November 26, 2016badfish

ONE FINE DAY in BRATISLAVA: Part III

I am no longer curious about the world. I get it. Now all that is left is chasing beauty and kindness   — Beth Byrnes

Bratislava Old Town cafe

Some people say the Old Town Main Square is the heart of Bratislava. They also say Schone Naci hung out here in his day. Schone Naci in Slovak means “beautiful Naci.” His real name was Ignac Lamar; the diminutive for Ignac is Naci (like Bill for William). He preferred Café Mayer right on the corner of the Hlavne Namestie, the main square, but there are numerous other cafes here that you might like.

Hlavne Square Bratislava cafe

The Main Square is a salient place to watch people, to enjoy the architecture, to embrace the ambiance, to sense the Magic” target=”_blank”>magic of the place while sipping a crystal flute of local grapes or a demitasse of roasted beans.

Roland's Fountain Bratislava

In the center of the square, you’ll find Roland’s Fountain, formerly known as Maximilian’s Fountain. Maximilian II, the Habsburg king during the late 16th century, had it built in 1572 because the city had suffered a devastating fire—even though the river is near by, they had no efficient way to transport sufficient water quickly here at the center of the city. You have to admire a king who would build a thing of beauty with serious utilitarian value. It certainly beats a fire hydrant for artistic currency.

The fountain is rather impressive, and consists of a ring-shaped, carved-stone tank with a 30-foot radius. In the center, a decorated 35-foot-tall sculptured-stone column supports a knight in armor at the top. This knight would be King Maximilian II. Legend states that on New Year’s Eve at 12 midnight, the knight rotates —however, this phenomenon can only be observed by Bratislavans born here and only those with the highest moral character. Word on the street is, apparently, not many see the king turning, and some say, those who do see him turn may have downed a few too many stemmed glasses of that high-end, and psychedelic, absinthe at the New Year’s party.

The Bratislava Old Town Hall stands behind Roland’s Fountain and faces the main square. If you feel frisky, you can climb the tower staircase for something like five euros.

Old Town Hall Bratislava

The building dates back to before the Medieval period, in 1370, and is now composed of a number of separate buildings unified into one. It was used as the town hall from the 15th century through the late 19th. At one point, it was utilized as a prison; iron bars still cover some windows. Today, it is home to the Bratislava City Museum, exhibiting items of torture, dungeons, armor. If you’re visiting during Christmas time, this is where you’ll find the Christmas bazaar and craft markets. This is also a place where you can find one of Bratislava’s eccentricities: a cannonball lodged in the stonework of the tower, fired by Napoleon’s army in 1809.

Here’s one more way I’m weird: I am not a museum person. I simply cannot savor artifacts sterilized behind lighted showcases. I’d rather study the skeleton of a ruined castle or find a shard of broken Mayan pottery in situ than stare at a pristine, jeweled sword behind glass. I will admit that I have enjoyed some fine museums: the Vatican, Topkapi Palace in Istanbul, Rijks Museum in Amsterdam, Cairo’s Museum of Egyptian Antiquities. But click here to watch two minutes more than I can stand in a museum. And you may not believe this, but one of the mummies in the Cairo museum actually communicated with me. And no, I wasn’t downing high-end absinthe nor snorting Gaza sand. Sometimes, a miracle is nothing more than reality enhancing our own self-imposed limitations.

Hlavne Square Bratislava

It might be interesting to stand in the middle of Hlavne Square (pronounced Hlavne) and shoot a 360 degree panorama, or video. I didn’t do this, but if you go to Bratislava, it’s something to think about. Go early in the morning when nobody else is there, except maybe a street sweeper.

guy with headphones

When you leave Hlave namestie, head down Sedlarska street. If you haven’t stopped for refreshments yet, you may find it difficult not to linger at any one of the cafes or restaurants or pubs you’ll find here. This time of year, you might also find guys wearing red tennies and green earphones and the now-everywhere-else-out-of-style, three-quarter, cut-off cargo pants.

Bratislava Old Town street fountain

When you arrive at the T in the road, turn right onto Michalska, and you’re heading north toward Michael’s Gate.

