we waited… and
waited… and waited… and then… SPLASH! There’s still water in there! The well
was a very important thing to explore when they were excavating the place. Apparently,
there was pottery, trash, tools, and other stuff to be found way down in there.
They used the stuff they found do determine dates of when the castle was built,
what they used it for, who lived there, etc. It’s amazing what they can find
out from people’s trash. I think if someone were to explore my trash, they’d
find a lot of nasty stuff—why would anyone want to explore trash?!
At any rate, I roamed around there for a bit—it’s very
pretty. It’s situated up on a big hill between the Danube and Moravian Rivers, and they
offer boat rides between here, Bratislava, and Vienna. Quite nice!
So off I went to the bus stop. I either just missed the bus,
or someone didn’t know what they were talking about when they said the bus
comes every 15-20 minutes. I was definitely sitting there waiting for at least
40 minutes! Oh well. I got some blogging done because I’d taken my laptop with
me. =)
Back in Bratislava’s Old Town, I found another sub-par
eating place (bummer!) where I got Hungarian Goulash with “dumplings”, which
were really just slices of bread. Better luck next time.
Time to change into the dress! I was supposed to meet my new
friend, Lucia, from the church here between 4 and 5, and there were a coupel of
other things I wanted to see. So I walked back to the hotel to change to give
myself the most time at my next stop—the city history museum—before meeting her
at Hviezdoslav’s statue. And boy am I glad I did—it got hotter and hotter as
the day wore on!
So, two hours was definitely not enough time at the city
history museum! I could have spent the better part of a full day there. There
was so much to see and so much to read. I went all the way up to the top of the
big clock tower (the one with Napoleon’s bullet in it!) and got to see the best
view of the main square. =) There were clothes, weapons, tools, pottery, keys,
official wax seals, and targets (which had pictures of Bratislava and things
like that painted on them—and they used these for target practice! I thought it
was really funny!), as well as things from more modern times, all the way up to
the 20th century. If I go back to Bratislava, I am dedicating at
least 5 hours, if not a while day, to this museum!
Next up: Meeting Lucia! I sat and read up on the last
chapter of John for our study that night, and Lucia came there to meet me
around 4:30-ish. She is about my age and is SO nice! I think we really enjoyed
our time together. I was just excited to be spending time with another
Christian in a foreign place. We went an got walnut Bratislava Rolls (REALLY
good!), sat by the river, and just talked for a while till it was time to go to
the study. Lucia said there are around 30 (or 40? I don’t remember) people in
the church there; some come just to come, and some are Christians. Lucia said
tonight there would only be about six or seven of us. Of course, people were
VERY nice, and I really enjoyed the study! It was in Slovakian and English as
best it could be (there’s another American who lives there and is married for a
Slovak, her name is Amy), and I got a lot out of our time together. Hooray!
That really is what I needed to help lift my spirits!
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Bratislava City Tour... and pictures! =)
Bratislava, Day 1,
Part 2
Bratislava Tour Time!!!!! In a large portion of the European
tourist cities, there are free tours by this company called “Be Free.” I will
be looking further into this for future trips! Our guide was Timmy from
Australia, and in addition to his fabulous accent, he was really cute!
The meeting point is in the Secondary Square in front of the
Hviezdoslav statue. He was a poet from Bratislava, but this statue was not the
original one in this place. There was another statue of a Hungarian poet here a
couple of centuries ago. His name was Ptofi (spelling? Not sure), and when
Bratislava was part of Hungary for a short time, he was the Hungarian national
hero. Bratislava had a couple of different names over the years when it changed
hands a few times—it was called Pressburg when Germany took over and Pizoni
when it was Hungarian. But when Slovakia and Czech became Czechoslovakia in
1914, the Bratislavans didn’t want to be part of Czech. They decided to become their
own independent country for a while and called themselves “The Free City of
Wilsonova”... after Woodrow Wilson! That lasted about a year or less. In 1919
Czech defeated Bratislava (Free City of Wilsonova), and they took it over again
(they were surrounded on all sides, after all).
So when Czech and all of Slovakia, including Bratislava,
decided to get along, they banded together, wrapped Ptofi’s statue up in
dynamite, blew him up, and put up the statue of Hziezdoslav the Slovakian! Even
today there remains a rivalry between Hungarians and Slovaks because of this
very incident!
Moving right along… Also in this square we have the Historic National Theatre
(which is actually still used more than the new one the Communists built when
they tried to “modernize” the city), and a place for Bratislavans to come
together and protest, celebrate, etc.
