Day 6: Bratislava

I set the alarm for 7 as the Bratislava city tour was leaving at 8. Last night we were told that we would be going through a lock. Unfortunately that was at 4 this morning and I didn’t see it. Unfortunately Laura said she was rudely awakened by the boat scraping along the sides of the lock. She said it sounded scary, I slept through it. We are docked on the embankment, I have a view of the harbor wall. Laura and Stu have no view at all as the ship is berthed right next to another. It is often done since there is so much river boat traffic. The door to your lobby opens up to the door of your neighbors so they can get through to the exit.

The tour went off without a hitch. I sat next to a nice woman, Sheila, from New Zealand. We went up and up finally to the top of the hill overlooking the city where there is the castle and an amazing view. Bratislava is so spread out and there are lots of new buildings going up. Across the river there are apartment blocks built by the Soviets, white with vertical stripes of color. The guide called them Lego buildings. To the right across the river, Austria, to the left, Hungary. There were lots of windmills in Austria. Our guide says they only get their energy ecologically. We tramped around the castle grounds for a bit. There is a device on a charger in the room that allows you to hear the guide on earphones. I don’t mean to show my ignorance but there were many dates and conquerers and they get jumbled up.

Celts, Romans, Turks, French, Hungarians, Austrians and maybe lots that I have left out. How kids manage to absorb their history classes here is beyond me!

We drove back down the hill and were dropped off near the old part of the city. It is so beautiful to walk around. There are esplanades lined with trees as well as small alleys connecting one square with another. There was a more than life sized statue of Hans Christian Anderson surrounded by images from his stories. The best was one of a man coming out of a manhole.

We did so much walking. I loved seeing the town but it was getting hot and tiring. They do have these 8’ tall hoops spewing out cold air vapor which you can walk through that really do cool you off.

Back to the boat, walking along the river esplanade and seeing over a dozen river cruise ships lined up. I bumped into Laura and Stu who had been on their own quest and were just walking into town. We’ll meet up at dinner.

I had lunch in the restaurant, there was a light lunch served in the lounge but why do light?

The salad bar was out, this time the special salads were red cabbage, bean, and egg salad with lots of vegetables.

There was soup, then pork steak, or grilled fish or vegetable spring rolls. I had the spring rolls which were served with a grated cabbage in a soy based dressing that packed a lot of heat.

But, oh my the dessert! It was a Pavlova, soft meringue with vanilla custard and raspberry sauce.

It was too nice to stay indoors so I took myself out to the forward deck to watch the world walk by. There are TWO other ships parked next to us.

Laura, Stu and I met up at dinner. Tomato and cucumber salad with Roquefort cheese, veal pate served on a 2 layer green (cucumber) and white (mascarpone) aspic, cream of leek soup with shrimp, monkfish, beef cheeks, poached egg on a quinoa lentil salad. I’ve been overindulging so had the pate and soup. Then asked if I could get the salad. Of course, Peter, our wonderful server, will get anything we want. The kids had the poached egg dish and really enjoyed it. And FYI the veal pate was amazing.

Dessert…..chocolate lava cake with raspberry coulis served with ice cream.

Laura and Stu walked all over town, starting with the mall. Stuart wore his purchase, a very trendy seersucker jacket. They also found the museum of design which they loved. It was in the attic of an old building and they were the only ones there. They are intrepid.

After dinner we went to play trivia. Laura named our team Trivial Persnooty. We were shown photos of cities around the world and had to name them. We only got one wrong and won! We got a bottle of wine called Herzog de Nassau. Stu immediately said “a nice Long Island wine” which cracked us up.

Love,
Lynn