Bratislava Old Town Cafe

If you’re the kind of traveler who loves to rub elbows where the crowds roam, you may find yourself a little disappointed in the pedestrian streets of Bratislava. However, if you like discovering places without being jostled or hassled or hustled, or you cherish taking photographs without a troupe of tourists shooting selfies on sticks in your shot, you’re in the right place now. From here, you can glimpse the steeple of Michael’s Gate at the far end of Michalska street.

garlic bulbs close-up

You may have no desire to take a bite out of one of these garlic bulbs, or crunch a clove in your teeth—or slip a clove into your shoe and wait for its aroma to rise through your body and enter your mouth (no really, try it). But you might enjoy the artistic display of fruits and vegetables you discover here and there.

Michael's Gate Bratislava

At the end of Michalska, you arrive at Michael’s Gate. During the Medieval period, Bratislava was bordered by high, fortified stone walls, and there were four guarded gates to enter the city. St. Michael’s Gate was constructed in about 1300, and was remodeled into its present 170-foot-high baroque shape in the mid-1700’s. If you climb the seven floors to the observation deck, you’ll be treated to a panorama of the city.

Beneath the tower, you’ll find a metal compass of sorts, known as “kilometer zero”, embedded in the road and indicating distances from here to other capital cities: Vienna is 50 miles away, Paris is 820 miles away. One of the 29 cities listed is New York; it lies 4250 miles away—something for freaked-out Americans to consider if planning to abandon ship before the shit hits the fan.

You know, idioms intrigue me; I like to imagine why they may have been created. I understand “abandon ship” and “go down with the ship” and “get out of Dodge.” But when did shit hit the fan for the first time, or any time? Was it, perhaps, a ceiling fan in Casa Blanca? And here’s a problem: my fan sitting right there on the shelf is one of those new Dyson fans, without blades. I’m guessing in 50 years, all fans will be made this way—safer and more efficient, if now pricey. But in 50 years, what idiom will people be using: “get out before the shit falls through your bladeless oval.” No, just doesn’t have the same panache, does it? We’ll need to invent a new idiom at some point, something more contemporary: maybe something like—“get out before the shit hits the hadron collider.”

Another disquieting moment in life is this: it sort of breaks your heart when you discover you are completely inept at something you’d like to master, like creating new idioms or hacking into a bank’s computer system.

Palffy Palace Bratislava

From Michael’s Gate, if you head back down Michalska until it turns into Venturska, you’ll pass an elegant piece of Baroque Revival architecture, the Palffy Palace, built in 1747 by Count Leopold Palffy, a general in the Habsburg military. Perhaps in those days, war and the spoils of war were maybe a little different, and apparently, quite a bit more lucrative than they are today? But get this: in 1762, a young Mozart performed in the Palffy Palace. They’ve erected a plaque on the wall to commemorate the event—he was six years old. I was getting scolded for not remembering to feed my dog at age six; Mozart was writing sonatas and performing them in palaces—nothing to stroke your ego here.

antique door handle close-up

narrow street Bratislava

If you’d prefer perusing atavistic architecture and quaint back-street grunge as opposed to Christian Dior and Swarovski crystal jewelry shops on Michalska, then instead of going back the way you came, take Bastova, the narrowest street in the city. You will happen upon some enduring, rustic structures. And doors and doorknobs, perhaps.

St Martin's Cathedral, Bratislava, Slovakia

As you cruise the back streets, you’ll hook up with Kapitulska Street and follow it until you walk into Rudnayovo Square where you’ll discover St Martin’s Cathedral. To my eye, it’s not overly impressive from the outside, compared to many other less-important churches and cathedrals you see in Europe. However, the inside is rather elegant, and it served as the coronation church for the Hungarian Kings between 1563 and 1830. The coronation procession backtracked north from here to Michael’s Gate. You will find small crowns set in the road, which mark the route.

Here’s a beguiling aside: some people say the first complete version of Beethoven‘s Missa solemnis in D major was played for the first time here in St Martin’s Cathedral. But I heard the same thing about one of Mozart’s pieces being performed first in Prague and then later read a different story involving Vienna. This is one thing every traveler should learn before venturing into kindergarten: “don’t trust anyone.”

St Martin's Cathedral Steeple Bratislava

The cathedral’s 280-foot-high steeple punctures a deep blue, cloudless sky above Old Town’s skyline. You might want to visit St Martin’s underground crypt with atavistic catacombs—for me, just slightly more appealing than a museum. Another watershed moment in the life of any traveler is when you discover you couldn’t care less about something so many others find culturally enriching, and even relish.

