7/27 From Ravenna I took a train to Bologna to change to a nice Eurostar train to Rome. Changing trains I managed to take a tumble again. This time the tunnel under the train tracks was packed with people changing trains and I was working my way to a left exit when I stepped on a roller bag someone was carrying. I never saw it and, in retrospect, am surprised I have not had that happen before. There have been plenty of situations in crowded places where it is difficult to watch my feet and where I am going at the same time. I was not hurt (I don't think) but the challenge would have been getting up except that I used the big rollerbag to push up off of. I will try to be more careful.

Our train to Rome was totally full . It was packed with lots of tourists with big bags. The overhead racks were not built for the luggage of today and there was nowhere to put all of the luggage. Some people had to resort to putting it on the small tables that separate each group of 4 seats.

In Rome they have a non-stop train to the airport for 11€. I really love these airport trains. It runs every 30 minutes and takes about 35 minutes since the airport is pretty far from the city center. Maybe one day we will see a train to the Houston airports.

Now the Rome airport was like the Rita evacuation all over again. What a mess! The airlines tell passengers to arrive two hours, at least, before their international flights. I guess the airlines forgot to tell their employees! There were many of us waiting to check-in for Sky Europe flights and not one employee!

It appeared that the airline workers start at 1pm despite some departures shortly after 2pm . The AC was out and people were quite unhappy. Once the employees showed up all of the passengers did a Rita and converged headed for the 3 employees. There was little resemblance to a line although some people were shown the back of the pack when they tried to obviously jump far ahead.

The security line was better set up, guided in an orderly fashion like at DisneyWorld. Despite it being Rome, there was just a cursory glance at tickets and passports. That line moved pretty well since we did not have to take our shoes off. I thought I was done. Wrong.

Next, we had another Rita for passport control! The huge mass of passengers all tried to funnel down into lines for the handful of officers checking passports. I have no idea what they would expect if there was some emergency and people needed to evacuate since we were packed like sardines in this one area. It did not seem very well thought out. You would then have the typical people who were going to miss their flights and needed to get to the front of the line . After all of the waiting we had done I suspect lots of people were about to miss their flights.

It easily took 2 hours to clear checking baggage, security and then passport control. I was still not close to my gate either. You walk through this huge mall and then have to take a monorail to a far set of gates. Sorry for my rant, but it was quite an adventure flying out of Rome.

As my flight approached Bratislava the farmland had a unique appearance, it was in long strips. I am so used to seeing large squares or even the irrigated circles but the long strips made for a unique portrait from above. From the air, Bratislava looked quite small and the airport was tiny with a capital T. Most travellers were going to Vienna since it is so close and has higher fares.

Now many people have no idea where Slovakia is despite it being right in the middle of Europe. Even our own Commander in Chief has been confused about this --

"The only thing I know about Slovakia is what I learned first-hand from your foreign minister, who came to Texas ."

- Then governor George W. Bush replying to a Slovak journalist. Bush met the leader of Slovenia, not Slovakia. Source: Knight Ridder News Service, June 22, 1999.

Whoops.

Slovakia, despite being in the EU, does not use the Euro so I had to get money in their currency. I checked Rick Steves and a couple of other places and basically they said there was not much to see of significance in Bratislava. I thought that was fine since I was basically just flying there to get into central Europe at a low cost.

Since my hotel is outside of the town center I had to take a cab. To me, Bratislava looked like an suburban city with big roads, megastores and new construction. My cabbie was very diplomatic when he said my hostel was not bad but away from everything.

The hostel is in a rundown area but just down the street from a new megamall . The hostel looks as if it could have been an old dorm or Communist block apartments. My room was clean with a refrigerator, no AC, a TV with no English stations, a view of rundown apartments and a unique shower set-up.

The bathroom was composed of two rooms. One had the WC (toilet) and the other had the shower and sink (in the same place!). I pondered how this would work. It looked like the sink would be in the way. You sure could not leave anything on the sink when you showered unless you wanted it drenched. There was a drain in the floor but if someone had to go to the WC right after someone had showered they needed a rowboat.

Most terrifying though was the water controls for the shower and sink were in the same place. The temperature control was a single unit so two people sharing a room could have problems. The knob to turn the shower on/off was on the side of the faucet unit. If you happened to turn the water off (rather than turn the shower off) then the next person to turn the water on to brush their teeth, for example, would get wet! I'm lucky I had the bathroom to myself .

Given the location of the hostel and the hour I decided to just walk down to the megamall and visit the old town tomorrow. The megamall was really intriguing. It could have been most anywhere in America with lots of chain stores, big box retailers and fast food places. There was an IKEA on one end and then a Supernova which is like a nicer Super Walmart on the other.

The food court was my humor for the day. I guess the vendors there think there is some panache with associating their offerings with the US. I saw San Antonio Quesadillas which did not resemble anything I have seen in Texas. There were also plates named for US states at another restaurant that I do not think the states would take kindly to. I at least recognized the names of many dishes even if I could not identify what it was.

7/28 The day was sunny and maybe a little cooler than what I was used to so I set off on foot from the train station to the top of a hill where I would have a good view of the city . I wanted to better get my bearings. I walked up and up to reach the memorial for the Soviet soldiers killed during WW2. It was somewhat similar to the San Jacinto Monument although you could not go inside. The view was great though as I saw Bratislava for the first time.

I had marked on my map the places I most wanted to see so set off down the hill. There were a lot of very nice, expensive homes up in the hills around the old town. The closer to the old town the higher percentage of old buildings renovated. The transportation system was excellent with my favorite mode being the street cars.

As I wandered through the central part of Bratislava I was surprised at how pretty it was. The buildings were updated and looked freshly painted. The streets were in good shape with most sidewalks and plazas looking brand new. The city was full of fountains, statues and gathering places. It was really a cool tourist town in need of tourist attractions .

There is a huge castle easily seen for miles perched on a hill over the Danube. Unfortunately, this national historical monument which is located on land first settled during the Celtic and Moravian periods burned down in 1811. What I saw is what was rebuilt in the 1960s and now contains the Slovak National Museum. It is still a great place from which to view the old town but I wonder how many people realize that it is only 40 years old.

Across the freeway from the castle, like the Pierce Elevated in Downtown Houston, is St. Martins Cathedral which was consecrated in 1452. The Gothic church was the site between 1563 and 1830 of the crownings of 11 Hungarian kings and 8 queens. Nearby is the Franciscan Church which was built in 1297 and is one of the oldest standing buildings in town.

The president of Slovakia lives in what was originally built in 1760 as Grassalkovich Palace. The residence is at the crossroads of several busy streets just outside of old town . The rear of the residence, however, looks out over a beautiful park that is extremely well-maintained. Towards the rear of the park you can see what the area looked like before it became a park and it is not nearly as attractive.

From the castle you can look across the Danube River to an area of heavy residential development with lots of generic looking apartment buildings. There is new commercial development underway plus a lot of existing industrial sites. Just west of the castle and north of these ugly apartment buildings is solid green space. There are forest-covered mountains with windmill turbines in the distant western plains.

I was surprisingly impressed with Bratislava, granted I did not expect much. The city is good for a one day visit. It does lack any real tourist attractions but I can see it becoming a more popular tourist destination with the low cost airlines bringing in lots of visitors. It looks like businesses have already begun discovering Bratislava with its multilingual workforce and location right in the middle of Europe. The city looks ready for all of the dollars these businesses and tourists will bring.

I am now off by train to my next destination that I have not visited in 15 years. I look forward to seeing what has happened since my last visit.