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Bratislava Castle has been under construction and wrapped with scaffolding before we even got here. We were told it would be under construction until sometime in 2010, but apparently they’ve finished the outside and removed the scaffolding in time for us to see it. So we took a walk down to the castle and snapped some pics while we could. (The Castle is still under construction, but all the work is being done on the inside now.)
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We were going to go to Budapest, Hungary this weekend and visit one of their famous mineral baths/swimming areas. But the forecast said it was going to rain, so we decided not to go. As you can see from the pics, it was sunny and 70, just like it’s been for the last several weeks. So we went strolling around Bratislava instead.
This is Bratislava Castle. Not the most spectacular castle, especially under construction, but it’s right down the street from our house, so we went. It’s very old (~3500BC, prolly why it’s not very pleasing to the eye), whomever has conquered Europe, held this castle because of the strategic location, the middle of Europe. You can see to Austria, maybe Hungary and the Danube from the vantage point on top of the hill. After our castle visit, we went to historic old town and had some lunch followed by the park.
Here are a few pictures I’ve taken recently.
The first set is from Slavín, a war memorial and cemetery on the hillside that commemorates the liberation of Bratislava from the Germans in WWII. It’s crazy to think that the history of the war that you hear about on TV and read about in books actually happened here. It also has a really good view of the city (I have more pics, but I want to make a panorama of them before posting them all).
The first image is of the memorial itself. It really is fairly tall, more so than I had imagined. The second image is a view of Bratislava looking east across the city. The third image is a view of Bratislava Castle, and if you look closely on the left, you can see the top of St. Martin’s Cathedral (not taken from Slavín, but from a break in the houses on the walk back home. On a side note, there are some amazing houses up here.)
And the second set is, of course, pics of our little one who is just too cute not to photograph every second. In the set is her first bump on the noggin that she got the other day. She likes to stand next to the shelves we have on the ground here, and pull out everything she can and throw it on the floor. She was doing that, and was standing on a book, which slipped out from under her, and she fell and began to cry. We consoled her from the couch, because she often falls and doesn’t hit anything, just scares herself, and that’s what we thought happened. When we looked over a few moments later, she looked at us and smiled with a bruise on her head.
The first image shows her little bump on the noggin, not bad, but it was her first one. The second image shows her new thing lately, where she tilts her head to one side and looks at you in a shy, cute kinda way. The third image is her in the tub with bubbles, which she wasn’t sure of at first, but is starting to enjoy more and more each time.
Well… that’s all for now, more to come, I’m sure.
Saturday Cameron took us to downtown Bratislava, in the pedestrian only zone, and then we went to the mall, Aupark, across the Danube. It was a chilly but sunny day, but it was so nice to get out and about finally. I read a few historical things about Slovakia before the move, but it is entirely different to then come here and actually see thousand year old churches and structures; to be where another countries history took place, such as WWII or the Russian occupation, where it actually happened; to walk down these cobble streets, it makes you wonder who else has walked this path and under what conditions. It is very impressive and it made me feel more a part of our world and long history. I felt unimportant and small, humbled even, but very grateful to experience a tiny piece of another rich history, which really is my history too, since we all reside on one planet.
(more pictures after the break) Continue reading “downtown bratislava”