Stone Stairs Rudnayovo Square Bratislava

You might just sit on a bench in the park at Rudnayovo Square and watch the ivy ravish the ancient stone wall.

tour train Bratislava

From here, you’ll follow Panska Street, or if you’d rather not walk, take a detour over to Klobucnicka and board the tour train to take you back to the Danube.

young couple Bratislava

You’ll soon see the New Bridge again above you. Who knows what you’ll see on the ground in front of you? But isn’t it always intriguing to note how the younger generation delineates itself: in the 60’s, it was long hair, free love and bell-bottoms; in the 80’s, it was big hair, girl bands and Cabbage Patch dolls; today, it’s shaved heads, tats and nose rings. Let’s just be thankful disco disappeared so thoroughly—who were those guys, anyway? And shouldn’t something be done soon about Rap?

Moods Bakery Holy Trinity Column Bratislava

As you head south toward the Danube, you’ll wander past the Holy Trinity Column, a rather ornate Baroque-style monument sculpted of stone and built to commemorate the termination of the plague of 1712, in which thousands died here.

Holy Trinity Column

If you haven’t paused to eat in all this time, you just may feel hungry by now. Since you’re at Holy Trinity, you might cruise into Moods Bakery & Coffee on the corner here at the far end of Hviezdoslavovo namestie, with outdoor tables beneath impressive deciduous shade trees—a fine sidewalk café with a nice view. And surprisingly good coffee.

Goulash Bratislava style

And they do a nice job with Slovakian-style goulash even if they don’t serve it in a bowl of bread as they do in Prague eateries—but then remember, in Prague, some witless bartenders still set their absinthe on fire. Perhaps, yet one more lesson on why we shouldn’t expect, nor compare, things—and simply enjoy “what is” where we are.

Bratislava Castle

You’ll also devour a worm’s-eye view of Bratislava castle from here, a fine Baroque palace with roots dating back to 907 A.D.

Bratislava castle B&W Slovakia

Today, the castle is another—right—national museum located on Castle Hill. And no, I did not pay to go inside it, either. If you love reading museum reviews or perusing photos of ancient crypts, Badfish is not the connoisseur at the top of your list is what I’m guessing.

UFO Bridge Bratislava, Slovakia

By now, the sun is slowly slipping itself into the river, casting shadows and blushing the landscape and cobblestones with a florid afterglow. As you walk toward the Danube, you get a glimpse of the cable-stayed SNP (Slovak National Uprising) Bridge. Many people, and maps, call it the New Bridge. But most locals here call it the UFO Bridge because the restaurant at the top looks like a flying saucer from outer space. I reckon if I were going to allow myself to feel any disappointment about my time here, it would be that I did not get to the top of that UFO bridge. Funny how sometimes things that seem so important, you just never get around to doing.

Fishing on Danube River

I did wander along the Danube a while. Curious, how different people enjoy a body of water: some watch it, some fish it, some walk it (in thongs), some rant about its hue while humming a waltz.

Tourist Riverboat on Danube

Other people sail it. There were actually quite a few riverboats moored alongside the quay. Apparently, many of the tourists you see in Bratislava are touring the Danube on these boats. If you gaze long enough at these ships, flaunting cabins with floor-to-ceiling windows and balconies with lounge chairs, you might develop a rogue desire to clench a knife blade between your teeth, maraud across one of their gangplanks, saunter onboard, down a snifter of sugar-plum slivovica in the bar, stow away, and let that boat sail you anywhere it dang well pleases.

And that, matey, is how I washed up in Budapest, 200 kilometers downriver.

Budapest T-shirt with KGB

One more thing to think about: this is the hottest time of year in Madagascar, and also the wettest; it’s monsoon season, many roads are dirt and now impassible. Sometimes, decisions are made for you.

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Next post: ONE FINE DAY in BUDAPEST

WHERE WAS BADFISH ONE YEAR AGO?   Alone and sick, in the freakin’  MALDIVES

Discover more posts on Eastern Europe:

Prague:  STROLLING THROUGH PRAGUE: ONE FINE DAY—PART II

Czech Republic:  DANCING WITH THE GREEN FAIRY AFTER MIDNIGHT

Bratislava:  ONE FINE DAY in BRATISLAVA: Part II

ONE LONG ROAD TO BRATISLAVA: Part l

 Find more of Jo’s:   Monday Walks

Find more of Lucile’s:   Photo Rehab

Find more DP Discover Challenge: Mind the Gap

Find more DP Photo Challenge:     It’s Not This Time of Year Without…

196 comments

  3. You know the only place in Slovakia we were – was Banska Bystrica of all places. And this was on the way to Budapest, so we only stayed for a few hours! We’d love to be back in Eastern Europe and the Balkans again!

