Slováci ožijú

Dobre Djienn, reader! (that's a rough phonetic translation of the Slovak Hello, please do not use it in public, as it might as well mean something bad, if you pronounce it the wrong way, which I very likely do... )

I had a great time in Bratislava, which is a really pretty city!! I was a little worried about how it would look like, and if we were going to have enough things to see with my sister, but I really had a nice and interesting week end!!

The churches and squares are really beautiful, the people very welcoming, and we were so lucky as to have very good weather too, which was nice. We could stay outdoors all day, and it really felt like holidays. We walked all through the historical center of the city, and I was quite surprised at the great number of tourists over there, I mean, I did not think that Slovakia would be such a big touristic destination... But it's a very nice city, it's really worth visiting, especially for a flash week-end like that.

I liked the funny statues of people all over town, as well as the churches and buildings, freshly painted! It was a little more recent than I thought, as well, apart from the old medieval castle (Pressburg) on top of the hill in the center of town... the other buildings did not look mediaeval at all, more like Graz, somehow, or Vienna, but in more modest, maybe, and I liked the atmosphere better. But then again, I was there just for fun, so maybe this made a big difference.

It was also quite strange to see the big contrast between the nice and flowery city centre and the run down streets in some places, with broken windows and old bricks showing under the paint... but this had a certain odd charm as well.

What was less pleasing about the place was the fact that I could not understand a single word of what they were saying. Nothing at ALL! That felt strange, because I never was in a country where I did not understant the language before. I mean, I only travelled to either English or German speaking countries, so it was not too difficult to cope, but in Slovakia... Not a single word!! We got a flash course from my ex-roommate Petra, who taught us how to say "thank you" (sounds like dyakoo-yem), but I was too busy asking for news from Dublin to bother with a full language crash course.

Anyway. Bratislava is really a great city, I was very happy to see my sister, and I had a great time, though my feet are of a different opinion. But they are just being mean, really, because I treated them ill... And so are my shoulders, very itchy, complaining that they were in the sun all week end... I do hope they will forgive me overnight, because I'm getting slightly annoyed, to tell you the truth... But tomorrow I'll have to make up for this all-fun no-work week-end, so I guess I'll stay in the shade, and rest my feet!! Make my brain work a little, for a change... :)