Slovakia was not high on our list of places to visit during our time in Europe….
but I’m so glad were able to get there! We got up bright and early on Sunday
morning to catch a Euroline bus from Vienna to Slovakia. We got to the bus depot
on time, but we almost missed our bus because we were at the wrong bus stop!!
Luckily Mark figured it out right before the bus was about to pull away from the
station! What a clever guy!  (I knew there was more than one reason why I keep
him around!)

It was a little over an hour on the bus to get to Slovakia, so we arrived just
before mid-day. This gave us enough time to walk into town and work up a hunger.
From what we saw (which wasn’t actually very much) the outskirts of Bratislava
were a bit worn down and what one would “stereo-typically” expect for Eastern
Europe. Concrete apartment blocks with chipping paint, Eastern European style
cars on the road,… and women out sweeping the sidewalks in long skirts. However,
in the city, it was unquestionably just like any smaller city in Western Europe.
Bars and restaurants spilled out into the street from every corner and you can
tell that if the money isn’t there already, it’s coming… and coming quickly.

We opted to try Slovakian food for lunch… in a very nice restaurant in town.
Mark had a wonderful dish of pork in horseradish sauce and I had some unknown
kind of meat with dumplings and sauerkraut. Although we enjoyed it, I think my
favorite part of the meal was the starter of garlic soup… really interesting and
different from any kind of soup I’ve ever tasted before.

After lunch we visited the Bratislava municipal museum. The place has everything
from the traditional Slovak costumes to the keys of the city and the old town
torture chambers. It was worth a look, but the best part of our visit was in the
afternoon sitting on the square enjoying a few beers and watching the locals and
tourists alike. And to top it all off the beer/food/everything was exceptionally
cheap… less than a Euro per pint! Now that is more like it!! It gives me hope
that perhaps we actually have saved enough for our RTW trip plan… something that
Mark can confirm I’m constantly worried about.