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  5. Now Mr Badfish, I have to admit to not caring two hoots about this Bratislava place, but I do, however, love reading your descriptions of it. Pure entertainment. Great writing. Like this bit:
    “Sometimes, a miracle is nothing more than reality enhancing our own self-imposed limitations.”
    Indeed. Love it. Now like the commentator above, I’m wondering what the Mummy said to you – secrets of the ancient buried treasure would be nice. Please share around with your blogging mates. And I’m wondering, of course, are you speaking from experience when you talk about the garlic in your shoes trick??
    Now, with all those digitally enhanced photographs and lovely lines like “By now, the sun is slowly slipping itself into the river, casting shadows and blushing the landscape and cobblestones with a florid afterglow” – well this is entertainment that money cant buy. Mind you, there are plenty of us here who would pay good money for a book with a random collection of BF posts, ,along with some random samplings of Chippie comments.
    So I guess madagascar is out?
    And what’s coming up for “this time of year wouldnt be the same without…..”… Bratislava? or simply,,, “wouldnt be the same without a Badfish post”.
    Onward! Down the river in a stowaway ship with the Green Fairy…..

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    • Deb…you know it’s so fun for me to discover what lines people like. And it’s interesting that people like different lines! The one you like…I like that line a lot!! And I just don’t know where it came from, or how it got on my page or in my head to begin with. Still, there it is.
      The mummy…yeah, a very scary (no not scary), a very intimate vibration between us. I don’t think I can explain it. Past life? They have discovered, you know, that through your DNA, you can have memories from your ancestors! I’m pretty sure I once sucked mosquitoes into my mouth with my tongue when I was a lizard way back when.
      It would be cool if all I had to do to write a book was play around with you guys here on the blog and have someone pay me like billions, and then me and JK Rowling could have the same banker.

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      • i hear you about the mummy, i saw one once but didnt have any intimate conversations but there was definitely a very weird presence. the weirdest thing is, i have absolutely no idea, where, and even in what country, i saw the damned thing. that is just too bizarre. but i know i saw it in a museum somewhere, i can still see the shrivelled up thing in my minds eye.

        the line? its worth repeating again. Sometimes, a miracle is nothing more than reality enhancing our own self-imposed limitations.

        so true. all i can say is, you must have some genius hiding inside you somewhere, Baddie – or perhaps, to tell the truth, maybe you’ve just been looking at Lucile’s Bridge for so long the bridge -genii have entered your psyche… now, when youve got your hacking skills organised and you need jkrowling’s banker… because the book, mate, wont make jk’s kinda money….. some of us just love books. rereading amazing lines like

        Sometimes, a miracle is nothing more than reality enhancing our own self-imposed limitations.

        🙂 sick of it yet? nup. never.
        bring on that kinda reality. please. …..

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        • Deb…you are ssooo funny. You’re like a miracle going somewhere to happen in my comment section. I think it is Lucile’s genie lurking somewhere in cyberspace.
          And right…I don’t even need or want JK Rowlings kind of bread. Just give me once fraction of it is all I want.

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          • aw gee baddie… why.. um.. thanks? yeah, right, thanks. lol. think thats the first time in a while someones called me a ‘miracle’… maybe my mum when i was born ? actually come to think of it, probably not….
            ok if you know JK’s banker, maybe we can go thirds with her cast offs – split it with Lucile? now wait… lets split if four ways – cant forget Fimn, even though she hasnt been around for a mighty long time…..

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  6. Well, normally I’d be the first frisky person to leg it up that tower for the view, but being as I’m flat on my back on the floor with my legs propped up and the laptop balanced at a most inconvenient angle (ok for reading and appreciating but hell for commenting 🙂 ) on my stomach I’ll have to decline today. Sciatica! Not convinced that this position will cure it but got to try something 🙂 Nice tints you’ve used on your photos, and that chap with the scarf does look very happy-go-lucky. Wish I felt so cheerful. Thank you very kindly for the link. Hope to be up and running, albeit slowly, soon :).

