Bratislava – Day 1 and 2

Michael has been traveling to Batasava for business for the last seven years, but I’ve never been able to go with him before because of various commitments at home. I haven’t been to Europe since 1999. This spring, with only two adult children at home, I decided to accompany him. I’ll be going for two and a half weeks, and he’ll be staying for three and a half weeks.

Michael ordered an airport limousine for 2.30 based on when our flight was scheduled. First thing in the morning we received a text telling us the flight had been delayed by 15 minutes. We hoped there would be no further delays. We were ready to go a few minutes before 2.30 and the weather was lovely so we sat on the porch. Michael smiles at me anticipating the limousine any moment.

A few minutes later the limousine was late and he was on the phone trying to find out when it would come.

While that was happening Cindy texted me to say she was sorry she hadn’t been able to see me between her trip to New Orleans and my trip to Europe. Michael received bad news that the limo was going to be 40 minutes late. Cindy offered to come and pick us up but Michael initially continued trying to work things out the the limo company. A few minutes later she suggested we drive to her place and park there for free when I told her how much airport parking cost (almost $400 for 18 days) as I was considering driving and paying for parking. We decided to do that, as her place is between ours and the airport. I drove and picked her up and we were at the airport in plenty of time. Cindy is such an amazingly supportive friend.

We were in the line at security when we got a message from the limo driver that he was at our house. He was 52 minutes late.

This huge piece of art looks like the bat symbol to me.

When Michael was in Edinburgh, before Bratislava in November, he caught Covid, probably on the plane. Until the end of March, I had yet to catch it, but caught it at a quilt show on March 27. I brought the CO2 monitor along because, while I’m feeling somewhat invincible at the moment, having had it so recently, and Michael did have a booster a few weeks ago, we still want to be careful in crowded and poorly ventilated places. The waiting area and the airport was pretty good. Security, not so much so.

Our flight has been called for boarding. Because Michael is travelling for business he was able to fly premium economy, but I was unwilling to pay that much, despite Michael’s encouragement that I do so, and saved over $2000 by sitting nine rows further back, in a narrower seat than he had. His food was also slightly better, he was allowed two pieces of free luggage, priority boarding and baggage handling, and the ability to change or cancel his ticket.

The air quality on the flight was poor, as expected, but they amount of carbon dioxide in the air isn’t a good proxy for air quality when HEPA filters are running once the plane is in flight. Despite that, Michael, and other people, we know, are quite sure they have caught Covid on flights.

I’m always amazed when I fly over the GTA how little density there is and it makes me even angrier when I think about the Greenbelt being opened up for development. The clump of buildings in this picture is around Square One in Mississauga.

My meal was quite unappetizing, but the movie that I chose, the Fabelmans, was quite good.

This is the nicest plane bathroom I have ever encountered.

I was only able to sleep a little under two hours, and because we were flying east through six time zones, the sun rose very early “in the night” for us.

We landed in Vienna, and the airport was very uncrowded, and there was a very short line at immigration, who asked no questions, and simply stamped our passports.

There is a train from the Vienna airport to the city, but we had a limousine to Bratislava – about a 45 minute drive. Once we left the airport, until we got to Bratislava, we were never out of sight of forests of wind turbines.

I helped myself to an apple at check-in.

We have a nice bright room, with the bathroom doors, serving the function of separating from the bedroom, and also being used as the shower door, or the toilet door, depending on which way you swing them.

The hotel is attached to a large modern mall and an office block with a raised park in the centre, which we can see from our window.

We went to the mall for lunch and ate outside in the park.

Bratislava has a very extensive tram system with many different types of trams ranging from decades old trams to quite modern ones that look like Toronto’s new streetcar fleet.

We took two trams to get to the office so Michael could get his badge. Monday is a holiday so we have the next three days to sightsee together. On the way from the tram to the office I saw this tree with odd spherical shaped clumps of leaves in it.

I sat in the lobby when Michael was up in the office getting his badge and was asleep when he returned.

Beside the office is a pedestrian ramp to take you back up to the street that the tram is on.

We crossed the Danube River on the Red Army Bridge, which is only used by trams, pedestrians, cyclists, and scooters.

In this picture, we’re standing on the bridge looking at another bridge known as the UFO bridge and the Hrad, a castle, which was essentially derelict at the end of the communist era, and has been completely rebuilt, according to mediaeval pictures. Michael has been and plans to take me for a visit.

We stopped for a coffee and sugar fix to get some energy to hopefully make it until a reasonable bedtime tonight.

We returned to the hotel and picked up our passports and went to a cell phone store to get local SIM cards and a data plan, which is far cheaper than Canadian roaming.

Dinner was across the street at Centrálna Klubovňa .

We took a quick walk round the block and then went back to the room for me to write the blog.

I’ll be happy to get into bed tonight and I’ve now made it past 9pm local time.