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Today we got up early and opened the breakfast room at 7:00. It is easy to tell when the room is about to open: “Muzac” from the 70s starts to play and the doors open. Today we heard “Some Enchanted Evening,” “Danny Boy”, and theme from “Exodus.” We had a nice breakfast and tried a couple of new items: a dill cream cheese, a piece of lox with an olive, and a creamy cheese cake dessert with a coconut crust.
We headed for the Kelceti train station on Bus #7 (found the stop last night) and arrived there in 10 minutes. We purchased our tickets to Bratislava, Slovakia, with an hour to wait. There was no seating in the train station, so we bought COKE LIGHT at a café and settled down to blog/read. This was our first cola drink since Italy, almost 3 weeks ago, and it tasted really great with ice and a lemon!
The train ride was uneventful, except that we had a touch of Air Conditioning! Any little bit helps. We rode with an 18 year old from Alabama who had been visiting his cousin in Prague. He had taken the
overnight train to Budapest, hung out in a hostel for 24 hours, and was returning to Prague. He knew EVERYTHING about EVERYTHING, including the fact we paid way too much for our beer on the train!!! Fun to see such confidence.
Bratislava was very interesting. The train station was about a twenty minute walk from the town center. There were NO MAPS AVAILABLE anywhere!!! We walked past streets of stark communist concrete buildings scattered amongst 19
th century Baroque buildings, all mostly in various states of disrepair. Only a few years ago it was dangerous to wander around this city.
There were numerous sculptures and evidence of art. In the central park area near the Danube, there was an outdoor photography exhibition for the public to enjoy. The photographs were themed around travel in other parts of the world.
We past a park and found a park bench (with a back) in the shade and had our picnic lunch. Afterwards, we wandered through the park and realized it was the back yard of the Slovakian “White House,” where the Prime Minister lives. We watched the military guard, just off duty, board their
bus and leave the property. They have a ceremony not unlike Buckingham Palace where they change guards for the residence, but we missed that.
The garden was a microcosm of Slovakia: on the surface, the grounds were beautiful with sculptures, plantings, flowers, a plexiglass fence so as not to disturb the view, all nicely mowed; but structurally, some of the park benches were broken and without backs, and the beautiful fountain and pool were without water!
We meandered around the city, following signs to the Centro, looking in churches but disappointingly, not being able to enter (closed or marked off with a rope). We finally found the “old town” by wandering through “gates” or arches in the buildings. We found a comfortable bar in the shade and had a beer, and talked to some Canadians from PEI who had come by boat from Vienna for the day. We watched people trying to stay cool with feet in fountains and pools. Then we wandered uphill toward the railway station (many, many asks to find the way).
We got back on the train, in a full compartment with six of us, a little
Beer and Wine Measurements
The glasses have a measurement for liquor. AC. All of the group got off about half way to Budapest, so we had the unit to ourselves. We had a beer in the dining car just for fun. We arrived home around 7:00 pm.
We cooled off in the shower and checked internet. We decided to eat at the outdoor restaurant of our hotel. (NO CONS at our hotel!!!!!) It was really wonderful, cool in the shade, nice glass of Italian Pino Grizio white wine, fresh pea soup, a Palacsinta (Hungarian pancake stuffed with meat in a paprika sauce), and grilled lamb. What a treat!
Budapest is beautiful at night. We went across the Szabadsag Bridge by our hotel and tried to photograph the full moon. The bridge slopes very low in the center. Many young people hang out here, sitting on the bridge, watching the boats go by, drinking a bottle of wine, etc. What a view!
It was cooler and we went to bed at midnight.
MANY MANY PHOTOS BELOW!!!
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sarah
non-member comment
love this one!
Love this one!