Giving Bratislava its props..

Ok today is going to be a multiple post day, as I have travel far and wide to the British Consulate to at least find some english speaking people, decent computers, and internet at bargin prices. Romania is tough for sure, but more on that the 2nd post. The first post will be to give some props where props are due to Bratislava, Slovakia. Slovakia is a small country both in size and population with only 5.4 million people. Yet they have managed to produce many many world class hockey players, if you follow the sport then you know names such as Hossa, Gaborik, Demitra, Satan, Zednik, Bondra, Handzus, Chara and more. For a hockey fan like myself this is a great thing and in talking to some of the locals we had good conversations about hockey as it is their national sport for sure. They were impressed with my knowledge, but then again they are not aware of the total sports nerd and trivia god that I am. Next up the women, while I dont know of any Slovakian supermodels that are on a first name basis in the states, there were plenty of beautiful women walking the streets, working at the cafes and places. Something in the water does surely compute. Initally when I got to Bratislava I had the usual shock that seems to happen in many cities. Without a map, with no street signs, it was Hot, i might have even been slightly hung over.. finding the hostel was an adventure, then when I got there the size/scope of it was not what I was expecting.. The guy basically turned his apartment into a hostel with like 10 or so beds, I was paying 20 bucks to sleep in his living room with 3 other couches/beds. Then later in the day saturday I walked to the old town, went to the Castle but all along the way the town was just QUIET, almost dead in fact. Yet after being in some other huge cities in a way this is a relief and relaxing. Bratislava has a population of less then 500,000 people and you can basically walk from one end of the town to the other in 30 minutes. The castle was great and the Da Vinci exhibition of his Coda Atlantic drawings and documents was eye opening in the least, the guy was just amazing all the things he thought of or sketched out. Also another great exhibit there was from a Slovakian photographer called Amazing Planet, you can check out some of the pictures here at

Amazing-Planet

Now it was time to find some food, wandered around the old town square and had a great meal for about 10 bucks, chicken and beer, what more could a man ask for?? The beer was good here, both the Czech beers and local Slovak beers, and at prices less then Coca-Cola the choice was obvious as to what to drink. I must say finding a place to watch the World Cup 3rd place match was tough, as the town sadly on weekends fills up with drunken British Stag Parties. I must say of all the things the Brits are proud of, this should be the least. They are simply horrible, loud, drunk, singing songs, just downright nasty, dressed up in garters, as fruit, as whatever it looks stupid.. yet in a country where unemployment is high, most of the locals put up with the crap as those Tourist pounds are good money.. Found a place with a small screen and watched Germany demolish Portugal. Then met up with a brit and slovakian and partyed all night long, so in the end the night turned out fun.

Sunday was even more dead than saturday and while the day started out hot, there was the freakiest 2hr thunderstorm in the middle of the day, including small pebbles of HAIL falling from the sky. I was like whoa, its 86 degrees on the ground and ice is falling from the sky, is the world about to end?? Well the storm was a good thing, as I was holed up under the awning of the resturant I just ate at, called 1 Slovak Pub, where the homemade beer was 25Skk(current rate is 30 Skk is 1 USD). In being holed up there, talked to a slovakian girl who said the place across the street the Film Cafe was cool, so went there when the rain stopped. Very cool place, I described it a bit in my last post about the WC, but film posters and pictures everywhere. The staff was nice and friendly also. Went to my new lodging, the student dorms at Slovakian Technical University, where the room was simple but most importantly cheap. Changed and went back to watch the WC Finale. After the game, not much going on, but walked back around the old town and found a group of sad French fans and we drowned our sorrows.

Overall in the end Bratislava proved to be very fun, in fact thinking of stopping back there on a Friday night, as that is suppose to be the good hanging out night, on my way to Slovenia as to break up the 8hr trip into shorter segments.. Ok now the next post about Romania, by far my least favorite place of the trip.. stay Tuned..