And then we come to some statues. Bratislavans LOVE their
statues! There are so many of them, but unfortunately there are very few signs
or plaques that indicate what they are or why they’re there. The four I find
most interesting are the Watchman (peeping out of a manhole!), Napoleon
Bonaparte (more on him in a moment), the Paparazzi (standing taking a photo
outside the Paparazzi Restaurant), and the man in the top hat. The top hat man
is said to have gone mad due to an unrequited love in the early 20th
century. He would walk around town dressed in his finest, and people would give
him food. In return he would give flowers to the ladies of Bratislava. (Please enjoy more detail HERE.)
And that brings us to the Main Square. Here we see…
Napoleon! He is appropriately located just in front of the French Embassy, but
it’s not all a kindly gesture. You see, Napoleon tried to take Bratislava
twice, once in 1805 and then in 1809. The first time he was stopped, but not
before he lodged a cannon ball into the huge clock tower—which remains there to
this day! In 1809 he finally got it, but not for too long.
Now about this clock tower. It was built in the 13th
century, I believe, and it was added onto several times. The building attached
to it currently houses the Museum of the City History, but before that it
housed the mint office, then weapons, and then prisoners. In the 1600s it was
actually used as a place to torture witches! There’s a plaque a few meters away
that commemorates where the first witch was burned at the stake. Please see
pictures.
From this place in the main market square, we looked back to
see St. Martin’s Cathedral. This is the place where kings and queens were
coronated for centuries here in Slovakia. Mr. Tour Guide pointed out that
there’s a solid gold crown and pillow at the very top of the tower that weighs
8 kg (around 15 pounds, I think). Here it’s important to point out a couple of
things. Number one, this is the first time in over five years that St. Martin’s
has not been under extensive repair. There’s a highway going right past it,
where the old Jewish district used to be. The Communists took over Czech and
Slovakia after WWII, and giving them possession of both Prague and Bratislava.
They decided to keep one city pristine and preserve the history, but then
modernize the other. Fortunately for Prague, they kept that one very nice.
Unfortunately for Bratislava, they started modernizing. The old town portion of
Bratislava is only 20% of what the city used to be. The other 80% was torn down
and destroyed to make way for modernization. In place of that historic 80% now
stands a new bridge with a UFO on the top (which foreigners affectionately call
the “Jetson Bridge”), a building shaped like an upside-down pyramid, and quite
honestly some really ugly socialist architecture. I went into one of the
apartment buildings the next day, and it literally looked like a jail with bars
on the doors and windows. The tile walls looked like bathroom floors, and you
could tell things were very cheaply made. The buildings are only about 40 years
old or less, and they’ve just not been taken care of. It’s pretty sad-looking!
At any rate, thankfully some of the important and beautiful buildings are still
standing. Who knows how they decided what to tear down and what to save!
Also interesting about this particular square is the
indication of a severe flood in 1850. The city sits on the north side of the
Danube River (which is not really blue!), and in February of 1850, it froze
over. Now that’s all fine till it starts to melt. The only problem came when
the icebergs, which didn’t melt as quickly, did not melt. They were actually
big enough to block the river in such a way that it redirected the water uphill
into the Bratislavan City Center! The flood was the worst in the city’s
history, and other floods since then have no even come close to comparing with
this one.
Moving right along, just a few meters away, we stood in the
middle of the main souvenir marketplace! Here we learned about Slovak
traditions and culture. Apparently, if you cut an apple across the middle and
the seeds are in a star-shaped design, you will have good luck! Last I checked,
all apples typically have seeds in a star-shape when you cut it in half
cross-ways. ;) Also, if you rub honey on your face, you will have good luck! If
you throw nuts into the corner of a room, you will have good luck! If you hear
an ambulance siren, you must bump your head against something three times to
have good luck.
But the luckiest of all are Slovak boys on Easter Monday.
They have full permission to beat up and terrorize poor little girls! Boys can
throw cold water on a girl, hit her with a special stick, pick her up and take
her away kicking and screaming… and the only way to stop this is to give the
boy chocolate or a strong drink! And when she does this, she also has to give
him a ribbon to tie around his beating stick. And then he gets to do it all
over again to someone else! So those are some fun traditions…
Next stop: St. Michael’s Gate! This is the only surviving
gate to the city, but if one was to be saved, it’s good that it was this one
because this was the Barbican gate! Like the Barbican in Krakow, this gate is
also off-center so as to avoid a head-on attack. But unlike the Krakow Barbican
which had a 45-degree angle between gates, this one has a 90-degree angle! Both
types have their advantages, but this one is particularly unique because any
attacking force would have to make a 90-degree turn, forcing them to stop and
redirect the entire army. This would buy the soldiers of the city some time to
put some arrows into the attackers and defend themselves!
