Bratislava 2.0

Day #3 in Slovakia, Day #4 traveling

The UFO holds up the bridge

Castle or Hrad in Slovakian

My last day in Slovakia was spent in Bratislava again.  This time I had Fr. Libor as my guide and a significantly smaller danger of getting hopelessly lost again in the maze of the old town.  So we took a train in the morning from his hometown to Bratislava.  There were no seats on the train because we are almost its last stop before Bratislava after traveling the entire span of Slovakia in about 5 hours.  Consequently, there were a lot of students on the train studying frantically for their upcoming finals.

Cathedral!

In Bratislava, we started with the castle.  Although it burned down in the 19^th century, the castle was recently rebuilt.  It stands on a hill overlooking the city with a commanding white presence.  The views from the top of the castle hill were really pretty and included the city on one side and the Danube River on the other.  Unfortunately, the museum is closed on Mondays so we couldn’t go inside.

We crossed the highway to the cathedral side.  The castle and old town are separated by a large highway that the communists constructed, cutting Bratislava in half.  So the cathedral’s façade is on the highway.  The inside is quite beautiful and churchy.  Fr. Libor was ordained in this church, which is fitting since his seminary was right next door.  Both of the seminaries I saw in Slovakia were painted pink, which was a little bit strange.

Then we started a walk around the Old Town for a little bit and Fr. Libor told me the appropriate names for all the buildings I had seen on the first day.  In my lack of a map, I had neglected to see any of the churches in Bratislava.  We made a few stops to see different churches around the city because the Catholic faith is an important part of Slovakian history.  It was also incredibly nice to just talk about life with a priest who is familiar with my family life and many of my friends from St. Cyril’s.  

For lunch, I went  for the adventurous choice and had a pork “medallion” dish with some kind of dumpling for the side.  The pork was a normal piece of pork chop served on a strange piece of fried bread with bit of garlic and bacon bits sprinkled on them.  The dumplings were stranger, not dumplings in the sense of anything I’ve ever eaten before in my life.  They were pieces of bread (crouton size) held together with cheese or some other kind of batter.

HOME! aka, embassy

The Blue Church

After lunch, we went to the Blue church. On the way there, we passed by the American embassy…I was mere steps from American soil This might be the most unique church I’ve ever seen in my life because the whole outside of it is BRIGHT blue!  Inside the church, most everything is also painted blue…the door frames, gates, and even the pews.  Fr. Libor said the church is booked over a year in advanced for weddings.  I totally understand why…the amount of blue might sound overwhelming, but it would make very pretty pictures.

Slovakian White House

On the walk back to the train station, we walked past the Slovakian White House.  However, the president doesn’t actually live there permanently, but rather in a village on the outskirts of the city.   Similarly to many European countries, the president doesn’t hold any political power.  The prime minister wields the political clout.  His house is next door to the president’s, but much less noticeable and pretty.  

And just like that, we were back at the train station.  I could never trace our path on a map, and most of the time I probably wouldn’t have been able to get back to the train station (good thing I trust Fr. Libor!).  We collected my bags from the luggage check and bought train tickets.  I bid Fr. Libor adieu and headed towards Vienna.  Again, there was absolutely no passport control.  I had a relaxing evening in Vienna after all the walking in the cold the last 2 ½ days, I am TIRED!  So I figured it was better to be a little lazy today and go hard tomorrow then to be miserable both days.  

Fr. Libor and I outside of the Old City Tower