Day 16 - Off to Bratislava

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I said goodbye to sleepy Presov this morning and headed off to the hustle and bustle of Bratislava - I took an earlier train to Kysak to make absolute sure I made my connection to the InterCity train. I had an hour to kill at Kysak, so I just read, my usual stopover activity. I'm reading "Quiet" by Susan Cain and it's really fascinating - it's basically about introverts. I'm about halfway through it and it's given me quite the insight into my own life and in to how I go about as a teacher. Over the past 2 years I've had 3 or 4 people recommend the book to me - took me awhile to get there haha, but sure glad I did.

Train ride to Bratislava was luxury by comparison to my other rail travel so far. The IC train gives you ample leg room (I can stick them straight up and out in front of me), free bottled mineral water (no fizz, yay), plugs and most importantly AC lol. I think there was WiFi too but I didn't try connecting. I enjoyed myself by simple watching the countryside go by and listening to music. I've been lacking music time lately... I missed that.

IC goes fast, but still gives you little glimpses of town life. I like seeing the random chickens in someone's backyard, or the German Shepherd watching and judging the train that interrupted its nap, or even just the configuration of the houses and how very different they look from small town to suburbs. I also love the colour - the houses mostly have pops of vibrant yellow, red or orange, but you do get a beautiful variety.

We also passed by the beautiful Tatra Mountains once more - it was fun to look over and realize I was literally at the very top of those bad boys. I think next time I'm in the area (likely southern Poland) I'll have to make another trek over at some point.

Arriving in Bratislava I dropped my things off at the hostel and did my usual wander about. I hopped on a tram that went to the Old Town and puttered around very briefly just so that I'd have my bearings for tomorrow. From there I popped over to a shopping mall for some groceries and found myself in quite the maze of underground tunnels and graffiti walls. I didn't have my camera with me other than my phone, so I just took a couple shots - tomorrow should be fun though as I properly explore and get back into the swing of things.

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