Also important about this gate is that this is the same gate
that new kings and queens would walk through to get to St. Martin’s Cathedral
to be coronated. They would walk through the streets, and the path they took
was marked with little bronze crowns embedded in the cobblestones. Pretty cool
to still see them there, I’d have to say!
Through the gate, we looked hung a left and took a good look
at an inconspicuous plaque on the ground. This commemorates the place where the
first witch was burned at the stake in 1602. Four hundred years later, in 2002,
the plaque was dedicated.
And also in this spot is where we had our best view of the
Bratislava Castle! Now, this castle had withstood attacks from Mongolians,
Ottomans, Napoleon Bonaparte, and others, but in 1811, when Bratislava decided
to hire the best Italian builders to make improvements to the castle, they had
a party inside and burned it down! They still joke that the castle withstood
all those armies but couldn’t survive one night of Italian partying. Bummer.
And to our right was the Trinitarian Church. Interestingly
enough, there was another church on this spot at one point, called St.
Michael’s Church. But it actually blocked the view of incoming armies over the
hills! So whoever was in charge at that time decided to have it torn down. The
only problem now… they didn’t have a church! So they built this one in its
place and made it such that the view was not blocked. It is now one of the
primary churches in the city. This is an important church for other reasons,
however. In 1939, a deposed Slovak leader named Tiso called an emergency meeting
of parliament here.
And then we walked a bit further and got a good view of the
Slovak White House! =) And we continued with the story…
You see, Tiso had just been personally invited to dinner in
Berlin with Adolf Hitler. Hitler proposed that Tiso should break Slovakia away
from Czech and become their own country, and Tiso should be their leader. At
first Tiso said no, but after several rounds of Tiso declining and Hitler
insisting (promising protection if Tiso would do it and a Hungarian attack if
he didn’t), Tiso conceded and called this emergency meeting of parliament.
Ultimately, Slovakia conceded and Tiso became president of the country.
Slovakia was now with the Axis powers, and Czech is on the side of the Allied
powers. Czech felt betrayed, to say the least.
So, all that happened in March of 1939. In May of that same
year, Hitler went back on his word and invaded Slovakia. Hitler also demanded
that Tiso give him 20,000 Slovak soldiers, which was most of their army. But
Tiso gave Hitler an alternative: he would give Hitler 20,000 Jews instead to
work in labor camps. But then Tiso went back on that word and offered full
civilian protection of Jews. This lasted until 1944 when the major deportation
of Jews occurred in Slovakia—and Slovakia had, at one time, been one of the
places where they “knew” they would be safe. Of course, they didn’t really go
to labor camps, they went to Auschwitz, which we now know was an extermination
camp.
And so came a Slovakian National Uprising. There’s not a square
called “Uprising Square” dedicated to this event, and there’s a statue of the
guy who started it. (Side note: This is where Bratislavans come even now
whenever there’s a national celebration or a national tragedy. They hold
protests here as well. They are very active in their squares around there!) The
people of Slovakia knew they were fighting against fascism, and they felt very
strongly about that. But they didn’t really know what they were fighting for. Political leaders used this time as
a platform to promote their agendas, and things just didn’t go well. There was
too much confusion and not enough facts or truth for people to look to.
When WWII ended, Britain asked the Czechs if they wanted
Slovakia back, and interestingly enough, the Czechs did. Pretty big turn around
after the betrayal they’d felt six years previous. Eventually, Tiso was demoted
again and again, and he was finally hanged in Bratislava in 1947.
Moving along, we talked about how Slovakia is doing at the
moment. By standards around the world, there is still a good deal of poverty in
Slovakia. But there’s also a lot of growth. They became part of the EU and
adopted the Euro, their economy is growing, low taxes bring in large companies
like VW and others, and their strategy to getting what they want with the EU is
to always be the last to decide on EVERYTHING. =) It seems to work!
