Living in Bratislava (Part 3)

A couple of entries ago the first part of this "Living in..." series ended with a photo of the back end of a paparazzo, or what might have been one, or a performance artist, or something. We asked you to guess. Well, here's the front end, and it is indeed a sculpture! Do you feel shot?

If the temperature soars to 60 degrees in your area on October 24, do you think about shorts and a t-shirt? Well, Fahrenheit thermometers did get to about 60 today, and that led to an excursion (with the photographer properly attired in a jacket) to get some more photos of some of the outdoor art, mostly in the historical center of town amid the museums, shops, and restaurants. Of course, the restaurateurs in Bratislava prepare for the cool weather. Some restaurants roll up the sidewalk tables and chairs, while others just put blankets out on the chairs. Even 60 degrees, though did not tempt people to sit outside at the Irish pub. Some of outdoorsmanship has to do with the ordnance limiting smoking in restaurants. One pizza place we patronized has about three tables in the non-smoking section, but the pizza was good and we think their business consists mostly of carry-out.

But enough about food--on to art. Bratislava's fame comes in part from the sense of humor shown in the public sculpture. You can see pictures in guide books and on line. But only here on this blog can you see some of the rest of the story. You may have seen the Napoleonic soldier, but can you imagine what tourists do to him? Some sit right down without even asking permission. Others, like the guy in our photo, lean on him or cozy up. Or how about Schone Naci? He stays happy and tips his hat to the ladies even when tourists (or locals) are rude. Cumil, even if he acts like a letch by popping up from his manhole to look up ladies' dresses, still attracts performance artists (who are none too good if you ask me, even if the tourists tip them).

Bratislava has its fair share of serious outdoor art as well. For example, the Holocaust Memorial is right by the cathedral, as well it should be. It may be worth mentioning that the only active synagogue in Slovakia is right across the busy street from the cathedral, and both are connected by an underpass and an overpass. On the memorial, in Slovak and Hebrew, is the word for "remember." Tour guides take their charges to see it before they go into the cathedral. Most of those serious sculptures and monuments, however, will have to be a topic for another post.

Next week, Fall Break begins after a church service at about noon. We intend to take the train to Prague on Friday morning and prowl around, and that, likely, will be the subject of yet another entry.

Living in Bratislava (Part 2)

We claim to be living in Slovakia, right? And this is baseball, right? All true. Two of our American teachers play in the Slovak league, and Jon told us that they'd be playing an American team a couple of Saturdays ago, so we went. It was the Slovak League All-Stars against an American fantasy league team made up of some Minnesota Twins fans and some Boston Red Sox fantasy campers, all, ahem, older gentlemen. Actually, though, a couple of them were former major leaguers. In the picture above, our American lead teacher is coaching third base. We sat behind some women who came with the team and one of them turned out (small world) to be from Le Mars, Iowa, where Paula went to college. Westmar has now gone out of business, so they spent part of the time catching up on what was happening to the former college. Le Mars is now best known for being the home of Blue Bunny Ice Cream. The Slovaks won, 10-3, but the Americans may have been jet-lagged and didn't use their best pitcher.

We've had two concerts by the Slovak Philharmonic, last Friday and yesterday. Last night's was excellent. They are playing in the National Theater while their own hall is being renovated. As you can see from the picture, the substitute hall is not shabby. Today we took a trip to Trencin, a small city about 120km from here. It is famous for its castle; they closed the main section for renovation, but we walked around the grounds and the old city. A Roman inscription dated CE 179 indicates that this area formed the Northeastern-most boundary of the Roman Empire. As you can see. the castle has an ecologically friendly lawn mower; we even found the place where the lawn mower is kept.

The sun kept us company all day; it was about 56 or so by noon, and we had lunch outside on Ludovit Stur Square. If you don't know who he is, Google him! Then we walked around the city some more and visited the restored Early 20th Century synagogue; it had been desecrated at the beginning of World War II. While the city has provided a small worship room, there was little or no Jewish population left in Trencin after the war. The city now uses the space as an art gallery.


In brief, while we like Bratislava rather a lot, several nearby places recommend themselves as well. And last, lest you believe Bratislava has a corner on humorous statuary, we offer this Dickensian person climbing out of a well on the square where we ate lunch. If this leaves you wanting more, Paula promises to put additional pictures on Facebook soon, and we'll be back with new facets of the adventure in a couple of weeks or so. Ciao!