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    • Yeah, you’d be hiking up those steps and walking the walk through town. You need to rig a rope from the ceiling and hang the computer on it so it hangs in front of you. Or next thing you know, you’ll develop neck problems!!! Hope you’re up and ambling soon!!

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  7. Nothing says “Christmas” like a holiday bazaar held in the courtyard of a museum dedicated to the art of imprisonment and torture. There’s metaphor somewhere in that, I’m sure. I had a similar experience in London’s National Gallery around the Van Goghs, so, yeah…thanks for that unwelcome memory. And, much thanks for the pronunciation of Hlavne. I always wondered about that (is it Hlavne or Hlavne?), but I think I’ll skip putting the equivalent of a small pebble in my shoe. A Tick-Tack will do the trick just fine where the aromatic quality of my breath is concerned, without having to change my middle name to Gimpie. I am glad, though, I can always count on you to find a b’thonged person wherever your travels take you!

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  8. Another brilliant post BF. Love the photos too.

    Of course I had to go searching for the etymology of When the shit hits the fan. The best the Oxford English Dictionary (online version courtesy of Vancouver Public Library) can come up with is that it is American slang from WWII, and quotes Norman Mailer’s The Naked and The Dead: ‘When the shit hits the fan that’s when you keep a tight asshole.’ Sounds about right to me.

    Alison and I have added Bratislava onto our Eastern Europe Bucket list.

    Don

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    • Gilly, so I got you hooked. No, I’m sorry the air ticket is so dang expensive!! That’s the real problem isn’t it. Did you try Ryan Air, I just read an article about them, and there was a photo of their plane in Bratislava airport!

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  10. Just as a courtesy to those of you who are new to Mr Fish…by “walking that body of water” in “thongs”, he means wearing those flip-flop, slipper shoes, not the other kind of thongs. Oh wait, maybe he has a telephoto lense for his own personal use, with which he could, in this scene from his angle, easily discern the presence of the other kind of thong also?

    I’m still looking for the “happy-go-lucky chap with the scarf” mentioned by Restlessjo-ouch-so sorry!! (And where did THAT phrase come from? I can only find a reference to Melville?)

    Great post Badfish!!

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  11. “it sort of breaks your heart when you discover you are completely inept at something you’d like to master, like creating new idioms or hacking into a bank’s computer system.” This made me laugh out loud! A lot! From across the room Don said – Badfish?
    Why was the name changed to Roland’s Fountain? That was left kind of hanging there.
    I’m with you on looking for the quiet streets. It was highlighted for me in Venice and in Stockholm’s Gamla Stan – main streets crowded to crushing point and wonderful charming smaller streets and back alleys all but empty. Why don’t people go look?!
    The video of the Mona Lisa reminded me of the Sistine Chapel. Why would you take a (crummy) photo of the Mona Lisa?! Bewildered. What for? Thank God the room was nothing like so crowded as in the video when we went to see the ML. I got to stand and stare in relative silence and harmony.
    I did a rant about the Sistine here: https://alisonanddon.com/2011/11/25/rome-and-milan/ This post was written when we were just 2 months into our nomadic life.
    Still I’ve had some amazing times in museums. In the Louvre we stayed away from all the paintings where everyone crowds and went to see the artefacts and Egyptian stuff. I remember rooms of absolutely gorgeous Russian icons that probably hardly anyone ever looks at.
    Another wonderful walk through the Brat. And I’m loving your photos. Did you use some kind of filter? The light in some of them is just beautiful.
    Alison

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  12. I love the colors of the buildings–and the light is fabulous. The picture of St. Martin’s is stunning. I need to check some of my photos of Vienna. I think there was a very similar plague monument there…If you are in Madagascar, you must hear the singing monkeys…no doubt you already have.

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        • maybe not, but could you care less that the other night i actually had a dream that you changed your blog name again … i mean who does that? dream about blogs. so when this post arrived i had to check the header again…..bizarre. someone bring me the Green Fairy. ….

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          • Deb…what is bizarre is that LAST NIGHT, I dreamed about writing comments in my blog…about changing the name back. And I change my screen image daily, sometimes twice a day. I think I may have ADD, can’t sit still, don’t ever get bored, but need change in my life, like new photos…and wives.

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          • good lord, Badfish, that is bizarre. dont change it back. This is exactly why its called the Cafe. because people talk to each other. That’s a mighty fine contribution to blogsville – hosting a space where people actually talk to each other. ive been watching. there’s bloggers out there that actually use this space to chat with each other. thats a grand thing. donald trump, go eat your socks.