Our guide also gave us an interesting aside. Several bridges
cross the Danube, and they’re currently building a new one. The people of
Slovakia held a preliminary vote to come up with a name for this bridge. Some
wanted to name it after Maria Teresa, who is very important to Bratisava, some
wanted to name it after something else, but overwhelmingly, 81% of the people
want to name it after… CHUCK NORRIS! Too funny! Why? I’m not sure. But that’s
what they want!
Now on to more historic sites! There’s this very large and
interesting cathedral called St. Elizabeth’s Church. It’s blue. Very, very
BLUE! It’s also done in the Art Nuevo style, so it kind of reminds people of
Cinderella’s Castle. There are several nicknames for this church: The Blue
Church, The Cake Church, The Big Blue Marshmallow, and—my favorite—the SMURF
CHURCH! Too hilarious. There are weddings there every Saturday of the year, and
people will be on a waiting list for years to have their weddings,
christenings, etc. happen here. It’s actually one of the top 20 Art Neuvo sites
in the world, and just across the street is… an unsightly, abandoned communist
hospital. Kind of a shame, but you’ll find that type of thing everywhere, so
said our guide. One of the other interesting things about this church is that
the clock on the tower actually tells the right time—quite an oddity in Europe,
I’ve been told!
And then we came to the square in which Prague Spring took
place. Not sure why it’s called Prague Spring, since it started in Bratislava.
Our guide said it’s because the events grew and protests got bigger, and then
everything culminated in Prague. Anyway, we need some background. There was
this Bratislavan leader named Alexander Dubcek. He was a Socialist, but he
promoted “Socialism with a human face.” He granted freedom of the press and was
not forceful about the Socialist ideals. Moscow told him to stop giving these
freedoms, and when he didn’t stop anything, Moscow decided to invade and put a
stop to this themselves.
Around 9:00 on a Saturday morning in 1968, people were out
doing their shopping, sightseers were sightseeing, people were going about
their lives, and all of a sudden, with no warning, military tanks from Moscow
came rolling across the bridge into this square, invading the city. Want to
know something ironic? The Soviets thought they were in Berlin. They had their
instructions, and they were in the right place, they had just been misinformed
of where that place actually was. They started talking to the Slovaks and
realized it wasn’t Germany; they demanded to know where the press offices were
(because of course they don’t want word of this getting out around the world),
and the Bratislavans were quite smart in this situation—they told the Soviets
it was in a building across town. During the hour or so it took the Soviets to
find out where it was, word had already been printed up and was on its way out.
People stood in the streets giving out magazines to tourists—magazines with the
story and this picture in it—to take back to the Western world and get news
out. And surely enough, it worked.
A very famous photo was taken here on this day, right in
front of the university and an interesting-looking building which housed the
newspaper press. This picture was taken by a man named Ladislav Bilak. (Tank Man Please click the link to see the picture. This was actually taken at the beginning of Prague Spring in Bratislava; there's a lot of confusion surrounding this picture, since the photographer was so adamant about keeping it a secret,) A man witnessing this uncalled-for, surprise invasion,
tore his shirt open and stared down one of the tanks. It’s one of the photographs
that always appears on lists of pictures that changed the 20th
century. Of course he didn’t want the Communists to find out he took it, for
fear of being executed or having his family be hurt because of it. He kept it a
secret for over 20 years, until after he died. His family found the negatives
in some old boxes and realize what their father had done. So now we know who
took the picture.
A series of events happened after this, and there was
hard-core Communism all over Czechoslovakia. Interestingly enough, when they
first became Czechoslovakia after WWII, the Czechs are the ones who wanted
Communism as their form of government. Slovakians wanted democracy. Anyway.
They obviously had Communism forced upon them. During the Velvet Revolution, there
was a huge student protest outside a major university in Bratislava. A few
people were killed, including students and civilians who were caught in
crossfire. There was also a series of very mysterious car wrecks involving
political officials and other influential people all over central Europe. When
the iron curtain finally fell, they called it the Velvet Divorce. After this
the Czechs and Slovakians separated their countries, and Slovakia joined the EU
and adopter the Euro instead of the Slovakian koruna. The Czechs and Slovaks
have a very close relationship now, and there’s finally a sense of peace and
growth there.
