Hrad castle at night

This castle makes an imposing view from most anywhere in the city. Pretty impressive

A walk along the Danube river

August 21

It was such a lovely day for a long walk along the Danube river which flows right past the old town. I crossed over an old pedestrian bridge to get a shot of old town (and castle) from the middle of the river. There's the UFO restaurant/bar at one of a the bridge that takes you into town. You can guess why they call it that! Lots of people out and eating ice cream. It was the perfect temp of high 70's and sunny. Still too humid for me though. In the last picture I thought it was funny that a bar/ice cream joint by the river had some swings for the customers. They were taken otherwise I would be spending some time there eating an icecream!

Me, wine tasting, who would have thunk!

August 20

At the end of the wine tour we stopped in the village of Pezinok to some wine tasting. It was interesting to know that we are located in the middle of the wine region. Because of the carpathian foothills and the nice climate there are many wine makers in the area. They make mostly white wine and only until recently as temp gets warmer they are making some red wine.

Even more interesting is that most of these wine makers do this as a hobby or make it for their own consumption or sell it locally to restaurants. That's why most houses are built with their own wine cellars. Even though we see vinyards throughout the hills you don't see big wineries in the area. With that said, our wine tasting took place in the home of P. Borik. I have to say I had my doubts in the beginning. Our van stopped in front of this modest house in the middle of a regular looking neighborhood. Our guide rang the doorbell and a few minutes later a robust looking man come to the gate with some giant dogs flanking him. He takes us round the back and still I only see a regular backyard with a herb and tomato garden. He then ushers us down some stairs to his basement and I'm thinking this looks suspicious! He could chop us up and bury us in his garden and who would know?!

But all is well as we sat down at a table in a small but nice brick line cellar. He had laid out plates of h'ordeurves of pates and pickled onions filled with local cheese to eat while we drink. I had no intention to drink much wine but they all tasted so good! We tasted a total of 3 whites and 2 reds. Granted, each tasting was only 1/4 of a glass. After the first I didn't feel anything so I kept going. It occurred to me later that he started us out with the lightest wine and it continued to be heavier and stronger. By the time we got to the reds I was starting to feel it and had to stop when he brought out the cabernet. Everyone told me that I wasnt REALLY red but this picture told me that they lied! Our host was such a nice man. He was curious about where we were from and what we did. He was fascinated by arizona and kept turning to me and saying bad snakes! At one point he asked me what special alcohol came from our state and I couldn't really tell him so I said we generally drink wines from other places! He actually studied culinary in school and worked in germany for 20 years before moving back to slovakia. His winery is small but he makes 15,000 bottles a year and exports about 20%. The 2 australian girls from london (who claimed that the guys in bratislava are cuter than in london) were loving the wine and were bummed that they couldn't bring back any with them. When I found out a bottle only cost 5 euros I bought 4! One for me to sip for the next 3 weeks (we'll see) and the other 3 for the guys on my team. We spent almost 2 hours in peter's cellar drinking and chatting (our tour group was only 5 people) it was a lot of fun. The couple in our group was from belgium and were proud to boast that even though they might not have good wine they have over 600 brands of beer. Now that's a lot for a country that small! Peter didn't want us to leave and kept offering more drink. At one point he brought out his "slovakian moonshine" to share with us. I had said no because by that time the alcohol had caught up with me and I was feeling dizzy and drunk! As he poured the moonshine into these small glasses (see the picture above) I was too curious and wanted to check it out. I took a whiff and the strong smell of alcohol was enough to get me drunker! I took a small sip and it tasted like rubbing alcohol! Everyone drank it like a shot but there was no way I would drink that, it would knock me out for sure!

On the way out we were all a little tipsy and very quiet, I was comatosed. It was a great day.

Wine tour around the carpathian mountains

August 20

Did an awesome half day tour to see the surrounding areas of bratislava. I normally wouldn't have signed up for a wine tour since I don't drink much but I happened to like the itinerary of this tour and it seemed to be a nice way to see some of the country. We followed the wine route which goes around the foothills of the carpathian mountain range which stretches west to east from slovakia through ukraine to romania.

We stopped in the town of modra to see the famous pottery. Because of the special clay in the area the town has been making these pretty vases and pottery for centuries. Our guide took us to a museum for a demo of how it's made. They don't use the normal wheel but bigger machineries, I guess it's faster for mass production. It was interesting that in the early years red was not a popular color because people associate this color with blood.

