Blogs from Slovakia, Europe - page 56

After my class to the Cabinet War Rooms, I came back to Metrogate, packed up my toilettries and grabbed my passport and luggage and left! It had commenced, the last class for me for SIX monthes! Pretty exciting, eh?!?!! Well, it was a bit stressful at first because I couldn't find some of the things i thought I had packed. Then, we got on the wrong tube...Great! But then we were able to get on the Stansted express right away and were even able to use our ISIC Cards. We checked in for our flight and waited in the queue for to get on the plane. The security was hardly what I imagined. And we were off! To our gate at least....we sat and sat and finally they told us that the plane was delayed. Finally ... read more

Bratislava ... read more

I made it to Bratislava and enjoyed my time there. It seemed like a smaller, less hectic version of Prague. It had some great architecture, great food (more on that later) and the people were very nice. For me, going to Slovakia was one half of a journey to see where my ancestors came from. Poland was from my dad's side and Slovakia was from my mom's. Although I didn't make it to the towns where they came from, I got a better understanding of why they were the people that they were. My grandmother told me that I was Slovak, not Czech, because the Slovak people are more humble (save your comments, please) and come from a more rural area than the Czechs. I went to an exhibit at the Castle entitled "Until the bride ... read more

My first real expedition from Vienna - Bratislava, capital of Slovakia, about an hour bus ride away. The sky was threatening rain on departure and making good on it's promise on arrival. I went with Inga, my Latvian friend, and we in turn met Jana, a friend of Inga's who is from Bratislava. She ushered us into a cafe where we could start the morning off with a much-needed cappucino (and the happy surprise that prices are about 1/5 that of those in Vienna). A satellite of the Soviet Union until 1989, there is still a strong communist feel - blocky buildings, statues of Lenin-esque proportions and "soldiers of the people." The day we arrived was actually a public holiday, so in the morning the streets were pretty deserted. As people came out, though, and the ... read more

Because no one is here. This has to be the one of the quietest places on earth. So Friday was my last day in Krakow and I was sad to leave. The last night I was there we went a little huge, Meaning I stayed up all night drinking until my train left at 7am. Needless to say it was pretty easy to sleep on the train. So got into Bratislava around 1pm and pretty much slept the whole day. At night walked around aimlessly until I found a Cuban bar that had a pretty good vibe to it and drank there. The next day did some sightseeing, went to the castle, snapped a few pics and walked around the old town. going to the castle, a museum and walking around the old town took all ... read more