Blogs from Bratislava, Bratislava Region, Slovakia, Europe - page 9

August 18th- We started off the day fairly early.... I was up and got myself down to the lobby before 8 in order to get connected to the interet. I got myself setup and checked my email and then headed back to our room to shower before breakfast. Breakfast was a very nice spread... we especially like the croissants. Eileen loved the scrambled eggs. We ate a big breakfast and then gathered our things and headed to the Bratislava Castle. This castle was fairly close to our hotel but it was a steep climb to get there. The castle was pretty cool. It is white and it currently under re-construction. We didn't pay to go in because most of the castle was not open, but we did wander around the grounds and got a feel for ... read more

On advice from our friendly hotel receptionist, we set out this morning to take the tram into the city to explore Bratislava’s old town. Tram tickets could be purchased from a machine at the next tram stop but one, a mere 5 minutes walk away. The walk over, we realised there was no ticket machine at the tram stop, so approached a young man who luckily spoke some English. He was unsure where we might find a ticket machine, but suggested asking at the petrol station across the road. He then insisted on taking us over and asking the attendant on our behalf (in Slovakian). The gist of the response was that vandals ruin the machines at some tram stops so they are located away from the stops, in this case the lady thought we should ... read more

I forgot that I had taken some snaps on the small camera of the trip down the Donau/Danube on that Twin City Liner cat or whatever it is called. Somewhat like my pictures of the Rhine last year if you remember in terms of the odd riverside rocky castle etc. And even though I got to Bratislava tp spend two nights there, with the view to getting around to see a bit, this did not really prove the case in the end. Woke up and it was raining and as I could look down on the roof 3 floors below I could tell how wet it was. So decided at almost 4pm (rain can ruin the best of holidays) that best thing to do was stay dry and go to the Slovakian National Gallery next door. ... read more

Celebrating Ake's 40th birthday In March this year Ake turned 40. Since Ake isn't too happy about celebrating things in general and birthdays in particular Ake decided to go abroad on his 40th birthday. Even though Ake doesn't enjoy traditional celebrations he still thinks that turning 40 is a bit special and because of this he wanted to do something special on this day. This "something special" was to run Bratislava Half Marathon. We spent two days in Bratislava. On Saturday we did traditional sightseeing and on Sunday we ran the race. Bratislava looks much like many other cities in central Europe. Many cities in central Europe have beautiful stone houses from the 19th or early 20th century and so does Bratislava. Many cities in central Europe have old churches and so does Bratislava. Many cities ... read more

So I arrived in Vienna last Saturday completely exhausted after getting only a couple of hours of sleep at the airport in Turkey. Unfortunately, so was Adam, as he had to get up pretty early to meet me downtown at 8am. Adam is finishing his MBA in Vienna, and was able to score me a free night’s accommodation by sneaking me onto the extra mattress on the floor of his dorm room. He let me have an hour nap before he smacked me on the head and told me to get up. It was a beautiful sunny day in Vienna and we walked around the city centre, got some gelato, and went to the famous Opera House to find out what was playing. No opera that night, but we could get ballet tickets for about $12 ... read more