We spent a couple of hours at cerveny kamen which means red rock castle, in the northeast of bratislava. Built in the 13th century, it's the most intact castle in the country because it has never been attacked. It was more modern looking than what I expected. Up until ww2 it was occupied by noble families most recently the palffys. We toured through one major wing of the castle where the families lived, and into the huge multi level wine cellars. There was this crazy sled made out of gold, those poor horses having to lug the person and the heavy sled! It was interesting to see the different styles of furniture preferred by the different generations, including a bed made of gold! The funniest was a toilet hidden in a fancy chest of drawers that can be moved room to room.

Our guide was suzanna, a young college student from the area. Nowadays kids learn english starting in secondary school so her english is very good. Now it explains why most people we run into speak some english. It makes things much easier for us! During the ride suzanna would share a little history of the country which was so interesting to me. Slovakia was formerly part of Czecholsvakia, which for centuries was under the austro-hungarian empire. In 1993 with the fall of russia the country split into czech republic with prague as its capital and slovakia with bratislava as its capital. You can see influences of these cultures in bratislava through the music, food, architecture and even furniture.

Bratislava

Aug 15, 2011

4 weeks in Bratislava, yikes! This is the longest assignment so let's see how I do. The team consists of me and 4 guys from germany, japan and southern cal. All very nice and laid back so we are having fun. Bratislava is the captial of Slovakia and very close to Vienna. In fact I flew into Vienna from the US and took a taxi to our hotel in Bratislava. Our hotel is right next to Old Town and a convenient walk to all the restaurants. We are also close to the Danube river, there are castles nearby - cant wait to explore more during our free time.

I'm liking the cuisine, last night we had a nice dinner at a rest. with local cuisine. Lots of meats and potatoes in their diet. Loved my grilled trout (pictured above :-)). So glad this group likes (and can afford to) go out to dinner every night. I told stefan that we can literally eat at a different restaurant every night we are here! The old town is so quaint, pedestrian only and with lots of winding narrow cobblestone streets.

Our hotel has a nice spa area on the top floor with views of the castle - massages are cheap so guess what I'll be getting every week! Cant' wait to check out the shopping!

Bye bye germany

Aug 5

Hooray! All done and on my way home to sunny az. Last 3 wks made me homesick for a little sun and happier attitudes! Because the weather has been so crappy it's the top conversation piece here. I tell you, people are pissed that it's in the middle of the summer and it's been cold and rainy! It's enough that the weather is like this year round but they expected at least a few weeks of decent weather. One colleague asked me if I have any idea what it's like to have kids on school holiday with nowhere to go?! They are so happy when a little sun peeks out for a few minutes but cranky again when it's not. THis is usually the time when I brag about the 360 days of sunshine in az and that it's 43C right now. I will NOT miss the humidity!

It's been a great audit and fun to do with M. THis is the first time where all were experience and it's been much less work and stress. We both knew what to do and how to do it. Went to a networking bbq at hkl and was fun. Ran into some people I knew and some where I have only worked with via email. Wursts and steak on the grill and kegs of beer, it was great.

Girls night out!

July 29

Talk about a way to end the week. Marietta wanted to make sure we finish our report end of day Friday (so we don't have work on the weekend) so she coordinated weeks prior a girls night out. I tried the "I'm an old married woman" excuse but that was rejected immediately. The plan was to have cocktails at M's place at 9pm and afterwards we go out dancing. Again I tried to tell them that I am usually in bed by 10pm and again that was rejected. And so I went and had a great time. There were 5 of us girls including 2 that I met for the first time. It was fun to do girl talk while sipping on champagne. I have to say I was starting to get tired by midnight and we still haven't gone out yet. We did manage to leave around 12:30 and went to les halles, a really cool dance club that's a restaurant by day. It's like a big old house and the music gets louder as you go towards the center room. The further you go in the more crowded and the louder the music. The loud music really gets your blood pumping and we were dancing and having fun to the typical house music. Then at one point I heard the dj talking with a southern (as in southern carolina) accent, what the heck?! It definitely wasn't german when he was asking "howr y'all doin?"! By 3:30am I was running out of steam and ready to head home. The girls were still going at it, bless them. Ofcourse they are at least 15-20 years younger than me so I have a good excuse. When I was told to bring clubbing clothes for this night I just laughed at them. I texted gary on the taxi ride home and he couldn't believe I was still up, lol! I rarely go out on a friday night while at home because I do want to go to bed by 10!

Still, it was a fun night and to live vicariously through these young girls who still have so much energy in them. Hey, I was like that but many many years ago! Now my idea of fun is to relaxing on the couch and watching a movie with my hubby.