And so ended our tour! It was really quite impressive,
especially for FREE! Afterward, I was quite hungry, so off I went in search of
Slovak food! Both the girl at my hostel’s reception desk and Timmy the Tour
Guide recommended Flagship Bratislava as an excellent restaurant, so that’s
where I was headed! And boy was I ever impressed! It’s touted as a place with
excellent food and the feel of old world Bratislava, and it certainly is. The
wood work was amazing, the food was excellent, and I truly felt like I was back
in Medieval Bratislava! I got the Halusky (pronounced “halushky) upon
recommendation, and I was not disappointed. It’s little dumplings in a milk
sauce (not a cream sauce) with cheese and big chunks of bacon on top. YUMMY! I
also got these things for dessert that looked like pierogis. They were sweet
and filled with poppyseed stuff, swimming in butter—kind of like part of the South
over in central Europe. ;) It’s quite full of poppyseed stuff, by the way. Not
like a poppyseed muffin where you get a tablespoon of poppyseeds for the whole
batch, it’s FILLED with poppyseeds! That’s big over here apparently. They had
similar stuff in Poland, too.
And then it was off to shop! I typically do NOT go shopping
unless I have to (even in the States!), but it had been so incredibly hot and
even a bit humid in Bratislava that I just needed something cooler! I went in
with a mission to get either shorts and a tank top or a sleeveless dress, and
out I walked with a cute, light, airy sleeveless dress. =) Woohoo!
Next on the agenda: Skyping with Momma’s class! I am ALWAYS
up for inspiring people to explore new places, try new things, and don’t let
anything stop you from living life to the fullest ("The theif comes onlu to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." --John 10:10), so of
course when Mom asked me to talk to the kids in Carthage I said sure. So we
Skyped for a bit and I told them about my travels so far, and that was that! I
got to talk with both Mom and Dad for a few minutes afterward, so that was
nice. =) Wednesday was Mom’s birthday, and all I got to do was leave her a
message, so it was nice to be able to talk to her, too.
And then it was shower and bedtime! The beds at Hostel Blues
are SO much more comfortable than a couple of the other places I’d stayed, so I
actually got a good night’s sleep! And then comes Friday—Castle ruins and Bible
study with the Bratislavan brothers and sisters! =)
Before I get to that, though, please enjoy the PICTURES! =)
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Night Train Ride and Bratislava Part 1!
Welcome back! I hope you’re enjoying the trip so far. =)
So, we don’t really use trains very much in the States.
People use them more in certain areas of the country (like people who often
travel between DC-Philly-NJ-NYC), but where I grew up, trains were Thomas the
Tank Engine and something people used in the 1800s to get across the
country—not something people use as an alternative to driving or flying! I’ve
ridden trains before in Japan and Switzerland, and each time it’s a fun and
exciting experience. While my previous train ride from Warsaw to Krakow was not
the most pleasant I’ve experienced, I was still looking forward to the night
train thing.
Now I’ll be honest, I was starting to get a little concerned
the close it got because so many people had told me to watch out and be
careful. But since I was going from one main city to another, I really didn’t
have anything to worry about! I had to ask a couple of different people what
car I needed to get on (I’m not sure whether it was something lost in
translation or miscommunication on part of the train folks; one guy told me to
go to one end of the train, and two others told me to go to the opposite side
of the train), but I got on the right one. I was actually quite pleasantly
surprised! The interior was small, of course, but the “room” I was in was
plenty big enough for me! There were three bunks, and mine was on the bottom. I
thought maybe a couple of other people would be getting on, but nope! Just me!
It’s really interesting how space can be so well utilized. Pictures to follow.
=) There was even water and a towel and breakfast provided. Quite nice!
The only problem came when we started moving… it was a
really bumpy ride! I have trouble sleeping on anything that moves, even on an
airplane. I had hoped having an actual bed where I could lay down and the
methodic movement of the train would actually help me sleep—but boy was I
mistaken! We stopped and started, sped up and slowed down, went around curves,
etc. I might have gotten an hour of actual sleep, but I survived it. I’m glad I
did it so that now I’ve had the experience! =)
The train got in at 5:38 am, right on schedule. And I had no
useful money. I had US dollars, I had a few Polish zlotys left, I even have
some Swiss francs with me, but in Slovakia, they use the Euro! So, I had no
money for a bus or a taxi, the exchange places in the train station weren’t
open yet, and I didn’t see an ATM anywhere. Fortunately, my hostel is within
walking distance of the train station! Unfortunately, the directions were a bit
confusing! The roads in Bratislava are very curvy, and I couldn’t quite figure
out their naming system. Somehow I missed a turn, but I kept going toward the
Old City center. Along the way, I saw some posters for a Jethro Tull concert,
which made me think of my daddy! The Slovakian “White House” was on my way as
well, so that was cool to see, and you know what else I saw? And ATM! So I got
me some Euros and went on my way. Crisis averted!
