Bratislava is 2/3 of the way between Prague and Budapest so it seemed as good a spot as any to stop for a night to break up the train ride. It's the capital of Slovakia which, along with Czech Republic, used to make up the former Eastern Block state of Czechoslovakia. It's nowhere near as picturesque or beautiful as Prague but it's certainly got it's own charm. For one, it's not swarming with tourists which was a nice change after Prague's crowds and Munich's mayhem. Pulling into town you can definitely feel the hang-over from the Communist years; a lot of the buildings are square, stark and worn and the whole place seems a bit drab. This was certainly true for our hotel: a little slice of heaven called Hotel Kyjev which appears to have been one of the nicer hotels in town in like 1955 and which has apparently managed to avoid any renovations since those glory years. They're going for the budget traveler now, but aside from the newish red signs ("Hotel Kyjev" in graffiti-esque font) they have in the lobby, the place feels like the waiting room for some KGB secret jail. Still our room was clean, if a little small and sparse, and we got a free upgrade to a WI-FI enabled room which allowed us to stream Game 1 of the NLCS late into the night from the comfort of a bed which was a nice upgrade from the Playland at McDonalds where we listened to Game 5 of the NLDS, plus they threw in free breakfast. Not bad for about €40.
We walked through the Old town a bit after we checked in but we were starving having missed lunch in transit from Prague and it was raining, so we found the first descent looking restaurant we could find and tore into a couple of mediocre, but delicious given the circumstances, pizzas. After dinner, we wandered a little more, but it was a Sunday night (a rainy one at that) so everything seemed a little dead. Back at the Hotel Kyjev we went to their bar to avoid too much time in the room where they serve €1 beers and had a sign advertising Sky Sports; we were hoping for a little NFL love. What we got was an unapologetic explanation that the Sky sports "wasn't working" and a heavy dose of "Slovakia's Got Talent". From what we could tell; it doesn't! Not even slightly. This one old guy danced like an idiot for like 5 minutes and made it through to the next round. Then 4 different people attempted "Hallelujah" in English (heavy on the Eastern European accents) and all butchered it badly except one weird looking little creep kid. Yes, riveting television, indeed. I bet Sky Sports was working and the bar tender just didn't want to change the channel...
As mentioned previously, we were able to stream game 1 of the Brewers/ Cardinals match up. We ponied up the $19.99 to MLB.tv so we could watch the video feed of every remaining game of the post season; we're ready for a World Series run here people.
This morning we took a quick, cold jog down to the Danube river (it's not Blue, in case you were wondering) and through the Old town before hitting up Hotel Kyjev's free breakfast buffet where we filled our stomachs with typical European hotel breakfast fair: cold cuts, sliced cheese, bread, hard boiled eggs, muesli, yogurt, wretched coffee, and filled Adrian's backpack with enough of the above to be lunch later in the day. Yes, I readily admit to being one of THOSE guys, the buffet poachers. Don't act like you've never been there before...
We had a few hours to kill before the the train for Budapest so we took a nice walk up to the Castle that overlooks the city. It's nowhere near as nice as Prague's, but it did offer nice views of Bratislava under a dreary, grey sky. We decided it was fitting that we saw this place while it was overcast and grey as it fitted in with the motif and added a little to it's unique charm and personality. Bratislava: worth a stop if you find yourself in the neighborhood.