The epic European Janis Road Trip!!! Day 1

Alright...let's get back into my trip with Mom & Dad.

I left them in Warsaw and went back to work for a couple of weeks. At the beginning of June, my school had a special camp for our MYP students in the mountains. It was cold and rainy..not much fun. I was there from Monday until Wednesday....and then my mommy and daddy picked me up at camp! Haha...I never went to sleep away camp, so at the lovely age of 40, I finally got picked up at camp by my parents.

A quick little story here.....the week had been cold and crappy. The camp had no internet and my cell phone wasn't working. Neither was M & D's. So, basically, I had emailed them at the beginning of the week the address of the camp and told them I would be good to go Wednesday afternoon- and then prayed that they would be able to find the place! Wednesday morning, the plan was to take the kids on a long hike to a rock climbing area. Myself and another teacher had the morning off, so we declined to join that adventure. Instead, we cuddled up in our respective beds, napped and read. And were interrupted by some Czech workman installing a new heater, who didn't care whether we were there or not- but that's a story for another time!!

Anyway, S and I were in our room all morning and I said a few times that it would be funny if my parents were just wandering around and I was just camped out in my bed. Around 12:30/ 1:00, the troops came back and I got up to walk around. I was outside for about 2 seconds when who comes walking up but M & D!!! As it turns out, they HAD been there a few hours earlier, but were told that everyone was out hiking, so they went to a village nearby to try and find some lunch!!!! HAHAHA- typical.

After staying for a bowl of soup with the students/ staff, we headed out and back to Ostrava. I wanted to show them where I lived and give them a bit of a break from staying in a hotel!! We had dinner at a great restaurant (which is something of an accomplishment in Ostrava) and got to bed early.

The next morning we loaded up the car and headed out on our road trip- destination: Slovenia. Route: Slovakia-Austria-Slovenia.

Day one:

Interesting little chap

We drove through the mountains into Slovakia and wound up having lunch in Trenčin. Trenčin is the northernmost point of known Roman presence in Central Europe. In fact, there is a carving on the rock face below the castle, Laugaricio, left by Roman soldiers in approx. 179 A.D. We didn't see that, but we had a lovely lunch (trout for me) in the center.

I never could find out who this guy was...

I imagine it would have been a nice fountain

Frogs and all

Lunch spot

Synagogue

Synagogue with castle in back

Castle in the background

Trenčin

After lunch, we continued on towards Bratislava, our destination for the day. It was a lovely drive, with rain off and on the whole day. Finally, we arrived in Bratislava around 5ish. We parked near the old town area and walked around. I hadn't made reservations for a hotel, so I wanted to find the Information center to get some...you know, information. We found out that the whole center had free wi-fi! Great! We walked around and found a restaurant/ pub to sit and have a drink at...and I used the wi-fi to find a hotel. I used booking.com for the whole trip and it was great. I think all of the places we stayed were nice and nicely priced as well. And it was sooo convenient to book a day in advance on the internet...yay for the Internet!

After having a drink, making reservations and relaxing a bit, we strolled around the center. M & D had been here before, when they took a cruise down the Danube. However, I don't think they really had the chance to walk around much. Mom spotted an artist with some amazing watercolors of the area and had a bit of a chat with him. Having purchased a print, we headed back to the car and off to the hotel. Now....M & D's car had a GPS and I admit they are quite helpful, BUT sometimes, especially in old town areas, you have to use your best judgement when following the directions. For instance, if it looks like a tram only street...and there is a tram coming....DON'T DRIVE DOWN IT even if the GPS lady tells you to!!! Or if it is cobble stoned and there are posts sticking up....it's probably a pedestrian only zone!! Just a few tips that, perhaps, the driver should follow. I'm not saying we did any of these things, but........

Ok- so we did the usual routine...checked in, freshened up, looked at a map (my routine) and headed back out. Time for dinner. We ended up eating at this place run by, what my guess was, crazy Russian or Greek men. They were running around, yelling at people to "come, come! Eat!", moving people around, etc. And it was delicious!! Afterwards, we walked around some more. Got some ice cream. Walked some more. Then went back to the hotel to get some shut eye before the next journey.

I really liked Bratislava. Though we did not spend too much time there, nor did we see a lot of the "sights", I still liked the feel of the city. The hustle and bustle. It is definitely somewhere close-by that I want to visit again.

St. Michael's Gate

St. Michael's Gate was one of four gates into the medieval city. This is the only one remaining. Originally Gothic, it was rebuilt during the Baroque period and the copper statue of St. Michael was added.

Top of St. Michael's Gate

Communist additions

National Theatre

Sand bags at the metro

Throughout the lower old town area, sandbags were placed around stores, metro entrances, etc. It just so happened that we were in Bratislava on the day that the government declared a state of emergency!! Because of the historic flooding and rain, the Danube was over its banks and threatening the center. We were afraid we might not be able to cross the Danube, but there ended up being no problems.

Hmm....what's this?

It's Rubberneck

Protect the jewels!!

What a delightful chap!!

Mom could almost reach...

Schone Naci

Like Rubberneck, Schone Naci is one of the quirky statues that lurk around Bratislava. This statue is a tribute to a fellow who lived at the turn of the 20th century. He was quite the dandy, walking around with top hat and tails, handing out flowers to ladies passing by.