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          • I know…bizarre. I’m thinking if I change it again, it will be something new, different: like “Thongs are thongs–punto.” Or maybe: “Lucile’s Bridge”

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    • Hmmm…well, now you mention it, I think it is “couldn’t care less.” Otherwise, you actually could care less. But doesn’t it “sound” right, or better to say I could care less. It just has a nicer ring, or just easier to say. I think I’ve always said it that way–oh poop, I’m flawed. Unless there’s an idiom for an idiom??

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    • one of the eternal questions…if ya could care less then it means actually caring….couldnt care less means not caring at all. I like that question. The thing that gets me is …what do you call your cousin’s kid? I call the kid my second cousin. some say its first cousin once remove…… ah, life’s riddles

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  14. Great thong photo Badfish. I am on a mission to photograph thongs around the world.

    I would rather go to the Christmas market than the torture museum. That sounds ghastly. And while we’re on the topic of museums, just in case you ever have the opportunity, do not EVER go to a museum with Mr ET. OMG, it’s excruciating. He reads every single word on every single item. I find it’s a great time to take advantage of the free wifi and catch up on all my emails etc because I’m always finished several hours before he is.

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    • ET…yeah, a mission…thongs in every country! You go girl! You can hear Tom Cruise shouting it now: “Show me the thongs.” (or is it “money”?)
      I want to read things in a museum, but after like the first one, I’m done with the reading of things in a museum. Maybe I do have ADD? Or better things to do?

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      • Badfish, you’re so funny! I’m wishing I’d thought to take my thongs to England but I completely forgot. From now on, where I go my thongs go!
        When I go to a museum, I read for a little bit but then I just look. For Mr ET, it’s because he is so stingy. He’s paid to go in, so he is determined to get his money’s worth. And if it’s free to go even better, because he gets all that reading at no cost to his wallet!

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  15. My dear Badfish… We need to work on your vocabulary. Thongs no longer refer to rubber shoes that go flip flop on your feet! They refer to teeny, tiny ladies’ under britches that you can barely see. Me thinks you need to come home for a brush up course on slang! 😉 Loved the ivy on the wall picture. Are you putting them through an art program?

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  16. Badfish that was one heck of a tour! I think I will have to have a day off tomorrow. Here’s a secret. We are not museum lovers either. Yes let us be outside exploring and discovering. Is that your video you link to? I got twitchy by about 30 seconds in.

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    • I know, it took me a month to get through Bratislava, a mousy little thing of a town. Slow walker? And yeah, give me outdoors to inside museums any day. Twitchy…that’s the right word. And no, not my link.

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  17. Well pretty much everyone made a comment I’d been thinking. When you said “thong” I too had to laugh. A brush up on new meanings might be a good thing. As for the colors in the photos. It was hard to tell which if not all had been “doctored”. Some were obvious but others not so, especially since you mention the “deep blue sky” and I got to wondering if it truly was that blue. In any case, good post and I look forward to the next one.

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  18. You covered a serious amount of ground in Bratislava! I love the photo of the garlic. I wish I had a longer or wittier comment, but life is becoming a bit of a jumble again at the moment. Looking forward to seeing where you go in a few weeks!

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    • I know, it took me forever, eh? The garlic was just sitting there, and I thought: I love that image, so snapped it. And yeah, this time of year for me, too,…life is a jumble again: grading and grading.

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  20. I have to admit, I never think of Eastern Europe when pondering travel destinations. But, you’ve convinced me that Prague should be on the list. I am open to these other places as well.

    My biggest barrier is that I cannot eat most of the food, but being a fan of pastries, I don’t think I would suffer unduly.

    Among the many things I want to say in response to this post (before I visit I and II) is that I too am not a museum fan and prefer the anthropologist’s eye view of such things, and also that your mummy experience sounds suspiciously like those described by mystics who claim the only real art is “objective” art. That is, art that evokes the same reaction in all people who witness it. Certain Buddha statues in some ancient city, or the Mona Lisa or your mummy! Maybe.

    I love the photographs — you are a wizard with your cameras. And the shout out was nice too. Maybe the only way I will be immortalized, so I shall be forever in your debt. OK, BF, I have a lot of catching up to do here. Glad you skipped Madagascar, I am emotional about that place but can be quite sanguine about Bratislava.

