Bratislava or should that be Rainislava

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Another day, another country as they say in the classics and with Mel on her way back home to France today as well, it was an early morning excursion to Prague airport. Having managed to make the Sky Europe flight cut off by a matter of minutes it was off to Bratislava. You see Sky Europe is like Jetstar in that if you are not checked in 40 minutes before your flight then don't bother flying Sky Europe. The only remaining thought going through my mind was that I hope they weren't counting on my airfare for their maintenance budget, since at 299Chk (remember 1AUD = 17Chk) it wasn't much of a contribution. The plane was a nice new Boeing 767-700 not yet out of warranty, so all was looking good.

The arrival was all trouble free, although I am noticeing that Customs are taking a little longer then I would prefer looking at the screen when I present my passport. One thing you do notice about Eastern Europe is that most of the public transport drivers are retired formula one drivers. I'm sure that the tail of the bus slid out a little on the way in from the airport as we went around a corner, I was waiting for the complimentary neck braces to drop from the ceiling but to no avail. With three nights in Bratislava, after a stroll around this arvo its safe to say that I may be taking a little side trip to Vienna or a nearby castle to fill in a day or two before I head off to Budapest for the final leg of this little sojourn. Not a totally rivetting place to spend a few days on first impressions.

Hold the press though, it all changes after dark, even though it's still about 4 zillion degrees below freezing I'm surviving, just. The only thing that I don't get though is, if it is so cold out why are they serving my red wine straight from the fridge!! go figure although I am at a mom and dad type bar for dinner so who knows, although the pork was all good, so were the peanuts in the shell (it's the small things that amuse me). Although the Slovaks must be one of the few people in the world that eat pig liver, you can have it any way you like, with whatever you like. But there is a limit to the eat and live like a local thing.

So far the local brews that I've sampled haven't made it compared to the local faves of Grind and Nuns (especially when Matt is on the machine), although there is a magical hot chocolate that I have discovered. This little gem is like having a melted caramello koala made with lindt chocolate a real crowd pleaser, plus there are another 26 varieties on the menu to try, all for about $2.50. Oh I couldn't resist after the pork it was a return visit to try the dark chocolate and orange. This place also transforms after dark, the aroma of choclate when you walk in the door is more intense and the waitresses metamorphosis into total babes. Not to mention it is one of the better places to people watch those walking around the main square from.

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Photos

It's not all that far to home
This is where you realise how far from home you are, especially when the south pole is 200 km closer!

The view to the UFO from the Castle
So they have a bridge with an UFO on it complete with trendy nightclub and bar.

I guess I won't be seeing the gate then
There's more then a few signs like this around town.

The paparazzi are everywhere
The coffee was a tad ordinary at this trendy little place though, the same mob run the trendy UFO nightclub.

I found Elvis, he's at the Solarium
There are solariums everywhere you look in Eastern Europe.