Bratislava

Saturday, August 14

This morning Diane and I were about to go to a museum when Christiana came down and asked if we wanted to go to Bratislava for the day with her Sheena.  Diane and I thought it sounded great so we said yes.  We decided we would head out to Bratislava for the day since its only about an hour away by train.  It was my first train ride in Europe and a chance to travel to another country so it was really exciting.  After we made some sandwiches for the trip, we headed off to the train station.  Getting to the station was an adventure in and of itself.  Buying the ticket was the easy part.  Finding the station was another story.  After a lunch break and a stop for directions we were on the train headed for Bratislava.  I loved being on the train and watching the countryside go past.  

When we arrived in Bratislava, we headed straight to the downtown to explore the city.  We were stopping about every 30 seconds to snap photos of our surroundings namely the architecture in the afternoon light.  We eventually made the short walk to down town, on the way passing a beautiful park and palace that now looks like it is being used as a government building.  Walking downtown was really great as it is a pedestrian district.  This only furthered added to the charm of this lovely city.  This district was dominated by nineteenth century architecture but also included post World War II architecture, which reflected Slovakia’s history as part of the USSR.  Walking around the city, we started to notice a large amount of foreign flags, which represent various embassies.  I was really excited because I find embassies and diplomacy fascinating, especially because I’m considering working for the State Department after I attend law school.  Because the city is so small, we were able to see a large number of the embassies, such as those of France, Italy, Japan, Greece, Spain, Great Britain, and many more.  As we were heading to the Danube, we walked past the American Embassy!  It was mostly hidden by trees but was noticeable because of the high fences, and gate house with guards posted to the front.  It was the only embassy we saw with visible security.  

We continued on to the river, which we then crossed so we could tour the Bratislava Castle.  It is a gorgeous white castle with a tower at each of its four corners, resembling a four poster bed.  The construction of the castle began in the 10th century when it was still a part of the Kingdom of Hungary.  It was refurbished in the Baroque style in 1649 and became an important seat of royal power under Empress Maria Theresa.  It was destroyed by fire in 1811 and was rebuilt in the 1950s in the same style as it was under Maria Theresa.  We spent the remainder of our time sitting on the castle wall above the Danube looking out over Bratislava.  As we headed home we saw a wedding reception being held at one of the castle outbuildings.  It was a treat for us to see because they had re-enactors in traditional dress serving up some entertainment at the wedding.  They even had a military salute with muskets.  We then rushed to get to the train station before dark and were soon headed home.