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  21. Enjoyed the “armchair” tour as it’s doubtful I will ever get there for real! Not that your photis refkect reality, but that is what I like about thrm. Artistic creations of eye popping fantasies and in some cases even a bit of hallucination 🙂

    Relating to the rogue on a boat description!

    Peta

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  24. I enjoyed the tour of Bratislava. It has now officially been added to my “cities-to-visit” bucket list (so called because the list is so long and heavy, I have to carry it in a bucket). I had a quick look at the YouTube clip you linked to. It makes your point about museums very well. I can’t say I’d be very thrilled about getting to the Louvre and then having to gaze at the Mona Lisa through binoculars over the heads of several thousand other visitors. Incidentally, I was very impressed that a mummy communicated with you. It’s a very rare occurrence, you know? I’m assuming it was on New Year’s Eve and you are an Egyptian of the highest moral character.

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    • Bun…I have a bucket like that, but it has a hole in it. That youtube gives me the shakes just looking at it. And yeah…maybe that mummy knew about my high moral character…how else do we explain it?
      Hey, I noticed on your site a “Discover” badge…is that new, or what?

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  26. So beautiful and such an interesting post. Thanks for providing historic background as it always adds more layers when it comes to meanings 😉 I loved the picturesque streets and in particular Roland’s Fountain and Michael’s Gate.
    Great photographs, too, dear Badfish … Wishing You the best 💛🌟

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  29. oh so much to soak up here – ahhhh – thanks for letting me travel with you – and one thing really had me laughing pretty good – the out of style cargo shorts – omg – LMAO

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  30. Love this history, and your take on the fountain to architecture to superstitions to classical composers to castles. I vaguely heard a similar story about the statue turning as you said that it might on New Year’s Eve, that it turns one round. As you said, it could one’s imagination if they were partying to the nines, but it could also be that a spirit has awaken within.

    I too am not a fan of museums and would rather go digging and looking for an artifact with my hands – and get famous for discovering it myself.. Looking at the Mona Lisa video you showed, that is not something I’d do all day long or even for an hour. Or half an hour. The sight of the crowds is enough to turn me away. Even if there weren’t any crowds, I’d probably be pretty quick, in and out.

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    • I know. And to be honest, I knew very little (nothing really) about the place before arriving here. And you know, I have no doubt that statue turns for some people! I believe in that kind of stuff. I would have liked to have been the guy who discovered those terra cotta army guys in China! I don’t want to be famous though, I’m too shy! But I wouldn’t mind being rich.

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      • Being shy has its advantages. It allows you to blend in the background and stay out of trouble – which sounds like most of your trips so far I’ve read on your blog 😀

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        • Mabel…you know, it’s funny, but everywhere I go, I seem to simply sink into the energy, or place, there. I never feel out of place. I never feel threatened, as though I belong there, where ever that is. Like the world is home.

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    • Baddie, i was walking down the Stanley Markets today in Hong Kong, and saw a whole stand of thongs… i photographed it.. with my OPPO of course.. just for you. stay tuned. 🙂

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      • Debbie: HONG KONG??!! What are you doing in Hong Kong. And I’m a little afraid if what you saw and photographed were thongs, or thongs?! Waiting with a heart filled with suspense.

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        • Baddie: yep, nipped down the other day. Gotta do something to stay sane and healthy with all that winter pollution and dullness. Thongs, Baddie, the footwear. Don’t get your hopes up. I’m sure the passersby thought I was crazy, and I sneaked in the pic before my daughter caught me, she would swear I’m crazy. the things we do for blogging friends. What about you? Staying put in AD with Duncan? or making an impetuous decision to fly to… fly to.. Mars? Venus? Saturn? I hear its got some cool rings. and really, you’ve been everywhere on dis planet, man….. 🙂

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          • Funny you should ask. I figured I’d just stay here, didn’t want another fiasco like last year’s Xmas trip. I thought I’d do a post on Abu Dhabi. So far, all I’ve done is sleep and begin the book Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. I may need a break from travel?!

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          • weirdly enough, sometimes one does need a break from travel. staying at home and sleeping in is sometimes just the thing …
            and ya know, down here in HK i can read and reply on the OPPO! there IS life beyond the Great fireWall!
            you could travel thru your blog and pick out the best of and paste them all formatted in times new roman double spaced ms form to self publish your new book “A Tale of Two Thongs”. okay?😊

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