Bratislava 2 – Day 4

We had another late breakfast, and then walked to the Schokocafe Maximilian for hot chocolate that is more like fondue than what we call hot chocolate in Canada. It was delicious.

This will be my motto for the next couple weeks.

I’ve only been seeing one or two bike, share bikes per docking station, so it seems like many of them have been put away for the winter, because I haven’t seen very many in use, either.

Michael’s Slovak tutor joined us shortly after we ordered and after visiting with Filip for a bit I left the two of them to converse in Slovak while I explored on my own.

Bratislava is famous for its statues. This one is Schöne Náci, a famous figure in Bratislava. He was a regular, walking the streets of Bratislava in the early part of the 20th century, “dressed up in elegant evening dress and top hat,  walking stick and a pack of his favourite desserts in his hand. He smiled at the people and greeted ladies reverently, saying “I kiss your hands” in Slovak, Hungarian and also German since Bratislava was trilingual at that time. He spent the last years of his life forgotten in a tuberculosis treatment facility in the village of Lehnice, where he died. Only in September 2007 were his remains transported from the local cemetery to the historic Ondrejský cemetery in the Bratislava centre near the graves of several prominent personalities of Slovakia.”

I walked down and back through Hviezdoslavovo námestie with beautiful trees shading a wide pedestrianized area, restaurants and cafés, embassies, and shortly, the Christmas market. Only the American embassy is obviously fortified.

This is a statue of Hans Christian Anderson.

This street has angle parking on both sides and just one lane of traffic. Many streets in this area are set up this way and there were very few cars driving. It was very peaceful. I watched a parking enforcement officer scanning each of the license plates with her phone, stopping only for a couple seconds at each car, to verify that they had paid for the parking, and presumably to issue a fine , if not.

I found another sign by the same artist. My reality was pretty good today.

Július Satinský was a beloved Slovak comedian. He was also an actor, singer, and radio personality.  This statue is located on Dunajska Street, the street where he lived. Svetozár Ilavský spent two years creating the sculpture. A huge silver ear mounted above him on the building is part of the sculpture, and represents the listeners of his radio programs

I enjoy the mix of old and modern buildings in Bratislava.

I also enjoy how empty the streets are of cars, particularly on the weekend. It makes for very peaceful, walks and bike rides. Transit is very frequent, even on the weekends. And no, I didn’t have to wait for traffic to clear to stand in the road to take these pictures. It was like this for many minutes as I walked along the sidewalk, with almost as many trams as cars passing.

I met Michael after his class and we took the tram back to the hotel. Shortly thereafter Milan arrived with his bike to loan to me for the next couple weeks. I stored it in the luggage room, and we walked to Komín for an early dinner, and enjoyable conversation. We only needed the two meals today since breakfast was late and dinner early, and both were large, not the mention the hot chocolate which was almost a meal in itself.

I started getting quite sleepy after the large meal, around the time that I normally go to sleep at home, but perked up after a walk back to the hotel in the cool, damp evening air to enjoy a tea and write the blog. Tomorrow Michael will go to work, and I will be exploring on the bike.