Now the Bratislavan Old Town is really cute and quite
pretty, but my goodness it’s complicated! The roads are not in any kind of
order, and people drive and park anywhere—sidewalks, squares, wherever you can
fit. I was getting kind of frustrated because no one I asked seem to have ever
heard of the street where my hostel is located, but eventually I met a kindly
police officer, and she said I was on the right road! I just needed to go a
little further, and the hostel would be on the right—and it was! Again, crisis averted.
;)
The hostel girls were very nice and let me go ahead and
check in so I could put my stuff in my room. They gave me a key and pad lock
for my stuff and said whatever lockers were open were free to use. They gave me
a map, suggestions for where to eat, told me about some of the features of the
hostel—full kitchen, “chill room” where people can “chill out” and not have to
be in their rooms, and they sent me on my way! So I dumped my stuff, changed
clothes so I could feel like I actually did start a fresh, new day, and set out
to find Shtoor, which is a little café that serves homemade Slovakian food!
Shtoor is really cute, and they have great stuff! Coffee was
typical European (strong), and I got whatever was the most Slovakian. I asked
the girl at the counter what the best thing would be, and she told me about
this thing called Bryndzik (that is probably totally wrong). Anyway, it’s
homemade whole grain bread (with beans in it—interesting and quite good,
actually) with spiced sheep’s cheese spread; it also came with salad. The
cheese was on there THICK, so I ended up taking some of it off, but it was
really good! And it definitely stuck with me till I had time for lunch. Shtoor
was an interesting kind of guy. He actually was the person who codified the
Slovakian language! That interested me to no end, of course, so I HAD to go to
his café!
Next up: The Slovakian National Museum. Apparently this is a
lot like the Smithsonian; lots of different museums make up the institution of
the Slovak National Museum. This one had a special exhibit of toys, home life,
and schools over the years. This was all in Slovakian, since it’s a temporary
exhibit, but it was neat to see the stuff, even if I couldn’t read about it. =)
The next couple of floors (they call it the first and second floors, but we
would call them the second and third floors in Europe) were dedicated to
natural history. Lots of rocks and fossils, lots of land, air, and sea animals.
The content didn’t interest me as much, but they had a really awesome exhibit
there. It was a huge, blank, white book with a projector above it. The pages
were definitely blank, but when you turned the page, the projector would go to
the next slide. There was a mark on the back of each page, and I guess the
sensors picked up on that and knew which slide to show. Pretty cool!
I had some time on my hands till time for a tour at 1:00, so
I headed up to Bratislava Castle, which is not really a castle like we might
think of it. It’s nice-looking, but it wasn’t build for kings and queens. They
were coronated (crowned) there, but they didn’t usually live there. It was
built as a fortification (i.e. a fort) to protect the city. It’s situated up on
a hill, and there are lookout towers so you could see who was coming from far away.
The Ottomans tried to get in and take over Bratislava, as did the Monguls, as
did Napoleon himself in 1805! No one succeeded while this fortification was in
use, at least not on their first attempt; Napoleon was successful in his second
attempt in 1809. They also have a barbican here, like the one in Krakow. The
Krakowian barbican has two gates at a 45 degree angle from each other, which
has its benefits, but the Bratislavan barbican gates are at a 90 degree angle.
That would slow down an army quite a bit to have to make a complete 90 degree
turn just to get into the city! That would have bought the Bratislavan army
some time to get some arrows into any attackers for sure!
Anyway, there is a lot of reconstruction going on because
the castle had fallen into such disrepair after WWII, and it’s taken this long
to get together the research and funding for repairs. But they’ve really done a
great job with the parts that are open to the public. In one exhibit are
various items that have been excavated. There were tools and jewelry and
weapons from as far back as the third century BC, before the castle was even
built! The first written account of the castle was in 907 AD, and it’s changed
hands several times since then, but always remained Bratislavan. In the 16th
century, the Hungarian capitol liked the place so much, and Bratislava was
basically the place to be, so they moved their capitol from Buda to Bratislava.
I’m not sure where the boundary lines were at this time, but they felt
comfortable coming on over!
The other exhibit open to the public showed models of the
castle in its heyday, as well as pictures from the 1950’s when it was at its
worst. There were a few things about knights, too, which was pretty cool. No,
my knight in shining armor was not there. The search continues. ;)
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